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151-849: Kang the Conqueror ( Nathaniel Richards ) is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics . Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby , the character first appeared in Fantastic Four #19 (October 1963) as Rama-Tut , an adversary of the Fantastic Four , before being reinvented as Kang in The Avengers #8 (September 1964), an adversary of the Avengers . A time-traveler, several alternate versions of Kang have appeared throughout Marvel Comics titles over

302-877: A film series from Marvel Studios , known as the Marvel Cinematic Universe , culminating with The Avengers in 2012, with more appearances of the team in subsequent films. The team debuted in The Avengers #1 (September 1963). Much like the Justice League , the Avengers were an assemblage of superheroes who each had an existing series of his own. All of the characters were created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby . This initial series, published bi-monthly through issue #6 (July 1964) and monthly thereafter ran through issue #402 (Sept. 1996), with spinoffs including several annuals , miniseries and

453-465: A 31st-century scholar and descendant of Reed Richards 's time traveling father Nathaniel , becomes fascinated with history and discovers the time travel technology created by Victor von Doom , another possible ancestor of his. He then travels back in time to ancient Egypt aboard a Sphinx-shaped timeship and reinvents himself as Pharaoh Rama-Tut , with plans to claim En Sabah Nur—the mutant destined to become Apocalypse —as his heir. The pharaoh's rule

604-648: A battle inside a temple in Vietnam , the Wasp goes to place baby Kang back where he belongs. Kang is subsequently defeated. During the " Infinity Countdown " storyline, Kang the Conqueror gains knowledge of the calamity that would come if the Infinity Gems were to be gathered in the same location again. To prevent this from occurring, he abducts Adam Warlock, convinces him to help secure the Soul Gem in exchange for

755-479: A boulder. He fires a ray, shrinking and subduing the Growing Man to doll-sized so he can be "re-hidden". He later reactivates the Growing Man to kidnap an incapacitated Tony Stark and draw the Avengers into his game, though the purpose is not revealed. Thor fails to keep Kang from escaping into the time-stream. In hopes of restoring his love to life, Kang enters a wager with the cosmic entity Grandmaster , using

906-413: A chronal being called Alioth , and is forced to summon the Avengers to assist. She revives Kang, who assists the Avengers in defeating Alioth, but not before allowing the entity to kill the entire Crosstime Kang Corps. In Avengers Forever , flashbacks reveal that many of Kang's recent actions were motivated by more of a desire to do something rather than a genuine desire for power, and that Rama-Tut

1057-740: A conflict between the Kree and the Shi'ar Empire . The team split when Iron Man and several dissidents executed the Supreme Intelligence against the wishes of Captain America. After a vote disbanded the West Coast Avengers , Iron Man formed a proactive and aggressive team called Force Works . During the team's first mission, Wonder Man was killed again, though his atoms were temporarily scattered. Force Works later disbanded after it

1208-543: A fact later incorporated into the primary continuity of the Marvel Universe . However, subsequent publications, such as Avengers Forever #9 (August 1999) and Doctor Doom #6 (March 2020), have continued to present Kang's ancestry as ambiguous, suggesting he may descended from one, both, or neither of the two men, in particular Kristoff Vernard : Doom's adoptive son and a half-sibling of Reed. Kang featured in an eponymous miniseries in 2021. Nathaniel Richards ,

1359-644: A four-issue miniseries in 1984, followed by a 102-issue series (Oct. 1985–Jan. 1994), retitled Avengers West Coast with #47; and the 40-issue Solo Avengers (Dec.1987–Jan. 1991), retitled Avengers Spotlight with #21. Between 1996 and 2004, Marvel relaunched the primary Avengers title three times. In 1996, the " Heroes Reborn " line took place in an alternate universe, with a revamped history unrelated to mainstream Marvel continuity. The Avengers vol. 3 ran for 84 issues from February 1998 to August 2004. Early issues were written by Kurt Busiek and pencilled by George Perez . To coincide with what would have been

1510-402: A giant-size quarterly sister series that ran briefly in the mid-1970s. Writers of the first series included Roy Thomas , Steve Englehart , Gerry Conway , Jim Shooter , David Michelinie and Roger Stern . Artists included John Buscema , Tom Palmer , Neal Adams , George Perez , John Byrne and Steve Epting . Other spinoff series include West Coast Avengers , initially published as

1661-732: A government liaison for the New Avengers with Rogers's backing. A second series, titled Secret Avengers , was released in May 2010, written by Ed Brubaker with Mike Deodato as the regular artist. The second volume of the New Avengers series was launched in June 2010, written by Bendis and drawn by Stuart Immonen . A fourth title, Avengers Academy , was launched in June 2010, replacing Avengers: The Initiative . Christos Gage served as writer, with Mike McKone as artist. Following

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1812-469: A heavy-handed, obstructive manner, and insisted that the Avengers follow government rules and regulations or else lose their priority status with the government. Among Gyrich's demands was that the active roster be trimmed down to only seven members, and that the Falcon , an African American , be admitted to the team to comply with affirmative action laws. This last act was resented by Hawkeye, who because of

1963-506: A leave of absence and Ms. Marvel officially joined the team as her replacement. The first major development was the breakdown of Henry Pym, with his frequent changes of costume and name being symptomatic of an identity problem and an inferiority complex . After he abused his wife, failed to win back the confidence of the Avengers with a ruse and was duped by the villain Egghead , Pym was jailed. Pym would later outwit Egghead and defeated

2114-504: A living Kang from the timestream to participate on the villains' side in the first of the Secret Wars . Soon after, it is revealed that while Kang had indeed died, his constant time-traveling had created a number of alternate Kangs. The Kang to discover this had been drawn to Limbo after his time-travel vehicle was destroyed by Thor. Finding Immortus' remains inside his fortress, Kang assumes the "Lord of Time" to be deceased and discovers

2265-699: A meet and greet experience. From May to September 2017, Disneyland Resort featured the "Summer of Heroes", which sees members of the Guardians and Avengers making appearances throughout the Disneyland Resort. Additionally, the Guardians of the Galaxy: Awesome Dance Off event was featured, which involved Peter Quill / Star-Lord blasting music from his boombox, along with the Avengers Training Initiative,

2416-564: A meeting between Rogers and MI-13 , Captain Britain accepts a position with the Avengers. Noh-Varr later does as well. Bruce Banner made arrangements with Rogers for the Red Hulk to join. The " Shattered Heroes " storyline leads to several changes in the main Avengers lineup, with Quake and Storm being recruited, and the Vision rejoining the team. Wolverine and Spider-Man leave

2567-695: A new team that come to be known as the ' Young Avengers '. This team consists of teenagers with ties to the Avengers' history, such as Hulking- the Kree/Skrull hybrid son of Captain Mar-Vell and a Skrull princess- Wiccan and Speed- the children of the Scarlet Witch and the Vision reborn as teenagers- and Cassie Lang- daughter of the second Ant-Man-, with the young Kang adopting the alias of ' Iron Lad ' using technology stolen from his future self to imitate

2718-475: A new volume of the regular Avengers title. The roster was also changed, where following Iron Man being placed in a coma, and Spider-Man, Nova, and Ms. Marvel's resignation from the team (who instead teamed up with other heroes their own age to form their own group the Champions ), the remaining three members are joined by Spider-Man (Peter Parker), Hercules and Wasp (Nadia Pym) to form a new team. During

