History of the Avengers, 1963-1964

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The following is a history of the Avengers from 1963 to 1964, in which the team formed, underwent a couple of early lineup changes, and became established as an essential American defense force.

History

Formation of the Avengers

In late 1963, Loki was serving one of many imprisonments on the Isle of Silence in Asgard for his crimes. This left him with plenty of time to connive another plan of revenge against his brother and nemesis, Thor. He decided to use someone on Midgard as a threat to tempt Thor away from his mild-mannered alterego, Dr. Don Blake, and lure him to Asgard to fight and defeat him once and for all. Scanning the globe for candidates, he happened upon the Hulk, a monstrous and essentially benevolent but unpredictable beast, roaming the southwestern United States. He tricked Hulk into crashing into a bridged train track, severely damaging it. As the train approached, Hulk did his best to hold the track in place, allowing the train to pass overhead unscathed. Nonetheless, the passengers saw Hulk as the culprit of the damage, and word got out of his supposed crime. The Teen Brigade, also located in the southwest and led by Hulk’s friend Rick Jones, took particular notice, and attempted to contact the Fantastic Four for assistance. Loki diverted the radio signal to a frequency that Dr. Blake was listening to, successfully getting his attention and causing him to fly to Teen Brigade headquarters. However, this signal was also heard by Ant-Man, the Wasp, and Iron Man, who all answered the call as well. As it happened, the Fantastic Four were able to intercept the signal anyway, but were unable to help as they were busy with another mission.

The four heroes assembled at Teen Brigade HQ, much to the surprise of everyone involved. Frustrated at this unexpected development, Loki created a fabrication of the Hulk and used it to distract Thor alone, luring him out of the building. Thor attempted to fight the image, but quickly realized that it was just that, and easily deduced that Loki was behind it. Thor made his way to Asgard, just as Loki planned. Meanwhile, realizing that the train incident would bring him unwanted attention, Hulk became an attraction in a circus, disguised as a powerful robot called Mechano. Ant-Man learned of this through his ant network, and he and Wasp followed the report, followed close behind by Iron Man. The insectoid heroes attempted to reason with the Hulk, but to no avail. The long-antagonized Hulk ran from them, and only Iron Man was fast enough to pursue, engaging Hulk in combat. Ant-Man and Wasp trailed behind, keeping a close eye on the action and devising a plan for the final outcome.

As Thor arrived at the Isle of Silence, he was set upon by Loki and the native Trolls. Loki’s tricks proved no match for his brother’s might, as Thor grabbed hold of him and brought him back to Earth to answer for his most recent ploy. Thor brought him to where Iron Man was fighting the Hulk, and explained what Loki had done, turning the Hulk’s ire against him. A desperate Loki turned himself radioactive, threatening the rest of the heroes to leave him and Thor alone. But it was Ant-Man and the Wasp who saved the day, as a group of ants on Ant-Man’s signal triggered a trapdoor under Loki’s feet, dropping him into a lead-lined nuclear-disposal tank below. Loki could not maintain his radioactivity indefinitely, and Thor would wait it out before returning him to Asgard. During the wait, Ant-Man and Wasp made a proposal: given the combined power that they all shared, the five of them would make an incredible team. Iron Man and Thor readily agreed in the interest of better serving the public, while Hulk figured that it was better than staying on the run. All that was left for the new team was a name, which the Wasp provided: The Avengers.[1] Shortly after the Avengers' formation, Ant-Man perfected the ability to grow in size up to a maximum of 12 feet tall, and dubbed this new form Giant-Man. He would come to favor this form for the foreseeable future.[2]

