Avengers (Mighty Avengers) (Earth-616)
From Marvel Database
Contents |
History
Founding and Early Adventures
The Mighty Avengers were formed in the wake of the Superhero Civil War as the New York unit of the 50-State Initiative. They were selected by Tony Stark, then Director of SHIELD, from members of his Pro-Registration Superhero Unit to form "the perfect team of Avengers." Stark's aim was that, though the Initiative was meant to cover each state, the Mighty Avengers would serve the world. Though he was an active team member, Stark's obligations both as Iron Man and as Director of SHIELD meant he was already strained as it was. For this reason, he appointed longtime Avenger and former super-agent Ms. Marvel to act as field commander.
Unlike the previous rosters of the Avengers which were assembled by chance, Stark and Ms. Marvel picked the line up out from the registered heroes at their disposal. Aside from Iron Man, the only other founding Avenger on the roster was wealthy fashion icon Janet van Dyne, the Wasp. Following Iron Man from the New Avengers in the post-Civil War split was the troubled powerhouse known as The Sentry. Two other former Avengers rounded out the roster, in the form of Black Widow, the former Russian spy and ex-lover of Stark's, and Wonder Man, the ex-industrialist turned superheroic actor and stuntman. Ares, the Olympian God of War turned anti-hero, completed the roster. Ares was selected because it was felt that the team needed "a Thor", and "a Wolverine."
Their first mission, just after their formation, brought them into conflict with the Mole Man. Immediately thereafter, a nanovirus courtesy of Ultron took control of Iron Man's armor, molding it into a new "female" form for its creator. Ultron went on to seize control of Stark Industries' weather satellites. It was only with the aid of Starktech 9, a robotic version of the original Iron Man armor, that the Avengers won the day. Another early venture, on the heels of the death of Captain America, saw the team, sans Iron Man, venting their anger on Tiger Shark and a host of summoned sea-beasts.
The Mighty Avengers clashed with their sometimes rivals, Luke Cage's unregistered New Avengers. [1] They were forced to join with this same team, along with the Fantastic Four, to stave off The Hulk and his allies, to varying degrees of success. Also, Spider-Woman, already a woman of several loyalties (a mole within both SHIELD and HYDRA for the fugitive Nick Fury, in addition to Avengers duties), left the New Avengers to join the Mighty Avengers.
Next, the New York Initiative was confronted by an invasion of the Symbiotes, the same alien race that had spawned Venom and Carnage. These alien creatures rapidly began attaching themselves to people throughout Manhattan, including Wasp, Black Widow, and Spider-Woman. After Iron Man developed an antivirus, he traced the attack's origin not to outer space, but to Latveria. The Mighty Avenger travelled to Latveria and apprehended its monarch, Doctor Doom.
Secret Invasion
When Spider-Woman joined the Mighty Avengers, she brought with her the corpse of a Skrull which had posed as Elektra. Although all Skrulls had shapeshifting powers, this one had proven especially difficult to detect. The New Avengers had been unable to detect the difference despite Spider-Man's spider-sense, Wolverine's senses, and Doctor Strange's magic. Both as a longtime Avenger and as a member of the Illuminati, Tony Stark recognized this as a sign of some kind of Secret Invasion; a second attempt at taking Earth by the Skrulls after the failed conquest during the Kree-Skrull War.
In an attempt to solve the problem of this Skrull stealthiness, Stark called in two old friends, who happened to be two of the most brilliant minds on Earth: fellow Illuminatus Dr Reed Richards of the Fantastic Four, and fellow Avengers founder Dr Hank Pym. As Richards and Pym were examining the corpse, Pym revealed that he too was a Skrull, firing a weapon at Reed that reduced his elastic body into a puddle of goo.
Meanwhile, a Skrull ship crash-landed in the Savage Land. Spider-Woman alerted the New Avengers, and both teams of Avengers responded, each ready to fight the other. The ship opened, however, revealing a contingent of 15 individuals dressed in old-style costumes of existing superheroes. They claimed to be the genuine articles, and to have just escaped Skrull imprisonment, sowing doubt as to who might be a Skrull agent. Several of these are heroes were thought dead, including Captain America and Mockingbird. Thus began a time of paranoia and betrayal, as more and more people were revealed to be Skrulls. This unfortunately included Spider-Woman, who was discovered to have been none other than Veranke, Queen of the Skrulls. Not only the Avengers were affected, but the Inhumans, the Initiative, SHIELD, and more.