2869-593: A now-evil Scarlet Witch invades Latveria, Doctor Doom forms his own team of Avengers consisting of 3D Man, Elsa Bloodstone, Stingray, Valkyrie, and U.S. Agent. After various heroes and villains experience a moral inversion in the battle against the Red Skull empowered with Professor Charles Xavier's abilities, Rogers later assembles Magneto, Doctor Doom, the Absorbing Man, Carnage, Deadpool, the Enchantress,

3020-557: A penchant for death games (setting teams of heroes against one another): Victorex Prime is a divergent version of the Scarlet Centurion who retained the identity and never became Kang, instead taking over the future of the Squadron Supreme 's universe of Earth-712 , in the 40th century. On becoming bored with his success and dictatorship over a total of fifteen moons and planets, Victorex Prime elects to invade

3171-454: A ploy by Kang, as by aiding Doom in saving the world Kang is actually making the world easier for himself to conquer in two hundred years' time. In the solo series Kang the Conqueror , Kang rewrites history by manipulating a younger version of him to go through all of his previous identities – Iron Lad, Scarlet Centurion, Pharaoh Rama-Tut, and finally Kang – into becoming the purest form of would-be conqueror, resurrecting Ravonna by giving her

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3322-632: A pocket universe. Believing the main team to be gone, the Black Widow disbanded the Avengers, and only butler Edwin Jarvis remained to tend to the Mansion. The previous continuity of the Marvel Universe was set aside as the heroes were "reborn" in the pocket universe created by Franklin Richards to save his parents and their friends, while the " Heroes Reborn " line ended and the heroes returned to

3473-475: A second appearance the following year in Fantastic Four Annual #2 (September 1964), the character appeared again, this time under the identity of Kang, in The Avengers #8 (published the same month), also by Lee and Kirby. This issue also established that Rama-Tut was a younger version of Kang. A decade later, the character of Immortus , previously introduced in Avengers #10 (November 1964),

3624-462: A series retaining The New Avengers in its trademarked cover logo and New Avengers in its copyright indicia . Luke Cage led this team, consisting of himself, Echo , Ronin, Spider-Man, Spider-Woman, Wolverine, Iron Fist , and Doctor Strange . During the long-term Secret Invasion by the shape-shifting alien race the Skrulls , it was revealed that Spider-Woman had been abducted and replaced by

3775-682: A superhero. In instances where the supervillain does not have superhuman, mystical, or alien powers, the supervillain may possess a genius intellect or a skill set that allows them to draft complex schemes or commit crimes in a way normal humans cannot. Other traits may include megalomania and possession of considerable resources to further their aims. Many supervillains share some typical characteristics of real-world dictators , gangsters , mad scientists , trophy hunters , corrupt businesspeople , serial killers , and terrorists , often having an aspiration of world domination . The Joker , Lex Luthor , Doctor Doom , Magneto , Brainiac , Deathstroke ,

3926-669: A team under the aegis of the government's Fifty State Initiative program, and took up residency in New York City, joined by Ares , the Black Widow , the Sentry, the Wasp , Wonder Man , and leader Carol Danvers as Ms. Marvel. After the events of the Secret Invasion story arc, Norman Osborn assumed control of the formerly S.H.I.E.L.D.-sponsored Avengers, now under the auspices of his own agency, H.A.M.M.E.R. All but Ares and

4077-501: A team; the Wasp named the group Avengers . The roster changed almost immediately; in the second issue (November 1963), Ant-Man became Giant-Man, and at the end of the issue, the Hulk left once he realized how much the others feared his unstable personality. Captain America joined the team in issue #4 (March 1964), and he was given "founding member" status in the Hulk's place. The Hulk, upset about being replaced by Captain America and

4228-451: A temporally unstable environment causes Immortus and Rama-Tut to split off from Kang, essentially making them both clear alternate versions of Kang rather than Immortus being Kang's definitive future. With the weakened Time Keepers destroyed, Kang rejoices in his freedom from the destiny of Immortus and Rama-Tut, as he has now technically become them while still being himself. After some months, Kang embarks on an ambitious scheme to conquer

4379-549: A timeline. The Prime Kang , having recovered, then attempts to manipulate the Avengers from a time vortex, and encounters the Fantastic Four in a bid to capture Mantis and use her to defeat a Celestial and the other Kangs, while "Fred" is incinerated by a Nebula-possessed Human Torch during a later battle with the Fantastic Four in the timestream. Later, the Prime Kang appears, captures the Vision , and battles both

4530-408: A traitor who remains active in his ranks. Depressed at his new loss, Kang retreats from Earth. At some point, Kang travels back to his own past to prevent an incident where a confrontation with a bully left him in a coma for a year, but meeting his future self so horrifies Kang's past self that he steals Kang's armor and retreats to the past, using an emergency protocol created by the Vision to recruit

4681-478: A variation of Iron Man's armor. When Kang tracks his younger self to the past, the Young Avengers are able to kill him, but the subsequent changes to history force the young Kang to return to his time and erase his memory of these events, although the Young Avengers remain as a team with Iron Lad's armor now self-operating with a consciousness based on an amalgamation of Iron Lad and the Vision. Kang travels

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4832-496: A version of himself as Rama-Tut. Ultimately, Chronomonitor #616 is trapped in a time loop by the TVA, swearing revenge upon them and the Fantastic Four . Qeng Gryphon , or simply Mister Gryphon , is a variation of Kang the Conqueror that is confined to the present. He is the CEO of Qeng Enterprises. He Who Remains is a older variant of Kang the Conqueror and is the final director of

4983-430: Is a fusion of the old Vision's operating systems and the armor of adventurer Iron Lad, a teenage version of Kang the Conqueror who arrives in the present. Through this merger, Iron Lad is able to access plans the Vision had created in the event of the Avengers' defeat. He uses these plans to assemble a new team of " Young Avengers ". When Iron Lad is forced to remove his armor to stop Kang the Conqueror from tracking him,

5134-601: Is able to help the surviving Unity Squad members project their minds back into their past selves so that they can defeat the Celestial that attacked Earth. Kang subsequently attempts to steal the Celestials' power for himself, requiring Sunfire and Havok to put themselves at risk by absorbing some of his energy themselves so that they can force him to expend his stolen power. Before the Inhuman king Black Bolt destroys

5285-582: Is an adolescent version of Kang who learned of his future self when Kang tried to prevent a childhood hospitalization. Attempting to escape his destiny, the teen Nate Richards steals his future self's advanced armor and travels back to the past, forming the Young Avengers to help him stop Kang. When his attempt to reject his destiny results in Kang's death, the resulting destruction caused by the changes in history forces Iron Lad to return to his time and undo

5436-526: Is an extraordinary genius, an expert historical scholar, and a master physicist (specializing in time travel), engineer, and technician. He is armed with 40th-century technology, wearing highly advanced battle armor that enhances his strength, is capable of energy, hologram, and force-field projection, has a 30-day supply of air and food, and is capable of controlling other forms of technology. Courtesy of his " time-ship ", Kang has access to technology from any century, and he once claimed his ship alone could destroy

5587-471: Is cut short when he is defeated by the time-displaced Fantastic Four . An embittered Nathaniel Richards travels forward to the 20th century where he meets Doctor Doom , whom he believes might be his ancestor. He later designs an armor based on Doom's and, calling himself the Scarlet Centurion , pits the Avengers team against alternate-reality counterparts. He plans to dispose of all of them, but

