Yes, class is in session, and we’ll begin today by giving you a brief run down of the Avengers and its members!
The Avengers first assembled in
Avengers #1 (September 1963) by
Stan Lee and
Jack Kirby,
but the teammates didn’t start there…they had been living their lives
for years before that, so, in this, the first of a few articles about
the Avengers membership, let’s breakdown the charter members of the
Avengers, which were Iron Man, the Hulk, Thor, Ant-Man and the Wasp, and
how the team formed!
Thor!
Thor, he’s the oldest of the team members, so we’ll start with him. The version of Thor most Marvel fans are familiar with began in
Journey Into Mystery #83 (August 1962, by
Stan Lee and
Jack Kirby).
In the story, “Thor the Mighty and the Stone Men From Saturn”, Dr.
Donald Blake, attempting to escape invading aliens, discovers a hidden
cave with the mighty Mjolnir, which grants him the power of the Norse
god, Thor. A little different from the movie, and the Doctor discovers
later that he really is the son of Odin, and this was all part of a
test to teach the young god humility.
Still hasn’t gotten there, but ’tis true that he could! Before
Avengers #1, Thor faced the Kronans (the official name for the Stone Men from Saturn, in
JIM #83), the Executioner from San Diablo (
JIM #84), with Thor’s own brother Loki (a sorcerer from Asgard, and more on his mischief later, but he started to menace this version of Thor in
JIM #85, but Thor and Loki had appeared before in the pre-Marvel Leading Comic Corporation, in
Venus #12,
February 1951, and would be a constant thorn in Thor’s side, as well as
the Avengers…). Loki was a constant menace to Thor, and would also
often use others to do his biding. Always amazing that their father,
the all-father Odin, would come down so hard on Thor for minor problems,
yet Loki get away with near murder…
Other pre-
Avengers #1 foes include the time-traveller Zarrko the Tomorrow Man (
JIM #86), Thug Thatcher (
JIM #89), Carbon-Copy Man (shape-changing alien Zano,
JIM #90), Sandu (a carnival magician Loki gave powers to in
JIM #91), the Radioactive Man (Chen Lu, a Chinese scientist irradiated to fight Thor in
JIM #93
who would also come back to menace the entire Avengers team time and
time again), Professor Zaxton (a man with a duplicating machine,
JIM #95),
and Merlin the Mad (really the Maha Yogi, not the ancient wizard who
helped Arthur find Excalibur, the real Merlin was busy elsewhere…) who
started to appear in Marvel Comics with
JIM #96, the last issue before Thor helped to found the Avengers!
A few later Thor villains really became Avengers menaces as well, to either the team or other Avengers, such as the Lava Men (
JIM #97), Cobra (
JIM #98), Mr. Hyde (
JIM #99), the Enchantress and Executioner (both rogue Asgardians who started to menace this version of Thor with
JIM #103), the Grey Gargoyle (
JIM #107), the Absorbing Man (
JIM #114), the Destroyer (
JIM #118), and the Wrecker (
Thor #148) and his Wrecking Crew (
Defenders #17), but we can touch on them when needed.
Ant-Man and the Wasp!
Ant-Man, well, he’s a little bit of a lengthy tale, as his alter ego of Dr. Henry Pym first appeared in
Tales To Astonish #27 (January 1962, by
Stan Lee and
Jack Kirby)
as “The Man in the Ant Hill!”. This was good enough for Hank to return
as the Ant-Man in the aptly titled “The Return of the Ant-Man” in
Tales To Astonish #35 (September 1962, also by
Stan Lee and
Jack Kirby),
and this time, biochemist Hank had a costume, was in control of his
shrinking powers (given to him by a gas that contained “Pym particles”,
and had a cybernetic helmet that allowed him to speak to the ants (and,
he had the strength of a full-sized human at ant-sized…which, everyone
should remember from an infamous sketch from the early days of
Saturday Night Live!).
