Avengers

"Yeah, you're missing the point. There's no throne. There is no version of this where you come out on top. And maybe your army comes and maybe it's too much for us, but it's all on you. Because if we can't protect the Earth you can be damn well sure we'll avenge it."

- Tony Stark to Loki

The Avengers are a team of powerful super-heroes assembled by Nick Fury and S.H.I.E.L.D. through the Avengers Initiative as a team that could fight the battles that they could never handle alone. After saving the world in the battle of New York, they gained world-wide recognition. They oversaw the return of Loki to Asgard, and then dissolved. After S.H.I.E.L.D. became a defunct agency, Stark Industries helped create Avengers Tower.

Starting the Initiative
The Avengers are the result of S.H.I.E.L.D. Director Nick Fury's Avengers Initiative. Fury realized that a group of extraordinary individuals would be needed to the battle the growing forces that conventional military forces would not be able to handle alone, much less defeat. The founding members are Captain America, the world's first superhero, the invincible armored Iron Man, the Asgardian warrior prince: Thor, the rage monster known only as the Hulk, and two of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s most skilled operatives, Clint Barton aka Hawkeye, and Natasha Romanoff aka the Black Widow.

Recruiting Tony Stark
After revealing to the world that he is Iron Man, Tony Stark returned home to find Nick Fury waiting for him. Fury consulted with Stark regarding the Avengers Initiative, telling him that he's not the only superhero in the world. Stark declined but Fury still kept eyes on him in the meantime.

Rejecting Tony Stark
"I told you I don't want to join your super-secret boy band."

- Tony Stark to Nick Fury

Six months after revealing to the world that he was Iron Man, Tony Stark helped to stabilize peace between East and West relations. However, he discovered that the very thing keeping him alive, the Palladium Arc Reactor, was slowly killing him. Beginning to do questionable things such as donating a large number of his personal things and giving Pepper Potts control of Stark Industries, Nick Fury began to intervene, sending in his top agent Natasha Romanoff, in the guise of Stark's new assistant Natalie Rushman, to keep an eye on him.

Following a number of altercations, including an attack on Stark by Ivan Vanko and a fight with his friend James Rhodes during a drunken stupor, Fury meet with Stark to discuss his condition and help him get back on the path to save himself and back to work. After finding a new element that stabilized his health and ending a large scale attack by Vanko, however, Romanoff wrote a report on Stark and stated that while the armor would benefit the Avengers Initiative, Stark himself was deemed unsuitable and was instead given a position as consultant, which he accepted on the condition that he and Rhodes would be given medals for their heroics, personally awarded by Senator Stern.

Meeting Thor
After Thor was exiled to Earth and landed in New Mexico, he tried to recover Mjølnir after discovering it had made its way to Earth as well. Phil Coulson made note of Thor's strength, albeit human, and his combat skills, making his men "some of the most highly trained professionals in the world look like minimum wage mall cops." Then when the Destroyer came to Earth to kill Thor, Thor willingly handed himself over, an act that allowed him to regain his power and defeated the Destroyer. After that, Coulson approached him and Thor vowed he would be an ally to Earth if they return Jane Foster's research which Coulson agreed. However, before Coulson had a chance to debrief him, Thor flew to the landing site to return back to Asgard to stop Loki.

The Consultant
"So, on the Council's orders, we have to send one of our people down to General Ross to ask for Blonsky, who we don't even want." "Exactly."

- Jasper Sitwell and Phil Coulson

Soon after the confrontation between Hulk and Emil Blonsky in Harlem, a request came down from the World Security Council that blame for the incident be placed on Banner and that Blonsky, who was being held in General Thaddeus Ross' sector, be exonerated for his crimes and placed on the team's roster.

Director Nick Fury didn't want Blonsky for the team, but was in no position to disobey a direct order from the council. Hoping to resolve the situation for Fury, Agents Phil Coulson and Jasper Sitwell conspired to sabotage the request by sending in their newly minted consultant Tony Stark to be the one to contact the General.

As planned, Stark's abrasive manner and disdain for authority resulted in Ross not only turning down the request, but also attempting to have Stark removed from the bar. In response, Stark bought the establishment and had it scheduled for demolition.

Captain America's Return
After being frozen for nearly 70 years, Steve Rogers woke up in an 1940's-style hospital to find something wrong. When he realized the game playing on the radio was a game that he had already seen, he escaped onto the streets of 2010s New York City. There, he met Nick Fury who told him the entire incident was meant to break the news to him slowly that he had been missing for 70 years.