5738-453: Is defeated. When Vision abducts Kang's infant self in an attempt to defeat him, the latter, split into increasingly divergent versions of himself by the fractured state of time, retaliates by attacking various Avengers in their infant states. A possible future version of Kang saves key Avengers from his past self's attack by bringing them into Limbo until Hercules acquires an amulet from a former Fate that protects him from Kang's assault. During

5889-529: Is destroyed. Immortus then reveals he faked his death and manipulated everything from behind the scenes. Now only the one "Prime" Kang remains, who Immortus tricks into absorbing the memories of all the slain Kangs, which drives him insane. Immortus then sends the Avengers back to their own timeline. This Kang diverges into two alternate Kangs, and one is invited to join the Crosstime Kang Corps (or

6040-578: Is his past and future self; feeling listless and trapped by the burdens of the empire he has created, Kang at one point returned to life as Rama-Tut for a more simple life where he did not have a vast empire to administer. However, as Kang prepares to become Rama-Tut once again and from there Immortus , he glimpses the future and learns of Immortus's servitude to the Time-Keepers of the Time Variance Authority , renewing his horror at

6191-426: Is mortally wounded when she leaps in front of a blast meant for Kang, realizing she does love him after all. Kang returns the Avengers to their present, and places Ravonna's body in stasis. Kang appears in modern-day as he attempts to retrieve a rogue Growing Man construct who is growing larger with every blow. Both Thor and the police are not able to subdue the giant, until Kang appears from a time machine disguised as

Kang the Conqueror - Misplaced Pages Continue

6342-695: The Inspector Gadget animated series, Dr. Evil and Mr. Bigglesworth from the Austin Powers film series , or Dr. Blowhole from the animated TV series The Penguins of Madagascar . The overarching villain of Star Wars , Emperor Palpatine , leads the tyrannical Galactic Empire , and was inspired by real-world tyrannical leaders. Avengers (comics) An Iron Man fan might buy an Avengers book because Iron Man appears in them, and perhaps in turn take an interest in Thor, who appears in

6493-641: The DC Extended Universe (DCEU), culminating with Justice League in 2017. Movies tend to have bigger audiences than comic books, so, the general public are more aware that the likes of Wonder Woman and Captain America existed in separate universes owned by different companies. The movies raised brand awareness of DC Comics and Marvel Comics. As of June 2022, the MCU is the highest-grossing film franchise in history, having collectively grossed over $ 26 billion in box-office revenue, more than twice that by

6644-534: The Fantastic Four , as well as various members of the X-Men , Heroes for Hire , and other prominent Marvel teams have served as members of the Avengers. The Avengers have a long list of villains they frequently face. Some of the most recurring include Ultron , Kang the Conqueror , Loki and Thanos . Abraham Josephine Riesman of Vulture included the Avengers team in their "12 Teams That Defined Superhero Storytelling" list. Michael Doran of Newsarama ranked

6795-582: The Green Goblin , Loki , the Reverse-Flash , Black Manta , Ultron , Thanos , and Darkseid are some notable male comic book supervillains that have been adapted in film and television. Some notable female supervillains are Catwoman , Harley Quinn , Poison Ivy , Mystique , Hela , Viper , and the Cheetah . Just like superheroes, supervillains are sometimes members of groups, such as

6946-498: The Grim Reaper and Klaw . The X-Men #45 (June 1968) featured a crossover with The Avengers #53 (June 1968). This was followed by the introduction of the android Vision . Pym assumed the new identity of Yellowjacket in issue #59, and married the Wasp the following month. The Avengers headquarters was in a New York City building called Avengers Mansion , courtesy of Tony Stark (Iron Man's real identity). The mansion

7097-827: The Injustice League , the Sinister Six , the Legion of Doom , the Brotherhood of Mutants , the Suicide Squad , and the Masters of Evil . In the documentary A Study in Sherlock , writers Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss said they regarded Professor James Moriarty as a supervillain because he possesses genius-level intelligence and powers of observation and deduction, setting him above ordinary people to

7248-403: The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), culminating with the release of The Avengers in 2012. Before the MCU, superhero movies were usually isolated productions mostly because of licensing issues, but the shared universe model has led to its continued growing success. In response, Warner Brothers (which owns DC Comics) began to produce its own series of interconnected superhero movies known as

7399-592: The Moon . As Rama-Tut, he used an "ultra-diode" ray gun that was able to sap the wills of human beings. At a high frequency, it is able to weaken superhuman beings and prevent use of their superpowers. They can be freed from its effects if the gun is fired at them a second time. There are different variations of Kang the Conqueror: Pharaoh Rama-Tut was Kang's original alias when he ruled ancient Egypt. Later in life, he retires as Kang, returns to

7550-645: The Wasp . Hulk left after a single issue, which would become a running gag among splinter team members (for example, Spider-Man leaving the second incarnation of the Avengers Unity Division), and his founder status was retroactively filled in by Captain America . Later additions and frequent members include Hawkeye , Wonder Man , Falcon , Black Panther , Captain Marvel , Scarlet Witch , Quicksilver , and Vision , among others. There are also numerous splinter teams that have formed, starting with

7701-543: The West Coast Avengers in 1984. Each of these splinter teams tends to specialize in a way the main team does not. Members of these teams can be on other splinter teams or on the main team. These teams are, in alphabetical order: Of these teams, only the main team, Avengers World, the Great Lakes Avengers, the Savage Avengers, and the Young Avengers are currently active. Additionally, all members of

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7852-546: The West Coast Avengers ; and "Avengers Under Siege" which involved the second Baron Zemo and the Masters of Evil taking over the mansion and severely injuring Jarvis and Hercules. "Assault on Olympus" featured Hercules' father, Zeus, blaming the Avengers for his son's injuries and brought them to Olympus for trial, and the "Heavy Metal" arc saw the Super Adaptoid organized several robotic villains for an assault on

8003-420: The "Council of Cross-Time Kangs"), which consists of a wide range of Kangs from multiple timelines who are searching for a Celestial "Ultimate Weapon". This Kang calls himself "Fred" (by his own admission a humorous nod to Fred Flintstone , with a prehistoric name being appropriate for a time-traveler) and has a brief encounter with the Avengers while trying to stop the space pirate Nebula from interfering with

8154-462: The 2017 " Secret Empire " storyline, when Captain America was 'reprogrammed' to believe that he had been a Hydra sleeper agent since childhood, the Hydra regime formed their own Avengers. This team consisted of Odinson (Thor currently doubting his worth and believing that Rogers must be 'right' as he could wield Mjolnir when Thor couldn't, unaware that Hydra had used the cosmic cube to change the nature of

8305-633: The 20th century, desiring to counsel and change his younger self. While Kang is successfully foiled, Rama-Tut is unable to prevent the accidental death of the Avenger the Swordsman . During an adventure in Limbo, it is revealed that Immortus is the future incarnation of both Kang and Rama-Tut. While attempting to travel to the time of the Crusades, Hawkeye accidentally comes across Kang, sending both to

8456-439: The 30th-century technology to do so and because, even with their access to his back-ups, the lack of a back-up immediately prior to his death would mean that they would have to tell him about Cassie's death all over again. Kate , Cassie's best friend, prefers to believe that he and Cassie are somehow together wherever they are now. When an alliance of the founding Avengers -- Thor, Giant-Man, Wasp, Hulk, and Iron Man; Avengers from

