Avengers (Earth-616)/Expanded History

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==Preface==
A number the events in the early history of the Avengers are cited to have occurred in specific decades relative to the era of publication. However, the Earth-616 universe operates on a Sliding Timescale these events could not have occurred in the times they appeared due to the fact that it would drastically age the members of the team. As of this writing, it's generally accepted that the birth of the Avengers occurred roughly 10 years ago on Earth-616. All historically specific references to the Avenger's earliest activities will be generalized in the main article, and any references to the Sliding Time Scale will be mentioned in the citation notes.
This group should not be confused with the Avengers Initiative, a group of super-humans gathered by Nick Fury in 1959.
The modern era saw an increase of humans who obtained super-human abilities. The first of these were the world famous Fantastic Four. Soon more individuals began appearing in the United States.
Scientist Henry Pym was one of the first, developing a size changing formula, He soon became the costumed crime fighter known as Ant-Man. He eventually shared these secrets with his girlfriend Janet van Dyne who became his sidekick the Wasp. Not long after this, the Asgardian thunder god known as Thor returned to the mortal world and began aiding mankind after many years trapped in the mortal form of Dr. Donald Blake. Not long after this, gamma scientist Bruce Banner was caught in the blast of his own gamma bomb, and found himself transformed into the brute known as the Hulk. Lastly, weapons manufacturer Tony Stark wound up with a piece of shrapnel embedded in his heart after an accident. In order to save his life, he built a special pacemaker to protect his heart from the shrapnel. He soon became the armored hero known as Iron Man. Shortly after Thor's return, his step-brother Loki also freed himself after centuries in exile and regularly plotted against Thor. Loki would be responsible for the events leading to the formation of the group that would be known as Earth's Mightiest Heroes....
==Formation==
Seeking to get revenge against his brother Thor, Loki used his magic to manipulate the gamma powered Hulk in order to trick him into a battle with Thor. To this end, Loki made it appear as though the Hulk attempted to destroy a train. When the Hulk's sidekick Rick Jones learned this, he gathered his group the Teen Brigade together to try and contact the Fantastic Four for help. Loki intercepted their transmission and made it so it was reached. However a side effect of the spell the transmission was also received by Ant-Man, the Wasp, Iron Man and Thor. These heroes tracked the signal back to the Teen Brigade's headquarters. states that Teen Brigade used ham radios, and that Loki's spell split the signal. In the Teen Brigade is depicted as using the internet. It should be noted that the technology used by the Teen Brigade is topical to the era of the original publication and is subject to the Sliding Timescale The meeting was tense at first but Rick calmed nerves and convinced the gathered heroes to help in their cause. During the meeting Thor was shown an illusion of the Hulk convincing him that Loki was involved. shows this as an illusion that Thor tried to fight alone, while states that it was beamed into his head and showed the Hulk killing all the gathered heroes Iron Man then took the heroes to the Stark Industries office in Sugar Land, Texas. There Thor departed to investigate his suspicions while Ant-Man was given access to Tony Stark's technology to build a device that could increase his range and be able to use ants all over the country to try and search for the Hulk. Using this device, Ant-Man was able to locate the Hulk in Canyon City, Colorado where he was posing as a robot attraction in a circus performing there. Ant-Man ordered the ants in the region to distract the Hulk while they arrived. Ant-Man, the Wasp and Iron Man then traveled there and clashed with the Hulk who managed to escape. Meanwhile, Thor had traveled to Asgard to petition his father Odin to assist in stopping Loki. When Odin refused to get involved, Thor went to the Isle of Silence to face Loki alone. Confronting Loki, Thor battled against Trolls as well as Loki's own magical illusions.
There are two differing accounts of what happened next, in one account the Hulk fled to an automobile manufacturing plant in Detroit, Michigan, while the other states that the Hulk fled to the Cardiff-Grant Munitions R&D Factory in Denver, Colorado. In either case the Hulk clashed with the three heroes until Thor arrived with the defeated Loki and revealed his part in the whole ordeal. Loki attempted to defeat the heroes by becoming radioactive. In the Detroit account Loki was defeated when dumped in a radioactive waste disposal furnace beneath the plant, while the Denver account states that they placed him in a device that was used to conduct controlled explosion experiments. The Detroit account states that the group unanimously agreed to form a team and that the Wasp came up with their name: the Avengers. However the Denver account states that the group did not formally form a group until a meeting three days later at the Stark Industries plant in Sugar Land, Texas.
Iron Man invited his fellow Avengers to use his "employer" Tony Stark's mansion as their headquarters, later dubbed Avengers Mansion. The arrival of the Avengers as tenants, the Hulk in particular, frightened Stark's staff and all quit, except for butler Edwin Jarvis who has looked after the Avengers alone almost ever since. Soon after the group revealed themselves to the press. They then began a series of early meetings. During the first meeting the group was trying to determine who would be the chairman to the group. All the male members wanted to test their might to determine who led, but they all agreed to allow the Wasp to secretly be their chairperson so none of their egos could be bruised. This meeting was briefly crashed by Iron Man's future self and the Black Widow who briefly passed through the meeting room while jaunting through time periods. Iron Man later called a meeting to discuss the signing of a charter of the Avengers code of conduct. Iron Man had stressed that winning the public and eventually obtaining government priority clearance would greatly help the organization. After much discussion most of the Avengers signed this charter with the exception of the Hulk, who in angry frustration left the building, but he would later come back. Iron Man was uneasy about the group, finding their clashing personas as a problem in the future.