The Space Phantom and departure of the Hulk

The Avengers had their first official meeting as a team in Tony Stark's library—even to his team members, Iron Man concealed the fact that he himself was Tony Stark, maintaining his public identity as Stark's bodyguard. As the team discussed their next plan of action, a security camera notified them of an intruder in Stark's home. Hulk went out to see who it was, and was met with the mysterious Space Phantom: an alien with the power to assume a target's identity, sending the original into Limbo in the process. The Space Phantom had been secretly observing the Avengers, and thus knew their secrets, including Iron Man's true identity. Seeing them as the only threat to his invasion of Earth, he set out to defeat them from within. Returning to the room disguised as the Hulk, the Phantom began sowing unease among the Avengers, behaving even more aggressively than the Hulk usually does. He and Iron Man fought, but Thor broke it up. Iron Man was insulted by Thor's perceived presumptuousness, and the Phantom stormed out to leave the Avengers to bicker among themselves. The team separated, and the fake Hulk proceeded to cause chaos across the city. The arrogant Phantom ran into Rick Jones and bragged to him about his abilities. Jones returned to the nearest Teen Brigade installation with this valuable information.

Iron Man received word that Hulk had damaged one of his installations, and flew out to face him. Iron Man gave the Phantom a stiff electric jolt, which would have been fairly tame to the real Hulk, but proved extremely painful to the Phantom's façade. The Phantom took the form of a nearby wasp, returning the real Hulk to Earth: the process was virtually instantaneous, and Iron Man didn't notice that it had occurred. He continued fighting, and a confused and enraged Hulk defended himself. Rick Jones called for the assistance of Giant-Man and the Wasp, who arrived on the scene and broke up the fight. The insectoid Phantom took advantage, grabbing Wasp and stealing her away to Stark's nearby factory. The other Avengers gave chase, and Phantom switched his form to that of Giant-Man. He abandoned any pretense of deception and simply fought Hulk and Iron Man directly, but couldn't gain an advantage, even when he then transformed into Iron Man. Wasp left to gain the assistance of Thor, and the Phantom tried to transform into him, but failed: apparently, his ability only worked on humans. The attempt backfired, and Phantom sent himself into Limbo instead, returning Iron Man to Earth. With the Phantom defeated, the Hulk commented on the fact that the other Avengers harbored ill feelings toward him, as shown by how they spoke of him in the various preceding battles. With that, he left the team, leaving the rest to dread his uncertain future.[3]

Namor and the Hulk

The Avengers realized that the Hulk left unchecked could pose a serious hazard to the public. Iron Man sent out a projected image of himself to various places across New York, contacting the Fantastic Four, Spider-Man and the X-Men in hopes of learning anything about his whereabouts. They had little insight to offer, and Thor suggested asking Rick Jones. Jones agreed to search the southwest, and within a day returned notice to the Avengers that Hulk was on the loose there. The team traveled, independently of each other, to the Hulk's location, but he was able to fend off their attack and escape. As Thor pointed out, the heroes were pulling their punches, not wishing to truly harm him, which made it essentially impossible to defeat him. Several days later, the Avengers received a message from the Hulk and Namor the Sub-Mariner, who challenged the heroes to face them at the Rock of Gibraltar. The team quickly made their way there in an aquatic vehicle provided by Tony Stark and met the surprising allies as promised. The two sides did battle in tunnels that had been used by British forces during World War II, employing various military equipment against each other in the process. During the fight, Thor and Hulk separated from the others and fought one-on-one. The battle was indecisive, as a cave-in separated the two from each other.[4] Eventually, the stress of the battle caused Hulk to transform back to Bruce Banner, and he fled before anyone else could see him. The Avengers continued to fight Namor, but he also soon escaped upon realizing that he was alone. The team had the opportunity to pursue him, but let him go out of "respect for his valor," though Iron Man commented that they would probably regret it.[5]

