50 Years of the Avengers

"And there came a day, a day unlike any other, when Earth's mightiest heroes and heroines found themselves united against a common threat. On that day, the Avengers were born—to fight the foes no single super hero could withstand! Through the years, their roster has prospered, changing many times, their glory has never been denied! Heed the call, then—for now, the Avengers Assemble!"

—Prologue from The Avengers used in the 1970

Marvel comics was created out of Timely Comics (1939) in 1960 however it would not be for another 3 years in 1963 when Stan Lee and Jack Kirby would bring "Earth's Mightiest Super-Heroes" together to form the Avengers. 

Avengers #1 first issued September 1st 1963 and was composed of Ironman, Thor, the Incredible Hulk, Ant-Man, and the Wasp, a little different line up than what we were given in Marvel's the Avengers movie showcasing Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, the Hulk, Hawkeye, and Black Widow organized by Nick Fury. 

Just like in the movie the first issue brought forth the nefarious Loki God of Mischief / Evil. In both renditions Loki tricked the team into battling the Hulk however the movie used it as a plot point to set forth Loki's war for the Tesseract aka, the Cosmic Cube. 

Issue #2 we started to see the line up change as Ant-Man became Giant Man and the Hulk left the Avengers sensing that they feared his unstable persona. The search for the Hulk brought the Avengers into contact with Namor the Sub Mariner who in issue #4 would bring from the depths of the ocean the Avenger's most iconic leader, Captain America. 

Over the years the many different incarnations of the Avengers. 

The West Coast Avengers  was created by Clint Barton aka Hawkeye, who's roster comprised of  Mocking Bird, Wonder Man, Tigra and War Machine (believed to be Iron Man) in an attempt to branch out with the Avengers. 

The New Avengers title brought us some of our favorite Marvel Super Heroes as Avengers consisting of Captain America, Iron Man, Spider Man, Wolverine, and Spider Woman.

Shortly after Marvel's Secret Invasion with the Skrulls the Dark Avengers seemed to run havoc all over the Marvel Universe with virtually opposite of some of our favorite Avengers of past. We had Daken son of Wolverine, Mac Gargan as Venom in place of Spider Man, Bulls Eye in place of Hawkeye just to name a few and was run by none other than former Green Goblin Harry Osborn as the Iron Patriot. 

In the last 50 years the Avengers roster has come to include some of the worlds most famous super heroes and villains be they a human with an iron suit, a God, a mutant, an alien symbiotic suit, or simply a super soldier. There is no question as to how far this time will go and who they will recruit, the only question left is when will your favorite hero become one of them.  

-Nurd!

August 28th 1917 - February 6th 1994

Nurdgasmic would like to take a moment to honor the legendary Jack Kirby. He passed away on February 6th 1994 however would have been 96 on August 28th this year. Born Jack Kurtzberg, he was an American comic book artist and a veteran of WWII. With out you and your vision, not only for the Marvel Universe, comics would not be what they are today. We would be remiss on a day like to day talking about the Avengers and not mentioning you. Our world is now full of color with the characters that you helped create. Your work has inspired millions of would be aspiring comic artists. Thank you for your contributions in art and thank you for your service to your country. 

I still believe in heroes. -Nurd!