Avengers

The Avengers is one of the Earth's foremost organizations of costumed superhuman adventurers dedicated to safeguarding the world from any threat beyond the power of conventional peacekeeping forces to handle. Founded several months after the incorporation of the Fantastic Four, the Avengers became the first superhuman team to be granted official government sanctions by the National Security Council of the United States, the General Assembly of the United Nations, and later by the international intelligence agency, SHIELD. Unlike the Fantastic Four, whose ranks have been restricted to Reed Richards and his experimental rocket crew (except for an occasional substitute), membership in the Avengers has been open and in constant fluctuation. Only weeks after the Avengers' inception, one of its founding members, the Hulk, left the team, setting the precedent for future roster changes, Roughly a year into the organizations' existence, all of the rest of the founding member took a leave of absence, leaving the Avengers' first recruit, Captain America, to fill the vacancies in the ranks. Eventually, all of the founding members returned for stints as active members with the exception of the Hulk. The five founding members of the Avengers first banded together when Loki, the Asgardian god of mischief, attempted to discredit the Hulk in order to draw the thunder god Thor into battle. The Hulk's teenage ally Rick Jones, believing the Hulk was innocent of the deed he was accused of, dispatched a radio call to the Fantastic Four for help. Loki intercepted the message, and relayed it to Thor. Inadvertently the message was also received by Iron Man, Ant-Man, and the Wasp. The four adventurers rendezvoused for the first time, tracked down the Hulk, learned that Loki was the true culprit, and apprehended him. Before they parted, Ant-Man suggested that they form a regular team. The five readily agreed, and the Wasp suggested the name "Avengers". The newly-formed team assembled a short time later at the midtown Manhattan mansion of Industrialist Anthony Stark, who, unknown to them at the time, was their fellow member Iron Man. Stark soon donated the mansion to the Avengers for their exclusive use, and set up a foundation to cover all the operational expenses of the nonprofit team of adventurers. This foundation was set up under Stark's mother's name (The Maria Stark Foundation) so that his own business fortunes could not immediately affect the financial situation of the Avengers. The Stark family' trusted butler Edwin Jarvis was kept on as the principal regular domestic employee at Avengers Mansion. Stark Industries supplies them with many advanced technological supports, including the famous Avengers Quinjet. Captain America became the first full-time resident of Avengers Mansion as well as the team's firs recruit. The founding members took a leave of absence, their replacements, Hawkeye, Quicksilver, and the Scarlet Witch, also made the Mansion their domicile, as did various subsequent members. Captain America became the first permanent chairman of the team, a post the held for a number of years. Chairmanship of the Avengers has been determined by election, and a number of individuals have held the positions over the years, including Iron Man, the Wasp, and the Vision. The ranks of active Avengers has varied in number from a mere three up to fifteen. In addition, certain individuals have enjoyed informal status with the group well before becoming official members. (In three cases, this informal status never culminated in official membership.) As the official ties between the Avengers and the United States government grew to the extent that the Avengers computer system had direct access to certain U.S. governmental and military information networks, the National Security Council began to take a more active interest in the Avengers' internal affairs. In recent years, N.S.C. agent Henry Peter Gyrich was appointed to be the governments' liaison with the Avenger. Gyrich instituted certain policies in the name of security which restricted active membership in the group and tightened admission requirements. Prior to this point, the Avengers screened candidates for membership themselves, and were flexible enough in their membership requirements to allow non-citizens, gods, mutants, and even synthetic humans to join. Gyrich initiated a strict screening procedure for new members and even dictated Avengers membership according to government standards of equal-opportunity employment. Happily for the Avengers, Gyrich was eventually reassigned to Project: Wideawake, and was replaced by the more moderate Raymond Sikorsky, another N.S.C agent. Captain America instituted a six-member ceiling on membership during his latest stint as chairman, and this ceiling has remained in effect since. In recent months, then-current chairman the Vision petitioned the U.S. government to approve the establishment of a second team of active Avengers to be based on the West Coast. Getting official clearance, the Vision appointed Hawkeye to be the new team's chairman and sent him to Los Angeles, California, to set up a base of operations. With two independently operated but fully coordinated branches of Avengers, the organization now has slots for twelve active members, six on each coast. When it was learned that the Vision planned to take benevolent control of the world government, certain punitive measures were taken by the United States despite the fact that the Vision aborted his plan before it truly endangered anyone. The government has since limited the Avengers' access to security-related information, and has revoked various special sanctions, including the privilege of launching their supersonic Quinjets from their headquarters in Manhattan. The Avengers have joined with the Fantastic Four, whose Manhattan launch privileges were also rescinded, to establish a joint airbase in the Atlantic Ocean just outside U.S. territorial limits. The operations of the West Coast Avengers have been curtailed in regard to government sanctions but not airspace rights. The East Coast and West Coast Avengers operated autonomously of one another, with no central authority. The informal dividing line for their United States operations is the Mississippi River. The two groups routinely shared all information, and occasionally join forces to meet a singly threat.

Eventually the West Coast Avengers closed their offices, with many of the heroes migrating to the Stark-supported team Force Works. Most of the surviving heroes rejoined the East Cast team just in time to sacrifice themselves during the Onslaught, and found themselves in new incarnations within the FranklinVerse. They have since returned (with Captain America leading them), and reclaimed their mantle as Earth's Mightiest Heroes.