The thawing of Captain America

As the Avengers piloted their undersea craft back from their battle, they happened upon a man partially frozen in ice in the Gulf Stream. They got him into their submarine and thawed him out completely, finding him to be the legendary hero long thought to be dead, Captain America. Cap soon awoke in a frenzy, panicking over his lost sidekick Bucky. He recounted the story of he and Bucky having attempted to stop an armed plane in World War II, but finding that it was a trap. Bucky died in the ensuing explosion, while Cap fell into the ocean and wound up frozen. He had since halted aging as a result of being held in ice. The group arrived back in New York, where the Avengers stepped out and greeted the press following their fight with the Hulk. Suddenly, a flashbulb from one of the photographers caused the four of them to turn to stone. The rest of the reporters figured it was a trick and left in a huff, while Captain America stepped out and assumed they were statues in the Avengers' honor. Cap found a hotel room and rested there, still traumatized over Bucky's death. He was approached by Rick Jones, who asked for his help in finding the Avengers. Cap saw in Rick an heir to Bucky's legacy, much to Rick's confusion. The two examined the photos from the Avengers' arrival and found a man holding a strange gun-like object, the likely culprit of the crime. Cap and members of the Teen Brigade spread out across the city looking for him, and Cap was the one to find him, seconded by a group of gangsters. Cap fought off the criminals with ease, pulling off the leader's mask and revealing him to be an alien, much to the others' shock. The alien was remorseful, claiming that he had lived on Earth for centuries ever since his ship had gotten deeply lodged in the sea. He said that Namor the Sub-Mariner—Cap's former colleague—had coerced him into trapping the Avengers in stone, promising to free the ship for him. Cap promised the alien the opposite, and he freed the Avengers as agreed. The heroes followed the alien to a remote isle, pulling his ship from the sea floor with their combined might. Suddenly, Namor and a squad of loyal Atlanteans arrived and engaged the Avengers in battle. They fought for some time, but the eruption of the alien ship's thrusters caused the Atlanteans to assume a deadly earthquake was taking place and caused them to retreat. The alien indeed left the planet in peace, as the Avengers offered Captain America a spot in their team, and he enthusiastically accepted.[6]

Teaming with the Fantastic Four

The Avengers began to search in earnest for the Hulk, tracking him through the southwest. Rick Jones was put in a difficult bind, as he was loyally unwilling to give away Hulk's true identity even in this desperate situation.[7] They returned to Stark's mansion in New York, where Hulk had already run roughshod looking for them, even fighting off most of the Fantastic Four. Hulk stormed into the mansion itself, and the small confined space prevented the Avengers from mounting any significant offense, as Hulk grabbed Jones and fled as the boy tried in vain to reason with him. But the Hulk didn't account for every Avenger: he was pursued by the small Wasp, who got inside of his ear and buzzed around to annoy and incapacitate him. This allowed the Avengers to catch up, and they were soon joined by the Fantastic Four: Mr. Fantastic, Human Torch, Invisible Girl, and the Thing. All of the heroes were eager to take the Hulk down, but with nine different superpowered beings going in one direction, they ended up stumbling over each other. This allowed the Hulk to escape, leaping away in great bounds with Jones in tow. Each team was annoyed by the other's disruption, but realized that they had to work together to defeat the Hulk. They tracked him to the top of a building under construction, and used their combined forces to take him on. The Hulk was able to repel each of them individually, but the distraction allowed Rick Jones to force an anti-gamma pill into his mouth. Giant-Man's ants swarmed over Hulk and forced him into the bay; to nearly everyone it seemed that he had simply fled, swimming underwater with his powerful lungs. But Jones realized that he was transforming back to Bruce Banner, and was safe for the time being.[8]