==Early Missions==
In their earliest recorded mission was assisting the United States military in recovering a flying fortress that was stolen back by its creator, the Latverian monarch known as Dr. Doom. Fighting their way aboard the vessel, the Avengers were able to stop Doom from recovering his ship thanks in part to Ant-Man using his newly developed growing powers. While the air fortress was destroyed, the Avengers failed to capture Doom who had actually sent one of his Doombots to capture the fortress for him. The Avengers continued their operations, but even with the added strength since Ant-Man's transformation to Giant-Man, the team still had their clashing personalities. This was particularly the case with the Hulk, whom none on the team trusted, and was barely held in check by his sidekick Rick Jones. This was exploited when the alien being calling himself the Space Phantom came to Earth seeking to break up the group for a supposed invasion. The Phantom used his ability to take on the form of any living being, thus shunting the original into the realm of Limbo to sow dissent among the Avengers ranks. The Space Phantom took particular advantage of the collective distrust in the Hulk. However the Space Phantom was eventually revealed, and when the being failed in his task when attempting to take the form of Thor, whose godly physiology was too strong for the Space Phantom to imitate and he was shunted into Limbo instead. Although the Avengers were victorious in their battle, the Hulk had enough and left the group.This story states that the Space Phantom was an alien invader trying to conquer the Earth. However it was later revealed in that the Phantom was really a pawn of the time traveler known as Immortus who was manipulating the destiny of the Avengers. 
By this time the Avengers activities got the attention of the National Security Agency. They sent Special Agent James Murch to meet with Iron Man to tell them that unless the Hulk was dealt with, the Avengers would never get any favors from the government. Iron Man vowed that they would capture the Hulk no matter what. The Avengers then went on the hunt for the Hulk once more, locating him in the Midwest. Their attack was a failure and the Hulk managed to escape and later ally himself with the Atlantean monarch known as the Sub-Mariner. The pair lured the Avengers to an island that was last used during World War II. There the Hulk was forced to flee when he began to revert back into Bruce Banner. Without the green brute to bolster his strength, the Sub-Mariner also fled. Following this recent set back, the Avengers pursued after the Sub-Mariner via sub. The group was at each other's throats over their various personal issues, and Iron Man's push to get security status of the group. All bickering stopped when they discovered a frozen body floating in the arctic waters. The body of a man who would change the lives of the Avengers forever.
==Captain America==
The body turned out to be the frozen form of the World War II hero known as Captain America. Thawing the hero out they were surprised to discover that Cap survived the years intact thanks to being put in a state of suspended animation while frozen in the ice. After doing what they could to establish Captain America's identity, the Avengers brought him back to the United States to reveal to the public. However when the Avengers arrived they were turned into stone by Vuk a member of the D'bari race who was working for the Sub-Mariner. Leaving Captain America and Rick Jones to work together to free the captured Avengers. and Vuk's name was revealed in . The D'bari race were first named in After confirming Captain America's identity with modern science, Iron Man discovered a legal loophole in the law that would allow the Avengers to obtain their priority security clearance provided they could keep Captain America on the roster. However Captain America was suffering from gaps in his memories, as well as a strong desire to return to his own time. As Tony Stark, Iron Man tried to sell Cap on the advancements that were made in his absence, and when that failed, pulled a few strings to have the President of the United States order Cap to remain in this time for the sake of national security. Shortly after Captain America joined the team, the Avengers teamed-up with the Sentry to battle his foe the Void.although the Avengers memories would later be erased per 
The Avengers then continued their hunt for the Hulk, which took them to the Nevada desert where their search turned up dry, unaware that the Hulk was heading to New York looking to get revenge against the Avengers. Returning to Avengers Mansion the Avengers found the Hulk waiting for them, but they failed to stop him. Following after the Hulk, the Avengers got into a brief clash with the Fantastic Four, before the two teams worked together to go after the Hulk. They succeeded in stopping the Hulk's rampage through New York City, but the Hulk evaded capture once again. The Avengers were next called to the south west once again where they saved a military base from an invasion of the subterranean race of Lava Men, with some unforeseen help from the Hulk. Stark continued to get pressure from the NSA, as Agent Merch was putting pressure on the Avengers to prove that Captain America was mentally sound to be part of the team. This was a period of advancement as well as a time for personal adversities among the Avengers. Stark outfitted the Avengers with communicards, while also designing early prototype for the Quinjet that would eventually become the Avengers primary mode of transit. Meanwhile, the Avengers public profile was continued to be tarnished thanks to the continued activities of the Hulk. Henry Pym and Janet were having relationship problems, Stark began drinking more heavily due to the pressure put on him running the Avengers as well as those from the NSA. Meanwhile, Thor continued to show his contempt toward government bureaucracy, while the others called into question his claims of being a god. The Avengers also defeated the Weather-Maker and sent him to prison.
The Avengers next found themselves pulled forward in time by the superhero known as Access to stop New York from an invasion by Magneto's Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, and Darkseid and his , beings that were brought to Earth-616 from a . To assist the Avengers in their battle, Access also summoned the world's greatest heroes from that cosmos, the . However, the Apokoliptian known as used her hypnotic powers to turn the Avengers and the JLA against each other. Access stopped the fighting when he summoned the future to reverse Amazing Grace's spell. He then summoned the future and the original X-Men to help fight back the invaders. Access then used his powers to merge two heroes from each universe to create amalgamated heroes to defeat the Brotherhood and the Apokoliptians, and their benefactor the evil future version of Access. With their foes defeated and returned to their rightful universes, the Avengers were returned to their own time, the memories of their adventure quickly fading away.
==Masters of Evil==
The Avengers faced another threat when Captain America's old wartime foe Baron Zemo resurfaced and formed the Masters of Evil consisting of Iron Man's foe the Melter, Giant-Man's foe the Black Knight, and Thor's enemy the Radioactive Man. They terrorized New York City with Zemo's Adhesive X formula. During the fight, Captain America was startled into remembering how Baron Zemo was responsible for the death of his wartime partner Bucky..Bucky was seemingly killed in , however it has since been revealed in that Bucky survived and lived in secret as the Russian operative known as the Winter Soldier While the Avengers managed to round up all the Masters of Evil, Baron Zemo managed to escape. After recovering from the battle, Captain America became determined to get revenge against Zemo for Bucky's death. Zemo continued to strike at the Avengers, particularly to get at Captain America. He soon allied himself with the Asgardian exiles known as the Enchantress and the Executioner inducting them into the Masters of Evil. He then attempted to turn Thor against the rest of the Avengers while luring Captain America to his hideout in Bolivia. Cap survived this death trap, while the Avengers freed Thor, who was under the spell of the Enchantress. However Zemo and his cohorts managed to flee when they were defeated.
