Avengers (comics)

The Avengers are a fictional 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 Avengers originally consisted of Iron Man, Ant Man, Hulk, Thor and Wasp. The original Captain America was discovered trapped in ice in issue #4, and joined the group after they revived him.

A rotating roster became a hallmark of the series, although one theme remained consistent: the Avengers fight "the foes no single superhero can withstand." The team, famous for its battle cry of "Avengers Assemble!", has featured humans, superhumans, mutants, Inhumans, deities, androids, aliens, legendary beings, and even former villains.

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. The Avengers also play a central role in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) being the focus in multiple MCU feature films, beginning with the eponymous 2012 live-action film, The Avengers, and followed by the sequels Age of Ultron (2015), Infinity War (2018), and Endgame (2019), the latter two of which were based on The Infinity Gauntlet storyline. The Avengers also featured in Captain America: Civil War (2016), which drew loosely from the Civil War storyline. Individual members of the team also have standalone franchises, such as Iron Man, Thor, Captain America and Ant-Man.