Avengers (Marvel Cinematic Universe)

The Avengers as they appear in Avengers: Endgame

Natasha Romanoff (2018–2023)

Natasha Romanoff

Bruce Banner

Thor

Clint Barton

Pietro Maximoff

Wanda Maximoff

Vision

James Rhodes

Sam Wilson

Peter Parker

Rocket Raccoon

Carol Danvers

Nebula

Okoye

Scott Lang

Luis' Van (destroyed)

Asgard

World Security Council

United States Federal Government

United Nations

Wakanda

Masters of the Mystic Arts

Guardians of the Galaxy

Ravagers

Captain America: Civil War

Avengers: Infinity War

Avengers: Endgame

Avengers: The Kang Dynasty

Avengers: Secret Wars

The Avengers are a fictional team of superheroes and the protagonists of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) media franchise, based on the Marvel Comics team of the same name created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in 1963. Founded by S.H.I.E.L.D. Director Nick Fury, the team is a United States-based organization composed primarily of superpowered and gifted individuals, described as *"Earth's Mightiest Heroes"*, who are committed to the world's protection from a variety of threats. The Avengers are depicted as operating in the state of New York: originally from the Avengers Tower in Midtown Manhattan and subsequently from the Avengers Compound in Upstate New York.

The concept of the Avengers was teased in the post-credits scene of *Iron Man* (2008), the first MCU film, by Nick Fury as an initiative planned by him. The concept was further explored in *Iron Man 2* (2010), with the introduction of Natasha Romanoff. The team was eventually established in the crossover-style film *The Avengers* (2012), which, followed by *Avengers: Age of Ultron* (2015), *Avengers: Infinity War* (2018) and *Avengers: Endgame* (2019), established a series of four films that headlined the MCU and became the sixth highest-grossing film series of all time, with the MCU franchise overall ranking first. Arranged as an ensemble of core MCU characters such as Iron Man, Captain America and Thor, they are central to the MCU's Infinity Saga and have been acclaimed as an important part of the franchise. The Avengers are set to return in *Avengers: The Kang Dynasty* and *Avengers: Secret Wars*, both releasing in 2025, as the conclusion of the MCU's Multiverse Saga.

## Role in the Films

### Avengers Initiative

In 1995, the Avengers Initiative is created by S.H.I.E.L.D. director Nick Fury, who envisions a group of heroes working together in response to planetary threats, following the appearance of superhumans such as Carol Danvers. He names his plan after her U.S. Air Force callsign, "Avenger". Years later, Fury assesses various individuals for the initiative, including Tony Stark and Steve Rogers. Stark's membership is declined after a negative report on his suitability by Natasha Romanoff. The World Security Council expresses a desire for Emil Blonsky to join the initiative, although they abandon their wish after Stark deters Thaddeus Ross from the idea, instead bringing in Bruce Banner.

### The First Assembly

In 2012, the Asgardian Loki teleports to the Joint Dark Energy Mission Facility on Earth, where he steals the Tesseract and brainwashes Clint Barton and Dr. Erik Selvig using his scepter. Following the attack, Fury recruits Stark and Banner to locate the Tesseract. Rogers, Romanoff, and Stark apprehend Loki, but are disrupted by the arrival of Thor. This leads to confrontations between the group, exacerbated by the revelation that S.H.I.E.L.D. is building weapons of mass destruction using the Tesseract, during which the brainwashed Barton attacks the Helicarrier, provoking Banner to transform into the Hulk and go on a rampage.

#### Battle of New York

After Loki kills S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Phil Coulson, the team unites to avenge him. Romanoff frees Barton from mind control, and the Avengers depart to confront Loki, who subsequently opens a wormhole on Stark Tower using the Tesseract and begins his invasion, with the Avengers, led by Rogers, fighting his Chitauri army. During the battle, the World Security Council launches a nuclear strike toward Manhattan against Fury's wishes, but the missile is intercepted by Stark, who flies it through the wormhole and destroys the Chitauri mother ship, deactivating the army. Romanoff uses Loki's scepter to close the portal, and Loki is apprehended and taken to Asgard. The Avengers also unite to eat shawarma in the aftermath of the battle, while Stark Tower is renamed "Avengers Tower".

