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Quote1 The Avengers left a hole. The hole is filled. Quote2
Iron Man[src]

History

Foundation

In a fit of madness, the Scarlet Witch lost her grip on reality and control over her powers. The subsequent results killed or injured several of her teammates in the Avengers, and Avengers Mansion was severely damaged. Tony Stark, aka Iron Man, who bankrolled the team, was financially troubled at the time, and could no longer fund their operations. The team disbanded and the mansion turned into a memorial.

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The Original New Avengers

The New Avengers first assembled by chance during a breakout occurred at the Raft, an island prison designed to hold super-criminals. Luke Cage (acting as a hired bodyguard) was escorting attorneys Foggy Nelson and Matt Murdock (Daredevil) to meet with the Sentry as it was occurring. Spider-Man, Captain America, and Iron Man all arrived to help keep order. A Skrull Queen posing as the original Spider-Woman, who was acting as the S.H.I.E.L.D. agent was in charge of the Raft had actually arranged the breakout also became involved. Forty-five super-criminals were kept on the Raft by the Avengers-to-be and the SHIELD agents, but forty-two others managed to escape.

Captain America convinced Iron Man to form a new team of Avengers without their own base of operations, vehicles, equipment, or payroll. The team would simply exist to deal with tasks that no one superhero could handle, without the government involvement and financial burdens common to Avengers' history. Following this, Cap spoke to each of the heroes present at the Raft (except the Sentry, who could not be found.) All except Daredevil accepted, with Spider-Man and Luke Cage intrigued at the possibilities of becoming Avengers while Daredevil felt that the current state of his life as he faced accusations about his true identity meant that he couldn't compromise the others by associating himself with them. The Spider-Woman impostor agreed to join the team seeing a chance to crack Stark's technology.

The team spoke to Commander Maria Hill, Director of SHIELD since Col. Nick Fury's departure following his invasion of Latveria, an event which had involved several of the New Avengers-to-be. Hill was less than enthused about a non-governmental team of Avengers, but Cap noted that he had Full Champion License, allowing him to assemble any team he deemed necessary for any mission he set out on. The New Avengers were formed as his team to deal with the Raft escapees, with the top three stories of Stark Tower as their home base.

Discovering that Electro perpetrated the breakout, the team was able to track his primary target escapee, Sauron to the Savage Land. Wolverine, the feral X-Man, who was in the area on a tip from the Scorcher, also became a member. The team battled both the Savage Land Mutates and a SHIELD team led by the Black Widow (Yelena Belova). Seeing a group of slaves working at a Vibranium mine, the Avengers went to investigate only to witness the Helicarrier destroy the area with cruise missiles. Reflecting on Stark's own revelation that some of the escaped criminals had been listed as deceased some time ago, the Avengers determined that someone in SHIELD was stockpiling super-criminals, the organization once again backsliding without the watchful eye of the recently deposed Colonel Fury.

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New Avengers Assemble

Further Exploits

The team next addressed the potential threat of the Sentry/Void, and helped him rediscover his place. He agreed to assist the team when he could, although his mental state sometimes rendered him incapacitated.

The Avengers next learned that the Silver Samurai was one of the Raft's prisoners. It was suspected he was returned to Japan for a potential merging of the Hand, Madame Hydra's forces, and the Clan Yashida. Wolverine was away on other matters, but although Daredevil turned down a request from Captain America to help, he nominated the mysterious Ronin in his place as another expert in the Hand.

Ronin found Madame Hydra, but was chased by the Hand. The Avengers defeated a number of Hand ninjas, while the Spider-Woman impostor had an encounter with Madame Hydra. Silver Samurai claimed he was abducted by SHIELD and placed in the Raft. He was not concerned with other groups, only Clan Yashida, with Sunfire being missing and believed dead. Ronin revealed herself to be Maya Lopez, aka Daredevil's ally Echo.

A clash with the Thunderbolts was really a government ruse to place monitoring devices in Avengers Tower. The team was secretly tipped off to this by Cable and Deadpool.

The Spider-Woman impostor explained her status as a double agent under orders from the missing Nick Fury. The New Avengers unveiled themselves publicly despite scathing criticism from the Daily Bugle over Spider-Man's membership.

