AVENGERS HISTORY
Loki, God of Mischief from Asgard wanted revenge upon his half-brother
Thor, the God of Thunder. He decided the Hulk would be able to defeat
Thor and tricked the Hulk into looking like he nearly wrecked a train,
despite the fact he really saved it. Rick Jones, young friend of Bruce
Banner, the alter ego of the Hulk, sent out a radio signal to the
Fantastic Four, hoping they would help set things to right. The signal
was diverted, however, by Loki to Thor, but it also accidentally
reached three other heroes, Ant Man, Wasp, and Iron Man. Each of them
set out to find the Hulk arriving together and confronted the Hulk. It
was then realised that the message and the near train wreck were a
means of Loki to get Thor to battle the Hulk. Together they defeated
Loki and it was after this first adventure that Ant Man suggested the
five heroes should assemble as a team. The Wasp then suggested
they would need a good name such as the Avengers. All agreed and the
first hero team that would go on to become supported and recognised by
the U.S. government and the United Nations was born.
Shortly after the founding of the Avengers, Henry Pym developed his Pym
Particle further and added growth to his repertoire, becoming the new
hero Giant-Man. Tony Stark provided the group with funding and hig-tech equipment.
Stark's Manhatten residence became their headquarters as Avengers
Mansion, staffed by his butler Edwin Jarvis. Leadership issues began
and the male heroes argued as to who should lead, until it was agreed that the
Wasp would lead first, at the start of a rotating Chairmanship where
each member would stand as leader.
The Avengers then suffered their first early setback as they began
fighting amongst themselves, but it was revealed to be the
shape-shifting Space Phantom, tricking them into fighting one another
by impersonating them each. He was defeated, but the conflict had
exacerbated existing tensions among the Hulk and the rest of the team.
The Hulk quit and went rogue. The remaining Avengers tracked him and
tried to convince him to rejoin, or at least bring the Hulk under some
form of control. The Hulk, allied with the Sub-Mariner, attacked the
Avengers, but were beaten off.
It was while pursuing the Hulk after this, that they stumbled upon
Captain America, frozen in ice since he went missing during his World
War II days. The Sub-Mariner again plotted against the Avengers, but
this was foiled with help from the revived Captain America. Captain
America replaced the Hulk as a team member and quickly became a natural
leader. Captain America also befriended and mentored Rick Jones. Rick
Jones ahd continued helping the Avengers, even after the departure of
the Hulk, and his ham radio enthusiasts, calling themselves Teen
Brigade, often aided the Avengers.
Jealous of Captain America the Hulk attacked the Avengers again, but
the Avengers were aided by the Fantastic Four, begining a long-standing
alliance between the two super teams. The Hulk unwittingly helped the
Avengers defeat the Lava Men, and he avoided the Avengers thereafter.
The Avengers were then confronted with the Masters of Evil, a
super-villain team, lead by captain America's old war enemy, Baron Zemo.
Kang the Conqueror
Immortus: Master of Limbo
Mole Man
Red Ghost
Count Nefaria
Kallusians
Wonder Man
The team considered giving Rick Jones full membership, but this was
vetoed by Captain America, concerned for his safety. This upset Rick,
who slowly drifted away from the Avengers from this point.
X-Men
Spider-Man
The four founding members then quit active duty for various personal
reasons, Captain America had to lead unlikely ex-criminal recruits such
as Hawkeye, Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch. The Sub-Marioner was
also offered membership but scoffed at it and refused.
Hawkeye and Captain America argued frequently at first, but developed a
close mutal respect and eventually friendship. Hawkeye's old mentor,
the Swordsman, joined the Avengers ranks, but this was a ruse by the
Mandarin, before being exposed and fleeing. Shoretly thereafter, Amora
the Enchantress and Power Man framed the Avengers for crimes, causing
the Avengers to disband. The accusations were exposed and the team
regrouped once more.
Circus of Crime
Kang
Doctor Doom
Beetle
Attuma
Hank Pym then became Goliath, and he and Wasp rejoined the Avengers in time to help thwart the Collector.
Hawkeye's lover, the Russian spy, Black Widow, was brainwashed by
communists into attacking the Avengers, but she became an ally when she
regained control, although she declined membership.
Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch took a leave of absence and returned to their native Transia, to restor their fading powers.
Goliath became stuck in his giant form, so the Avengers looked for a
cure and found El Dorado and a lost civilisation. Hank Pym then took a
research partner, biochemist Bill Foster with whom Pym found a cure and
regained normal size during a battle with the Living Laser.
Sons of the Serpent
Spider-Man was approached to join their ranks but it was not to be.
Luckily Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch returned, now fully resotored to
normal.
Ixar
Hercules was a guest then full member.
Enchantress
Mad Thinker's Triumvirate of Terror
Esteban Diablo
Dragon Man
Red Guardian (Alexi Shostakov)
Whirlwind
Hercules returned to Olympus, where the Avengers helped him defeat Typhon.
Captain America left active duty.
Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver were then tricked into joining Magnetos cause for mutantkind.
Novice hero Black Knight aided the avngers at this time, but was
attacked by the Avengers as they believed him to be the previous
criminal Black Knight. Goliath, Wasp and Hawkeye held the team together
during this time until Captain America, still not returned recruited
his own replacement, the Black Panther, joining just in time to help
them with the Grim Reaper.
Hank ~Pym then created Ultron, which went insane and rebelled against
humanity in general and the Avengers especially. Ultron organised a new
Masters of Evil, but this new super villain group was defeated with the
Black Knight's aid.
Scarlet Centurion
Ultron then designed and created Vision, programmed with the brain
patterns of the late Wonder Man, its first mission was to destroy the
Avengers. Vision turned against his creator, Ultron and wrecked him,
Vision then joined the Avengers.
Hank Pym was having trouble coping with the team, his powers, and
especially his love interest Wasp. An accident occured in his lab and
caused a chemically-induced breakdown, causing Pym to suffer a split
personality, becoming far more daring and developing a brash
personality. He became Yellowjacket, in whose persona he was able to
court Wasp more effectively. Yellowjacket and Wasp married, and
remained so even after Pym's personality went back to normal. This
occured just in time to defeat the Circus of crime again. Wasp and
Yellowjacket left for their honeymoon and the Avnegers teamed up with
Doctor Strange and Black Knight to save the Earth from Surtur.
Ymir
Sons of Satannish
The Avengers then helped Black Panther overcome a Wakandian coup staged by the Man-Ape.
Hank Pym finally decided to remain as Yellowjacket, so his old costume
of Goliath was taken by Hawkeye, in an effort to give the team more
power.
Egghead was defeated with the aid of Goliath's estranged brother,
Barney Barton, who sacrificed himself to save them all. Goliath then
fought off Swordsman and borught Egghead to justice.
Ultron then returned, improved by being composed of the super-alloy Adamantium, but was destroyed again.
The Avngers were then used as pawns by Kang against the
Grandmaster, a cosmic gamesman. Grandmaster used the Squadron Sinister
and a trio of unwitting 1940's superheroes (Captain America, Human
Torch, Sub-Marinor) to combat the Avengers. Kang, and thus the Avengers
won, gaining Kang a portion of the Granmaster's cosmic power. Kang had
intended ti use this power to revive his comatose love, Ravonna, but
instead used it in an attempt to destroy the Avengers. The Black Knight
once again saved them and Kang lost his new power. Finally, the
Avengers took the Black Knight on nas a member of the team.
Black Panther had a series of high-tech jets made for the Avengers, quinjets.