### Fighting Hydra and Ultron

Three years after his attack on New York City, Loki's scepter, formerly in the possession of S.H.I.E.L.D., is used by Hydra following the collapse of S.H.I.E.L.D. The Avengers track it down to the Eastern European nation of Sokovia, where they fight to recover it, and encounter the superhuman Hydra test subjects Wanda Maximoff and Pietro Maximoff. Barton is wounded in the battle, Rogers captures Hydra's leader Wolfgang von Strucker and Stark manages to retrieve the scepter despite being subjected to apocalyptic hallucinations by Wanda's telepathy. Stark and Banner decide to use the scepter to create the Ultron Program as an artificial intelligence peacekeeping force. Meanwhile, the Avengers celebrate their victory. However, the newly designed A.I. attacks the Avengers as Ultron, intent on destroying the Avengers, and later kills Strucker. The Avengers are divided over Stark's creation, who maintains it was intended to protect Earth from looming cosmic threats.

In Africa, the Avengers confront Ultron, now allied with the Maximoff twins, and a fight ensues. Wanda induces telekinetic hallucinations upon the Avengers, and triggers Banner's transformation into the Hulk before she is stopped by Barton. The Hulk rampages through Johannesburg until being stopped by Stark in his Hulkbuster armor. After regrouping and encountering Nick Fury at Clint Barton's farmhouse, Rogers, Barton and Romanoff retrieve a new vibranium body created by Ultron. Stark and Banner upload J.A.R.V.I.S. into the body, although they face resistance from Rogers and the Maximoffs. Thor, having experienced a vision of the Infinity Stones, uses Mjolnir to supercharge the process, creating The Vision.

#### Battle of Sokovia

After losing the Vision as its new body, Ultron tries to cause an extinction event by using Sokovia as a meteor. The Avengers, joined by James Rhodes and the Maximoffs, defeat Ultron's sentries and evacuate civilians. Pietro is killed saving Barton, and Sokovia is exploded by Stark and Thor to prevent human extinction. Vision eventually destroys the last remaining body of Ultron. In the aftermath of the battle, Stark and Barton decide to retire as active members of the team with the latter having promised his wife to come back home once the mission was over; Banner disappears, and Thor goes to space to track down the Infinity Stones; while Rhodes, Sam Wilson, Wanda, and the Vision join the team, under the leadership of Rogers and Romanoff. The Avengers also move to the new Avengers Compound in Upstate New York as their primary headquarters.

### Civil War

Months after the Battle of Sokovia, the Avengers New Facility becomes the target of a heist, with a skirmish between Wilson and Scott Lang. In 2016, Rogers, Romanoff, Wanda and Wilson defend a research lab in Lagos from Brock Rumlow. The Avengers successfully stop Rumlow and his crew of mercenaries, but when an attempted suicide attack by Rumlow is deflected by Wanda through telekinesis, Wakandan diplomats are killed. As a result, Secretary of State Thaddeus Ross presents the Sokovia Accords to the Avengers, a United Nations (U.N.) legislation that would bring the Avengers and other superhumans under the direct authority of the U.N. Although Stark, Rhodes, Vision and Romanoff support the idea, Rogers and Wilson object due to fears of their autonomy being limited while Wanda is uncertain.

After Bucky Barnes is accused of killing King T'Chaka of Wakanda in an explosion, Rogers and Wilson seek to protect him from an arrest warrant, causing them to clash with Stark, Rhodes, Romanoff and T'Challa, son of T'Chaka. After Barnes is detained in Berlin, Helmut Zemo activates his 'Winter Soldier' alter-ego using the Winter Soldier Book, although Barnes later comes to his senses and reveals Zemo's interest in the Winter Soldier Program. To assist them, Wilson recruits Lang and Rogers recruits Barton, who comes out of retirement, confronts the Vision and takes Maximoff out of *de facto* house arrest at the Avengers Compound. The two sides of the Avengers then confront at the Leipzig/Halle Airport, with Rogers, Barnes, Wilson, Barton, Lang and Wanda facing Stark, Rhodes, Romanoff, the Vision, T'Challa and new recruit Peter Parker.