The New Avengers actively attempted to shut down the Young Avengers, a group of minors who had formed in the Avengers' absence. Even though they kept trying to shut them down, the two teams banded together to save Hulkling from the Kree and the Skrulls, who had invaded Earth to capture him. They eventually let them use their powers to restore Avengers Mansion into a memorial.

The team had another run-in with teen heroes when the vigilante Cloak, who had been accused of attacking his partner Dagger, enlisted the aid of the Runaways in clearing his name. Spider-Man confronted Arsenic and Victor Mancha, taking them to dinner while discussing the situation. The meal was ruined when the team's leader, Nico Minoru, attacked Spider-Man and knocked him out. Cap, Wolverine, and Iron Man confronted Molly Hayes at a church while looking for Cloak, and Molly punched Wolverine out of the church in fear. The Runaways eventually got away after defeating Cloak's imposter.

A mysterious energy being had formed from the mass of energy created in the aftermath of M-Day. It touched down in Canada, and headed for the US border. Director Hill of SHIELD deflects inquiries from Stark. A SHIELD convoy was easily destroyed by the being. Alpha Flight attempted to stop the being, with disastrous results. The President of the United States asked the Avengers to intervene. In Genosha the Sentry, Ms. Marvel, and Iron Man contained the Collective's energies and dispersed it into the sun.

Civil War and Aftermath

When the junior super-heroes called the New Warriors, starring in their own reality TV show, raided a super villain safehouse in Stamford, Connecticut, they provoked one of the villains, Nitro, into exploding. Roughly 900 civilians, as well as nearly all of the New Warriors, were killed in the blast. Congress, with the support of superheroes such as Iron Man, Mr. Fantastic and Yellowjacket (secretly another Skull imposter working with Spider-Woman), passed the Superhuman Registration Act, or SHRA, which required all people with superhuman abilities to register with the federal government, reveal their secret identities, and receive proper training in law enforcement. Many superheroes, such as Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four, the Sentry, and She-Hulk, complied with this law, but other superheroes, led by Captain America, opposed the law on the grounds that it violates civil liberties. This led to a superhero Civil War, in which all superheroes were forced to choose sides.

Luke Cage refused to register, comparing the act to both slavery and Jim Crow laws, and he later joined Cap's Secret Avengers after a squadron of S.H.I.E.L.D. "cape killers" attacked Cage immediately after the act became law (at 12:01 am), despite his sitting at home, watching T.V., and not having used his powers since the act went into place. The Sentry registered but didn't choose a specific side at first, instead taking sanctuary on the moon with the Inhumans, though he felt more compelled to join Iron Man than a rebelling Cap. Iron Man, never trusting Spider-Woman's triple life, betrayed her and informed Maria Hill of her status, which caused Jessica to run for her life. Eventually, Jessica located Captain America and his team's whereabouts and was allowed to join their ranks. Wolverine, whilst officially taking a neutral stance on the war with the rest of the X-Men, hunted down Nitro, and stated his opposition to the law during a brief stint in S.H.I.E.L.D. custody. After the death of Goliath in battle, and learning of the nature of the Number 42 complex in the Negative Zone, Peter Parker decided to leave Stark's side. Spider-Man publicly denounced the registration act on live television, and joined Cap's side.

The Civil War ended with Captain America surrendering after a huge battle in Times Square, New York, realizing that such a battle was what superheroes were supposed to prevent. Afterwards, he was assassinated via a gunshot wound to the stomach while entering a federal courthouse, in a murder orchestrated by his longtime foe the Red Skull. [2] Choosing to continue to oppose the law after the rest of the Secret Avengers laid down their arms, Cage assumed leadership of the now underground Avengers, followed by Spider-Man, Spider-Woman, Wolverine, and several new recruits. Iron Man and Sentry took their place in the Mighty Avengers, a government-sanctioned team of registered heroes, officially leaving the New Avengers.

Unregistered Heroes

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In the aftermath of Civil War, the New Avengers team included Clint Barton as the new Ronin, Doctor Strange, Wolverine, the Spider-Woman imposter, Spider-Man, Iron Fist, and team leader Cage. Their base was Dr. Strange's Sanctum Sanctorum, magically disguised as the location of a future Starbucks. Due to fears of being arrested on the spot, the New Avengers did not attend Captain America's funeral in Washington, D.C.

