The Avengers is one of Earth's foremost organization of costumed superhuman adventurers dedicated to safeguarding the world form any threat beyond the power of conventional peacekeeping forces to handle. Founded several months after the incorporation of the hero team Fantastic Four, the Avengers became the first superhuman team to be granted official government sanctions by the National Security Council of the United States, the General Assembly of the United Nations, and later by the international intelligence agency SHIELD.

The five founding members of the Avengers first banded together when Loki, the Asgardian god of mischief, attempted to discredit the monstrous Hulk in order to draw the thunder god Thor into battle. The Hulk's teenage ally Rick Jones, believing the Hulk was innocent of the deed he was accused of, dispatched a radio call to the Fantastic Four for help. Loki intercepted the message, however, and relayed it to Thor. Inadvertently, the message was also received by Iron Man, Hank Pym (then, Ant-Man), and the Wasp. The four adventurers rendezvoused for the first time, tracked down the Hulk, learned that Loki was the true culprit, and apprehended him. Before they parted, Ant-Man suggested that they form a regular team. The five readily agreed, and the Wasp suggested the name "Avengers." The newly formed team assembled a short time later at the midtown Manhattan mansion of industrialist Anthony Stark (in reality their fellow member Iron Man). Stark soon donated the mansion to the Avengers for their exclusive use, and set up a foundation to cover all the operation expenses of the nonprofit team under his mother's name, creating the Maria Stark Foundation. The Stark family's trusted butler Edwin Jarvis was kept on as the principal regular domestic employee at what became known as the Avengers Mansion.

Only weeks after the Avengers' inception, the Hulk left the team after a battle with the alien Space Phantom led him to believe that he was unappreciated. Almost immediately afterwards, the Avengers rescued the frozen body of the World War II hero Captain America, who was inducted into their roster. As the team was still in its formative stages at the time, Captain America was granted status of a founding member.

Months later, when all but Captain America took a leave of absence, the Avengers sent out an open call for replacements. They recruited three former criminals into their ranks, namely: Hawkeye, Quicksilver, and the Scarlet Witch. The new team, colloquially referred to as "Cap's Kooky Quartet," had a rough start, but soon proved to be stalwart heroes, and eventually, Hank Pym (as Goliath) and the Wasp would return to the fold.

Over the years, the team continued to operate and experienced many fluctuations in membership. Former members would often return for stints as active members (with the exception of the Hulk), and new members would also be inducted. The Swordsman was the fifth recruit to the team, but served only a several day stint before betraying the Avengers and being expelled. Hercules, the Black Widow, the Black Knight, and others would often serve in an unofficial capacity for a brief period before being granted official membership. Others, such as the Black Panther, would serve as a replacement for another member's leave of absence, as the Panther did for Captain America.

As the official ties between the Avengers and the United States government grew to the extent that the Avengers computer system had direct access to certain U.S. governmental and military information networks, the National Security Council began to take a more active interest in the Avengers' internal affairs. At one point, NSC agent Henry Peter Gyrich was appointed to be the government's liaison with the Avengers. Gyrich instituted certain policies in the name of security which restricted active membership in the group and tightened admission requirements. Unlike the Avengers' practices to this point, Gyrich initiated a strict screening procedure for new members and even dictated Avengers membership according to government standards of equal-opportunity employment. Eventually, Gyrich was reassigned elsewhere and replaced with the more moderate Raymond Sikorsky, another NSC agent. Even so, then-Avengers Chairman Captain America continued the six-member ceiling on active membership instituted by Gyrich, which remained an unofficial policy for some time.

Shortly afterward, then-current Chairman, the Vision, petitioned the US government to approve the establishment of a second team of active Avengers to be based on the West Coast. Getting official clearance, the Vision appointed Hawkeye to be the new team's chairman and sent him to Los Angeles, California to set up a base of operations. Soon, the organization grew to two independently-operated but fully-coordinated branches of Avengers.

The East Coast branch eventually found itself in a long series of misfortunes. First, when it was learned that the Vision planned to take benevolent control of the world government, certain punitive measures were taken by the United States, despite the fact that the Vision aborted his plan before it truly endangered anyone. The government limited the Avengers' access to security-related information and revoked certain sanctions, including the privilege of launching their supersonic Quinjets from their Mansion. The Avengers were forced to lease a part of Hydrobase, a floating island and scientific research station in the Atlantic Ocean, in order to use an airbase outside of FAA jurisdiction.

Later, the Avengers Mansion was nearly destroyed by a concentrated effort of the largest group of organized super-villains up to that time, the Masters of Evil as led by Baron Zemo. Although the Avengers finally managed to defeat the villains at great cost, the team relocated entirely to Hydrobase while the Mansion was being repaired. Through a steady series of misfortunes, most notably the subversion of their member Doctor Druid by Ravonna (then called Nebula), the Avengers' East Coast branch was ultimately left with no active members.

Captain America, then called the Captain, immediately reorganized the team with the hero Gilgamesh and the temporary members Mister Fantastic and the Invisible Woman of the Fantastic Four. Captain America soon reassembled all known members and associates to the rebuilt Avengers Mansion, claiming that all heroes may consider themselves on reserve and ready for service, although an active team of seven members (plus two reserves) would be the primary response team. Also at this time, the Avengers negotiated with the United Nations, earning global jurisdiction by pledging to serve under a U.N. charter as it had previously the United States.