Rogers and Barnes manage to escape with Romanoff's help, who betrays Stark to find Zemo, while their teammates are imprisoned in the Raft. Rhodes' legs are paralyzed when he falls after being accidentally struck by a blast from the Vision that was aimed at Wilson. Rogers and Barnes head to the Hydra Siberian Facility to stop Zemo from reactivating the Winter Soldier Program, and are joined by Stark, who realized Barnes' innocence. However, Zemo shows Stark footage of Barnes' assassination of Stark's parents, turning Stark against Rogers and Barnes. In the ensuing fight, Rogers disables Stark's armor, whilst Barnes' cybernetic arm is destroyed and Rogers abandons his shield. Meanwhile, T'Challa apprehends Zemo after discovering he was his father's true killer. Rogers later breaks out his teammates from the Raft with the help of Romanoff arriving on a Quinjet, with Stark declining to stop him.

#### Aftermath

Although officially reduced to just Stark, Vision and Rhodes, the Avengers continue operating. Stark sells Avengers Tower, and Parker is offered a place on the Avengers roster by Stark (who initially thought he wasn't ready) after defeating Adrian Toomes, although he declines, choosing to remain a neighborhood superhero and having come to slowly understand the dangers of his superhero life. Meanwhile, Barton and Lang make a deal with the U.S. government to be placed under house arrest so they can go back to their families. The FBI, led by Jimmy Woo, monitor Lang's house arrest, which he violates due to Hope van Dyne and Hank Pym requiring his help to find Janet Van Dyne who has been trapped in the Quantum Realm. Barnes finds refuge in Wakanda, where he is rehabilitated from his former Winter Soldier programming.

### Infinity War

In 2018, the Avengers come into conflict with Thanos and his children, who are seeking the six Infinity Stones to erase half of all life in the universe. Thanos forcefully boards the *Statesman*, kills Loki, and incapacitates Thor. Banner, as the Hulk, is also defeated by Thanos but is sent to Earth by Heimdall to inform Stephen Strange, the keeper of the Time Stone, as well as his friend Wong, of Thanos' impending arrival. Strange, Wong and Banner, joined by Stark and Parker, confront Ebony Maw and Cull Obsidian in Greenwich Village. With the Hulk reluctant to emerge, Strange is captured by Maw, while Banner contacts Rogers to warn him of Thanos' intention to acquire Vision's Mind Stone.

#### Battle of Titan

In space aboard Maw's ship, Stark and Parker pursue Strange and kill Maw, after which Stark annoints Parker as an official Avenger. On Stark's urging, they head for Thanos' home planet Titan, where they ally with the Guardians of the Galaxy after initial hostility. The Avengers and Guardians are able to restrain Thanos and attempt to take the Infinity Gauntlet, wielding four of the Stones, off him. However, an enraged Peter Quill attacks Thanos upon learning of the death of Gamora, allowing Thanos to escape. Thanos incapacitates the group, and Strange surrenders the Time Stone to save Stark's life, contradicting his previous promise not to.

#### Battle of Wakanda

Meanwhile, Rogers, Romanoff and Wilson, fugitives since 2016, intercept an attack on Vision and Maximoff in Edinburgh. They return to the Avengers Compound, where they reunite with Rhodes and Banner. Learning of the threat, Vision proposes to be destroyed to prevent Thanos from acquiring the Mind Stone, but Wanda and the Avengers refuse and travel to Wakanda, where Shuri, sister of T'Challa, begins an operation to remove the Stone from the Vision. Meanwhile, the Wakandan army, the Jabari Tribe, the Dora Milaje, and Barnes ally with the Avengers to defend Vision from Thanos' children and the Outriders. Banner, unable to become the Hulk, dons a modified Hulkbuster armor, and Thor, Rocket and Groot also arrive in Wakanda and join the battle, with Thor wielding his newly forged axe, Stormbreaker.

