With blockbuster movies and a comic book series that has been in print for over half a century, almost everyone knows of the titanic franchise called Marvel.
The Marvel comics, movies, and TV shows span numerous characters with each taking part in various teams and factions.
One of the most famous teams in Marvel history is the Avengers.
While not every Marvel superhero ends up in the prestigious headquarters of the Avengers, many do.
Thanks to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, most fans are aware that Iron Man, Hawkeye, Captain America, Thor, Black Widow, and The Incredible Hulk are part of the famous team.
However, they are not the only Avengers.
Here are the different superheroes who have been part of the Avengers team throughout the franchise’s history.
How Many Avengers Are There?
Encompassing all of the comics and the various universes within Marvel, there have been more than 100 Avengers.
There have also been many honorary Avengers who only joined the team for a brief time.
That brings the total number of Avengers above 150.
Not all of these members were part of the Avengers at the same time, though.
Many filled in the gaps when there were absences or reformed the group when the previous group was dissolved.
At most, there are usually around six to 10 members of the Avengers at any given time.
1. Pre-1950s
While Nick Fury has the credit of creating the first official Avengers team, some fans argue that there was a form of Avengers that existed beforehand.
It was comprised of Odin, Phoenix, and Agamotto.
Other notable names were also attached to this team.
They were the earlier versions before the more well-known versions took over their mantles in modern times.
Those heroes include:
- Iron Fist
- Black Panther
- Ghost Rider
- Star Brand
The team came together to fight against a Celestial named the Fallen.
2. The 1950s Avengers
During the 1940s, Nick Fury would assemble a team called the Avengers.
Their goal was to take down the remnants of the Third Reich which was taking part in various experiments and schemes to rise to power once more.
Their frequent nemesis was the Red Skull.
Captain America was the most famous member of this particular Avengers team, but it also included his sidekick, named Bucky Barnes.
Captain America’s time with the Avengers ended when he sacrificed himself to stop the Third Reich.
His body froze and remained preserved for several decades.
3. The First Modern Avengers
Several years after Captain America’s icy plunge, the modern hero age dawned.
This time in comic book history saw an abundance of superheroes fighting crime in their own comics.
During the first Avengers issue, the team initially had the following members:
- Iron Man
- Ant-Man
- Thor
- The Wasp
They joined together to fight the Incredible Hulk who had been wreaking havoc.
Thor discovered that it was actually his brother, Loki, who was influencing the Hulk.
They managed to put a stop to Loki’s antics and the Hulk ended up joining the Avengers as well.
4. Ant-Man To Giant-Man
Hulk wouldn’t be a member of the Avengers for long, however.
The team regularly kept tabs on him since they were aware of his destructive power.
Hulk, feeling as though the team would never trust him, decided to leave.
At this time, the team was battling Doctor Doom.
To better combat him, Ant-Man invented a new serum that allowed him to grow tall rather than small.
He abandoned the Ant-Man moniker and became Giant-Man instead.
Minus the Hulk, the team remained the same otherwise.
5. Enter Captain America
It was when the team was battling Space Phantom that the team composition changed once more.
The Hulk, displeased by the distrust that the Avengers had for him, joined up with Namor to attack them.
During the attack, they discovered the frozen body of Captain America.
They managed to revive him, and after a bit of apathy over the years he had lost, Captain America took up the shield and joined them.
The team would go on to fight villains like Baron Zemo, Lava Men, Kang the Conqueror, and Immortus.
6. The 1960s Avengers
For various personal reasons, the initial Avengers team ended up breaking up.
Iron Man was dealing with his own issues, Thor needed to return to Asgard, and Giant-Man and the Wasp, who are a duo in themselves, also left for personal reasons.
That left Captain America with the job of rebuilding the Avengers.
He decided to bring on a few heroes who had initially been villains.
Hawkeye, The Scarlet Witch, and Quicksilver had all been villains previously.
However, they had seen the error of their ways and wanted to reform themselves.
The press was dubious as to whether Captain America could keep them in line.
Even many of the new members wondered if they could have the same success with Iron Man and Thor gone.
With clashing personalities and some egos, the team floundered a few times, but they always managed to bring it all together when it mattered.
The Swordsman also briefly joined the Avengers during this time.
He was a mentor to Hawkeye, although their relationship was tenuous at best.