During the climactic battle with the Skrulls, the Mighty Avengers fought alongside a slew of comrades: the New Avengers, the Young Avengers, the new Captain America, Thor, Noh-Varr, Nick Fury and his new Howling Commandos, the Thunderbolts, The Hood's crew, the "Agents of Atlas" and more. The Sentry stayed out of the battle, believing that The Void would cause more harm than good. During the fighting, the Green Goblin killed Queen Veranke, while Hercules managed to slay the Skrull god Kly'bn, seriously damaging their war effort. Everyone replaced by the Skrulls was found to be alive and well, and the heroes present attained a degree of unity not felt since before the Civil War. More dire consequences, however, were also to be had.
The Skrull posing as Hank Pym had, after the formation of the Mighty Avengers, offered The Wasp a dose of the serum which Pym had used to grow to immense heights as Giant-Man and Goliath. As it turned out, however, this was a trap: the serum turned her into a living bomb. As the Wasp was about to explode, killing everyone nearby, her longtime comrade Thor was forced to kill her to save everyone around her. At the same time, he promised to avenge her.
New Lineup and Reign
After the battle, the blame for the Secret Invasion was placed mainly on the shoulders of Tony Stark. SHIELD was disbanded, and was replaced with the new Thunderbolts Initiative headed by Norman Osborn, the Green Goblin. Osborn was secretly a member of the Dark Illuminati. With the Wasp dead and Tony fallen from grace, the original lineup of the Mighty Avengers disbanded. Ms Marvel joined the New Avengers. The Sentry and Ares joined the Dark Avengers.
Loki took the form of Scarlet Witch, the Hulk returned to active duty as an Avenger for the first time since he left the team just after having helped found it. Free from Skrull captivity, fellow founder Hank Pym returned to active duty as the new Wasp, struggling to come to terms not only with the post-Civil War world, but with the death of the love of his life, the original Wasp. Two Young Avengers joined the team, the new Vision and Stature, as well as Jocasta, all of whom were results of different aspects of Pym's legacy. The muscle-bound Hercules, Amadeus Cho and US Agent rounded out the roster.
Scarlet Witch was angrily attacked by Stature, who was stopped by Vision's revelation that the image before them was but an astral projection from elsewhere. The Hulk, in anger and confusion as to how he vanished from Arizona Desert and appeared at Wundagore, threatened to "smash." The U.S. Agent demanded Pym tell him what was happening, and a giant-sized Stature assailed Wanda in fury. The other Avengers, including Jocasta and Hercules, struggled to restrain the Hulk while Amadeus Cho tried to remind the Hulk of their past relationship. The shocked U.S. Agent called out to Amadeus Cho and Hercules. Iron Man arrived on the scene, greatly surprised, and battled the enraged Banner, this time managing to triumph.
The united forces of the Avengers, aided by Wanda, quashed the threat of Chthon when he returned with the help of Modred.[2]. Quicksilver free from his demonic control, demanded answers about his sister.[3] After aiding the team against numerous villains, Quicksilver was accepted as a member. [4]
Paraphernalia
Equipment: None known.
Transportation: Avengers Quinjet
Weapons: None known.
Notes
- No special notes.
Trivia
An interview with series writer Brian Michael Bendis on the Word Balloon Podcast said that the roster revealed in Wizard is not entirely accurate. Bendis stated that some of the members shown on the promo image would be on the team, while others wouldn't. Because of this, fans speculated on the roster, but the one as shown was used in the first issue, and on throughout the next 19.
See Also
- Appearances of Avengers (Mighty Avengers) (Earth-616)
- Team Gallery: Avengers (Mighty Avengers) (Earth-616)
- Fan-Art Gallery: Avengers (Mighty Avengers) (Earth-616)
- Images that include Avengers (Mighty Avengers) (Earth-616)