Corvus Glaive ambushes Shuri, stopping her from operating on the Vision. Vision kills Glaive, Banner kills Obsidian, and Wanda kills Proxima Midnight during the battle. When Thanos arrives, Vision urges Maximoff to destroy the Mind Stone. Rogers rallies the Avengers in an unsuccessful attempt to stop Thanos. Wanda tearfully destroys the Stone, killing Vision, but Thanos uses the Time Stone to reverse the action and retrieves the Stone from Vision's forehead, killing him once more. With the Gauntlet now assembled, Thanos, despite being attacked by Thor, initiates the Blip, causing Wilson, Barnes, Wanda, Strange, Parker, T'Challa, Groot, Quill, Drax, and Mantis to disintegrate, leaving Stark and Nebula alone on Titan while the surviving Avengers in Wakanda rue their defeat after Thanos retreats.

Nick Fury and Maria Hill are blipped as they try to find out Stark and the Avengers' location but not before Fury manages to summon Carol Danvers. Barton's family also blips while he is on house arrest as he's left to mourn their loss. Upon learning of what happened he becomes the murderous vigilante Ronin to kill those he believes did not deserve to be spared by the Blip. Lang gets trapped in the Quantum Realm while he was there harvesting energy from it, as Hank Pym, Hope and Janet van Dyne who were going to pull him out get blipped.

### Reversing the Blip

Three weeks later, the Avengers regroup after Stark and Nebula are rescued from space by Carol Danvers. Following an outburst from Stark towards Rogers over not supporting him on Titan, the rest of the Avengers detect an energy surge from Thanos' Garden planet, and Rogers, Romanoff, Banner, Thor, Danvers, Rhodes, Rocket and Nebula head there to ambush him. Thanos reveals that he destroyed the Infinity Stones, prompting an enraged Thor to decapitate him.

During the next five years, Romanoff becomes the leader of the Avengers, having officially recruited Danvers, Rocket, and Nebula to the team. Romanoff's Avengers work to quell disturbances on both Earth and other planets caused by the Blip, and they work closely with Okoye of Wakanda. Rogers becomes a grief counselor, while Stark retires to live with his wife Pepper Potts and daughter Morgan. Barton, with his family having fallen victim to the Blip, becomes a criminal-hunting vigilante called Ronin. Thor, overcome by depression, becomes an overweight alcoholic. Banner merges his personalities, retaining his intelligence in the Hulk's body.

#### Time Heist

In 2023, following the release of a trapped Scott Lang from the Quantum Realm, Lang visits Rogers and Romanoff and explains that he only experienced five hours in the Realm rather than five years, and thus suggests time travel as a method of reversing the Blip. Lang, Rogers and Romanoff visit Stark and Banner to discuss the plan, with Stark refusing and Banner running unsuccessful time travel tests on Lang using Hank Pym's quantum tunnel. Following this, Stark, remembering the loss of Parker and the others, helps the team develop successful time travel using Pym Particles, with the Avengers conducting an operation dubbed by Lang as the "Time Heist".

Banner, Rogers, Stark and Lang travel to New York City in 2012. Banner is given the Time Stone by the Ancient One after revealing Strange's surrender of it, Lang retrieves the Mind Stone (housed in Loki's Scepter), and Stark and Rogers retrieve the Space Stone from the 1970s after failing to retrieve it from 2012. Thor and Rocket retrieve the Reality Stone and Mjolnir from Asgard in 2013. Rhodes and Nebula retrieve the Power Stone from Morag in 2014, but Nebula is captured by a Thanos from 2014 and 2014 Nebula returns to 2023. Barton retrieves the Soul Stone after Romanoff sacrifices herself on Vormir to allow Barton to obtain it.