The Avengers next challenge came when the Earth was invaded by the 40th century time traveler known as Kang the Conqueror who sought to take over the modern era. During their initial battle, Kang defeated the Avengers with his superior technology and took them prisoner. When Captain America resisted capture he was banished back in time to the year 1945. Back in his native era, Cap soon realized that his time in the future had changed him and stashed his Avengers Communicard with a timer so that it could be found by Rick Jones in the present. After Mister Fantastic of the Fantastic Four rescued Cap from the 40s and brought him back to the present, Cap assisted Rick Jones and the Teen Brigade in freeing the other Avengers The Avengers eventually defeated Kang and he fled back to his own era. In the aftermath of the battle, Captain America came to accept his place in this era and decided to stay. The Avengers meanwhile were heavily praised by a public and a parade was thrown in their honor. The NSA decided to ease off on the Avengers a bit, allowing them to maintain their security clearance, however Agent Merch warned that they would only maintain it provided Captain America remain on the team. Shortly thereafter Zemo and his Masters of Evil hatched a new scheme, they empowered disgraced businessman Simon Williams with ionic energy. Zemo then informed Williams that the very powers he gained were slowly killing him and in order to get a cure, he must lure the Avengers into a trap. Taking on the identity of Wonder Man, Williams sought out a cure from the Avengers. When the Avengers failed to find a cure, Wonder Man captured the Wasp and lured the team into a trap. Wonder Man suddenly realized he was fighting on the wrong side and seemingly sacrificed his life to rescue the Avengers, although Zemo and his minions escaped once again.Although it was later revealed in that Wonder Man was actually in a death like coma Shortly there after the Mole Man threatened New York City. When the Avengers attempted to stop the villain, they were convinced to stand down by the Fantastic Four so they could handle their old foe. The Avengers also joined forces with the Fantastic Four, X-Men, Sorcerer Supreme Dr. Strange, Spider-Man and Daredevil in stopping the villain known as Sunstroke.
Drawn to Europe, the Avengers had a brief clash with the X-Men while on the hunt for the alien terrorist known as Lucifer. However the battle was quickly ended when the X-Men's leader Charles Xavier telepathically convinced the Avengers that the X-Men had the crisis under control. The Avengers then returned their focus on trying to convince the Hulk to rejoin their ranks. When they finally tracked down the green behemoth, he had been convinced to join the Masters of Evil. However this alliance proved short lived when Baron Zemo threatened the life of Rick Jones causing the Hulk to turn on them. While the Avengers defeated the Masters of Evil, both they and the Hulk managed to escape.. The Avengers were targeted by Kang again, who created an android of Spider-Man to lure the Avengers into a trap in Mexico. The Avengers were later freed thanks to the assistance of the real Spider-Man. Captain America tracked Spider-Man down and thanked him for his help before the Avengers clashed with the Masters of Evil once again. The Mole Man and his new ally the Red Ghost threatened the surface world again, capturing Giant-Man in the process. The Avengers fought off an army of Moloids, and recovered a device to help them burrow into the Earth, freeing Giant-Man and foiling the Mole Man and Red Ghost's plans. It was around this time that the Avengers butler Jarvis encountered the outlaw bowman known as Hawkeye and began convincing him to stop running from the law to join the Avengers. 
The Avengers soon began focusing on combating organized crime, earning the ire of the Maggia crime family. Their leader, Count Nefaria used his front as a legitimate businessman to lure the Avengers into a trap at his castle. There he captured the famed heroes and used holographic duplicates of the Avengers to commit acts of treason that made the Avengers criminals. The Avengers were freed by Rick Jones and his Teen Brigade, and they took down Nefaria and used evidence found in his castle to clear their names. This proved to be a tragic victory when the Wasp was shot by one of Nefaria's men. The Wasp was rushed to a hospital for immediate medical attention, but the Avengers learned that the only man capable of saving her was Dr. Svenson of Sweden. While searching for Svenson, the Avengers found him a prisoner of the alien Kallusians who were hiding on Earth from their mortal enemies the Yirbek. The Avengers forced both alien races from the Earth and later Svenson saved the Wasp's life. The incident had shaken the lives of Giant-Man and the Wasp, while Captain America's thirst for vengeance against Baron Zemo was getting close to threatening the Avengers security status.
The Masters of Evil resurfaced once again, freeing the Black Knight, and Melter from prison. There are two different accounts of what happened next. In this first account, Baron Zemo kidnapped Rick Jones right in front of the Avengers, who battled the Masters of Evil during the kidnapping attempt. This version of events depicts Captain America following after Zemo following the kidnapping. The second accounting states that Zemo had kidnapped Rick while the Avengers were still at the hospital. Upon their return, Captain America was determined to go after Rick alone, in spite of Iron Man's protests and fears of how it would affect the Avengers security standing. While Captain America went off to Bolivia to face Baron Zemo once again, the Avengers clashed with the rest of the Masters of Evil who were attacking New York City once again. The Avengers were able to capture both the Black Knight and the Melter, but the Enchantress and Executioner managed to evade the heroes once again. With the immediate crisis over, Thor informed Iron Man that he had matters to attend to in his native Asgard. Iron Man was quickly convinced of Thor's godhood when invited to touch his mystic hammer Mjolnir and was granted a brief glimpse of Asgard. Thor was the first Avenger to take a leave of absence, leaving Earth to participate in the so-called Trial of the Gods. Meanwhile, Captain America had his final showdown with Baron Zemo after rescuing Rick. During their final battle together, Zemo's death ray cause an avalanche that buried the villain alive, ending his threat.