Destruction of Project P.E.G.A.S.U.S.
"We're running the world's greatest covert security network and you're gonna leave the fate of human race to a handful of freaks." "I'm not leaving anything to anyone. We need a response team. These people may be isolated, unbalanced even, but I believe with the right push they can be exactly what we need."

- The World Security Council and Nick Fury

At first, when it seemed to be no progress with it, the Avengers Initiative was shut down. Instead, focus was put on Phase 2, an initiative to reverse-engineer HYDRA weapons to create weapons for Earth's defense and examining the Tesseract as a source for such weapons. Loki arrived through the Tesseract from "the other end of space" and began attacking several S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, taking control of Hawkeye and Erik Selvig with his staff and taking hold of the Tesseract. Following this, Nick Fury re-instates the Avengers Initiative and has Phil Coulson call for Black Widow to bringing in the others. Coulson has her go to Kolkata, India to bring in Bruce Banner, who can track the cube due to the fact that it is emitting low levels of Gamma Radiation, of which Banner is an expert. Meanwhile, Fury goes to Captain America to give him his first mission since being awakened. Coulson personally travels to Stark Tower to bring Tony Stark files containing information regarding his other potential teammates, Loki, and the Tesseract.

Battle of New York
"What have I to fear?" "The Avengers. It's what we call ourselves, sort of like a team. "Earth's Mightiest Heroes" type thing." "Yes, I've met them." "Yeah. Takes us a while to get any traction, I'll give you that one. But, let's do a head count here: Your brother, the demigod; a super soldier, a living legend who kind of lives up to the legend; a man with breath-taking anger management issues; a couple of master assassins, and you, big fella, you've managed to piss off every single one of them."

- Loki and Tony Stark

The team was assembled on the Helicarrier and initially had difficulty working together. Many of them did not  want to form a team and they argued constantly over ideological differences. Tony Stark was reluctant to work under the command of Captain America. Thor demanded that Loki be returned to him and did not want to compromise. Everyone on the team was uncomfortable with the presence of Bruce Banner. After Loki killed Phil Coulson, and began his main attack, the Avengers decided to put their differences aside and went to New York City. During the battle they learned to trust one another and rally in defense of New York as it was invaded by extraterrestrials known as the Chitauri. Captain America took command of the team and they all worked to suppress the invasion force. Hulk beat Loki into submission and Iron Man carried a nuclear weapon fired by the World Security Council into the portal through which the aliens entered Earth and destroyed their fleet, breaking the neural connection with their ground troops and instantly incapacitating them. The team took Loki as their prisoner.

Aftermath
"I don't think you understand what you've started. Letting the Avengers loose on this world. They're dangerous." "They surely are. And the whole world knows it. Every world knows it."

- World Security Council and Nick Fury

In the aftermath of the battle, the team rested and ate at the nearby Shawarma Palace. While they were eating, James Rhodes, who had come to New York to help fight but was too late, entered the restaurant and was introduced to the Avengers. Later, the Avengers reassembled in their civilian clothes to watch Thor take both Loki and the Tesseract back to Asgard.

Meanwhile, Nick Fury worked to resurrect the person that the team avenged, Phil Coulson. Anticipating the possible death of an Avenger, Nick Fury had Phil Coulson lead Project T.A.H.I.T.I., an operation inside a hidden safe house where the bodily fluids of an alien were used to make various drugs, including one that could resurrect the dead. Coulson, though, recommended the project's shut down, due to its unusual side effects. Since Fury considered Coulson an Avenger, he used the procedure on him anyway.

Considering how popular the team had become, a toy-line had been made called the "Heroes of New York" with action figures based on each Avenger.

Later Exploits
Following the conclusion of the war and capture of Loki, the team split up to finish their own individual pursuits. Captain America and Black Widow continued to work with S.H.I.E.L.D., often working with STRIKE to neutralize threats. Thor returned to Asgard, delivering Loki into the hands of Asgardian justice. The return of the Tesseract allowed the Asgardians to repair the Bifrost Bridge, after which Thor and his allies began to battle the bands of Marauders that had sprung up across the Nine Realms. Suffering from trauma after his near-death experience, Tony Stark focused on developing an Iron Legion for the purpose of countering future threats.