But, mostly Hank was stuck fighting communists, though a few had names like Comrade X (Nina Vladimirovna Tsiolkovsky,
TTA #36, who came back as Madame X), the Protector (Gerald Marsh,
TTA #37), Egghead (Elihas Starr, a scientific rival who became Hank’s most tenacious foe starting with
TTA #38), the Scarlet Beetle (an irradiated, intelligent beetle,
TTA #39), the Hijacker (Howard Mitchell,
TTA #40), Kulla (an extra-dimensional alien tyrant,
TTA #41), the Voice (Jason Cragg, who had a hypnotic voice of doom,
TTA #42), and the Time-Master (Elias Weems,
TTA #43,
who could age people). Still, Hank had not even picked up a support
cast at this point, other than his ants. But, that was due to change
soon when scientist Vernon Van Dyne came looking for help….
Dr. Van Dyne needed the help, as he was being stalked by Pilai,
an creature from Kosmos (who was a criminal that the scientist contacted
while attempting to contact other dimensions, and Dr. Van Dyne was
unable to get the help he needed from Dr. Pym). The alien criminal came
to Earth and killed the elder scientist, leaving his debutante
daughter, Janet Van Dyne, looking to Hank Pym for help. He did,
exposing her to the “Pym particles”, as well as giving her insect wings
which would manifest as she shrank which would allow her to fly, and
devices that would to have a bio-electric sting. Ant-Man and the Wasp
defeated the alien, and became partners in
Tales To Astonish #44 (June 1963, by
Stan Lee and
Jack Kirby). The pair faced Hank’s foe Egghead in
TTA #45, meeting the Fantastic Four in
Fantastic Four #16, and a robotic alien scout called the Cyclops in
TTA #46, (all the while slowly falling in love) before founding the Avengers.
Iron Man!
“Iron Man Is Born” was the title of
Tales of Suspense #39 (March 1963, by
Stan Lee and
Don Heck),
where scientist and industrialist Tony Stark was captured by guerrilla
leader Wong-Chu. Tony must build the armor to save his own life from
shrapnel lodged near his heart, and to escape his captivity and become the hero known
as Iron Man (and return safely to his home...).
There's more to the story than what's presented here, but this does have the basics, and additions to the origins will be added as need; nothing is ever as simple as it appears in the world of Iron Man!
Iron Man faces a wide variety of foes on his return to the United States (and a change to golden armor, being the first of many upgrades to the Iron Man armor), starting with Gargantus in
TOS #40, scientist Dr. Carlo Strange in
TOS #41, communist Red Barbarian in
TOS #42, Kala the Queen of the Underworld in
TOS #43, and Hatap the mad Pharaoh in
TOS #44 in his last appearance before the armored Stark becomes an Avenger
.
Later Iron Man foes that come to menace the Avengers (singly or together) include Jack Frost (at least in
TOS #45, later to be called the Blizzard), the Crimson Dynamo (a set of armors worn by a different range of foes starting with
TOS #46), the Mandarin (a foe with powerful alien rings, who would become the greatest menace to the Iron Man, starting with
TOS #50), the uni-beamed Unicorn (
TOS #56), and even more powerful armored foe, Titanium Man (
TOS #69). Iron Man also faced more foes who became Avengers…but, we’ll talk about them later on.
Hulk!
We’ll end with the Hulk, who premiered in
The Incredible Hulk #1 (May 1962, by
Stan Lee and
Jack Kirby,
boy, these guys created all the good stuff, didn’t they?). Doc Bruce
Banner was bolted by gamma rays while trying to save young Rick
Jones….and unleashed his rage by turning into the Hulk.
The Hulk started as a grey monster, but then took on a familiar green hue, and was incredibly strong and resistant to harm.
During his short six issue run, Hulk faced the Gargoyle (a Russian scientist) in
#1, the Toad Men in
#2, the Ringmaster and his Circus of Crime in
#3, Mongu (a supposed alien menace) in
#4, underworld overlord Tyrannus and would-be conqueror General Fang in
#5, and the alien Metal Master in
#6
(as well as General Thunderbolt Ross in every issue)…and his own
temper, which got the super-strong hero into trouble with his pal.
Rick Jones sent out a distress call to the Fantastic Four (with Mr.
Fantastic, Invisible Girl and the Thing who would be future Avengers who
made their first appearance in the title in
#1, but not
to join until later, and the Human Torch, who is the only charter FFer
to not be an Avenger!), which Loki rerouted to lure Thor into battle
with the Hulk.
