We’re back with more Avengers history! The charter members were
covered
before, and this time, we look at the first Avenger
addition…Captain America, and the rest of his kooky quartet (Hawkeye,
the Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver…and a little more as well)!
You’ve seen comics advertise themselves as being the story after which you’ve read it, nothing will be the same….but, with
Avengers #4
(March 1964), this was most definitely the case. The founding Avengers
were looking for the Hulk and the Sub-Mariner (due to events in
Avengers #3,
covered last time), and Namor himself, while fleeing the team…stumbled
across a frozen man worshiped by Eskimos, and freed the ice statue to
land in warmer waters…to be found by the Avengers! That man was the
hero of World War II…Steve Rogers, a.k.a Captain America!
A Hero Returns
After a little confusion, as he had been in the ice flow since April
of 1945, Cap was welcomed by the team (who he saved from an alien
menace, with some help from Rick Jones), and became a team member in
this story by
Stan Lee and
Jack Kirby. This issue (along with
Fantastic Four #4,
which reintroduced the Sub-Mariner, added the Timely Comics/Atlas
Comics history to the young Marvel Comics…though this would not be
explored until later…but, we’ll touch on it a little as it affects the
Avengers).
Captain America (along with his partner Bucky, and seemingly eternal foe, the Red Skull), all premiered in
Captain America Comics #1 (March 1941) by
Joe Simon and
Jack Kirby,
where Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes began their fight against the evil
Axis of World War II. Steve Rogers had been a young man not quite fit
enough to serve in the armed forces, but volunteered for an experimental
Super-Soldier Serum with Dr. Erskine that would allow him to be the
epitome of the fighting soldier. Cap, along with young Bucky, became an
elite force fighting the enemy (Cap getting his round
Vibranium-Adamantium shield soon after this first appearance, then
meeting up with the original android Human Torch and his young partner,
Toro and the aquatic Sub-Mariner and others to fight the Nazi menace;
and these Invaders were successful).
But, because you ask…why didn’t the Sub-Mariner recognize Cap? And,
wasn’t there a Captain America around
after World War II? Well, that’s a
little advanced, but the Invaders didn’t really come into existence
until the 1970s with stories set in World War II, facing foes like the
vampiric Baron Blood and the Super-Axis, and the lack of memories was
later explained by Sub-Mariner’s massive memory loss that had him
homeless for a time until found by the Fantastic Four’s Human Torch and
the trauma of Steve Rogers awakening, and those later Timely Comics were
explained away as being
different people being Captain America and Bucky (who also worked with the Human Torch, Toro and the Sub-Mariner,
as well as the Whizzer and Miss America in the All-Winners Squad)…even
though Steve Rogers and James Barnes disappeared, the President decided
the USA still needed a Captain America and Bucky, and so recruited
replacements, a theme that would be explored many times as well).
Avengers #4 also introduced one of Captain America’s most vile villains, Baron Zemo, but we didn’t see him until
Avengers #6
(Zemo was the man responsible for the rocket launch that ended up
getting Cap caught in the ice…and, to all the world, the death of Bucky;
and he had an earlier WWII appearance in
Sgt. Fury #8,
both dated July 1964). Cap had to deal with others from the World War
II era as well…both friends and foes, over the years, including the
various members of the homefront heroes – the Liberty Legion (older
Timely characters whose 1940s adventures together were started in the
1970s), Nick Fury and the rest of his Howling Commandos (WWII characters
whose combat classics started in 1963, and Nick Fury took control of the counter-terrorist group S.H.I.E.L.D. in
Strange Tales) , and villains like Baron Von Strucker, the Hate-Monger and Arnim Zola,
as well as Third Reich inspired menaces such as Hydra and A.I.M.,
proving that, even though Captain America had cooled his heels for a
time, evil was still active!
Cap and the Avengers didn’t have much of a break, as the team headed over to help the Fantastic Four against the Hulk in
Fantastic Four #25 &
26 (April & May 1964, by
Lee & Kirby), then came back to their own title for
Avengers #5
(May 1964) to fight the Lava Men, a race that lived under the Earth
whom Thor had fought before. And, the individual team members still
continued to face menaces on their own in their own titles, and other
events continued to transpire across the Marvel Universe as well which
would change the lives of the Avengers…
Then, Cap’s foe, Baron Heinrich Zemo returned in
Avengers #6
(July 1964), and changed the course of Avengers history, bringing with
him Iron Man foe-the Melter, Thor villain-the Radioactive Man and
Giant-Man menace-the Black Knight, assembled as the Masters of Evil!