Spider-Woman was told by Ms. Marvel that Captain America was still alive, a fact confirmed by Dr. Strange in his astral form. However, upon going to the Raft, where the body was supposedly being held, Wolverine smelt that it wasn't the real Steve Rogers. The team was then confronted by their Pro-Registration adversaries, the Mighty Avengers, who explained that it had been a "dirty trick". They only escaped thanks to Strange.

The first mission for the new team was to rescue Echo from the clutches of Elektra and the Hand, who had been preparing to forcibly make her one of their assassins. After rescuing Maya, the New Avengers teleported out of the Hand's secret complex. After seeking refuge from the Silver Samurai, Elektra approached with thousands of Hand ninjas following close at hand. The New Avengers seemed to be on their last legs, with the ninjas overwhelming the team. However, Dr. Strange contacted Wong, and with his help achieved his astral form, saving himself from death and freeing Echo from her brainwashing. Echo, enraged, grabbed Elektra and fatally stabbed her with a katana. However, instead of collecting the body, the Hand retreated as the Avengers watched "Elektra" revert to her true form, a Skrull impersonator. They had finally uncovered evidence of the impending Skrull invasion, but even as paranoia set in, Spider-Woman retained her cover.

When the Hulk returned to Earth with his followers to take revenge on the Illuminati, a group that Dr. Strange was secretly a part of, the New Avengers teamed up with the Fantastic Four and the Mighty Avengers to evacuate the city and face the Hulk. Dr. Strange's hands were crushed by the Hulk, neutralizing his spellcasting. Dr. Strange drank a potion that bonded him with the demon Zom and restored him. Although as first Strange was beating the Hulk into submission, Dr. Strange was distracted by how his battle with Hulk was endangering the "little people." Hulk used this to his advantage and beat Dr. Strange unconscious, presumably forcing Zom from him. He, along with the other defeated New Avengers, were taken to the Hulk's arena to do battle until the Hulk was finally contained.

Around this time, Spider-Woman left the group to join the Mighty Avengers, claiming that she genuinely believed that Stark wasn't a Skrull and wanting to warn him about the upcoming invasion, when in reality she wanted to sow the seeds of paranoia. Despite this, the two teams joined forces when D'Spayre's use of the Cosmic Cube drew the Invaders of 1944 into the present, culminating in Iron Man, Spider-Man, Spider-Woman, Wolverine, Ms Marvel, Luke Cage, and the Wasp being sent back in time to an alternate 1944 where the Skull had acquired the Cube, joining forces with the Invaders to recover the Cube and undo the Skull's changes to history before returning to their era.

The Hood began to gather all of New York's super villains. Tracking the group down, the New Avengers managed to beat them into submission with the help of an illusion by Dr. Strange, giving the impression that they were backed up by an army of heroes rather than just their own members. SHIELD came and arrested the villains and took them to prison. The Hood broke them out and had them attack the New Avengers at Dr. Strange's Sanctorum. Once they had been defeated again, Dr. Strange had to leave the group, not being able to handle the forces he had wrought when unleashing Zom. The team then moved to one of the Rand Corporation's apartment buildings. Because of the attack on where they lived, Jessica Jones moved into Stark Tower with her child, only wishing the best for it.

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The new New Avengers

Secret Invasion

The long-range Skrull plot to take over Earth finally came to a boiling point when a Skrull ship landed in the Savage Land. The New Avengers stole a Quinjet that the Mighty Avengers were about to use, and headed there. Upon reaching their destination they found the facility that the original New Avengers line-up had encountered was in utter ruin. The Mighty Avengers turned up and were about to fight the others, but Iron Man was infected with a virus through his armor's systems. Not only were the Avengers affected, but SHIELD, the Initiative, the Inhumans, and more. A minute later, the Skrull ship opened, revealing a group of fifteen costumed adventurers claiming to have escaped Skrull captivity. They wore old-style costumes of Earth heroes, some of them appearing to be "dead" adventurers such as Captain America and Mockingbird. Thus began a period of paranoia and betrayal, as more heroes were revealed to be Skrull agents. The argument was ended when Reed Richards unleashed a weapon that revealed the Skrulls' true nature.