==Cap's Kooky Quartet==
As Captain America and Rick made their way through the Bolivian jungle on their way to civilization, Giant-Man, the Wasp and Iron Man soon came to the decision that each had to deal with their own personal affairs. Needing a leave of absence from the group, they then began looking for potential new recruits. Their first came from Hawkeye, who put on a display of his archery skills with a mock kidnapping of Jarvis. After publicly adding Hawkeye to the Avengers roster, Iron Man dealt with Agent Murch who threatened to pull the Avengers security status, but Iron Man forced his compliance by threatening a messy PR nightmare. He then used this as leverage to force Murch into assisting two other recruits: the former mutant terrorists known as the Scarlet Witch and her twin brother Quicksilver. Soon after the Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver were brought to Avengers Mansion, Captain America and Rick Jones returned to the United States and fought through the crowds to get into the mansion. There they learned that the founding members were leaving and met the new recruits. After some consideration, and having made peace with the fact that Bucky was dead. Captain America agreed to lead this new generation of Avengers. After Iron Man, Giant-Man, and the Wasp departed, Captain America got his new team together and revealed themselves to the press. However the news conference soon turned ugly when mention of Hawkeye's criminal past and the Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver's former terrorist activities were brought up. This was bad start for the new group, but they soon earned the public's trust when they were able to apprehend the Radioactive Man.
Captain America's leadership of the Avengers was bumpy at first with both Hawkeye and Quicksilver questioning the war heroes ability to lead the team. Seeking to boost the teams strength, Captain America took the team to the southwest to try and recruit the Hulk into their ranks once again. Instead they were led into a trap by the Mole Man, who unleashed his Minotaur creature upon them. The Avengers defeated the Mole Man, but were unable to locate the Hulk and soon ceased their search for him. The Avengers next came to the aid of the nation of Sin-Cong which was under the control of a foreign military power. They battled the leader of this group, the so-called Commissar, which was revealed to be a robot after it was destroyed and the country liberated. Avengers both new and old later had a reunion of sorts at the wedding of Mister Fantastic and the Invisible Girl of the Fantastic Four. The festivities were marred by an invasion of super-villains under the control of Dr. Doom, but these foes were vanquished by Mr. Fantastic using a device obtained by the Watcher. The Avengers were next attacked by the soldier-of-fortune known as the Swordsman who captured Captain America. While the team saved Cap, the Swordsman was teleported away by Iron Man's old foe the Mandarin. Outfitting the Swordsman with a new weapon, the Mandarin then used his technology to fool the Avengers into thinking that Iron Man had endorsed the Swordsman for membership. This was in order for the Swordsman to plant a bomb within Avengers Mansion which the Mandarin hoped to use to destroy his old foe. However when the Mandarin decided to detonate it early, the Swordsman realized there was no honor in the plan and attempted to remove the bomb. He was caught in the act and fled the scene after bomb safely detonated.
Soon the Enchantress resurfaced and sought to get revenge against the Avengers as well. To this end she empowered one of Baron Zemo's former minions with the same technology that created Wonder Man. With her thrall Powerman, the Enchantress succeeded in ruining the Avengers public image forcing them to disband briefly. While they were apart, Hawkeye, Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch were almost tricked into joining the Ringmaster's Circus of Crime but busted up the group instead. Meanwhile, Captain America gathered evidence exposing the deception. The reunited Avengers attacked, but the Enchantress fled leaving Powerman to apprehended. It was anything but a perfect victory, as Captain America decided to quit the team, having finally grown fed up of the constant bickering. Not long after this the Avengers were targeted by Kang the Conqueror who captured Hawkeye, Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch and brought them to his future world where he was trying to conquer the kingdom of the woman he desired, Princess Ravonna Renslayer. Learning of the Avengers capture, Captain America returned to the Mansion and learned what happened. In challenging Kang, he was transported to the future as well where he freed the Avengers and helped prepare Ravonna's people to resist Kang's forces. When Kang showed mercy toward Ravonna and her father, his minions saw this as a weakness and turned against him. Kang then grudgingly accepted the Avengers aid in fighting back against his own forces, stopping them from crushing Ravonna's nation. This proved Kang's love for Ravonna and the Avengers were sent home. However, as they were being transported back to the past they witnessed tragedy when one of Kang's men attempted to shoot him in the back, but Ravonna got in the path of the blast, putting her in a death like coma.
The new team was also targeted by Dr. Doom who fooled them into entering his nation of Latveria with a phony letter from a couple claiming to be the biological parents of the Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver. The Avengers were soon arrested in Latveria, but managed to break free and defeat Dr. Doom before fleeing the country.
==Goliath and the Wasp==
By this time, Henry Pym was working on a government drilling platform, when it was attacked by the Sub-Mariner. Seeking the Avengers aid, Hank sent the Wasp to get their aid. Along the way she was captured by Attuma an Atlantean barbarian who was seeking to flood the surface world. Breaking free she managed to contact the Avengers, and Captain America, Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch came to her rescue. Meanwhile, Hawkeye who was not present, returned to the Mansion where he was attacked by the Beetle, but forced his foe to flee before learning what happened to his teammates. He was able to track down his team and assist them in foiling Attuma's plot, but the Wasp had gone missing during the battle. When the Wasp failed to turn up, Henry Pym contacted the Avengers to help find her, revealing his true identity to them. Learning that the Wasp was a prisoner of the Collector, Pym rejoined the team taking on the identity of Goliath. However he explained to the group that he could only maintain his extended height for 15 minutes without serious injury. The Avengers defeated the Collector but he and the Beetle escaped. In the aftermath of the battle Goliath collapsed, having stayed at his giant-size for more than 15 minutes. Returning to New York, Goliath was examined by a doctor who warned that he was trapped in his giant size forever. Devastated by this news, Goliath fled the group to points unknown. Meanwhile, Hawkeye's former girlfriend the Black Widow, brainwashed into the serviced of the communist Chinese, gathered the Swordsman and Power Man to attack the Avengers. Although the Avengers were initially captured, the timely return of Goliath turned the tide of battle and the villains fled.
