10 Things You Never Knew About The Avengers

In 2012, the world fell in love with Marvel‘s team of mighty heroes, The Avengers. That love continued to grow through the 2015 release of Age of Ultron and last year’s Civil War.

With Avengers: Infinity War on the horizon, and hype for the team higher than it’s ever been, it’s a great time to look back on the history of the group in the comics. Ever since their creation in the 1960s, The Avengers have gone through quite a few obstacles, and even more changes to their roster.

Think you already know the deep and complicated history of The Avengers? Think again.

Here are ten facts you probably never knew about Earth’s Mightiest Heroes.

Daredevil Helped Create the Team

While Daredevil wasn’t one of the heroes who helped start the team in the comics, it was actually a delay in his solo comic that caused the birth of the Avengers.

Marvel was working on getting Daredevil #1 to its first release, but a problem with its printing caused a delay that was going to create a gap in the company’s releases. Fortunately Stan Lee came to the rescue.

Since there wasn’t time to create an all-new character, Lee decided to throw together some of Marvel’s greatest heroes and give competition to DC’s Justice League of America. 

Captain America Wasn’t an Original Avenger

Fans now think of Captain America as one of the very first Avengers, but that wasn’t actually the case.

The original team consisted of Iron Man, Hulk, Thor, Ant-Man and The Wasp. Captain America was nowhere in sight.

In the fourth issue of the Avengers comic, the team found Captain America frozen in a block of ice and thawed him out to join the team. If you remember the timeline of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, he was also the fourth hero to get his own movie, which began with his frozen body being found by SHIELD.

The Wasp’s Contribution

The Avengers had been a team for quite a while before the actually settled on a name. What most people don’t know is the fact that it wasn’t Iron Man or Captain America who came up with the iconic title.

In Stan Lee’s original iteration of the team, the five original members were Iron Man, Hulk, Thor, Ant-Man and The Wasp. During a fight with Loki, it was actually The Wasp who had the idea to call themselves The Avengers. After Ant-Man agreed, the discussion was settled.

In Joss Whedon’s initial script for the film, he actually included both Ant-Man and The Wasp, but they didn’t end up making the final cut. This was also probably one of the factors that led to Edgar Wright’s departure as the Ant-Man director. He was initially one of the first directors brought in by Marvel to helm the film, but the decision to leave the characters until later left a little too much room for Wright and Marvel to stop seeing eye-to-eye.

Villainous Shake-Up

The first major roster change for The Avengers came in issue #16, when most of the existing members exited the team. Only Captain America remained.

Cap was joined by the likes of Hawkeye, Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver, which doesn’t sound like so crazy of an idea now. However, at the time it was written, this move was a big shock for readers.

All three of those characters had been villains in their past comic iterations, so fans weren’t too keen on seeing them join the company’s most popular team of heroes. All worked out in the end however, and the move helped influence Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver’s introduction to the films in Age of Ultron.

The Name Almost Didn’t Stick

Calling the team The Avengers was clever, but Lee’s name for the characters almost didn’t stick long-term.

Marvel filed to trademark the Avengers name in 1967, but ran into problems in the UK later on. See, there was a popular TV show in Britain that was also called The Avengers, and its premiere came before the comic trademark was finalized in 1970.

Eventually, Marvel landed on Avengers Assemble as a title to avoid issues.

Characters Say No

Joining The Avengers seems like a privilege that every hero in Marvel would want to be a part of, but that’s not always the case.

Despite his issues leading to the creation of the team, Daredevil has actually turned down offers to join the Avengers on numerous occasions. The same goes for Peter Parker’s Spider-Man.

Mark Millar Gave Samuel L. Jackson His Nick Fury Role

When Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch created the Ultimate universe, they modeled a lot of the characters after popular Hollywood actors, rather than past comic books. Nick Fury was clearly designed after Samuel L. Jackson.

This created an issue, as Millar never actually asked Jackson for the permission to use his likeness. He eventually saw his face in the comics and contacted Marvel about it. They apparently promised him a role in their future films if he agreed to let it slide.

As we all know now, this promise was kept when Jackson appeared as Nick Fury in the post-credits scene of Iron Man in 2008.

Charging Iron Man

Tony Stark has the Arc Reactor in the movies, but his original suit in The Avengers was much less advanced.

Readers wouldn’t have been able to comprehend that kind of long-term power back in 1963, so Stark had to look to electricity to make his suit work. In fact, he actually had to plug it up and charge it.

Often times throughout the comic, Tony was seen charging his suit at a wall outlet, believe it or not.

Hawkeye Took Over as Captain America

Captain America has gone through several changes over the years, seeing the likes of Steve Rogers, Bucky Barnes and Sam Wilson all take on the role. What most people don’t know however, is that Hawkeye actually took on the mantle for a spell.

Cap was shot and killed just after the events of Civil War, leaving the mantle completely empty. Tony Stark knew that the people needed Captain America so that he handed the shield over to Clint Barton.

After a short time as Captain America, Hawkeye turned Tony’s offer down, knowing that he could never fill Steve’s shoes.

Avengers vs. Justice League

Every comic fan dreams of this kind of epic battle, but what many don’t know is that they actually went head-to-head a few times over the years.

The JLA/Avengers crossover event saw both sets of heroes visit each others world and battle on their home turf. These created battles that fans had always dreamed of, but their work together is what left a lasting impact.

Both teams ended up working together by the end of the crossover, leading to Superman wielding both Captain America’s shield and Thor’s mighty Mjolnir.