8607-489: The 500th issue of the original series, Marvel changed the numbering, and The Avengers #500–503 (Sept.– Dec. 2004), the one-shot Avengers Finale (Jan. 2005) became the " Avengers Disassembled " storyline and final issues. In January 2005, a new version of the team appeared in the ongoing title The New Avengers , followed by The Mighty Avengers , Avengers: The Initiative , and Dark Avengers . Avengers vol. 4 debuted in July 2010 and ran until January 2013. Vol. 5

8758-455: The Avengers 1st in their "10 Best Superhero Teams of All Time" list. Jason Serafino of Complex ranked the Avengers 2nd in their "10 Best Superhero Teams In Comics" list. Chris Isaac of Screen Rant the Avengers team 2nd in their "15 Best Superhero Teams Of All Time" list. Geoff Boucher of Deadline ranked the Avengers team 3rd in their "Stan Lee's Legacy: Ranking The Hollywood Heroes Co-Created By The Marvel Comics Icon" list. Most of

8909-401: The Avengers Unity Squad continues to operate to support mutant relations. Iron Man forms a new team of Avengers in the All-New All-Different Avengers series consisting of himself, the Vision, Nova , Ms. Marvel (Kamala Khan), Spider-Man (Miles Morales), Captain America (Sam Wilson), and Thor (Jane Foster). Following the " Civil War II ", storyline, the title was canceled and replaced with

9060-404: The Avengers and a new foe, Terminatrix, who is revealed to be a revived Ravonna. Kang is critically injured when he intercepts a blow from Thor's hammer Mjolnir that was meant for his old love, who is distraught over his sacrifice and teleports away with him. Terminatrix places Prime Kang in stasis to heal his injuries and assumes control of his empire. However, she finds the empire under attack by

9211-399: The Avengers are freed. In an attempt to stop them, Kang releases radiation that only beings from his time are immune to, but Thor uses his hammer to absorb the rays and send them back at the warlord so even he cannot withstand it, and he is forced to escape. He later attempts to defeat the Avengers using a Spider-Man robot, but the real Spider-Man destroys it. In his own time, Kang falls for

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9362-399: The Avengers as pawns in a game which, if won, can temporarily grant him power over life and death. The first round ends in stalemate when an unaware Black Knight intervenes and prevents a clear victory by the Avengers, although the team definitively wins the second round. Due to the first round's stalemate, Kang does not earn the power of both life and death but is forced to choose. He selects

9513-432: The Avengers had "cornered" them at a point where their powers were at their greatest, which implied that this Doctor Doom was actually a future Kang, too. While these future incarnations of Kang erased the other Avengers from the timestream, Giant-Man was able to flee and gather the Chronal Energy Container, a device used by Kang's alien miners to mine time by robbing life forms of their future. Giant-Man then used it to trap

9664-437: The Avengers manage to force him from the timeline, where a divergent version of him becomes Victorex Prime , archenemy of the Squadron Supreme . Nathaniel then tries to return to the 31st century, but overshoots by a thousand years, discovering that humanity has ruined the Earth through endless conflict using advanced weapons they no longer understand. He finds it simple to conquer the planet, expanding his dominion throughout

9815-403: The Avengers team 1st in their "Best Superhero Teams of All Time" list. Comic Book Resources asserted, "The Avengers are known as Earth's mightiest heroes, and that appellation is self-explanatory. The team combines Marvel's greatest heroes into one powerful unit, an assemblage of heroes that faces down the deadliest threats the Marvel Universe can throw at them. The team has proven to be one of

9966-400: The Avengers. The U.S. government revoked the Avengers' New York State charter in a treaty with the Soviet Union. The Avengers then received a charter from the United Nations and the Avengers split into two teams again with a substitute reserve team backing up the main teams. At this point, ongoing storylines and character development focused on the Black Knight, Sersi , Crystal , Hercules,

10117-548: The Avengers. However, the Hulk destroys the cannon which sends him back to the present while Kang is projected into the Limbo. Some time later Kang reappears at Avengers Mansion seeking the "Celestial Madonna", who turns out to be Mantis , desiring to marry her as she is apparently destined to have a powerful child. The heroes are aided by a future version of Kang, who, tired of conquest, had returned to ancient Egypt and his identity of Rama-Tut, ruling benevolently for ten years before placing himself in suspended animation to revive in

10268-426: The Celestials set upright the corpse of the long-time dead Progenitor in the North Pole. The Avengers refurbished the Progenitor's corpse, transforming it into their base of operations, the Avengers Mountain. The Avengers team lineup is known for being perpetually fluid and changing, with many members coming and going, often more than once. The founding members of the team were Iron Man , Thor , Hulk , Ant-Man and

10419-405: The Children of the Sun. The "Multiversal Avengers" division of this team consists of Abyss, the Ex Nihili (including Ex Nihilo), Hyperion, Nightmask, Odinson, and Star Brand. Following the destruction and reconstruction of reality in the 2015 " Secret Wars " storyline, a new team is created known as Avengers Idea Mechanics, set to tackle Avengers-level threats beyond simply fighting villains, while

10570-409: The Earth, this time aided by his son Marcus, who uses the "Scarlet Centurion" alias. Kang promises any who aid him on Earth a place in his new order, which puts Earth's defenses and the Avengers under strain as they fight off villain after villain. He then takes control of Earth's defense systems, and forces a surrender after destroying Washington, D.C. , killing millions. The Avengers continue to battle

10721-440: The Grandmaster to issue similar challenges to other divergent versions of Kang. While arranging for his fourth invasion into the past, sending a holographic envoy of his Scarlet Centurion form ahead of him as herald, Victorex Prime is left shaken when Hyperion , "not in the mood" for battle, while mourning a loss, informs him that while he has been allowed to live on his previous defeats, he will be executed if he attempts to invade

10872-482: The Hobgoblin, the fifth Jack O'Lantern, Loki, Mystique, and Sabretooth, all temporarily 'inverted' to act as heroes, to assist he and Spider-Man in defeating the inverted Avengers and X-Men until the original spell can be undone. During the " Time Runs Out " storyline, Sunspot created a team of the Avengers, consisting of himself, Black Widow, Cannonball, Manifold, Pod, Shang-Chi, Smasher, Spider-Woman, Validator, and

11023-593: The Kangs, which allowed the other Avengers to return to existence. Afterward the Future-Vision used the Chronal Energy Container to send all Avengers back to their own times while erasing their memories save for his past self and the present day Avengers team. He then stayed to guard the imprisoned Kangs at the End of Time. Numerous versions/relatives of Kang have assumed this alias, typically with

11174-528: The Maximoff twins, Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver (Marvel Comics) . Giant-Man, now calling himself Goliath, and the Wasp rejoined. Hercules became part of the team, while the Black Knight and the Black Widow abetted the Avengers but did not become members until years later. Spider-Man was offered membership but did not join the group. The Black Panther joined after rescuing the team from

11325-585: The Old West. The warlord begins to develop a stronghold to conquer the 19th century, thus also conquering the present. Aided this time by Immortus, the Avengers, with some assistance from the Two-Gun Kid , confront Kang. While trying to muster the strength to defeat Thor, Kang overloads his armor and destroys himself, apparently erasing Immortus and Rama-Tut from existence. Years later, the Beyonder plucks