#### Battle of Earth

Reuniting in the present, the Avengers place the Stones into a gauntlet designed by Stark, Banner, and Rocket. Banner, having the most resistance to their gamma radiation, wields the gauntlet and reverses the Blip. Meanwhile, 2014-Nebula, impersonating her future self, uses the time machine to transport 2014-Thanos and his warship to the present, destroying the Avengers Compound in the process. Present-day Nebula convinces 2014-Gamora to betray Thanos, but is unable to convince 2014-Nebula and kills her. Thanos overpowers Stark, Thor, and Rogers, who wields Mjolnir. Thanos summons his army to retrieve the Stones, intent on using them to destroy the universe and create a new one. A restored Strange arrives with other sorcerers, the restored Avengers and Guardians of the Galaxy, the Ravagers, and the armies of Wakanda and Asgard to fight Thanos' army. Danvers also arrives and destroys Thanos' warship, but Thanos overpowers her using the Power Stone and seizes the gauntlet. After a prompt from Strange, Stark obtains the Stones and uses them to disintegrate Thanos and his army, but the strain of using them kills him.

#### Aftermath

Following Stark's funeral, the Avengers disband. Thor appoints Valkyrie as the new ruler of New Asgard and heads for space with the Guardians, including Rocket and Nebula. Rogers returns the Infinity Stones and Mjolnir to their proper timelines and remains in the past to live with Peggy Carter. In the present, an elderly Rogers passes his shield and the mantle of Captain America to Sam Wilson. Lang returns home to spend time with Hope and his daughter, Cassie. He then starts a podcast interviews, called *Big Me Little Me*, as he shares the story about the Battle of Earth. Wanda, in her grief from Vision's death, creates a magical false reality in Westview, New Jersey, which eventually unravels the origin of her powers as the Scarlet Witch while also coming into conflict with S.W.O.R.D. Her powers revive Vision, now with an altered appearance and without the Mind Stone as power-source while also creating twin children, Billy and Tommy Maximoff. Corrupted by the *Darkhold*, Wanda rampages across the multiverse trying to unite with alternate real versions of her children before being stopped by Strange, Wong and America Chavez.

Rhodes and Wilson return to the U.S. military, and eventually Wilson accepts Rogers' legacy and becomes the new Captain America after stopping the threat of the Flag-Smashers with Bucky Barnes. Parker returns to school and briefly becomes Stark's chosen successor until he is brought into conflict with a former employee of Stark's Quentin Beck, who reveals Parker's secret identity and frames him as his murderer, putting Parker's reputation in jeopardy and drastically affecting his personal life. Although he manages to avoid legal troubles with lawyer Matt Murdock's help, the damage to his personal life due to controversy causes him to seek Strange's help to reverse it with a spell to make his identity secret again, but the events that transpire cause the multiverse to open and to save his universe from collapsing, Parker chooses to have the world's knowledge of his existence completely erased, including the bonds he shared with his former friends and allies. Now anonymous and having lost his Aunt May in the whole multiversal ordeal he resumes his vigilantism as Spider-Man.

Danvers and Banner remain in contact and they answer Wong's call to discuss the origin of Shang-Chi's Ten Rings with the latter.Banner, currently living off the grid in Mexico trains his cousin, lawyer Jennifer Walters after she receives his gamma-radiated abilities upon cross-contamination with his blood following an accident, despite her reluctance to be a superhero. Barton retires and lives with his family at his Missouri farm. In New York, while celebrating Christmas with his family, his previous actions as Ronin cause him to come into conflict with elements of organized crime including Wilson Fisk, Maya Lopez and her Tracksuit Mafia as well as Romanoff's adoptive sister, Yelena Belova, who holds him responsible for her sister's death. He eventually makes peace with Yelena, and he also takes in a protégé named Kate Bishop, whose life he had saved during the Battle of New York.

Several years following the Blip, the first annual "AvengerCon" is held at Camp Lehigh to honor the Avengers. It is attended by Kamala Khan, an Avengers-fangirl (particularly a fan of Danvers) who gains powers after putting on a golden bangle heirloom while cosplaying as Danvers.

## Members

### Former Members

* Tony Stark (deceased)
* Steve Rogers
* Natasha Romanoff (deceased)

### Notable Members

* Bruce Banner
* Thor Odinson
* Clint Barton
* Pietro Maximoff (deceased)
* Wanda Maximoff
* Vision
* James Rhodes
* Sam Wilson
* Peter Parker
* Rocket Raccoon
* Carol Danvers
* Nebula
* Okoye
* Scott Lang

## Alternate Versions

### What If...?

The Avengers appear in the animated series *What If...?* (2021), which depicts the team in various alternate realities within the MCU Multiverse.