After many months, the Avengers' West Coast branch was confronted by the East Coast branch to review what it perceived as its own series of misfortunes. The East branch accused the West branch of fluctuating membership, cavalier behavior, and of overextending its resources due to recent attacks which left their Compound demolished. The Vision also claimed that the Avengers West Coast was a failed experiment. Amid voices of contention, the vote resulted in the disbanding the West Coast branch. The East Coast branch resumed activities, and the former West Coast branch formed a new independant team, Force Works.

Later still, the Avengers underwent another debilitating attack, this time by the villain Proctor and his Gatherers. The Avengers Mansion was destroyed again as a result, although Proctor's captive alien Watcher, Ute, restored the Mansion to its original state in gratitude for the Avenger's rescue.

Shortly afterward, the Avengers were caught up in a battle with the psychic being known as Onslaught. To defeat the villain, the active members of the Avengers, as well as their allies including the Fantastic Four, seemingly sacrificed themselves to contain its energies. As a result, the Avengers were believed dead. Then-current chairman Black Widow tried to restore the team with inactive members, but this proved impossible. Black Widow remanded custody of the Avengers Mansion and equipment to SHIELD and declared the Avengers officially disbanded.

In reality, the Avengers were saved by the young mutant Franklin Richards, who through his reality-altering powers bodily recreated the Avengers and others who died in an alternate dimension. Eventually, Franklin Richards was forced to bring his created world into true reality, thus bringing the Avengers and the other heroes back to Earth.

The individual members of the Avengers began experiencing a coordinated attack by mythological elements organized by the sorceress Morgan Le Fey. All available members assembled to defeat the villain, but instead Morgan Le Fey recreated reality in her own image. The Avengers were able to thwart Le Fey due to their fraternity. With reality restored, the Avengers decided to officially re-form the team, under the auspices of their original United States National Security Council charter. They were helped by their new NSC liaison Dwayne Freeman.

After several months of activity, the Avengers were forced to react to their archenemy, the robot Ultron, who had decimated the nation of Slovenia. Ultron was ultimately defeated, but the Avengers vowed to become more proactive to avoid such results in the future. The Avengers reorganized their membership roles and communications systems and began a program to better investigate threats at large as well as follow-up on completed missions.

Soon after, Earth was attacked by the time-travelling villain Kang the Conqueror and his son, the Scarlet Centurion. The Avengers failed to keep Kang from destroying the United Nations building in New York City, after which Kang declared war on the Earth and offered positions of power to those who would also conquer in his name, thus creating several uprisings. The Avengers were forced to spread themselves across many fronts, calling on many of their reserve members. One squad of the Avengers confronted Kang's orbital base, Damocles, directly, aside United States' Sentinel robots. Instead, the attack failed, and Kang took control of the Sentinels and proceeded to destroy Washington D.C. The Avengers leader, the Wasp, signed the terms of the United States surrender to Kang.

Soon, many other countries would fall before Kang, and the villain interned his opponents, political dissidents and superheroes, in scattered internment camps. Two contingents of Avengers remained: one, who had captured a base belonging to the villain known as the Master of the World; the other, a group of Avengers who joined Jonathan Tremont of the Triune Understanding in confronting the threat of the Triple-Evil. Both contingents wrested control of their respective enemies' equipment, turning it against Kang and ultimately defeated him and destroyed his Damocles base. The Avengers then turned their attention to help rebuild the war-torn cities of the world, and the reserve members returned to stand-by status.

Members:

Beast ~ Black Knight ~ Black Panther ~ Black Widow ~ Brandon, Moira ~ Captain America ~ Crystal ~ Darkhawk ~ Deathcry ~ Demolition Man ~ Doctor Druid ~ Falcon ~ Firebird ~ Firestar ~ Gilgamesh ~ Hawkeye ~ Hellcat ~ Hercules ~ Hulk ~ Human Torch I ~ Invisible Woman ~ Iron Man ~ Jack of Hearts ~ Jocasta ~ Justice ~ Living Lightning ~ Machine Man ~ Mantis ~ Mister Fantastic ~ Mockingbird ~ Moondragon ~ Moon Knight ~ Photon ~ Pym, Henry ~ Quasar ~ Quicksilver ~ Rage ~ Sandman ~ Scarlet Witch ~ Sersi ~ She-Hulk ~ Silverclaw ~ Spider-Man ~ Spider-Woman II ~ Starfox ~ Stingray ~ Sub-mariner ~ Swordsman ~ Thing ~ Thor ~ Thunderstrike ~ Tigra ~ Triathlon ~ Two-Gun Kid ~ USAgent ~ Vision ~ Warbird ~ War Machine I ~ Wasp ~ Wonder Man

Associates:

Ant Man II ~ Captain Mar-Vell ~ Giant Man II ~ Great Lakes Avengers ~ Guardians of the Galaxy ~ Jarvis ~ Jones, Rick ~ Marrina ~ Magdalene ~ Masque ~ Swordsman II ~ Whizzer ~ Yellowjacket II