Queen Veranke's long impersonation Spider-Woman was finally revealed. In the climactic battle against the Skrulls, the New Avengers fought alongside a slew of comrades: their sometime rivals in the Mighty Avengers, as well as the Young Avengers, the new Captain America, Thor, Noh-Varr, Nick Fury and his Secret Warriors, the Thunderbolts, the Hood's crew, the "Agents of Atlas" and more. During the fighting, Green Goblin killed the escaping Veranke. The short-lived unity felt throughout the superhero community (gone since the Civil War) melted as blame for the invasion was placed on Tony Stark, Director of SHIELD. The organization was disbanded, and replaced by H.A.M.M.E.R., with Norman Osborn, the Green Goblin, as its head. Furthermore, Stark Industries was taken over by OsCorp. Osborn was secretly a member of the Cabal.

Luke Cage and Jessica Jones' baby was kidnapped by the Skrull who had posed as Jarvis. Thor was forced to kill the Wasp to prevent her from detonating due to a Skrull trap. On a happy note, however, the real heroes replaced by the Skrulls were found to be alive and well, including Mockingbird. She and Ronin shared a tearful reunion.

Dark Reign

In the aftermath of the Secret Invasion, with Norman Osborn now officially in charge of Earth's superhumans after he delivered the killing blow to Veranke, the New Avengers again found themselves with a changed roster. The new Captain America, formerly the original's sidekick Bucky as well as the Winter Soldier, joined the team, as did the resurgent Mockingbird. After the original Mighty Avengers lineup disbanded, Ms. Marvel joined the New Avengers. Also, the real Spider-Woman, now an Agent of S.W.O.R.D., joined the team for the first time. Iron Fist and Echo left the team.

Things still didn't improve for anyone, for Osborn was passing off villains as heroes. The New Avengers attempted to expose Osborn by luring him and his team of Avengers to be depowered, only to instead be attacked by the Hood's gang. After they escaped, this was enough evidence to prove that Osborn was working with the Hood. Barton, personally ticked off by what Osborn had done, publicly denounced him on live TV.

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Attacking Osborn

Siege

In Hell's Kitchen, thanks to the Norn Stones that were given to the Hood from Loki, the Hood was able to power up his gang so they could hunt and kill the Avengers. Back at the Avengers hideout, which had been destroyed by Norman and his Avengers, Steve Rogers and Captain America (Bucky Barnes) were attacked by the Living Laser and the Corruptor. With the help of Cage, they defeated them. Luke was then surprised to to see Steve alive but this reunion was cut short when Nicky Fury arrived. Over in Manhattan, Spider-Man and Spider-Woman were attacked by Mandrill and Griffin.

Back at the Avengers hideout, Fury activated the code to shutdown all L.M.D.'s to make sure that it was the real Steve Rogers and not a Life Model Decoy. Fury then revealed that he was not alone and that his Secret Warriors were with him. The two group of heroes were then attacked by army of H.A.M.M.E.R. soldiers and fought their way back to the Avengers Safe house where the rest of the heroes are surprised to see Steve Rogers with them. When they saw the news of Norman Osborn and his men taking down Thor the two teams left for Asgard.

Led by Captain America, the Avengers arrived in Asgard and caught Norman Osborn and his team by surprise. They managed to hold off Osborn's forces until the Hood arrived with his gang and evened out the playing field. They were caught off guard when the Sentry smashed through Asgard and caused it to crumble onto the Oklahoma fields. The Sentry turned into his Void form and attacked both the heroes and villains. Loki stole the Hood's magical Norn Stones and gave them to the Avengers. With the combined might of most of Earth's heroes, the Avengers were able to defeat the Void.

The New Avengers tracked the now depowered Hood and Madame Masque to California with Masque's father, Count Nefaria. With the help of Wolverine, the Avengers were able to defeat the three villains and left them with Maria Hill. The next day, the New Avengers met with many of Earth's heroes at Avengers Tower. There, they learned that Steve Rogers was now America's new Top Cop and that they were all free men and women again since they SHRA was thrown out. All of the team then walk through Central Park, free at last. [3]

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The New Avengers celebrate the end of the Dark Reign

Heroic Age

With the Registration Act now repealed, Captain America granted Cage free rein to assemble his own team of Avengers and operate however he would choose, recognising the value in multiple teams of heroes being active. He also sent Victoria Hand, Norman Osborn's former associate, to act as a liaison, because he felt she could provide an important insight to the team. No sooner had Cage chosen his roster- which brought back Iron Fist and added the Thing- when the New Avengers were attacked by Stephen Strange and Daimon Hellstrom, possessed by demons and seeking the Eye of Agamotto. Cage was similarly possessed when he came in contact with it. Although the new team successfully prevented Agamotto from reclaiming the Eye and unmaking reality, Doctor Voodoo sacrificed his own life and the Eye in the process. Hawkeye left the team to return to the main Avengers line-up. Despite this, the group gained new allies when Doctor Strange agreed to join the team, with his associate Wong as housekeeper, and Luke and Jessica hired Squirrel Girl to be their daughter's nanny.