The invasion of the Lava Men

After the confrontation with the Hulk, the Avengers each went about their individual lives, until a few days later when a "strange, piercing sound" was heard in several places throughout the country. The team regrouped in Tony Stark's basement while the upper floors were being repaired after the Hulk's attack. Iron Man pointed out that all signs pointed to the sound's origin as being in the southwest—Rick Jones ruled out the idea that Hulk might be responsible. They pinpointed the source of the disturbance to a military installation overseen by Thunderbolt Ross, where a bizarre green rock was growing out of the ground. Bruce Banner was also there, having recently returned to his day job as a military scientist. Iron Man found that he couldn't blast through the rock, so instead blasted a hole just outside of it. He made his way to the underground surface, where he found an army of hostile Lava Men. Captain America and Thor pulled him out from the onslaught, and Thor insisted on advancing alone to speak with the Lava Men. Thor had previously defeated Molto, the first of the Lava Men to reach the surface, and threw him back underground; Molto viewed this as an act of mercy, coloring his views on the human race. The king of the Lava Men Basallo insisted that the humans surrender or suffer the fate of what he called the Living Stone. The Living Stone had come from Earth's core, and for "many moons" had slowly grown while in the Lava Men's possession. Striking it while it was small resulted in a colossal explosion, and Basallo understood that trying to destroy it now could destroy the whole planet. The Lava Men believed that by forcing it up onto the surface, the eventual explosion would only destroy the surface world, allowing those underground to survive.

Meanwhile, Ant-Man and the Wasp scoured the top of the Living Stone for a weak point, and indeed found a minuscule spot where it could apparently be struck and destroyed without causing an explosion. Along with Cap and Iron Man, they made their way back underground to find Thor, whose hammer they believed would destroy the Stone as desired. The zealous Lava Men witch doctor Jinku ordered his men to attack, but the Avengers were able to fight them off. At that moment however, having once again transformed seemingly at random, the Hulk appeared in the underground cavern to fight the Avengers. All but Thor fought him, while Thor faced off with Jinku. Jinku boasted a radioactive rod, which in a "one-in-a-million combination of molecules" caused Thor to transform into Don Blake. The resulting impact also caused a cave-in that separated Blake from the other Avengers closer to the surface. The Avengers lured Hulk to the top of the Stone, where Giant-Man and Wasp used evasive maneuvers and size-changing to cause him to unwittingly smash the exact point on the Stone that caused it to implode in an incredible but largely harmless display. Exhausted from Jinku's blast, Blake summoned the last of his energy to become Thor again, warning the Lava Men to never challenge the human race again. Hulk disappeared in the implosion, and Rick Jones came running to the team with a note from the Teen Brigade warning of a "condition red" emergency.[9]

The Masters of Evil

Upon arriving back in New York, the Avengers found that the city had been set upon by a group of villains: the Black Knight, whom Giant-Man and Wasp had recently defeated; the Melter, who had once challenged Iron Man; and Radioactive Man, one of Thor's credible foes. The three villains were covering the city in what Captain America recognized as Adhesive X, an adhesive with a heretofore unbreakable bond created by Nazi scientist Baron Zemo. The Avengers initially faced off with Radioactive Man, who was able to use a gun firing Adhesive X to adhere Cap and Giant-Man to the ground. They were then quickly confronted by the Melter, who had had his melting beam upgraded to affect all forms of metal instead of just iron. Melter's blast inadvertently cut around the patch of ground to which Cap and Giant-Man were stuck, and Iron Man took hold of them with a tow truck to pull them away. Black Knight also arrived, but the Avengers withdrew to Stark's mansion soon after. The heroes pondered a way to counteract Adhesive X, and Wasp came up with a possible solution. She contacted the police and asked for Paste-Pot Pete, a villain who had been imprisoned for several months and was an expert on adhesives. In exchange for a reduced sentence, he claimed that he had a "super-dissolver" that could dissolve any adhesive, stored in a warehouse uptown. Iron Man fetched the dissolver, stored in a large drum, and it proved effective at freeing Giant-Man and Captain America. Regrouping, Captain America deduced that the leader of this villainous onslaught must be Baron Zemo himself, and planned to challenge him head-on. Meanwhile, the Teen Brigade led by Rick Jones set out on a stealthy mission to replace Zemo's supply of Adhesive X with Pete's super-dissolver, leaving Zemo's cohorts—known as the Masters of Evil;—to unwittingly spread the dissolver throughout the city. The Avengers fought the Masters of Evil through the city, concluding with Cap fighting Zemo directly. Zemo's pilot, armed with a gun, distracted Cap enough for the two to escape via "heli-hovercraft" with a vat of what he believed to be super-dissolver. In fact, the Teen Brigade had actually put a single vat of tear gas, which soon let loose inside the craft, sending it crashing to the ground. Zemo and the rest of the Masters of Evil were arrested.[10]