#### Death of the Avengers

In an alternate 2011, a vengeful Hank Pym eliminates the Avengers' candidates: Stark, Thor, Barton, Banner, and Romanoff. After Pym is defeated, Loki uses the opportunity to invade Earth. Meanwhile, Fury quietly prepares to reactivate the team after Rogers is discovered in the Arctic and Danvers responds to his call for help. Rogers, Danvers, and Fury later battle Loki and his Asgardian army aboard a Helicarrier. During the fight, the Watcher brings in a variant of Romanoff from a universe that was wiped out by Ultron, and she incapacitates Loki with his own scepter before being greeted by Fury.

#### Zombie outbreak

In an alternate 2018, a quantum virus is released turning people into zombies. Some of the Avengers respond to an outbreak in San Francisco and are subsequently infected as well. Banner and Parker survive, and with other allies, find Vision who is keeping an infected Wanda Maximoff alive by feeding her pieces of T'Challa. Vision sacrifices himself to provide them with the Mind Stone so that they can use it to find a cure, and Banner stays behind to keep Maximoff at bay, allowing Parker, T'Challa, and Lang to escape to Wakanda where unbeknownst to them, an infected Thanos awaits with most of the Infinity Stones.

#### Ultron's conquest

In an alternate 2015, Ultron successfully implants himself into Vision's body and exterminates the Avengers, except for Barton and Romanoff. Years later, when Ultron continues his campaign of destruction throughout the universe after obtaining the Infinity Stones, Barton and Romanoff fight Ultron's sentries. Realizing that their efforts are insignificant, they attempt to find a way to shutdown his AI, and eventually prepare to upload an analog copy of Arnim Zola consciousness into Ultron's hivemind, but Barton sacrifices himself in vain and the upload fails when Ultron enters the Multiverse.

### Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness

#### Earth-838

A version of the Avengers existed in Earth-838 with Peggy Carter / Captain Carter, being the first Avenger instead of Rogers.

## Reception

The response of the introduction of the superhero team was the main highlight of *The Avengers*. A. O. Scott of *The New York Times* felt the chemistry of the characters were the best part of the film. Owen Gleiberman of *Entertainment Weekly* commented that the best thing regarding the film "is that it also unleashes them on each other. Simply put: These freaks of goodness may be a team, but they don't like one another very much." Joe Morgenstein of the *Wall Street Journal* opined that the depiction of them quarreling among themselves comically was the most fun part as depicted in the original film. The team once again mostly received praise in the sequel with critics praising the original cast reprising the role in *Avengers: Age of Ultron*. Scott Foundas of *Variety* felt that the actors now "wear these roles as comfortably as second skins". He noted the Fantastic Four and Justice League as teams that can only hope to follow in the footsteps regarding the portrayal of the characters. Conversely, Scott Mendelson of *Forbes* disliked the concept that some of the Avengers (Tony Stark and Bruce Banner) were behind the creation of the antagonist of the film (Ultron).

The depiction of the Avengers being divided in a Civil War as shown in *Captain America: Civil War* was praised by critics such as Peter Bradshaw of *The Guardian* and Richard Roeper of the *Chicago Sun-Times*. However, Nicholas Barber of the *BBC* was more critical of the depiction, opining that their allegiance didn't make sense. Additionally, Stephen Whitty of the New York *Daily News* was critical of the expansion of many heroes taking sides and felt the film was more of an "overstuffed" *Avengers* film than a *Captain America* film, as referred to in the title. In 2018, around the time *Avengers: Infinity War* came out, film director James Cameron started a new term called "Avengers fatigue" that circulated online. Cameron told *IndieWire* that despite being a fan of the films, he feared that they had dominated the film genre, and that he hoped that people were getting tired of it so other stories could be told. This resulted in some criticism and backlash online regarding Cameron. The fourth Avengers film, *Avengers: Endgame*, was praised as a proper conclusion for the superhero team.