The Avengers

The group began with the random teaming of Thor, Iron Man, Ant-Man, Wasp and Hulk, who joined forces to thwart the Asgardian menace Loki in response to a call for help from Hulk's teen sidekick, Rick Jones. Pym suggested the heroes remain together as a team, and his partner Wasp suggested they call themselves "something colorful and dramatic, like...the Avengers." The name stuck, and a legend was born.

Iron Man provided the group with financing and high-tech equipment in his dual identity as rich industrialist Tony Stark, donating his Manhattan residence to serve as their headquarters, Avengers Mansion. Stark's butler, Edwin Jarvis, stayed on as the mansion's principal servant and chief of staff, becoming a valued friend, confidant and advisor to the group. Stark also drew up a charter and by-laws to guide the team, and sought A-1 security clearance from the federal government, but he encountered resistance from the team's first National Security Council liaison, Special Agent Murch, and the general public regarded the new team somewhat uneasily. Much of this early skepticism focused on the monstrous Hulk, who soon quit the team in a fit of rage, but the group's image improved dramatically after they recruited long-lost war hero Captain America, who became the inspirational cornerstone of the Avengers. Thanks largely to his presence, the team won its A-1 security status and rapidly became the most respected super-hero team of its generation. This newfound prestige was sorely tested when the remaining founders retired from active duty for various personal reasons, leaving "Cap" alone to lead a roster of unlikely new recruits, all former criminals: the outlaw archer Hawkeye, and mutant terrorist twin siblings Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch. The public was baffled, but Iron Man hoped that rehabilitating them might make up for the team's early failure with the Hulk. The new roster proved him right, and "Cap's Kooky Quartet" did the founders proud. All four of them went on to long service records with the Avengers. Hawkeye in particular became a valued mainstay of the team second only to his mentor, Cap.

Rise to Prominence

Avengers membership proved very fluid over the years. Thor, Iron Man, Pym and Wasp would all return for further tours of duty, though the unstable Pym did so in a series of alternate identities as Giant-Man, Goliath (an identity also used temporarily by Hawkeye), Yellowjacket and Doctor Pym. The four returning founders would all serve stints as team leader, too, and the group produced a series of impressive leaders over the years, notably Captain America, Wasp, Hawkeye and Iron Man. New recruits during the team's early years included the Swordsman (exposed as a double agent and expelled), Hercules, the Black Panther, the android Vision, and the Black Knight. Alien hero Captain Mar-Vell became one of the team's staunchest allies during the cosmic Kree-Skrull War. The Black Widow joined the team after years as an unofficial ally. A reformed Swordsman rejoined alongside his enigmatic lover Mantis, though he died protecting her from Kang and she soon left Earth to fulfill her prophesied destiny as the Celestial Madonna. Moondragon, Beast, Hellcat and Two-Gun Kid became members, though all but Beast opted for reserve status; the group attracted associates such as the aging speedster Whizzer, Wonder Man, the robotic Jocasta, the time-spanning 31st century Guardians of the Galaxy, and Ms. Marvel (later Warbird), all of whom helped the team oppose the mad man-god Korvac.

By this time, the paranoid and combative federal agent Henry Peter Gyrich had become the team's new government liaison. He imposed reductions and modifications of the team's membership, during which time Falcon and Ms. Marvel joined, but he was eventually reassigned. The team worked more smoothly with subsequent liaisons such as Raymond Sikorsky, who later betrayed them by aiding a government conspiracy against the Vision, and lifelong Avengers fan Duane Freeman, who was killed by Kang. A humbled Gyrich would later redeem himself by serving admirably as the Avengers liaison to the United Nations. Meanwhile, the team continued to add new members such as Wonder Man, Tigra, She-Hulk, a new Captain Marvel, and Starfox. Rambeau in particular proved to be one of the team's most formidable and respected members.

West Coast Expansion

The group's expansion accelerated after they opened a second headquarters on the West Coast, Avengers Compound, manned by both Avengers veterans and new recruits like Hawkeye's wife Mockingbird, War Machine (who also served as an alternate Iron Man), Thing, Moon Knight, U.S.Agent, Firebird, Human Torch, Living Lightning, Julia Carpenter as Spider-Woman, Machine Man, and Darkhawk. The western roster was led first and longest by Hawkeye, but the expansion team gradually deteriorated under later leaders and was shut down after major losses of resources and personnel. Regardless, the original eastern roster continued to grow, adding recruits such as Sub-Mariner, Doctor Druid, The Captain (actually a temporarily re-costumed Captain America), Demolition Man, Gilgamesh, Mister Fantastic, Invisible Woman, Quasar, Sersi, Spider-Man, Stingray, Rage, Sandman, Crystal, Thunderstrike (who also served as an alternate Thor), Justice, Firestar, Triathlon, Silverclaw, the new Ant-Man and Captain Britain. Some of these served long stints, others only briefly, but all made some sort of mark with the team, as did more informal associates such as Marrina, a new Yellowjacket (Rita DeMara), a new Swordsman (Phillip Jarvert), Magdalene, Deathcry, Masque, and an alternate-timeline teenage Iron Man. The group suffered setbacks, going through many changes of leadership and several changes of headquarters, losing various members and even disbanding more than once (most notably following disastrous conflicts with Terminatrix and Onslaught), but the team always regrouped in some form or another, continuing to evolve and grow. Few heroes refused offers of Avengers membership, though allies who did decline the honor included Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Spider-Woman, Silver Surfer, Archangel, Iceman, Dazzler, Black Cat, Doc Samson, Shroud and Songbird