It was about this time that Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch began to notice that their mutant powers were beginning to fade and took a temporary leave of absence from the group to return to their native Transia to see if their powers were somehow linked to their homeland. Goliath also read a newspaper article about his colleague Dr. Anton and sought him out in South America to find a cure. Finding Anton missing, Goliath tracked him to the secret realm of El Dorado where he got in the middle of a conflict between Prince Ray and the so-called Keeper of the Flame who controlled the secret society's powerful cobalt powered flame. While Hawkeye got permission to go after the Black Widow alone, he defeated both the Swordsman and Powerman but couldn't bring himself to capture the Black Widow and let her go. Learning what became of Goliath, Captain America led the Wasp, and Hawkeye on a rescue mission. Clashing against the forces of Prince Rey and the Keeper, the Avengers seemingly destroyed the cobalt flame and fled with Dr. Anton. Unfortunately Dr. Anton professed that the only person who could cure Goliath's condition was Henry Pym. Goliath then began working on a cure for his condition with the help of scientist Bill Foster, while the Black Widow shook off her brainwashing and began associating herself closely with the Avengers. Meanwhile the racist organization called the Sons of the Serpent began prey on the nation's fears. The Avengers soon got involved in trying to shut down the organization after Bill was attacked by the group. While actively hunting down the group, Captain America was captured, forcing Goliath to take on a leadership role and he ordered the Avengers to stand down. The Avengers were only pretending to suddenly side with the Sons of the Serpent in order to draw them out into the open and free Cap. During the ensuing battle, the Avengers unmasked the Serpent's leader, revealing him to be General Chen, a military official from a communist nation seeking to demoralize the United States. Soon after Thor and Iron Man briefly returned to the group to petition for a new member, Spider-Man. Although Spider-Man's loner personality clashed with many of the Avengers they sent him on a test to prove that he was worthy enough to join the group. Spider-Man was tasked with capturing the Hulk who was recently seen in the area. Spidey initially went out to complete this task but decided against it after meeting the Hulk's alter-ego, Bruce Banner and felt sorry for the tormented scientist. Spider-Man returned to the Avengers empty handed and rescinded their offer to join the Avengers.
The Avengers were next targeted by the Living Laser who had developed an unhealthy obsession with the Wasp. He succeeded in trapping Captain America and Hawkeye and absconding with the Wasp. Hawkeye and Cap freed themselves and Goliath finally found a cure that allowed him to restore his size-changing abilities. They tracked the Living Laser to the island nation of Costa Verde to assist a local militia in staging a coup. The Avengers soon arrived and stopped this invasion, freed the Wasp, and toppled the current regime allowing the people of Costa Verde to develop a democratic government. By this time the Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver had been captured by the alien being known as Ixar who sought to capture Earth's super-heroes and use them to grant power to his army of Ultroids to do battle with an unidentified alien race. In order to lure the Avengers to Transia, he sent his minion Ultrana disguised as the Scarlet Witch to Avengers Mansion. She brought the Avengers, and the visiting Black Widow with her and lured them into Ixar's trap. The Avengers were freed thanks in part to the Black Widow threatening to slay Ixar, as she was not held by the Avengers vow not to kill. Upon defeat Ixar freed the Avengers and agreed to leave the Earth. With the threat over, and their powers seemingly restored to full strength Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch rejoined the ranks of the Avengers.
==Hercules==
Hawkeye soon began petitioning that the Black Widow join the Avengers but met with opposition from Goliath. But the Widow soon made her own decision taking up an offer to join the anti-espionage organization SHIELD and going on a secret mission for them. Also during this time, Captain America went on a brief leave of absence to deal with his personal affairs. Meanwhile the Enchantress teamed up with Ares, the Olympian god of war. The Enchantress put Ares' brother Hercules under her spell and sent him to destroy the Avengers on Earth. Although Hercules followed these orders he freed from the spell while battling the Avengers. In the aftermath of the battle, Hercules' father Zeus sentenced Hercules into exile on Earth for going there without his permission. The Avengers in turn invited the demi-god to live with them as a guest. Following the news that the Black Widow had apparently betrayed her adopted country; the Avengers were targeted by the Mad Thinker and his Triumvirate of Terror who attacked Avengers Mansion in the hopes of stealing the StarkTech that was housed there. However the Mad Thinker did not factor in the addition of Hercules being present, and he and his minions were easily trounced. While the Triumvirate was captured, the Mad Thinker fled capture. Captain America soon contact the group and asked them to seek out and recover the Cosmic Cube before his foe the Red Skull could recover it. This led to a battle with the Sub-Mariner who had discovered the Cube. During the course of the battle the Cube was lost when it was dropped into a crack in the Earth created by the battle.