Baron Zemo strikes back

Six days after Iron Man brashly blew off a call from the Avengers,[11] the team held a meeting to discuss the consequences of his actions. Iron Man offered no defense, unwilling to reveal to his partners that he had gone through a personal crisis. The other Avengers decided to suspend him from the team for one week as punishment. The team went their separate ways: notably, Giant-Man and Wasp traveled to New England for entomological study. As Captain America and Rick Jones took a walk through the park, they ran into a man who introduced himself as Hans Grubervelt, Baron Zemo's former assistant. Grubervelt was remorseful for his past, and informed them that Zemo was hiding in the Amazon rainforest. A vengeful Cap stormed off with Jones in tow, leaving Thor as the sole active Avenger in New York. As Thor patrolled the city, he was ambushed by the Enchantress, an Asgardian known for her sorcery and beauty. She took him under her spell, and with the aid of a special brew convinced him that the Avengers were evil. As he awoke, Enchantress evacuated to watch the events, and Thor radioed Giant-Man and Wasp to return urgently. He assaulted their helicopter as they returned, forcing Giant-Man to grow to 40 feet tall, instantly exhausting himself. Watching television at home, Iron Man learned of the events, and quickly jumped into the fray to defend Giant-Man and Wasp. Meanwhile, Captain America arrived in South America (without Jones) and was quickly set upon by Zemo's native underlings. Grubervelt had in fact been the Executioner, another Asgardian. He and Enchantress had recently been banished from Asgard and aligned themselves with Zemo to defeat the Avengers But fighting against the odds was nothing new for Cap, who repeatedly and thoroughly fended off Zemo's defenses. Zemo tried to escape by plane, but Cap grabbed on with magnetic transistors in his suit developed by Tony Stark. The ship flew all the way to New York, where Iron Man reflected a beam of sunlight into Thor's eyes and reversed the spell of the Enchantress. Enchantress magically directed Zemo's ship to land by them, and Cap burst into the cockpit, eager to finally get his revenge for Bucky's death. But the powerful Executioner got behind him and knocked him out, tossing him aside and attempting to fly away with Enchantress and an unconscious Zemo. As the ship took off, the lucid Thor used his hammer to create a "space warp," sending the ship to a location that he said could be anywhere in the multiverse. Captain America recovered, and vowed that the Avengers would defeat Zemo and the Asgardians should they ever return.[12]

Kang the Conqueror

The Avengers were soon asked to meet remotely with representatives from the Pentagon, who showed them video of a spaceship landing in the woodlands of Virginia, from which came a being calling himself Kang. The team along with Rick Jones hastily took a jet to the landing spot, where they confronted the nonchalant Kang, who casually claimed dominion over Earth. He then just as casually used an anti-gravity field around his ship to throw the Avengers into the air in an attempt to demonstrate his superiority. Soon the undersecretary of the Department of Defense arrived, and insisted that Kang explain himself. Kang revealed himself to be a time traveler from the year 3000,[note 1] who had previously traveled to ancient times and ruled as a pharaoh named Rama-Tut, coming into conflict with the Fantastic Four. He had then briefly arrived in the 20th century and met Doctor Doom before attempting to return to his own time, but accidentally landing in 4000, a time when humanity had become barbarous in spite of the incredibly advanced technology that they could no longer understand. After carving out his dominion in that era for a time, he now sought to conquer the 20th century, deeming it more full of natural and monetary wealth. He brought his adopted 41st-century moniker Kang with him. Refusing to allow Kang to see his plan through, Giant-Man attacked, triggering a battle. The Avengers were no match for Kang's array of mysterious technology, and he was able to suck them into his ship with a tractor beam, save for Wasp and Rick Jones, who eluded capture.