In reality, Swordsman had been planted by the Mandarin.
Although the Swordsman did feed information to the Mandarin, he ultimately prevented the villain from killing the Avengers.
The Swordsman would later leave the group.
Giant-Man eventually returned to the group during this period of comic books, too.
He renamed himself, Goliath.
With him came The Wasp once more.
New members of the group also joined during this series of story arcs.
Black Panther and Hercules both joined.
It was Pym’s experiments that would lead to another member joining the Avengers.
He initially created the robot, Ultron, which would then turn on him and the rest of humanity.
Through Ultron’s creation, the Vision was also created.
The destruction that Ultron was doing led Hank Pym, known as Goliath, to a mental breakdown.
Vision sided with Ultron at first, but then he ultimately chose to join the Avengers instead and save humanity.
Pym would also create a new alter-ego because of his breakdown.
He named himself Yellowjacket and demanded entry into the Avengers.
The Wasp, recognizing Yellowjacket as Pym, ended up marrying him to help keep him under control.
Eventually, Pym would regain his senses, and his marriage with The Wasp would continue.
7. The 1970s Avengers
Events in space would ultimately lead to the next group of Avengers.
A Skrull invasion prompted several heroes to take to space to stop them.
Those heroes were:
- Iron Man
- Black Bolt
- Doctor Strange
- Namor
- Mr. Fantastic
- Vision
- Scarlet Witch
- Captain America
- Thor
The Skrull had also infiltrated the Avengers which caused them to dissolve themselves.
While the heroes tried to put a stop to the Skrull, they were ultimately captured and experimented on instead.
Back on Earth, the need for a new Avengers group arose.
The new group compromised initially of:
- Black Widow
- Beast
- Mantis
- Moondragon
- Hellcat
- Two-Gun Kid
Two-Gun Kid was a temporary addition to the Avengers, but he played an important role in some of their adventures.
For many issues, Kang the Conqueror had an interest in Mantis.
He believed that she was going to become the Celestial Madonna.
According to the prophecy, she’d give birth to the savior of the universe.
The Swordsman also rejoined the Avengers briefly during this time.
He fell in love with Mantis and gave up his life to save her from Kang’s plans to have her killed.
His body was eventually revived, and he married Mantis in a dual ceremony in which Vision and Scarlet Witch also married.
Both the Swordsman and Mantis would leave the Avengers afterward.
The Falcon and Ms. Marvel would also briefly join the Avengers during this line-up.
9. The 1980s Avengers
Going into the story arcs in the 1980s, Ms. Marvel officially joined the team.
However, she had a disastrous story arc that would come back later to haunt the Avengers.
She became mysteriously pregnant and gave birth a week later.
The baby, called Marcus, aged quickly and explained that he was a prisoner in Limbo.
He had been able to make contact with Ms. Marvel there and used machines to make her fall in love with him.
Those machines then impregnated her with his essence which he used to escape Limbo.
It becomes even weirder when he decides to go back to Limbo and take Ms. Marvel with him.
She agrees and the Avengers allow her despite it being clear that she’s still under the influence of his machines.
Ms. Marvel would return later and admonish the Avengers for being stupid enough to let her go with an abuser.
This was one of the few dark stains on the Avenger’s moral history.
Shortly after she left, Pym also suffered a series of mental breaks.
He ended up being court-martialed by the Avengers.
To stop the trial, he was going to create an immortal robot that could disrupt it.
The Wasp caught him, and he struck her before intimidating her to keep his secret.
She’d eventually make the Avengers aware of Pym’s plans.
Pym also leaves the Avengers in disgrace.
During this transition, several new members joined the Avengers to fill the gaps.
She-Hulk, Starfox, and a new Captain Marvel joined the team.
The Wasp was also part of the Avengers but took on more of a leadership role.
The Sub-Mariner and Doctor Druid would also join the team for a few episodes.
10. The West Coast Avengers
At the end of the 1980s, a new story arc called the Secret Wars started.
It saw the removal of several heroes on Earth to battle it out on a planet called Battleworld.
Those who remained had to fill those gaps.
Vision, in particular, took command of the Avengers and also started a new branch called the West Coast Avengers.
He gave the leadership role to Hawkeye who started the group out in Los Angeles.
Hawkeye brought his new wife, Mockingbird, into the group.