Goliath then began examining the android creature known as Dragon Man in order to expand his knowledge on artificial life. This experimentation was interrupted by the alchemist known as Diablo who reactivated the Dragon Man and captured Goliath and the Wasp in order to force Pym to build an army of Dragon Men. The Avengers followed after Diablo to his secret lair where Hercules rescued the Wasp from Dragon Man, and the Avengers defeated Diablo thanks to the timely arrival of Captain America who helped turn the tide of battle. The army of Dragon Men were destroyed and Diablo was taken into custody. Soon Pym began working on a robot of his own, called Ultron. During the creation of Ultron, Pym was visited by time travelers from Earth-61112 who had Pym pre-program a fail-safe in Ultron to prevent the apocalyptic future of Earth-61112 where Ultron took over the world. When Ultron was completed it turned on his master and then erased his memories of building the robot so that it could prepare its conquest of humanity in secret. Ultron would come to menace the Avengers many times in the future. By this time the Black Widow was exposed as a spy and was taken prisoner by her Chinese employers. Learning this, Hawkeye went after her bringing Hercules with him, but they too were captured. Despite the possibility of an international incident the Captain America gathered the Avengers to go and rescue their captive friends. Infiltrating the facility where their comrades were being held captive, the Avengers clashed with communist forces as well as Russia's answer to Captain America, the Red Guardian. The Avengers escaped after freeing their captive friends, although the Red Guardian seemingly perished in the battle and the Black Widow was seriously wounded and required hospitalization upon their return to the United States. 
Shortly thereafter the Mandarin gathered an army of super-villains in a bid to conquer the world. With super-villain activity on the rise, Iron Man and Thor returned to the Avengers temporarily to boost their ranks. With information from SHIELD the Avengers learned that the villains were active in three different locations and split up into groups to stop them. In South America, Goliath, the Wasp and Iron Man stopped the Swordsman and Powerman; In the Middle East, Hercules and the Scarlet Witch defeated the Enchantress and Executioner; while in Northern Africa, Thor and Hawkeye stopped the Living Laser from resurrecting the robot known as Ultimo. The Avengers then regrouped and joined Captain America and Quicksilver in battling the Mandarin aboard a space station. Although the Mandarin escaped capture, the Avengers stopped his doomsday weapon from being used to destroy the planet Earth. The city of New York then announced an official Avengers Day after this victory with all the members attending a ceremony in Central Park, however Iron Man and Thor soon departed to resume their individual pursuits. It was during this period that Hercules was made an official Avenger. When Captain America arrived the Avengers were attacked by his enemy, the android known as the Super-Adaptoid who had mimicked all the powers of the Avengers. The Avengers easily defeated the android when they tricked it into using more than two of the Avengers powers at the same time. Goliath and the Wasp were next targeted by their old foe Whirlwind during a time when most of the Avengers were away from the Mansion. However the timely arrival of Captain America and Quicksilver allowed Goliath and Wasp to escape from their trap and defeat Whirlwind, who managed to escape. In the aftermath of the battle Goliath started using his Ant-Man tech again and Cap announced that he was taking a leave of absence from the group for the time being.
==Departures==
By this time the Avengers were going through another series of growing pains. Captain America had decided to quit the team in order to find meaning in his life. Following him was also Goliath and the Wasp who decided to take a brief leave of absence to focus on their relationship. Hawkeye's relationship with the Black Widow also became strained after the Black Widow decided to retire from heroics. Hercules also departed to return to his home of Olympus to petition his father to end his exile, only to find his home deserted. Quicksilver also found himself growing more hostile towards humans due to the growing anti-mutant sentiment in the United States, much the Scarlet Witch's concern. This came to the fore when scientist Dane Whitman accidentally freed the mutant terrorist Magneto and his minion the Toad from the Stranger's prison world. Seeking to reform his Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, Magneto lured Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch to Whitman's castle in England and took them prisoner.Magneto and the Toad had been prisoners of the Stranger since although Magneto had briefly escaped and was recaptured in 
Whitman escaped from Magneto's clutches and decided to take on the identity once used by his late uncle, Nathan Garrett, the criminal Black Knight and flew to the United States. There he was mistaken for his criminal uncle and attacked by Goliath, the Wasp, and Hawkeye. When the confusion was cleared up, the Black Knight informed the Avengers of what happened to Pietro and Wanda, but the attack angered him that he refused to help them on their rescue mission and flew off.The original Black Knight was mortally wounded battling Iron Man in and was depicted as dying in right after passing the mantel of the Black Knight to Dane. Soon Magneto brought Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch to the United Nations to demand that mutants be given a nation of their own to rule. When violence erupted in the UN chambers, the Avengers arrived on the scene to stop the Brotherhood's attack. During the fight, Magneto used his powers to make a guards stray bullet strike the Scarlet Witch's brow. This injury secured her brother's loyalty to Magneto and they fled to plot against humanity. Seeking to boost their ranks, Goliath, Hawkeye, and the Wasp went to Mount Olympus to seek out Hercules. There they found Hercules battling the Titan known as Typhon who had banished the Olympians to the Land of Shades. The Avengers helped Hercules defeat Typhon and restore the Promethean Flame which in turn restored the Olympians. Zeus welcomed Hercules back among his people, and he left the Avengers in order to return home.
Seeking to boost their fighting powers, Goliath began trying to increase his growing powers. While doing so he, the Wasp and Hawkeye were captured by the Collector who was making yet another attempt to add the Avengers to his collection. He also attempted to capture Thor and Iron Man, but the pair assisted their comrades in defeating the Collector and freeing themselves. Eventually, Goliath succeeded in boosting his powers.
