Every Avengers Team Who Assembled Before the “First” Team

In 1963, Iron Man, Thor, the Hulk, Ant-Man, and Wasp came together to defeat Loki and become Marvel Comics’ most beloved superhero team, the Avengers. Since that fateful day, the Earth’s Mightiest Heroes have taken many shapes and forms, with new members joining to help fight countless villains. However, heroes of incredible power coming together to fight villains is a very old concept that has been repeated numerous times. Because of the cyclical nature of history, there have been many “proto-Avengers” who existed long before the events of 1963. For as long as humanity has existed, heroes have united to protect the innocent from monsters and villains.

From the Stone Age to the 1950s, the Earth has always needed heroes to battle the forces of evil. The modern-day Avengers are just the next group to carry the torch of heroism.

5) Avengers 1959

Just four years before the most famous version of the Avengers assembled in1963, Nick Fury had created his own version of the superhero team. Unlike their successors, the Avengers of 1959 were a team that worked as part of a covert mission to hunt down Nazis who evaded capture after World War II. Dubbed the Avengers Initiative, this mission was overseen by Nick Fury and his friend Dum Dum Dugan. Together, they recruited heroes like the spymaster Dominic Fortune, the monster hunter Ulysses Bloodstone, the Atlantean princess Namorita, the detective Blonde Phantom, and the Nazi-hunting Silver Sable. Avengers 1959 even included future villains like Sabretooth and Kraven the Hunter. Although the team was never officially recognized, their work saved the free world from several Nazi supervillains.

4) 1950s Avengers

The What If…? series explores many alternate realities, and one story focuses on a world where a different version of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes united during the 1950s. In this universe, the evil terrorist Yellow Claw kidnapped President Eisenhower, and the U.S. Government recruited various heroes of that time to rescue him. Along with their government liaison, Jimmy Woo, the 1950s Avengers comprised the athletic 3-D Man; the cosmic Marvel Boy; the Goddess of Love, Venus; Gorilla-Man; and M-11, the Human Robot. Despite some initial infighting, the team comes together and saves the President and thwarts Yellow Claw’s evil plan. This team of heroes would go on to inspire the underrated Marvel superhero team, the Agents of Atlas.

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3) Viking Avengers

Thor has been alive for thousands of years, and the first Avengers team he joined assembled in 1047 AD during the Viking Age. In an era of myths and magic, Thor’s heroic exploits were admired by other heroes of the time, who came together to protect the world from ancient villains like Mephisto and Apocalypse. Even though Thor had only first lifted Mjolnir recently, he still proved to be strong and courageous enough to lead these Avengers into battle. Alongside Thor, the Viking Avengers included the hulking Boldolf the Black, an Atlantean Iron Fist, a Sasquatch Sorcerer Supreme, a Native American Ghost Rider, a renegade Black Panther, and a Phoenix host who’s a witch.

2) Tribe of the Moon

Thousands of years ago, Earth’s Mightiest Heroes of prehistoric Canada fought against the forces of evil. The Tribe of the Moon comprised different Native American superheroes from different tribes. The team included the spirit-manipulating Talisman, the incredibly strong Bear Brother, the pyrokinetic Fire Hand, the mystic healer Talks-To-Spirits, and the beast-taming Willow-Dancer. Together, the Tribe of the Moon fought all manner of monsters, including the Sharks from Beyond Time, Lemurian Deviants, Dimension Giants, and Llan the Sorcerer. Thousands of years later, the Talisman mantle would be passed on to Elizabeth Twoyoungmen, a member of the Canadian Government superhero team Alpha Flight.

1) Avengers 1,000,000 BC

In 1,000,000 BC, the age of heroes officially began with the formation of the first Avengers team. During a time when humans were starting to crawl out of their caves, they had all-powerful defenders who would protect them from villains like the Celestials and Multiversal Masters of Evil. Led by a young Odin, the Avengers 1,000,000 BC consisted of a mammoth-riding Ghost Rider, a hulking Starbrand, the demigod sorcerer Agamotto, the first Iron Fist, a mutant Phoenix Force host, a caveman Moon Knight, and the Black Panther of the Panther Tribe. Not only are were the first Avengers, but all of these heroes laid the foundations for Marvel Comics’ most ancient and iconic mantles, which would be passed down for over a million years.

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