Yes all of them! No not really! However with Avengers: Age of Ultron fast approaching our cinema screens we’re dedicating this month’s character profile as well as other articles and pieces this month to one of our favourite teams kicking off with this month’s ‘Character Profile’!
The Avengers was first published in 1963, issue #1 was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby and featured founding members Iron Man, the Hulk, Thor, Ant-Man and the Wasp. To look at that line-up now and compare it to the Avengers that we all know, you’ll notice straight away that some names are missing. Since the comic was first published over fifty years ago, the team penned as ‘Earth’s Mightiest Super-Heroes’ have added and lost members, disbanded, reformed, splintered and replicated!
I’ve gone over the members through the history of the team, counting the main members, the various recruits across all timelines and teams and their honorary members and the tally puts it at about 190! Don’t believe me? Here’s everyone I could find all crammed into this terrible image! (if you spot someone missing or duplicated, let me know in the comments)!
There’s a huge amount to cover and to be honest there isn’t a word count high enough or in this case reasonable enough to do the team justice so for the sake of my own sanity and your eyesight we’re going to focus on the original team as founded in 1963 and the current cinematic team as penned by Joss Whedon.
The original Avengers got together after they become entangled in a plot by Loki to destroy Thor, the five heroes realised they work together and Ant-Man suggested they team up while Wasp christened the newly formed team the Avengers. One of the most iconic members of the Avengers, Captain America would join the group, in issue #4, Hulk’s departure left a vacant space for Cap and he was afforded founding member status. Over the next five years the comic series would change, shifting from a bi-monthly to monthly publication, the original found members would resign leaving Captain America to fill their places with Scarlet Witch, Hawkeye and Quicksilver , the team roster would also expand to include new blood and it’s at this point that the theme of the Avengers is really cemented – order through chaos!
The trend of members tagging out and signing up would continue on through the decades and the team would even splinter into affiliate groups or whole new ones like Avengers West Coast, Young Avengers and Dark Avengers. Despite all of that chaos though the motto ‘Avengers Assemble’ rings true and even when all seems lost they rise up and fight back taking on tyrannical foes, invading alien armadas and reality shattering events.
All of which leads us nicely into the cinematic Avengers team and that Tony Stark quote, “If we can’t protect the Earth, then you can be damn sure we’ll avenge it!“.
The Marvel Cinematic Universe is the home for probably the most famous Avengers team which has been years in development and is sprawled across three ‘phases’. The first phase began by introducing the key characters, the heroes that would be called upon to act as part of the ‘Avengers Initiative’ with things kicking off with Iron Man in 2008 followed by Hulk, Iron Man again, Thor and finally Captain America.
Across these films fans watched and waited as slowly but surely the idea of these super powered heroes sunk into their heads and the foundations were laid for 2012’s Marvel’s The Avengers. While the big players got their names on the movies, it’s important to note that key characters such as Black Widow, Nick Fury and Hawkeye were also place throughout the movies and it was Fury who get the Avengers ball moving back in 2008 after he went to talk to Tony Stark about an idea he had for a team.
Marvel’s The Avengers has become so much more than a movie for many people, the Avengers have become so much more than a team of comic book characters! The film was a colossal success, adored by fans, new and old as well as critics, it drained the box office dry and it showed other studios that big team up movies were more than possible, paving the way for DC to tackle their own Justice League movie.
The Avengers team did what they did best, they faced down the wrath of an old God and an invading fleet of aliens, the essence of coming together out of necessity still remained with the team falling apart even before it was fully formed, remained. Personalities, egos and powers all clash, these super powered beings are for the most part human and while they are placed on a pedestal by those who stand in awe, they are still just as flawed as the rest of us and that I feel has always been my favourite thing about the Avengers – they personify the best and worst traits of humanity.
We’re facing the end of phase 2 and the Avengers will face one of their greatest comic book foes ever in the sequel as Ultron takes the screen. Cracks are growing bigger and the wheels are set in motion for phase 3!
For many the cinematic universe Avengers are the only team they’ve ever known, while they may have heard or read some of the stories of it’s members working solo, the dynamics of this comic book team could have been rewritten and yes there are significant changes to the origins and foundation but the heart of the Avengers is still there.
Forty years ago this prologue ran with every issue of Avengers but it still encapsulates them today whether you’re reading them or watching them;
“And there came a day, a day unlike any other, when Earth’s mightiest heroes and heroines found themselves united against a common threat. On that day, the Avengers were born—to fight the foes no single super hero could withstand! Through the years, their roster has prospered, changing many times, their glory has never been denied! Heed the call, then—for now, the Avengers Assemble!”
Editor-in-Chief, part-time super villain and hoarder of cats. If you can’t find me writing, I’m probably in the kitchen!