This team would add on more members, starting with
Avengers #7
(August 1964), when Asgardians Enchantress and the Executioner joined.
This team continued to menace the Avengers, resulting in the creation
of Wonder Man (a future Avenger, and the first member to be introduced
in the Avengers) in
Avengers #9 (October 1964), working with time-traveling villain Immortus in
Avengers #10
(November 1964), and Captain America finally ending Baron Zemo’s life
(though Zemo had brought about his own end in the jungles of South
America, as Cap would have brought him to justice) in
Avengers #15 (April 1965).
The Avengers also faced other foes, starting in September 1964, with the time-traveling Kang in
Avengers #8
(another time traveller? And, this one was once Rama-Tut, who faced
the Fantastic Four, who decided on an armored identity after meeting Dr.
Doom…surely his history couldn’t get more complex…he couldn’t be
related to Immortus or a member of the Fantastic Four, could he?), who
returned for
Avengers #11 (December 1964); Fantastic Four foes Red Ghost and the Mole Man in
Avengers #12 (January 1965); head of the Maggia family of organized crime Count Nefaria in
Avengers #13 (February 1965); and the alien Kallusians in
Avengers #14 (March 1965). With the events of
Avengers #15…the team was getting exhausted (as was the behind the scenes team, artist
Jack Kirby had not been doing all the issue,
Don Heck was sometimes the artist)…and ready for new members, as the members began to battle each other on occasion!
Cap's Kooky Quartet
More new members came with
Avengers #16
(May 1965) in what was the biggest Avengers membership shake-up of the
time. Thor, Iron Man, Giant-Man and the Wasp all wanted to get back to
their own lives (and titles…though sadly, Giant-Man and the Wasp weren’t
to have
Tales To Astonish as a home for much longer…), and the team added new members…Quicksilver, the Scarlet Witch and Hawkeye?
But…weren’t they all villains?
And, how would this team do against the level of threats the Avengers usually face?
Well, the answers are coming….first, though a few answers about of this team’s past!
Amazing Archer
First up is the amazing archer, Hawkeye. Hawkeye first slung his bow in
Tales of Suspense #57 (in September, 1964, and, with Black Widow making her first Avengers appearance in
Avengers #16, but still not joining…mostly because she was injured, and taken away, leaving Hawkeye on his own). Clint Barton had
learned his trade in the circus, and wanted to be a hero, but a
misunderstanding helped him miss the mark…and branded him a villain for a
time, battling Iron Man under the manipulations of the Black Widow,
whom he fell in love with (herself caught in a web of intrigue that
would take her years to escape…with some help from Nick Fury and the
Avengers!).
Still,
after crossing paths with the armored Avenger (and a certain
wall-crawler as well) and a little help from the Avengers’ butler, Edwin
Jarvis, Hawkeye became the second new member of the Avengers, having
his crimes cleared! (How ironic, since later, Hawkeye, on a break from
the Avengers, worked with the Defenders, who were composed of the Hulk,
Silver Surfer and Sub-Mariner – who were thought of menaces; and later,
as leader of the Thunderbolts, a team whose members also tried to get
past troubled pasts!). Hawkeye would leave the team to strike out on
his own over the years, change to other identities, but always returned,
and even led their California team, the West Coast Avengers, for a
time.
Merry Mutants
Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch started in
X-Men #4 (March 1964, by
Lee & Kirby…and,
do you see four as an important number to this creative duo?) as
members of Magneto’s Brotherhood of Evil Mutants (along with the bestial
Toad and aloof Mastermind). The brother and sister were mutants on the
run (easier for him, with his speed powers, but not as easier for her,
with a vague “hex-power” that altered probability…and an affinity for
magic).
Pietro and Wanda Maximoff were gypsy orphans, saved from an angry mob
by Magneto, and forced to join his Brotherhood against their wishes.
The mutant twins fought the X-Men and others (and their own teammates)
while struggling to find a place in a world that feared them, lacking
any parental support (and, oh, how complicated their past was!).