Each Avenger landed in a separate area, affected by an electro-chemical field that returned Thor to his secret identity of Don Blake and kept Giant-Man at human size. They were also held in place by a paralysis ray, which affected Iron Man's already embattled heart and made him struggle to breathe. Kang told the undersecretary that the leaders of the world had 24 hours to concede to him or face destruction. Wasp and Rick Jones escaped into the woods, and agreed to split up to see if Avengers headquarters or the Teen Brigade had any solutions to defeating Kang and freeing their teammates. Some time later, Jones returned with the Teen Brigade and approached Kang, claiming to want to ally with him. Kang plainly accepted, and welcomed them into his ship. This ruse didn't last for long, but the Brigade managed to free the imprisoned Avengers as Kang figured out their plan. Meanwhile, Wasp retrieved a special acid gun from Giant-Man's lab in New Jersey, and hastily flew it back to Virginia. The Avengers fought Kang at his landing site to buy time, and when Wasp returned with the gun, Giant-Man fired it on Kang to cause his elaborate suit to dissolve, disabling much of his advanced weaponry. Kang had a few more last-ditch attempts to defeat them, but the Avengers countered them, forcing him to retreat in his ship, disappearing into time moments later.[13]

The duplicity of Wonder Man

The Avengers next answered the call of a large robbery in New York, which they found to have been committed by the Masters of Evil, having escaped from Thor's space warp. The two teams again fought, until a mighty hero calling himself Wonder Man arrived and singlehandedly dispatched of Zemo and his allies. The Masters of Evil fled, seemingly no match for Wonder Man, as the new hero approached the Avengers and offered to join them. They returned to Tony Stark's mansion, where Wonder Man explained that he had a terminal illness and hoped that they could help. With that, the scientists of the team got to work searching for a cure. Some time later, Iron Man received an urgent radio from Wonder Man, who said he and the Wasp had been captured by Zemo at his base in South America. Iron Man quickly made for his location, leaving a note behind for the others to follow. He arrived the next day, but found that it was a trap: the Wasp had indeed been captured, but Wonder Man was a spy for Zemo all along, and had taken Wasp himself. The other Avengers soon arrived, prompting a battle between the heroes and the Masters of Evil including Wonder Man. With their advantage, the Masters were able to incapacitate the Avengers, and Zemo began plans to kill them all. Wonder Man had fought until now to save himself: Zemo held the only antidote to his illness, and would only supply it in exchange for loyalty. Seeing now that his actions could cause the deaths of five great heroes, Wonder Man had a change of heart and fought back against Zemo, reviving the Avengers and fighting back the Masters of Evil. Zemo and the Asgardians escaped, their victory torn from them at the last moment. His honor restored, Wonder Man's illness overtook him, and he collapsed dead in Iron Man's arms.[14]

The mysterious Immortus

One day, Rick Jones was shown an advertisement on the back of a comic book declaring to the reader that they could obtain superpowers. Jones longed to become a full-fledged Avenger himself, and followed the address listed in the ad. There he met Immortus, a mysterious being who ruled over Limbo and traveled through time. The advertisement was a trap, and Immortus looked to use Jones as bait to defeat the Avengers. Immortus used a phantom resembling Attila the Hun to keep Jones at bay. Though Jones fought valiantly, having been trained in hand-to-hand combat by Captain America, he could not hold back Attila. Immortus took Jones to 18th-century England and held him in the Tower of London while he awaited the Avengers. Soon, Captain America noticed that Jones was missing, and through connections at the Teen Brigade found where he had gone. Cap confronted Immortus, who claimed that the other Avengers had betrayed him to allow him to know that kidnapping Jones was the best way to get to him. He told Cap to bring the other Avengers to him if he wanted to see Rick again. Cap returned to Avengers headquarters, angered at the thought that they may have betrayed him, but cooler heads eventually prevailed and the team went back to Immortus.

