Avengers Initiative

The Avengers Initiative was a project created by S.H.I.E.L.D. to create The Avengers, a team composed of super-powered beings that would respond to global threats.

First Recruit
Tony Stark went home after he publicly announced he was Iron Man, only to find Nick Fury already there. Fury went to find Stark to inform him that there was an entire world of people with powers, just like him, and of the Avengers Initiative.

Requested Member
After meeting with Jasper Sitwell in a cafe, Phil Coulson informed him that the World Security Council have accepted the Avengers Initiative, but have ordered the Abomination to join the roster of the team, as they were blaming Hulk for the destruction in New York City. They ended up sending Tony Stark to meet with General Ross and convince him to refuse Abomination into the project, along with an attempt to recruit Hulk into the team.

Closing the Project
Nick Fury decided that, after reading Black Widow's review about him, Stark wasn't fit to join the Avengers Initiative.

As the project had no known activity after this event, it is presumed that the Avenger Initiative was closed after excluding Iron Man from its roster.

The Avengers
After Loki stole the Tesseract from Project P.E.G.A.S.U.S. (and destroyed the base and killed 80 people during the process), Nick Fury decided to revive the project. He called in Captain America to join, and sent Black Widow to get Hulk, who was now living in a rural village in India.

After The Avengers were formed, they were not cooperating and failed to prevent Loki's escape from the Helicarrier. They believed they were not meant to be together, and were thinking of disbanding the team. It was only Phil Coulson's death that motivated them to fight the Chitauri invasion on Manhattan.

After their victory in defeating the Chitauri, they Nick Fury and Maria Hill agree that it was the correct choice to form the team, and that they will return for any future threat.