Fear Itself

During Red Skull's Blitzkrieg U.S.A., the New Avengers engaged the Thule Society's attack in New York. A separate unit of the Thule Society attacked Avengers Mansion, where Daredevil protected Squirrel Girl and Danielle Cage from this unit. Because of this, Daredevil joined the team despite some initial reluctance.

The New Dark Avengers

The New Avengers were commanded to supervise the transition of Norman Osborn from the Raft to another prison. This mission failed, as Osborn was freed by corrupted Raft officers and returned as the head of the revived H.A.M.M.E.R.

Days later, at Stark Resilient laboratories at Paramus, New Jersey, the team fought a new version of Ultimo, controlled by H.A.M.M.E.R., who was trying to steal Stark's Iron Man armor. Though the giant robot fell, a smaller robot attacked Wolverine, obtained a blood sample and escaped. After restoring order, the New Avengers returned to Avengers Mansion.

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Some time later, the mansion was surrounded by protestors, which had a dispiriting effect on the team. Victoria Hand learned of a situation in Miami, to which she dispatched the New Avengers. However, she gave them wrong coordinates, so she could give the correct ones to another person, to give him an advantage over the Avengers. By the time the Avengers arrived at the correct place, Osborn and his New Dark Avengers had already saved the day. The New Avengers gave battle but were caught unprepared: Doctor Strange aborted the mission and teleported the team to a rooftop, only to be surprised by the sudden appearance of Ragnarok.

Wolverine and Cage managed to defeat and destroy Ragnarok, leaving him to Osborn before returning to the mansion with a bitter victory. When they arrived, S.W.A.T. operatives were there to arrest them. Feeling outnumbered by the authority forces, Doctor Strange managed to teleport the team to his Sanctum Sanctorum so they could take a break and make a plan to deal with the bitter situation with Osborn.

The team caught and questioned Victoria Hand who revealed her status as a Triple Agent all along, remaining loyal to Steve Rogers but assisting Osborn in order to bring him back to prison. Meanwhile, when the Dark Avengers where about to go to the New Avengers location, Skaar betrayed them, attacking his fellow teammates. He later freed Captain America and, when the New Avengers arrived, he helped them to defeat the Dark Avengers. The team, Captain America and Skaar later joined the fight with the main Avengers team against the new Super-Adaptoid, Norman Osborn[4]. However, the incident with Osborn, combined with the Thule Society's previous attack on Avengers Mansion, caused Jessica Jones to quit the team and go into hiding out of fear for Danielle's safety.

New Avengers Disassembled

After the conflict between the Avengers and the X-Men, Luke Cage decided to leave the team in order to raise his daughter in peace, which lead the New Avengers to decide to disassemble. At the same time Daniel Drumm vowed revenge on Strange for the death of his brother. He used his abilities to possess the New Avengers and use them against Stephen. Stephen Strange had to appeal to dark magic to defeat Drumm.

Strange used his powers to continue defending the universe although it wasn't his duty anymore and managed not to succumb before the dark magic he used, prompting the Ancient One to appear in the battlefield and gave Strange the Eye of Agamotto again, thus becoming the Sorcerer Supreme once more.

In the aftermath of the battle, Cage sold Avengers Mansion back to Tony Stark, who would use it as the headquarters of the Avengers Unity Division. Many of the New Avengers became part of the core team.

Paraphernalia

Transportation

formerly Avengers Quinjet
Rand Corporate Jet
Dr. Strange's teleportation spells

Notes

  • When the New Avengers first started Tony Stark had the original new members make an e-mail with his domain name. As a whole their e-mail address was allavengers@newavengers.stark.net

See Also

Links and References

References

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