Before Immortus would return Jones, he used a series of other phantoms modeled after legendary figures to pair off with the (male members of) the Avengers one-on-one. Giant-Man faced Goliath, Iron Man faced Merlin (not the true Merlin who had faced Thor in the past), and Thor faced Hercules. Each Avenger won their battle, and the angry Immortus pulled Captain America with him into the past, back to London where Jones was being held, daring him to rescue his friend as English soldiers battled the frightening newcomer. The other Avengers returned to headquarters, left with no way of moving forward. They were attacked there yet again by the Masters of Evil, who had coordinated with Immortus and had been observing his actions. They saw that the Avengers were now a man down, and took advantage of their handicap. The two teams fought until Captain America returned with Rick Jones in tow—upon fighting through the guards and saving his friend, Cap was returned to the present by a strangely honorable Immortus. The Masters were quickly overpowered, at which point the Enchantress cast a spell to reverse time to before they had met Immortus. As a result, only the Masters of Evil were left to remember the events that transpired as a result of Immortus's arrival, while for everyone else that period simply never happened.[15]

Lucifer and the X-Men

Soon after, Thor detected a source of great evil with his hammer emanating from the Balkans in Europe. There, they ran into the X-Men, a team of young mutant heroes who happened to be searching for the very same threat: a powerful being known as Lucifer. The Avengers were adamant that Lucifer was to be destroyed. However, with the help of their leader Professor X, the X-Men had just been made aware that to harm Lucifer directly would cause even greater unforeseen harm. Specifically, Lucifer had his heartbeat connected to a large thermal bomb that would launch if his vital signs were compromised, killing millions. As the Professor sought a solution deep underground, he commanded the X-Men to hold back the overzealous Avengers. The two teams fought, as Xavier was able to disable Lucifer with a carefully calculated mental attack, knocking him unconscious without altering his heartbeat. Xavier then contacted Thor telepathically, explaining the entirety of the situation. Thor in turn explained it to the Avengers: the fight was called off, and the Avengers left the X-Men to their foe. The X-Men went on to defuse Lucifer's bomb successfully.[16]

Kang and the bogus Spider-Man

Soon after, Tony Stark was believed to be dead after an attack on his mansion, and Iron Man in turn had disappeared.[17][note 2] The other Avengers agreed to accept his leave of absence. Later, Captain America was attacked by a group of thugs on the street, but was saved by the young hero Spider-Man. Cap thanked him, and Spider-Man asked to join the Avengers. He led them to the others, who were hesitant to let him join—Giant-Man and Wasp in particular had had a run-in with Spider-Man in the past. However, Spider-Man told them that he had information on Iron Man's whereabouts. He told them that he'd seen the Masters of Evil kidnapping Iron Man and that they were going to fly him to the Temple of Tirod in Mexico. In truth, "Spider-Man" was an exact robotic duplicate created, sent back in time, and overseen by Kang, and sending the Avengers to the temple was an elaborate trap (the thugs who had attacked Captain America were also Kang's robots). The heroes arrived at the temple in sequence, and "Spider-Man" attacked each of them, leading to a series of mighty battles. The bogus Spider-Man was able to catch them off guard, aided by nerve gas that permeated the temple and dampened their strength. However, the robot was shockingly attacked by the real Spider-Man, who had detected his presence in New York and followed him to Mexico. After a naturally evenly matched battle, the real Spider-Man was able to defeat and deactivate the robot. As the incapacitated Captain America came to, he saw the real Spider-Man win and realized what had happened. He told the other Avengers of the situation, and correctly concluded that Kang must have been responsible. The Avengers returned home, having unwittingly foiled the time traveler's plans once more.[18]

Lineup changes

Notes

  1. ↑ Kang also traveled from an alternate universe, Earth-6311, seemingly without his own knowledge. This means that the future he refers to is not the future of the Avengers' timeline.
  2. ↑ The attack had been carried out by the Mandarin, but Stark (and thus Iron Man) had escaped unscathed—Iron Man traveled to China to exact revenge on the Mandarin.