Despite now being familiar with one another, the Avengers continued to deal with threats individually. After his friend and former bodyguard Happy Hogan was nearly killed in an apparent terrorist attack, Stark issued a public challenge to the Mandarin, a shadowy figure claiming responsibility for the bombings. This rash action led to a chain of events that resulted in Iron Man successfully unraveling the conspiracy of Aldrich Killian, the head of A.I.M. who intended to use Extremis to create an army of super-soldiers and control both sides of the war on terror. Cut off from most of his allies, Stark nonetheless was able to defeat the false Mandarin with the assistance of James Rhodes and Pepper Potts.

Meanwhile, the onset of the Convergence awoke both the Infinity Stone known as the Aether and the Dark Elves who coveted its power for the purpose of annihilating the Nine Realms. After his love interest Jane Foster unwillingly became the Aether's host, Thor traveled to Earth and sheltered her on Asgard. The subsequent Dark Elf attack led to the death of Frigga and the dismantling of Asgard's defenses, leading Thor to reluctantly recruit Loki's aid and escape to the Dark Elf homeworld, Svartalfheim, planning to lay a trap for the Dark Elves. Though Loki did not immediately betray his brother, their plan went awry, resulting in Loki's apparent death and Malekith, the Dark Elf leader, escaping with the Aether. Returning to Earth, Thor was unable to gain S.H.I.E.L.D's assistance in time. The Dark Elves came perilously close to succeeding in their goal but were eventually thwarted by Thor, Foster, and her colleagues. The war led Thor to renounce the throne of Asgard, but unbeknownst to him allowed Loki to secretly take Odin's place and gain control of Asgard, leaving the AllFather's fate unknown.

Targeted by HYDRA
Still working for S.H.I.E.L.D., Steve Rogers was informed of the organization's latest initiative, Project Insight, a program designed to target potential threats before they struck. Rogers had deep misgivings about Insight, which only grew after witnessing Nick Fury's apparent assassination at the hands of the Winter Soldier. Fury's last actions before his seeming death were to warn the Captain that S.H.I.E.L.D. was compromised and give him the data recovered from the Lemurian Star. Rogers refused to tell all he knew to Alexander Pierce, prompting the organization to declare him a fugitive and attempt to hunt him down. Rogers eluded his pursuers and met up with Black Widow, and together the duo learned a terrifying truth. The preserved consciousness of Arnim Zola informed them that HYDRA had recovered from its defeat during the war and realized that in order to take control, humanity needed to willingly give up its freedom. To this end, the organization had infiltrated S.H.I.E.L.D. at its founding, using their influence to spread chaos across the globe.

By the present day, HYDRA had grown large enough to gain nearly complete control of S.H.I.E.L.D, and now stood to use Project Insight to complete their master plan. Rogers managed to uncover Insight's true purpose: the elimination of the over twenty million individuals that posed a threat to HYDRA's control. Nearly all of the Avengers were primary targets, including Tony Stark and Bruce Banner, who remained unaware of the imminent threat. Fortunately, Captain America, Black Widow, and their allies were able to narrowly prevent Insight's activation, taking down the thoroughly corrupted S.H.I.E.L.D. in the process.

Following the fall of S.H.I.E.L.D., Stark recruited Maria Hill into his company, shielding her from legal persecution. Stark Industries began working to privatize global security and fill the void left by the organization's collapse. Meanwhile, HYDRA remained active across the globe, securing control of many S.H.I.E.L.D. bases and continuing with many of their research projects. Anticipating a reprisal from Captain America and his "colorful friends", HYDRA leader Wolfgang von Strucker prepared to gradually feed them the locations of other HYDRA bases in order to buy time for his group to complete their research on Loki's Scepter and the twins Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch.

Age of Ultron
The Avengers, Maria Hill, and James Rhodes were together, celebrating the launch of the Ultron Sentinels, as they tried to lift Mjolnir. Announcing that humanity was not worthy of survival, Ultron appeared within the party.

Allies

 * Nick Fury
 * Maria Hill
 * S.H.I.E.L.D.
 * Phil Coulson
 * Jasper Sitwell † (formerly)
 * Samuel Wilson/Falcon
 * James Rhodes/Iron Patriot

Enemies

 * Loki
 * Chitauri
 * Leviathan
 * Ultron
 * Vision
 * Ultron Sentinels
 * HYDRA
 * Wolfgang von Strucker

Trivia

 * The formation of the Avengers at the hands of S.H.I.E.L.D. as portrayed in The Avengers follows the same premise as , a modern re-imagining of the Avengers.
 * With the exception of Black Widow and Hawkeye, the order in which the Avengers are introduced in the series follows the original founding lineup portrayed in the comics.
 * Ant-Man and the Wasp were founding members in the comics, but both have yet to even appear in the film series.