avengers

The Avengers are a team of superheroes appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The team made its debut in The Avengers #1 (cover-dated Sept. 1963), created by writer-editor Stan Lee and artist/co-plotter Jack Kirby. Labeled "Earth's Mightiest Heroes", the original Avengers consisted of Iron Man, Ant-Man, Hulk, Thor and the Wasp. Captain America was discovered trapped in ice in issue #4, and joined the group after they revived him.
Like their DC Comics counterpart the Justice League, the Avengers consist of established characters from the Marvel Comics portfolio that work independently of the team. However, while the Justice League typically features the most significant characters of DC's roster, the Avengers traditionally have consisted of B-tier heroes whose presence on the team was meant to cross-promote each other's solo comics. For example, an Iron Man fan might buy an Avengers book because Iron Man appears in them, and perhaps in turn take an interest in Thor, who appears in the same book as Iron Man's teammate on the Avengers. Most commonly, some of Marvel's more popular heroes such as Iron Man or Captain America will be featured alongside lesser-known characters such as Hellcat or Wonder Man. Following the Avengers Disassembled crossover event in 2004, more prestigious Marvel heroes such as Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four, and members of the X-Men began having more prominent roles on the team. There have also been numerous off-shoot Avengers teams over the years, starting with the West Coast Avengers in 1984.The Avengers have appeared in a wide variety of media outside of comic books, including several different animated television series and direct-to-video films. Beginning in 2008, they were adapted in a series of movies from Marvel Studios known as the Marvel Cinematic Universe, culminating with The Avengers in 2012, with more appearances of the team in subsequent films.

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