11476-520: The Rama-Tut identity, and helps the Avengers defeat his past self when he attempts to capture the "Celestial Madonna". He nearly surrenders to destiny to become Immortus, but changes his mind and returns to the Kang identity when he discovers that Immortus is a pawn of beings called the Time-Keepers. Immortus is a future version of Kang who resides in Limbo. Kang was destined to become him until

11627-403: The Sentry left this team — the Wasp appeared to have died — and the team migrated to the series Dark Avengers . Osborn recruited Marvel Boy to pose as Captain Marvel and Daken to pose as his father, Wolverine , bringing Moonstone, Bullseye, and Venom from his previous Thunderbolts team to impersonate Ms. Marvel, Hawkeye, and Spider-Man respectively. In The Mighty Avengers , Pym, assumed

11778-575: The Skrull queen Veranke before she even joined the team. After the Skrulls' defeat, Spider-Woman was rescued along with other abducted and replaced heroes. During the company-wide story arc " Dark Reign ", Echo and Iron Fist left the team and the Avengers gained Ms. Marvel , Bucky Barnes as a fill-in Captain America , and Mockingbird . Iron Man, in the series The Mighty Avengers , formed

11929-482: The Squadron survived, because of his decision to leave Benjamin behind (who swapped fates with the entity and reversed its annihilation across multiple universes ), and deeming the day he left the Squadron behind to die as "the key moment" that he "lost his nerve", living on in the shame of retreat rather than facing the unknown alongside the worthiest of former foes, and eventually dying of old age, unfulfilled, without

12080-586: The Time Gem, and sends him back in time to receive counsel from Kang's Rama-Tut counterpart. Kang the Conqueror has most recently been seen as a recurring character in the "Pottersville" arc of the Doctor Doom solo series, in which he is shown to be tethered to Doom in a quantum entanglement, appearing at random times throughout the series conversing with the Latverian despot. This is later revealed to be

12231-608: The Time Variance Authority at the Citadel at the End of Time, the last reality of the Multiverse. Supervillain A supervillain or supercriminal is a variant of the villainous stock character . It is sometimes found in comic books and may possess superhuman abilities. A supervillain is the antithesis of a superhero . Supervillains are often used as foils to present a daunting challenge to

12382-525: The United Nations. Members joining during that period included Jack of Hearts and the second Ant-Man . A new Captain Britain was added to the team. The " Avengers Disassembled " storyline followed. Titled Chaos , the story featured the deaths of some members and a loss of credibility for the team. The culprit is revealed to be the Scarlet Witch , who had gone insane after agonizing over

12533-468: The Vision's operating system causes the armor to become a sentient being. When Iron Lad leaves the time period, he leaves the armor behind with the Vision's operating system activated. The new Vision opts to stay with the Young Avengers and serve as a mentor for them, though it is later revealed that (due to having Iron Lad's brainwave patterns as the basis for his personality) he is with the group due to his growing feelings of affection towards Cassie Lang ,

12684-560: The Vision, and the Black Widow. Their primary antagonists in this run were the mysterious Proctor and his team of other-dimensional Avengers known as the Gatherers. During this period, the Avengers found themselves facing increasingly murderous enemies and were forced to question their rule against killing. This culminated in " Operation: Galactic Storm ", a 19-part storyline that ran through all Avengers-related titles and showcased

12835-504: The Wasp identity in tribute to his fallen ex-wife, led a new team of Avengers, and claimed the name for his team as he was the only founding Avenger on any of the three active Avengers rosters (Wasp and Cap were dead, Thor was acting solo, and Iron Man was on the run from Osborn). His team operated under a multinational umbrella group, the Global Reaction Agency for Mysterious Paranormal Activity (GRAMPA). This team featured

12986-518: The Wasp, reformed the team in response after complaints from Jarvis. Mantis joined the team along with the reformed Swordsman . "The Avengers-Defenders Clash" storyline crossed over between the two team titles. "The Celestial Madonna" arc linked Mantis' origins to the very beginnings of the Kree-Skrull conflict in a time-spanning adventure involving Kang the Conqueror, and Immortus , who were past and future versions of each other. Mantis

13137-539: The Witch. Taskmaster and Black Ant free the imprisoned Champions in exchange for leniency, and the true version of Steve Rogers was restored, using Mjolnir against his counterpart. In May 2018, another volume for the series was launched as part of Marvel's Fresh Start initiative, written by Jason Aaron and drawn by Ed McGuinness . This new volume also saw the return of the main three core members, as Steve Rogers and Thor met up with Tony Stark to convince him to reassemble

13288-444: The Young Avengers full-time. In Avengers: Children's Crusade , Cassie is killed by Doctor Doom , and Iron Lad decides to take her body into the future to be revived. Jonas protests, reasoning that such an action is more in line with Kang's manipulation of time than what Cassie would want, and Iron Lad murders him in a fit of jealous anger. Although his teammates contemplate rebuilding him, they decide against it, both because they lack

13439-520: The ability of reincarnation . During the " Venom War " storyline, it was revealed that Kang the Conqueror created the Ruckus Symbiote from a sample of Bedlam (a possible future version of Eddie Brock ), which was used by Normie Osborn . When Flexo starts attacking Eddie Brock using tactics given to him by Doctor Doom, Kang's pre-recorded message activates as Normie drags Flexo out of Grand Garden Arena. Kang has no superhuman abilities but

13590-408: The alternate versions of himself using viewing devices he finds, although he does not realize that Immortus is also a version of himself. At one point, he brings Ravonna to Limbo from the moment before her death, unintentionally creating an alternate reality where he was slain. Determined to be the only Kang, he joins with two particularly cunning divergents whom he determines he cannot easily eliminate,

13741-517: The apparent betrayal by Rick, sought revenge against the Avengers, who teamed up with the Fantastic Four to stop him in The Fantastic Four #26 (May 1964). The Avengers went on to fight foes such as Baron Zemo , who formed the Masters of Evil , Kang the Conqueror , Wonder Man , and Count Nefaria . The next milestone came when every member but Captain America resigned; they were replaced by three former villains: Hawkeye and

13892-594: The broader setting. DC Comics pioneered this idea with the Justice Society of America and the Justice League , likewise promoting and developing the DC Universe . Many readers devoted themselves to just one of these two comic book universes. After all, they were both quite large and didn't overlap. Thus, the superhero fan community developed sub-communities of DC devotees and Marvel devotees. Marvel Studios repeated this business strategy when it produced

14043-554: The character in the Disney+ series Loki (2021–2023). The character who would become best known as Kang first appeared in Fantastic Four #19 (October 1963), by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby . This issue introduced the pharaoh Rama-Tut, a criminal from the year 3000 who had travelled back in time and conquered ancient Egypt. It was implied that he was a descendant or future incarnation of Fantastic Four villain Doctor Doom . After

14194-565: The characters that appear in Marvel Comics ' books are set in the same fictional universe, known as the Marvel Universe . They occasionally make guest appearances in each other's books, and more regularly in team books, such as The Avengers . Such crossovers encouraged readers to buy other books in the Marvel Comics catalogue, and readers became engrossed not just in the individual characters but in their web of relationships across

14345-401: The city of Attilan to release Terrigen Mist throughout the world, he sends his son Ahura away for Kang to foster. Black Bolt later releases a small amount of Terrigen Mist to activate Ahura's terrigenesis and activate his Inhuman ability. While Ahura is going through the change, Black Bolt asks Kang to save his son from the coming end of all things , which Kang agrees to on the condition that

