Avengers (team)

"And there came a day, a day unlike any other... when Earth's mightiest heroes found themselves united against a common threat... to fight the foes no single superhero could withstand... on that day, the Avengers were born."

- Nick Fury

The Avengers are a team of super-heroes assembled by Nick Fury and S.H.I.E.L.D. through the Avenger Initiative. They exist in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and feature all the heroes of Marvel Studios' independent productions. They first appeared as a team in 2012's The Avengers.

The team currently consists of Iron Man, Captain America, the Hulk, Thor, Black Widow, Nick Fury and Hawkeye. They were intitially brought together by S.H.I.E.L.D. to combat Loki, Thor's adoptive brother. Only two members of the team have genuine super-powers (the Hulk and Thor). The Avengers are based on the superhero team created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko and feature a similar roster to Mark Millar's Ultimates, the Ultimate Marvel Universe version of the team.

The team was initially formed by Nick Fury to "fight the battles that [S.H.I.E.L.D.] never could". The Avenger Initiative was rushed into formation when Thor's brother and nemesis Loki became a danger.

Iron Man
"You think you're the only superhero in the world? Mr. Stark, you've become part of a bigger universe. You just don't know it yet."

- Nick Fury

In a post-credits scene, Tony Stark is unexpectedly visited by S.H.I.E.L.D. Director Nick Fury who notes that Stark is not "the only superhero in the world" and states he wants to discuss the "Avenger Initiative".

Iron Man 2
"I told you I don't want to join your super-secret boy band."

- Tony Stark

Fury informs Stark that his Iron Man persona is assigned to the team, but due to certain conditions, Stark himself is deemed unsuitable. Stark agrees on the condition that Senator Stern present him and Col. Rhodes with their medals for bravery.

The Incredible Hulk
"What if I told you we were putting a team together?"

- Tony Stark

General Ross is drinking in a bar when he is approached by industrialist Stark, who casually reveals that a "team" is being put together.

Thor
"Know this, son of Coul. You and I, we fight for the same cause: the protection of this world. From this day forward, you can count me in as your ally, if... you return the items you have taken from Jane."

- Thor Odinson

Agent Coulson notes Thor's strength while he is in his mortal form, trying to reclaim Mjolnir. After Thor defeats the Destroyer, Thor tells Coulson to consider him an ally to S.H.I.E.L.D., but speeds away before he can be debriefed, indicating that he has been considered for the Avengers Initiative.

Captain America: The First Avenger
"You came here with a mission, sir, trying to get me back to the world? Trying to save it."

- Steve Rogers and Nick Fury

Steve Rogers was woken after 70 years on ice and later meets Nick Fury, who recruits him to the Avengers intiative.

The Avengers
"They'll come back."

- Nick Fury

Nick Fury assembles the team when an unexpected threat associated with Thor's brother Loki and the Tesseract appears. The team initially have difficulty and refusal to obey each other; for example, Tony Stark is reluctant to working under the command of Captain America, Thor demands that Loki is his responsibility and the team is uncomfortable with the presence of Bruce Banner. When Loki attempts to destroy the team and promote his godlike supremecy to Earth in a public way, the Avengers depart from S.H.I.E.L.D.'s command and rally in defense of New York as it is invaded by the extraterrestrials known as the Chitauri. Captain America takes command of the team and they each work to supress the invasion force. The Hulk beats Loki into submission and Iron Man sends a nuclear weapon fired by the World Security Council into the portal through which the aliens enter Earth and their fleet is destroyed, breaking the neural connection with their ground troops and instantly killing them. The team take Loki as their prisoner and Thor takes both Loki and the Tesseract back to Asgard. The team disbands but agrees to reassemble when another global threat requires their combined efforts.

Team beliefs

 * Steve Rogers/Captain America (leader)
 * Tony Stark/Iron Man
 * Thor Odinson
 * Bruce Banner/The Hulk
 * Clint Barton/Hawkeye
 * Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow
 * Nick Fury

Allies

 * S.H.I.E.L.D.
 * Erik Selvig
 * Phil Coulson
 * Maria Hill
 * Jasper Sitwell

Enemies

 * Loki
 * Chitauri

Behind the scenes

 * Joss Whedon talked about the power levels of the various Avengers: "I had to find a way to service all the characters, to figure out why they're in the room in the first place. My biggest concern was that if I didn't pay enough attention to minutiae then the film would become generic in its concepts and visuals. Or that I'd be so concentrated on those things, I'd look around and the film wouldn't be about anything."
 * On the action scenes and what Whedon terms "the hierarchy of power". "If this guy hits someone, he falls down. If this guy hits someone, he flies backwards. Its very complicated."
 * Whedon commented on Mark Ruffalo's 'Hulk' actions: "It's fun to say that Mark Ruffalo and I fought a great deal, because he's the sweetest man that I may ever have met. Yes, we did actually lay out some mats and tussle but just trying to figure out what the Hulk would be doing, what a person does in a real fight. Once he gets angry you have to keep asking "well what's making him angry now..." and go moment-to-moment. That's been the hardest thing in this movie. Mark is tremendous, I think he's going to blow people away - again - and we've gone where nobody has. We [have] Hulk in the house and everything pisses him off."

Trivia

 * The roster of the team is similar to that of the Ultimates roster in the comic book miniseries The Ultimates.
 * Henry Pym (Ant-Man) and The Wasp are also original team members in Earth-616 comics but are absent from the first film.
 * The speech in the first teasrer trailer was taken from the introduction from every Avengers comic book since the 1960s. In the TV series The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, the new intro features Nick Fury stating a speech similar to this one.
 * The movie's roster will be seen in the next animated series Avengers Assmeble with Falcon.