The Avengers are one of the most famous superhero teams in the world, largely thanks to the team's leading role in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. However, the comics that inspired the now-iconic pop culture team the movies and the comics they're based on present several different versions of the team and its origin.
Now, we're taking a look back at some of the very different ways the most prominent versions of Earth's Mightiest Heroes came together in comics and film.
Avengers
The original Avengers were created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby and first appeared in The Avengers #1 in 1963. The original team included Tony Stark/Iron Man, Thor, Hank Pym/Ant-Man, Janet Van Dyne/The Wasp, and Bruce Banner/The Incredible Hulk. When Loki framed the Hulk for an attack on a train as part of a plot to manipulate Thor, Rick Jones brought together the four other team members to stop the villain.
After Loki was defeated Hank and Jan suggested the group remain together, as they could fight crime more effectively as a team. The others agreed and Jan came up with the group name The Avengers. But this initial group did not last long, as the Hulk departed in issue #2, believing his teammates would never accept him as anything more than a monster. Captain America took Banner's place on the team when he was discovered frozen in ice in Avengers #4. Many, including Iron Man himself, consider Cap's addition to the team as the moment the Avengers were truly born.
Heroes Reborn
In the mid-1990s, The Avengers was relaunched following the apparent deaths of many team members during the "Onslaught" event. The second ongoing volume of the series took place on Counter-Earth, the alternate reality Franklin Richards created to save his family, the Fantastic Four, and other heroes during "Heroes Reborn" .
The characters' histories on this world were drastically different as was the initial team roster. On Counter-Earth the founding Avengers included Captain America, Hawkeye, Scarlet Witch, the Swordsman, Hellcat, and the Vision. Created by Rob Liefeld, Jim Valentino, and Chap Yaep, this version of the team first appeared in The Avengers #1 in 1996. These Avengers were brought together by their Earth's S.H.I.E.L.D., although their first battle was still with Loki, who tricked Thor into fighting them before he eventually joined the team.
Ultimate Marvel (The Ultimates)
The Ultimate Marvel universe introduced a very successful reimagining of the Avengers, known on their Earth as the Ultimates. Created by Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch, they first appeared in The Ultimates #1 in 2002. Also assembled by S.H.I.E.L.D., the Ultimates were a government-sanctioned team tasked with defending America from superhuman threats. The roster was the same as the original 616 Avengers but most of the characters were drastically altered, with most of the Ultimate versions being very disturbed and unstable compared to their doppelgängers.
Captain America was portrayed as much more conservative, even jingoistic. Hank and Jan's relationship was even more toxic than usual. And Thor was the leader of a hippy-like counter-culture movement and was believed to be mentally ill. The dysfunctional team's first mission saw them taking down one of their own when Banner went on a rampage as the Hulk after dosing himself with his flawed super-soldier serum in order to feel "big". Like the original Avengers, the first iteration of the Ultimates fell apart immediately after forming when Hank violently assaulted Jan following an argument.
The Marvel Cinematic Universe
The MCU is often praised for replicating the spirit of its comic book source material but that doesn't mean it strictly follows every detail. The cinematic team, which was introduced in the 2012 film The Avengers, written and directed by Joss Whedon, was united by S.H.I.E.L.D. as a response team when Loki and the Chiaturi invaded Earth on behalf of Thanos. This fulfilled an idea of "a group of remarkable people" uniting to protect the world that Nick Fury had had after his encounter with Captain Marvel.
For its initial Avengers team, the MCU traded Hank and Jan for Black Widow and Hawkeye. Despite initial friction the team coalesced following the death of Agent Phil Coulson. Fury would later tell Coulson that he considered him just as much an Avenger as the superheroes when he explained why he brought him back to life in the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. television series.