14496-468: The completed device to Hyperion less than an hour after leaving. Holographically accompanying Master Menace and the Squadron Supreme as they journey into space to confront the entity, Victorex Prime realises he enjoys the excitement of being a superhero instead of a supervillain , and holographically accompanies Master Menace and the Squadron Supreme as they journeyed out into space to confront

14647-425: The damage by becoming Kang. A divergent version of Kang establishes a small, quiet town called Timely, Wisconsin in 1901 to serve as a 20th-century base, where he occasionally resides as Mayor Victor Timely . Posing as his son Victor Timely Jr. , he develops an interest in visiting college graduate Phineas Horton and provides him with knowledge that leads to him creating the original Human Torch . The Vision

14798-466: The destiny that awaits him as that 'simpering academic'. As a result, Kang rejects this future to the point of aiding the Avengers in protecting Rick Jones from Immortus's latest scheme. When Immortus betrays the Time Keepers to try and save the Avengers, they kill him and attempt to turn Kang into Immortus before Rama-Tut became Immortus. However, the temporal backlash of Kang's strength of will in

14949-629: The earlier films and the gauntlet and boot from an action sequence in Iron Man 3 . The exhibit for Thor: The Dark World was called "Thor: Treasures of Asgard", and featured displays of Asgardian relics and transports guests to Odin 's throne room, where they were greeted by Thor. Captain America: The Winter Soldier ' s exhibit, "Captain America: The Living Legend and Symbol of Courage", featured

15100-446: The enchantment), Deadpool, a Chthon-possessed Scarlet Witch, Vision (who was suffering from an A.I. Virus created by Arnim Zola ), Taskmaster , Eric O'Grady 's Life Model Decoy counterpart Black Ant , and Doctor Octopus ' Superior Octopus appearance. However, in the final stand, Odinson rejects Rogers' authority and sides with his old allies, while the Vision's daughter purges him of the virus and Brother Voodoo exorcises Chthon from

15251-483: The entity. However, on calculating the present is diverging from his own future, and seeking to preserve his former foes on the failure of Master Menace's device, Victorex Prime retrieves the all-powerful telepath known as the Overmind , believing his power could turn back the entity. After Overmind instead has his head exploded, a terrified Victorex Prime dejectedly admits defeat, and prepares to flee to his future. At

15402-515: The flagship title of the Marvel NOW! initiative. The title is written by Rick Remender with art by John Cassaday , and the team contains members of both the Avengers and the X-Men. As well, a biweekly Avengers title was launched, written by Jonathan Hickman and drawn by different artists for each story arc. Hickman also began writing New Avengers . During the 2014 " AXIS " storyline, when

15553-449: The forces of Kang's new empire, and Captain America eventually defeats him in personal combat. Although imprisoned, Kang is freed by his son, revealed to be only one of a series of clones, and kills clone Marcus for betraying him by assisting Warbird during the invasion and keeping it secret despite multiple opportunities to admit the truth; while Kang could tolerate the treachery if it allowed Marcus to become his own man, he cannot tolerate

15704-500: The galaxy, and reinvents himself as Kang the Conqueror . But this future world is dying, and so he decides to take over an earlier, more fertile Earth. On Nathaniel's first foray into the 20th century under the Kang identity, he meets and battles the Avengers , capturing everyone but the Wasp and Rick Jones , and informs the world that they have 24 hours to surrender to him. Jones and some friends pretend they want to help Kang, but double-cross him once they gain access to his ship, and

15855-461: The granddaughter of Thanos . The team relocated for a period to a floating island off the coast of New York called Hydrobase after Avengers Mansion was severely damaged during the events in "Under Siege". Hydrobase was later sunk during the Acts of Vengeance crossover. The Avengers and West Coast Avengers changed to allow members to be active when available and reserved when not available and merged

16006-538: The group with themselves at its core. The reunion was consolidated by the machinations of Loki, who facilitated the arrival of the world-threatening Dark Celestials as a ploy to get the Avengers back in action, resulting in the participation of Black Panther , Captain Marvel , She-Hulk , Ghost Rider and Blade , with the Black Panther being elected chairperson. After the Dark Celestials were defeated,

16157-438: The knowledge he coveted most in the world. Chronomonitor #616 is a variation of Kang the Conqueror who works for the Time Variance Authority (TVA), inducted into the organization on his first attempt to travel back in time. A renegade Chronomonitor from the organization, he is stripped of his power after interfering with history for personal gain as part of a mid-life crisis before escaping custody and killing and replacing

16308-536: The last issue of the Avengers Forever series, in which powerful beings called the Time Keepers unintentionally separate the former from the latter. An alternate universe variant of Kang was an inhabitant of the far future of Earth-6160 . After remaking the universe in his image, the Maker travels to the future to learn if his influence would last and meets Kang, who is implied to be Tony Stark . Iron Lad

16459-486: The last moment, Arcanna Jones begs Victorex Prime to save the life of her infant son, Benjamin Thomas Jones, which after a moment of consideration, Victorex Prime refuses. With the crack in the temporal bubble sealing shut after returning to the 40th century. Immediately regretting his decision, and unaware of the Squadron's fates, Victorex Prime spends the remaining 211 years of his life in abject misery, unaware that

16610-415: The latest incarnation of the Masters of Evil single-handedly, and proved his innocence. Pym reconciled with the Wasp, but they decided to remain apart. Pym retired from super-heroics, but returned years later. This was followed by several major storylines, such as "Ultimate Vision" in which the Vision took over the world's computer systems in a misguided attempt to create world peace; the formation of

16761-482: The main team and become more involved with the New Avengers . During the events of the " Avengers vs. X-Men " storyline, Storm quits to side with her fellow mutants as a member of the X-Men. The Avengers dismiss Noh-Varr after he attempted to betray the team, though ultimately he did not. The conflict ends with both teams united but defeated by an unrepentant Cyclops . A new series, Uncanny Avengers , debuted in

16912-458: The major crossover event " Acts of Vengeance " where Loki assembled many of Marvel's arch-villains, his inner circle consisted of Doctor Doom, Magneto , Kingpin , Mandarin , Wizard , and Red Skull , in a plot to destroy the team. Loki orchestrated a mass breakout of villains from prison facility, the Vault , as part of his "Acts of Vengeance" scheme, but he ultimately failed in his goal to destroy

17063-511: The memory of her lost children and who subsequently lost control of her reality-altering powers. With the team in disarray and Avengers Mansion ruined, the surviving members agreed to disband. A new Avengers team formed, in the series New Avengers after a group of heroes banded together to thwart a break-out at super-villain prison the Raft, composed of Iron Man, Captain America, Luke Cage , Wolverine , Ronin , Spider-Man , Spider-Woman , and

17214-430: The most potent groups in all of comics, boasting legendary heroes and battling in titanic wars for the fate of all reality," and ranked the Avengers team 1st in their "10 Most Important Marvel Hero Teams" list, 1st in their "Every Marvel Superhero Team" list, 1st in their "Marvel: The 10 Strongest Superhero Teams" list, and 2nd in their "Marvel: 10 Most Powerful Teams" list. Poushali Guharauth of Sportskeeda ranked