(The Fantastic Four had previously fought the Hulk in
Fantastic Four #12, which took place between
Incredible Hulk #5 and
6!).
Iron Man, Ant-Man and the Wasp also got the call, gathered to fight
the green behemoth, and learned he was not at fault. Thor went to catch
Loki, who was only finally defeated with teamwork, and captured thanks
to the Ant-Man. The group gathered, and Wasp provided their name….the
Avengers. And, thus…it was history!
Avengers Assemble!
Oddly enough, a few modern creators have come back to insert
some stories into Avengers history…such as back ups in the 12 issue
Avengers Classic, an eight issue mini-series called
Avengers: The Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, and a delightful little tale of
Avengers #1.5
(or basically, one and one-half)! Great little stories, that are at
least worth a quick mention here…as they filled in a few logical gaps
along the way…it was also between
Avengers #1 and
2, that Ant-Man and Wasp first faced the Porcupine (
Tales To Astonish #48), and that led to a change in Avengers’ membership, that really started in
Tales To Astonish #49….
The Avengers next new member was really just an old member renamed, as Ant-Man made his first appearance as Giant-Man in
Avengers #2 (November 1963, by
Lee/Kirby)
against the Space Phantom (who, was a phantom from space…well, there’s
more to his story, as he also travelled in time and banished Avengers to
limbo, but it involves future Avengers villains, so we’ll talk about
that later…).
As Giant-Man, Hank faced even more villains, starting with his first appearance as Giant-Man in
Tales To Astonish #49 (November 1963, by
Lee/Kirby), and that foe was the Living Eraser.
That was followed by rogue speedster the Human Top (named David Cannon, in
TTA #50, more on him later), the Black Knight (Nathan Garrett, in
TTA #52), and El Toro (
TTA #54).
Wasp and Giant-Man began to really become a couple after facing the Magician (
TTA #56, who also later faced the Wasp alone), the Colossus (a robot not related to the X-Man,
TTA #58), the Beasts of Berlin (communist gorillas…in
TTA #60), Second-Story Sammy (who steals the Giant-Man costume and faces the Wasp in
TTA #62), the Wrecker (not the one who faces Thor, this one is only in
TTA #63), Madam Macabre (who has ties to the Mandarin, in
TTA #66) and the Hidden Man (
TTA #67), before losing his slot with
Tales To Astonish #69, because starting in
#70, Namor took the spot! But most of this happened after
Avengers #3, so let’s mention that and follow up on Hank Pym later…
Avengers #3 (January 1964, by
Lee/Kirby) has
Iron Man’s first red and gold armor as the team battles former member
the Hulk and future Avenger Namor the Sub-Mariner! During the course of
this issue, Iron Man contacts a few other members of the Marvel
Universe, including the Fantastic Four, the X-Men (including future
Avenger, the Beast), and future Avenger, Spider-Man…so, the idea of a
membership drive has really started. Seems the team is down a member,
and, oddly enough, it was Namor that helped them find that member, who
was an old teammate of his from earlier days…and we’ll discuss this
later, so make sure to come back!
From Avengers #89-97, the heroes got between the warring races, trying to prevent the factions from destroying the Earth in their battles.
The team plans to confront Goliath, but has to deal with Yellowjacket in Avengers #59, (December 1968, art by John Buscema)
and Yellowjacket claims to have killed Goliath, and wants to be a
member of the Avengers. Strangely, the team accepts this, and the Wasp
even marries Yellowjacket in Avengers #60 (all the while fighting the Ringmaster and his Circus of Crime in January 1969 drawn by John Buscema)!
Janet does this because she knows Yellowjacket is Hank Pym (aka Goliath)! Hank explains away his temporary insanity (and it is later
revealed that the team was playing along with Hank to help him…still,
when he returns to the team after a honeymoon with the Wasp, he keeps
the identity of the Yellowjacket, which foreshadows the many identity
problems that Hank Pym will have in the future. Some of the guests
at the wedding who would be Avengers in the future made their first
appearance in the Avengers title, including the Inhuman elemental
Crystal, man without fear Daredevil and sorcerer supreme Dr. Strange
(who also sticks around to help the newer Black Knight…but more on him
in a bit).