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 The Avengers #1: "The Coming of the Avengers!" (September 1963) Lee, Stan (w), Kirby, Jack (p), Ayers, Dick (i), Rosen, Sam (let).
  2. ↑ Tales to Astonish #49a: "The Birth of Giant-Man!" (November 1963) Lee, Stan (w), Kirby, Jack (p), Heck, Don (i), Rosen, Sam (let).
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 The Avengers #2: "The Space Phantom." (November 1963) Lee, Stan (w), Kirby, Jack (p), Reinman, Paul (i), Simek, Artie (let).
  4. ↑ Journey into Mystery #112a: "The Mighty Thor Battles the Incredible Hulk!" (January 1965) Lee, Stan (w), Kirby, Jack (p), Stone, Chic (i), Rosen, Sam (let).
  5. ↑ The Avengers #3: "The Avengers Meet Sub-Mariner!" (January 1964) Lee, Stan (w), Kirby, Jack (p), Reinman, Paul (i), Rosen, Sam (let).
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 The Avengers #4: "Captain America Joins the Avengers!" (March 1964) Lee, Stan (w), Kirby, Jack (art), Simek, Artie (let).
  7. ↑ Fantastic Four #25: "The Hulk vs. the Thing." (April 1964) Lee, Stan (w), Kirby, Jack (p), Bell, George (i), Rosen, Sam (let).
  8. ↑ Fantastic Four #26: "The Avengers Take Over!" (May 1964) Lee, Stan (w), Kirby, Jack (p), Bell, George (i), Simek, Artie (let).
  9. ↑ The Avengers #5: "The Invasion of the Lava Men!" (May 1964) Lee, Stan (w), Kirby, Jack (p), Reinman, Paul (i), Rosen, Sam (let).
  10. ↑ The Avengers #6: "Masters of Evil!" (July 1964) Lee, Stan (w), Kirby, Jack (p), Stone, Chic (i), Rosen, Sam (let).
  11. ↑ Tales of Suspense #56a: "The Uncanny Unicorn!" (August 1964) Lee, Stan (w), Heck, Don (art), Rosen, Sam (let).
  12. ↑ The Avengers #7: "Their Darkest Hour!" (August 1964) Lee, Stan (w), Kirby, Jack (p), Stone, Chic (i), Simek, Artie (let).
  13. ↑ The Avengers #8: "Kang, the Conqueror!" (September 1964) Lee, Stan (w), Kirby, Jack (p), Ayers, Dick (i), Rosen, Sam (let).
  14. ↑ The Avengers #9: "The Coming of the...Wonder Man!" (October 1964) Lee, Stan (w), Heck, Don (p), Ayers, Dick (i), Simek, Artie (let).
  15. ↑ The Avengers #10: "The Avengers Break Up!" (November 1964) Lee, Stan (w), Heck, Don (p), Ayers, Dick (i), Rosen, Sam (let).
  16. ↑ The X-Men #9: "Enter, The Avengers!" (January 1965) Lee, Stan (w), Kirby, Jack (p), Stone, Chic (i), Rosen, Sam (let).
  17. ↑ Tales of Suspense #61a: "The Death of Tony Stark!" (January 1965) Lee, Stan (w), Heck, Don (p), Ayers, Dick (i), Rosen, Sam (let).
  18. ↑ The Avengers #11: "The Mighty Avengers Meet Spider-Man!" (December 1964) Lee, Stan (w), Heck, Don (p), Stone, Chic (i), Rosen, Sam (let).
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