17365-534: The multi-verse and recruits Stryfe , Earth-X Venom ( May "Mayday" Parker ), Doom 2099 , Iron Man 2020 , Ahab , Magistrate Braddock, and Abomination Deathlok to save the multi-verse and possibly restore the universes that have already been erased. He appears to the remaining members of the Avengers Unity Squad after Earth has been destroyed by a Celestial leaving only the mutants. Temporal barriers prevent Kang simply travelling back himself, but he

17516-476: The mysterious Sentry . This was soon followed by the House of M event. In the company-wide " Civil War " story arc, Marvel superheroes were split over compliance with the U.S. government's new Superhuman Registration Act , which required all superpowered persons to register their true identities with the federal government and become agents of same. The New Avengers disbanded, with a rebel underground starring in

17667-403: The original Avengers series with issue #672. Starting with issue #675, all four Avengers titles being published at the time ( Avengers , Uncanny Avengers , U.S. Avengers and Occupy Avengers ) were merged into a single weekly series dubbed Avengers: No Surrender, lasting 16 issues , designed to close out this era of the team's history. Following the conclusion of No Surrender in 2018,

17818-481: The other Young Avengers. He joins the new lineup of the Mighty Avengers , along with Stature. They opt to keep their dual memberships in the Avengers and the Young Avengers a secret, in order to hunt for the Scarlet Witch (really Loki in disguise), who arranged for the roster to form. They ultimately tell their teammates this when Loki reveals his impersonation of Wanda and confront him. When Steve Rogers

17969-443: The past -- Captain America, Black Knight, Captain Marvel, She-Hulk, Namor; the present day Avengers -- Hercules, Wasp, Captain America, Thor, Spider-Man, Vision; and the Future-Vision; had all traveled back through time to alter Kang's past, and were attacking Kang's Fortress, they were suddenly confronted by Kang's future selves including the Scarlet Centurion and Immortus. The Avengers could spot Doctor Doom among them, who claimed that

18120-502: The past for further conquests, coming into conflict with the Squadron Supreme by sending "temporal hard light holograms" of his Scarlet Centurion form to the past to fight on his behalf, and bringing a number of the team to his time in order to compete in death games , serving as the champions of the Earth-616 Grandmaster against Victorex Prime's own Institute of Evil . On losing, Victorex Prime inadvertently inspires

18271-448: The past when any members of the team are mourning as per the historical record, and that he would slowly kill Victorex Prime personally should he break these rules. Daunted, Victorex Prime flees to the future, resorting to subtle ways to mess with the Squadron by interfering with Tom Thumb 's attempts to develop a cure for cancer (and all other diseases, as well as ageing ), before succumbing to depression , having conquered everything in

18422-598: The past, Victorex Prime sends a new temporal hologram backwards in time to confer with the Master Menace , the greatest criminal scientist of his age, simultaneously with Hyperion seeking out the scientist. Reached a reluctant truce, the Master Menace conceives of a device for Hyperion to use stop the entity's spread over the next ten hours, while Victorex Prime transports Master Menace to his future, where he spends fifteen years perfecting his work before returning

18573-588: The past, present, and future, after a temporal bubble emerges around the late 20th century and surrounding decades, preventing him from visiting the time. Thirty-five years later, still unchallenged and unfulfilled, Victorex Prime's followers discover a crack in the temporal bubble, displaying a massive humanoid hand emerging from space and growing large enough to engulf the Earth, the Sun, and all of space itself. Emboldened by this new challenge, and once again able to access

18724-771: The point where only he can pose a credible threat to Sherlock Holmes . Fu Manchu is an archetypal evil criminal genius and mad scientist created by English author Sax Rohmer in 1913. The Fu Manchu moustache became integral to stereotypical cinematic and television depictions of Chinese villains. Between 1965 and 1969 Christopher Lee played Fu Manchu five times in film, and in 1973 the character first appeared in Marvel Comics . The James Bond arch-villain Ernst Stavro Blofeld (whose scenes often show him sitting on an armchair stroking his cat, his face unseen) has influenced supervillain tropes in popular cinema, including parodies like Dr. Claw and M.A.D. Cat from

18875-538: The power of death over the Avengers, but is stopped by the Black Knight, who, not being an Avenger at the time, is unaffected. Next Kang kidnaps the Hulk and sends him to 1917 France to kill the Phantom Eagle before he can destroy a giant German cannon which would otherwise kill Banner's grandfather who is fighting in the trenches. This would prevent the Hulk from existing and consequently, the formation of

19026-579: The prime Marvel Universe. This restoration also undid recent changes to the team members such as the Wasp being mutated into an insectoid state, Hawkeye being rendered deaf, and Stark being replaced by his teenage self, attributed to Franklin's childish perception recreating the heroes in the manner he was more familiar with. After the Heroes Reborn series concluded, the Avengers comic was restarted with vol. 3 #1 written by Kurt Busiek and pencilled by George Pérez . New members during this run included

19177-442: The princess of one of his subject kingdoms, Ravonna , who does not return his feelings. In an attempt to demonstrate his power, he kidnaps the Avengers and, after several escape attempts on their part, subdues them and the rebellious kingdom with the help of his army. When Kang refuses to execute Ravonna, his commanders revolt and he frees the Avengers to fight with him against them. They successfully subdue them, but not before Ravonna

19328-442: The revived Wonder Man, Justice , Firestar , Silverclaw , and Triathlon . The Avengers fought many of their traditional villains such as the Grim Reaper , Ultron , Count Nefaria , and Kang the Conqueror . The limited series Avengers Forever , starting during this period, was a time travel story that explored the history of the Avengers and resolved many outstanding questions about Kang and Immortus's past manipulations of

19479-615: The roster of Hercules , Amadeus Cho , Stature , the Vision, Jocasta , U.S. Agent , Quicksilver , Magneto , and Pym. Loki in disguise as the Scarlet Witch was a recurring character. Iron Man and the Hulk were briefly with them. After Osborn's Dark Avengers are exposed as criminals and their attack on Asgard was thwarted, the next iteration of the Avengers roster consists of Thor , Hawkeye , Spider-Man , Wolverine , Captain America , Spider-Woman , Iron Man , and team leader Maria Hill . Steve Rogers , briefly eschewing his Captain America persona, responds to Luke Cage's concerns about

19630-482: The same book as Iron Man's friend and comrade. The cast usually features a few highly popular characters who have their own solo books, such as Iron Man, alongside a number of lesser-known characters who benefit from exposure, such as Quicksilver , Wonder Man and Tigra . 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. Beginning in 2008, they were adapted in

19781-600: The second largest franchise, Star Wars . After the acquisition by Disney in 2009, Marvel films began to be marketed at the Innoventions attraction in Tomorrowland at Disneyland . For Iron Man 3 , the exhibit, entitled "Iron Man Tech Presented by Stark Industries", featured the same armor display that was shown at the 2012 San Diego Comic-Con, with the Marks I-VII and the new Mark XLII. In addition, there

19932-522: The series was relaunched again as Avengers . When the Asgardian god Loki seeks revenge against his brother Thor , his machinations unwittingly lead teenager Rick Jones to collect Ant-Man ( Hank Pym ), the Wasp and Iron Man to help Thor and the Hulk , the latter of whom Loki used as a pawn. After the group vanquished Loki, Ant-Man stated that the five worked well together and suggested they form