He’d also recruited Wonder Man, Tigra, and War Machine.
Vision and The Scarlet Witch also joined the team early on.
However, Vision ended up making a connection with a supercomputer ISAAC on Titan.
This was home to one of the branches of the Eternals.
It corrupted his programming and prompted him to take over every computer in the world.
Scarlet Witch and the rest of the Avengers, who returned from Battleworld, managed to make him stand down.
Vision would go on to retire and focus on his family.
Scarlet Witch, who had given a surprise birth to twins William and Thomas, also focused on their family.
11. Pre-Civil War
The Avengers lineup continued to change with a few heroes joining for a short time before leaving.
The Avengers, as a whole, also faced several defeats and sacrifices.
However, many heroes managed to find themselves coming back to life either by ending up in an alternative timeline or, in Iron Man’s case, having his adult memories placed in a teenaged version of himself.
The lineup of Avengers before the events of the Civil War include:
- Justice
- Firestar
- Triathlon
- Silverclaw
- Jack of Hearts
- Ant-Man (Scott Lang)
- Captain Britain
- Captain America
- Iron Man
- Spider-Man
- Spider-Woman
- Luke Cage
- Sentry
- Wolverine
- Echo
In 2005, in particular, the team called the New Avengers included the following members:
- Luke Cage
- Wolverine
- Echo
- Sentry
These story arcs are mostly compromised of the X-Men, mutants, and their relationship with the Avengers.
Scarlet Witch, who had undergone a mental breakdown at the death of Vision, attempted to create a new world.
This new world was one in which Mutants ruled things.
Although she couldn’t make the world last for long, it did end up bringing Hawkeye back to life who had died previously.
This arc ended with the introduction of the Superhuman Registration Act.
Iron Man was for the Superhuman Registration Act seeing how destructive superhumans could be.
Captain America was against the Superhuman Registration Act as he feared it gave governments too much control over superhumans.
12. Post-Civil War
During the Civil War, the Avengers split into two parties.
There were those who followed Iron Man.
They included:
- The Fantastic Four (minus The Thing)
- Hank Pym (disguised as a Skrull)
- She-Hulk
- Spider-Man
- Captain Marvel
- Thor (as a cyborg)
Captain America’s team, which he called the Secret Avengers, had the following members:
- Falcon
- Hercules
- Danny Rand (as Daredevil rather than Iron Fist)
- Luke Cage
- Iron Lad
- Hulkling
- Patriot
- Wiccan
- Hawkeye (Kate Bishop)
- Jessica Jones
The arc ends with Captain America’s side surrendering to put an end to the bloodshed.
He’s murdered on the way to the trial.
13. Current Avengers
There are several different versions of the Avengers currently running.
The US Avengers have the following members:
- Sunspot
- Cannonball
- Squirrel Girl
- Iron Patriot
- Enigma
- Red Hulk
The New West Coast Avengers include:
- Hawkeye (Clint Barton)
- Hawkeye (Kate Bishop)
- Fuse
- Miss America
- Gwenpool
- Kid Omega
- Alloy
The Savage Avengers comprises several antiheroes.
They include:
- Wolverine
- Punisher
- Conan the Barbarian
- Elektra
- Venom
- Doctor Voodoo
There is also another Avengers story arc that features several main members returning to the group.
They include:
- Iron Man
- Captain America
- Thor
- She-Hulk
- Captain Marvel (Carol Danvers)
- Black Panther
- Ghost Rider
- Doctor Strange
14. The Marvel Cinematic Universe Avengers
The final group of Avengers to consider is the one based on the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Although the team grows from its original members, some have since left the group.
The members of the MCU Avengers include:
- Iron Man
- Hulk
- Thor
- Captain America
- Black Widow
- Hawkeye
- War Machine
- Scarlet Witch
- Vision
- Falcon
- Spider-Man
- Rocket
- Nebula
- Captain Marvel
- Ant-Man
Conclusion
Because the Marvel comics have spanned several decades, the world has seen various heroes take up the mantle of Avenger.
Many superheroes are only part of the group for a short time before leaving.
Others leave and continue to return to the group when they’re needed.
In the MCU, the group will likely continue to change as heroes retire and new ones emerge.
NEXT: Why Is Divorce So Expensive? (Top 10 Reasons)