==Black Panther==
The Avengers were next targeted by the Grim Reaper who sought revenge against the Avengers whom he blamed for the death of his brother, Wonder Man. Attacking the Avengers at their headquarters his scythe put the heroes in a death like state. This attack coincided with the arrival of the Black Panther who was sent by Captain America to fill in with the Avengers. The Panther happened upon the "murder scene" under investigation by SHIELD and was accused of killing his would be comrades. The Panther fled the authorities and managed to track down the Grim Reaper, defeating him in battle and restored the Avengers back to full health. The Black Panther was then welcomed into the ranks of the Avengers.The Black Panther was asked by Captain America to join the Avengers in his place in It was about this time that the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants were in a clash with their foes the X-Men. While most of the team was captured, the Angel evaded capture. He contacted the Avengers who agreed to accompany him to the Brotherhood's headquarters. Thanks to a bug planted by the Brotherhood they were aware the Avengers were coming and used brainwashing devices to set the X-Men against the Avengers. A battle broke out between the two groups until the X-Men were able to shake off the affects on their mind. With the battle lost the Brotherhood set their base to explode. Everyone fled the island except for Magneto, who was seemingly slain in the ensuing blast.Magneto survived as seen in 
Meanwhile, the robot Ultron had upgraded itself sufficiently to strike against the Avengers. To this end, it formed a new Masters of Evil under the guise of the Crimson Cowl. This new incarnation included the Melter, Whirlwind, Black Panther's foe Klaw, the Radioactive Man, and the Black Knight. It was around this time that the Avengers butler Jarvis sought extra money for his ailing mother and was selling information to the Masters out of desperation. Ultron took advantage of this situation by hypnotizing Jarvis into acting as the Cowl and Ultron posing as an inarticulate robot. However they did not anticipate that the Black Knight that they included on their team was not a super-villain and during the attack on Avengers Mansion he attempted to warn the Avengers. Despite the Knight's efforts, the Masters captured the Avengers. Ultron then had Jarvis "reveal" himself as the Crimson Cowl. Ultimately, Ultron revealed his true self, and the Avengers broke free and fought back. With the help of the Black Knight, this new incarnation of the Masters of Evil were defeated but Ultron managed to escape. In the aftermath of the battle a shamed Jarvis explained his role in everything, and the Avengers decided to forgive him and welcome him back into their employ. The Avengers were next asked by Captain America to meet him at the American castle owned by Dr. Doom. There Cap convinced the Avengers to use Dr. Doom's Time-Platform to travel back in time to 1945 to confirm if Cap's partner Bucky died in their final wartime battle with Baron Zemo. All the Avengers except the Wasp went with Cap back in time to watch events out of synch with time. However the Wasp strangely became sleepy and bumped the controls causing the Avengers to briefly materialize in the past, battling Zemo and his Humanoid before they were brought back out of synch. However the trip into the past confirmed for Captain America that his partner was dead and they returned to the present. states that Captain America's desire to go into the past and the Wasp's fatigue were all manipulations of the time traveler known as the Scarlet Centurion. As previously stated, Bucky survived and lived on for many years as the Winter Soldier as per 
Instead of returning to the present of their native Earth-616, the Avengers found themselves in the parallel universe of Earth-689. They soon learned that a time traveler known as the Scarlet Centurion convinced this realities version of the Avengers that in order to maintain world peace they had to capture an imprison every super-human on the globe. Learning that Dr. Doom's time machine was disassembled in this reality, the Avengers gathered the components, battling their counterparts. After rebuilding the time machine they were attacked by the Scarlet Centurion who was also defeated and the Avengers returned to their native reality.The mainstream Marvel Universe was designated Earth-616 per while Earth-928 was numbered in the 
 
==The Vision and Yellowjacket==
The robot Ultron resurfaced soon after and built the android called the Vision for the purpose of destroying the Avengers. states that Ultron used the body of the original Human Torch to created the Vision. goes further to state that this was a chronal duplicate of the Torch created by Immortus as part of his plot to manipulate the Avengers. During this period, the Avengers were going through more personal changes. The relationship between Hawkeye and the Black Widow became strained as she resumed her activities for SHIELD. The Black Panther was also making an attempt to find his place in the United States, developing a cover identity of school teacher Luke Charles. The Vision attacked Goliath and the Wasp, there are two different account of this battle. Both accounts the Vision overcame his programming and assisted the Avengers in seemingly destroying Ultron. The first account states that the Vision attacked the Wasp and Goliath at their apartment and then led the Avengers to Ultron's hideout. Another account states that the battle took place at Avengers Mansion, and that Ultron also attacked the Avengers at their home. After the battle was over, the Avengers began to consider the Vision for leadership and called in Captain America, Iron Man and Thor to make the final decision. After learning the origins of the Vision and of Ultron itself, the senior Avengers agreed to allow him in their ranks.Ultron survived and rebuilt himself, reappearing in 
The admission of the Vision and the Black Panther did not go unnoticed. The Vision in particular gained the attention of SHIELD, particularly following the escape of the Super-Adaptoid, and the android was taken into custody to ensure that the Vision was not the Adaptoid in disguise, much to the protest of the Avengers. Also at this time, the Black Panther was dealing with diplomatic troubles between his country and the United States due to his activities with the Avengers. The Vision was eventually released into the Avengers custody while they were assigned on a mission to an island to the north of the Philippines where AIM was attempting to construct an army of Super-Adaptoids. During the Avengers strike on the island, the army was released, but during the battle the original Super-Adaptoid managed to break free and escape. Goliath single handedly destroyed the army of the Super-Adaptoids by himself. Pressures continued to mount due to the public's distrust of the Vision being on the team, as well as pressure from the NSA which began to weigh heavily on Goliath, who was now acting as team leader. Pym eventually suffered a nervous breakdown in his lab, smashing everything in sight and exposing himself to chemicals which started the formation of a new identity. This new personality came to believe himself to a costumed rogue named Yellowjacket and that he had killed Henry Pym. Presenting himself to the Avengers, Yellowjacket revealed this and demanded that he be made a member of the team. This caused further discord with the Avengers relations with SHIELD whose lead psychologist determined that Yellowjacket was really Henry Pym and suggested that the Avengers play along with the ruse to prevent any further mental problems for their leader. Yellowjacket soon captured the Wasp intending to force her to marry him. In order to try and shock Hank back to normal, Wasp shocked the Avengers by agreeing to do so.