20083-464: The seven-member limit lost his membership slot to the Falcon. The Falcon, in turn, was unhappy to be the beneficiary of what he perceived to be tokenism , and decided to resign from the team, after which Wonder Man rejoined. The true origins of Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch were revealed in a three-part story that ran in issues #185–187 (July–Sept. 1979). After this adventure, the Scarlet Witch took

20234-548: The son remain permanently in his care. While taunting the Inhumans' efforts to find Ahura, another Kang emerges under the alias of "Mister Gryphon", claiming that he has become splintered into various alternate versions of himself as a result of recent temporal disruptions. With this Kang confined to the present, he mounts a massive assault on the Avengers with the aid of Equinox and a reprogrammed Vision, intending to use Mjolnir 's time-traveling ability to return to his era, but

20385-451: The superhero known as Stature. After the events of the " Civil War " storyline, the Vision travels the world posing as different people in order to gain a better understanding of who he is. He then finds Cassie and declares his love, and states he has adopted the name "Jonas". During a later battle between the alien Skrulls and the Avengers, the Vision is shot through the head. He survives and joins with Nick Fury and S.H.I.E.L.D. alongside

20536-487: The team crossed into an alternate dimension and battled the Squadron Supreme , and fought in the Kree-Skrull War , an epic battle between the alien Kree and Skrull races and guest-starred the Kree hero, Captain Marvel . The Avengers briefly disband when Skrulls impersonating Captain America, Thor, and Iron Man used their authority as founders of the team and disbanded it. The true founding Avengers, minus

20687-461: The team reverting to old methods by granting Cage's "New Avengers" recognition as an official team independent of Stark's more traditional Avengers. Bucky Barnes as Captain America joined the main Avengers, while Iron Fist, Power Woman , and the Thing joined Cage's team, Spider-Man and Wolverine maintaining dual membership in both teams. Rogers was an occasional presence and Victoria Hand was added as

20838-603: The team soon after. A seven-part story featured the Squadron Supreme and the Serpent Crown . Other classic storylines included " The Bride of Ultron ", the " Nefaria Trilogy", and "The Korvac Saga", which featured nearly every Avenger who joined the team up to that point. Henry Peter Gyrich became the Avengers' liaison to the United States National Security Council . Gyrich was prejudiced against superhumans and acted in

20989-526: The team, featuring various Avengers from the past (Captain America immediately after " Secret Empire ", Hank Pym early in his Yellowjacket delusion, and Hawkeye just after the Kree-Skrull war), present (Hank Pym as Giant-Man and Janet as the Wasp) and possible futures (Genis-Vell and Songbird) working alongside Kang the Conqueror and Rick Jones as part of Kang's attempt to escape his perceived 'destiny' as Immortus. The Avengers were granted international authority by

21140-702: The team. New members during the 1980s included Tigra ; the She-Hulk ; Monica Rambeau (then going by the name Captain Marvel); Starfox (the brother of Thanos ); Hawkeye's wife, Mockingbird ; and Namor , while Henry Pym emerged from retirement to join the West Coast Avengers. Spider-Man was again offered membership, but failed to gain admission due to security concerns by the Avengers' government liaison. The villain Nebula falsely claimed to be

21291-568: The team. This story revealed that the Scarlet Witch's powers included wide-range reality manipulation and she was what the time-traveling Immortus refers to as a "nexus being" setting the stage for 2004's eventual Chaos and Avengers Disassembled storylines. This played out in the Darker than Scarlet storyline which ran in Avengers West Coast from issues #51–62 (Nov. 1989–Sept. 1990). The Avengers titles in late 1989 were involved in

21442-408: The three forming a council that systematically destroys the other alternate versions. He destroys one of the other two Kangs, then brings in the Avengers as part of a plot to destroy the other one, although the latter Kang eventually discovers the plot. This Kang is delayed by Ravonna, who tells him that if he truly loves her he must not kill the first Kang, but he ignores her, goes after him anyway, and

21593-500: The two separate Avengers teams into one team with two bases. The Vision had his personality fundamentally altered, along with the discovery that the children of the Scarlet Witch and the Vision were actually illusions. The loss of the Scarlet Witch's children and the Vision, who was disassembled by government agents in retaliation for the Ultimate Vision storyline, drove her insane, although she eventually recovered and rejoined

21744-574: The years, such as Rama-Tut , Immortus , Scarlet Centurion , Victor Timely , Iron Lad , and Mister Gryphon . Kang the Conqueror has been described as one of Marvel's most notable and powerful villains. Kang has made media appearances in animated television and video games. Kang made his live-action debut in the MCU film Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023), portrayed by Jonathan Majors , who previously appeared as different versions of

21895-412: Was a simulator game, titled "Become Iron Man", that used Kinect -like technology to allow the viewer to be encased in an animated Mark XLII armor and take part in a series of "tests," in which you fire repulsor rays and fly through Tony Stark's workshop. The game was guided by J.A.R.V.I.S., who is voiced again by Paul Bettany. The exhibit also had smaller displays that included helmets and chest pieces from

22046-519: Was launched in February 2013. After Secret Wars , a new Avengers team debuted, dubbed the All-New, All-Different Avengers , starting with a Free Comic Book Day preview. Following Civil War II , the book was relaunched in 2016 as Avengers , while retaining the same writer and much of the cast from the All-New, All-Different run. The series ran for 11 issues before reverting to the numbering of

22197-532: Was retroactively established to be a future identity of Kang's in Giant-Size Avengers #3 (February 1975). Fantastic Four #273 (December 1984) heavily implied that Kang was not descended from Doom, but from Reed Richards ' father Nathaniel , via one of Reed's many half-siblings. Building on this, Kang's birth name was revealed to also be "Nathaniel Richards" in What If…? Vol. 2 #39 (July 1992),

22348-509: Was revealed that Iron Man became a murderer via the manipulations of the villain Kang, the same storyline seeing Iron Man sacrificing himself and being replaced by his teenage counterpart from a parallel timeline. During the Heroes Reborn event, many of the Avengers together with the Fantastic Four and others, died trying to stop the psychic entity Onslaught , although it was revealed that Franklin Richards preserved those heroes in

22499-523: Was revealed to be the Celestial Madonna, who was destined to give birth to a being that would save the universe. It was revealed that the Vision's body had only been appropriated, and not created by Ultron, and that it had belonged to the 1940s Human Torch . With his origins clear to him, the Vision proposed to the Scarlet Witch. The "Celestial Madonna" saga ended with their wedding, presided over by Immortus. The Beast and Moondragon joined

22650-479: Was sent travelling back and forth across his timeline, he is able to pass on a message to the Avengers in the present by briefly isolating himself with the Vision during the Kree-Skrull War and asking him to pass on a time-delayed message, which Jonas was able to access and share with the other Avengers. When the Mighty Avengers ultimately disbands following the events of the "Siege", Jonas and Cassie rejoin

22801-602: Was serviced by Edwin Jarvis , the Avengers' faithful butler, and furnished with state of the art technology and defense systems, and included the Avengers' primary mode of transport: the five-engine Quinjet . The prequel comic Avengers #1 1/2 (Dec. 1999), by writer Roger Stern and artist Bruce Timm, told a retro-style story taking place between issues #1 and #2, detailing Ant-Man's decision to transform himself into Giant-Man. The team encountered new characters such as Arkon in issue #75 (April 1970) and Red Wolf in #80 (Sept. 1970). The team's adventures increased in scope as

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