After the alien Stranger took Magneto out of the picture and the
Brotherhood disbanded for a time, they were looking for a home…one that
they thought the Avengers, who had just inducted Hawkeye, could provide!
(and, boy, did the twins future get complicated, finding out their
real parentage, as well as a marriage to an android for Wanda, and one
to an Inhuman for Pietro! It seems there is no escaping family…).
The other Avengers then left the team…Thor, to fight the Absorbing Man and be involved in a trial of the gods against his brother, Loki, in
Journey Into Mystery #114-116, Iron Man to face Avengers’ foe, Count Nefaria, in
Tales of Suspense #67, and Giant-Man and the Wasp to face the Hidden Man in
Tales To Astonish #67 (though their schedule would free up soon!).
Avengers Get Busy
The new team tried to bring the Hulk back in
Avengers #17 (in June 1965, with little success, he was busy in
Tales To Astonish #69,
fighting the Leader and reclaiming Rick Jones as his partner, and,
ironically, this was the last issue of the Giant-Man and Wasp feature as
well), and instead the team faced the Minotaur, then faced Major Hoy
and the Commissar in
Avengers #18 (July 1965), and tried
for a new member…the Swordsman (after pretty much everyone mentioned
above attended the wedding of Mr. Fantastic and the Invisible Girl in
Fantastic Four Annual #3).
Swinging Swords
Swordsman
(Jacques DuQuesne) arrived to take a shot at the Avengers (inspired by
Hawkeye to don a heroic persona, as it was revealed that Swordsman was
responsible for trouble at the circus Clint Barton had worked at, and
Jacques had helped trained the archer…though not in archery). The
sword-welding rouge first appeared in in
Avengers #19 (August 1965), and joined the team briefly in
Avengers #20
(September 1965) as a plot of the Mandarin’s to kill the team.
Ironically, Jacques decided not to go though with the plan, but like
Hawkeye, had been accused of the wrong-doing…and thus had to escape the
team in disgrace, coming back to face the team and its members as a
villain again and again with his trick sword that the Mandarin had
provided him (as his history with the Avengers isn’t over yet!).
The
Enchantress returned to face the team, bringing a new strongman, Power
Man (Erik Josten, a former henchman who had been created by the same
process Zemo used to create Wonder Man…and has no relation to future
Avenger Luke Cage…who eventually takes his name, but Erik returns the
favor and takes an Avenger’s!). Power Man premiered with
Avengers #21 (in October 1965, and, worked with the Hulk foes, the Circus of Crime, in
Avengers #22, November 1965). Kang faces the group in
Avengers #23-24 (December 1965-January 1966), and that leads into a battle with Dr. Doom in
Avengers #25 (February
1966), tying into the events of the rest of the Marvel Universe and
establishing the Avengers as a force to be reckoned with, proving the
worth of the new group!
The Wasp returned to the title in
Avengers #26 (in
March 1966, with Namor foe, Attuma, and Human Torch foe, the Beetle),
and her friend Hank Pym followed along (both from the Sub-Mariner stories from
Tales To Astonish #77 and
#78 of 1966), changing his name from Giant-Man
to Goliath, as they both rejoined the team in
Avengers #28
(for May, 1966, just in time to face the new menace of the Collector,
while the former Avengers kept busy in their own titles). The
Collector, as well as Attuma and the Beetle, would return, separately,
to cause trouble for the team….
Power Man returns with the Swordsman and Black Widow in June of 1966 with
Avengers #29, and the team faces the Keeper of the Flame in
Avengers #30-31 (July-August 1966), and then the villainous group of the Sons of the Serpent (as well as Hank Pym’s old friend,
Bill Foster) in
Avengers #32-33
(September-October 1966), deals with Spider-Man trying to be a member
by sending him to check on the Hulk (but not joining yet in
Amazing Spider-Man Annual #3)...
...and with
Avengers #34, cover-dated November 1966, faced the new villain of the Living Laser (who can manipulate light) and bids farewell to writer
Stan Lee, as, starting with
Avengers #35 (December, 1966),
Roy Thomas takes on the writing duties.
With that, I’ll bid you farewell for a time, until we can pick up with more Avengers history!