A wedding was quickly planned, much to the irritation of SHIELD director Nick Fury who had to provide security detail. This surprise wedding also came as a shock to the entire super-hero community invited, especially former Avengers. However, these Avengers were informed of the reality of the situation upon their arrival and Captain America in particular cautiously agreed to play things by the Wasp's rules. During the preparations, Yellowjacket was briefly pulled from time to partake in the so-called Destiny War before being returned with no memory of his activities.See through or the Destiny War section of this profile. The wedding was no entirely uneventful, as it was stalked by the Wakandan assassin known as Death Tiger, who murdered SHIELD agents guarding the facility, and the Circus of Crime who were attempting to get revenge against Thor for a past defeat..The Circus of Crime were defeated by Thor in and When the Circus of Crime attacked the Avengers made short work of them, when the Wasp was endangered it caused Yellowjacket to snap out of his mental state as well. The entire incident didn't sit well with SHIELD due to the deaths of their agents and they were determined to keep Pym under observation. Shortly there after Death Tiger was defeated by the Black Panther. Later, the Super-Adaptoid resurfaced and attacked Avengers Mansion. Thanks to the Vision, the Super-Adaptoid was defeated winning the public's trust in the android. A small personal tragedy was suffered during this period, with the Black Widow and Hawkeye ending their relationship.
==The New Goliath==
Hawkeye, the Black Panther, and Vision were next contacted by Dr. Strange, Earth's Sorcerer Supreme. and assisted in reviving the Black Knight following their battle against the Sons of Satannish. Soon they traveled to Africa where they stopped a clash between the Asgardian Frost Giant Ymir and the fire demon Surtur, utilizing the power of the Crystal of Conquest to do so.Dr. Strange and the Black Knight began the battle against the Sons of Satannish in These Avengers made a stop in the Black Panther's homeland of Wakanda where they helped the Panther stop the Man-Ape, who seemingly died battling his foe the Panther.The Man-Ape led his foes believe that he was dead and resurfaced in Upon their return to the United States, their ship nearly crashed and Hawkeye's bow broke in the rescue attempt. Reunited with the rest of the team, the Avengers soon learned that the Earth was being threatened by the Mad Thinker, Puppet Master and Egghead. When it was learned that they had kidnapped the Black Widow, Hawkeye was ordered to stay behind. Disobeying orders and needing a power boost, Hawkeye consumed the last of Pym's growth formula and took on the costumed identity of Goliath. He then rescued the Black Widow from the three mad geniuses but they managed to escape. The Avengers were eventually led to Egghead's orbiting space station thanks to assistance from Goliath's brother Barney. The Avengers defeated Egghead and destroyed his space station, however Barney seemingly died assisting them.Barney Barton secretly survived as revealed in . The Mad Thinker was foiled by the Sub-Mariner in , while the Puppet Master was defeated by Captain Marvel and Iron Man in 
Goliath brought his brothers killer to justice when Egghead -- mistaking Goliath for his old foe Henry Pym -- sent the Swordsman to capture Goliath. Although the Swordsman managed to capture Goliath, the hero turned the tides and captured both of them. The Avengers, rejoined by Iron Man and Thor, were asked by scientist Myron MacLain to test out his latest Adamantium alloy. When the Vision suddenly betrayed the team and stole the Adamantium sample, they soon learned that the Vision was programmed to rebuild his creator, Ultron. During the battle against Ultron, the Vision broke free from his creator's control and the group learned that the insane robot intended to detonate a nuclear bomb in the heart of New York City. The Avengers ultimately stopped Ultron, thanks to Pym posing as MacLain and using his hypnotic suggestion to Ultron not to kill when the robot attempted to try and siphoned his knowledge of forging Adamantium. Ultron seemingly self-destructed and the bomb was disarmed.Ultron resurfaced again in 
==Game of Galaxies==
The Avengers came to the aid of Tony Stark after his battle with an Iron Man LMD caused him to have a heart attack. Not making the connection between Stark and Iron Man, the Avengers rushed Stark to a hospital. There they were joined by Captain America who came to check on Stark's state of health. There they were attacked by one of Kang's Growing Men who kidnapped Stark and lured the Avengers outside. They were transported to Kang's future world in the 40th century. There they learned that Kang entered into a contest with the cosmic being known as the Grandmaster. If Kang won the competition he would gain the power over life and death in order to bring Ravonna to life, and if he lost the Earth would be destroyed. Kang selected the Avengers to be his champions, and they agreed provided that he return Stark to their own time. With the games beginning, Captain America, Goliath and Thor were transported to modern day Earth to battle the Grandmaster's champions the Squadron Sinister. 
They were quickly joined by Iron Man who arrived at the scene and the heroes learned that they had to stop each Squadron Member from stealing various monuments from around the world. Captain America prevented Nighthawk from stealing the Statue of Liberty, while Iron Man stopped Doctor Spectrum from stealing the Taj Mahal, Thor then stopped Hyperion from stealing the Sphinx. In England, Goliath attempted to stop the Whizzer from stealing Big Ben. However the Black Knight interfered with the battle. This prompted the Grandmaster to consider this portion of the contest to be void and teleported all the competitors back to the 40th century, inadvertently taking the Black Knight's sword with them. The Black Knight -- with guidance from the spirit of his ancestor the original Black Knight -- then used his mystical connection to his Ebony Blade to transport himself to the future where he began freeing the captured Avengers. Meanwhile, Yellowjacket, the Black Panther, and the Vision were transported to France circa 1943 where they were forced to fight that era's Captain America, Sub-Mariner and Human Torch. The trio of Avengers easily defeated the wartime heroes and were brought back to their own era. As the reunited Avengers faced Kang, the Grandmaster appeared and named Kang the victor. With the power of life over death, Kang decided to used his power to slay the Avengers. This backfired due to the fact that the power did not work against the Black Knight, who was not officially a member of the Avengers and he easily defeated Kang. With the contest over, the Grandmaster stripped Kang of his power over life and death and returned the Avengers to their own time. There, the Avengers unanimously agreed to make the Black Knight an member of their team, an offer the Knight accepted.
==References==
==Notations==
Category:Expanded History