The Avengers are known as a heroic team that battles in epic films to save the world. But originally, they come from Marvel comics. And their very first comic appearance looked quite different from their film debut.
Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, Black Widow, Hawkeye, and Hulk: These six heroes formed the Avengers in the 2012 film when Nick Fury needed a team of heroes to stop the villainous god Loki and his Chitauri alien invasion.
It’s been over 13 years, yet fans still fondly remember this film, which heralded a new era in the MCU after the solo adventures of Thor, Iron Man, Hulk, and Captain America. The team films were born, reaching their previous peaks with Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame. And soon Avengers: Doomsday is set to follow.
Over the years, the team evolved. Members joined, enemies like Loki became friends, but the threats also grew ever larger. These films about the Avengers are epic. And their comic adventures are not lacking in comparison.
At least nowadays. Because if you look back at the very first Avengers comic, much was still different. We summarize how the very first Avengers mission in comic history looked.
No Captain America, but a stressed Hulk and Thor as a dentist
The very first Avengers comic was published in 1963, created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. In Germany, the first Avengers story is called “Vengeance Assemble” and begins with the words: “New! Captivating! Overwhelming! For the first time together in an epic: The greatest superheroes of Earth!”
So they didn’t hold back on superlatives. And of course, the names look impressive from today’s perspective. Because the team that forms at the end of the first Avengers story includes the following members:
- Thor
- Iron Man
- Ant-Man
- Wasp
- Hulk
Notably, Captain America, Black Widow, or Hawkeye have no role here at all initially.
Warning! Here we summarize the plot. From here on, there are spoilers from the first Avengers comic.
What happens in the first Avengers story? Another familiar character from the first film is also present in the comic: Loki. However, the villainous god doesn’t have the plan to unleash an alien invasion on the planet. His problem is much more that he is held on a lonely island in Asgard because of Thor’s and Odin’s fault. Now he wants to lure Thor back to Asgard to take revenge on him.
To achieve this, Loki wants to manipulate Hulk. He is hated by humans and is on the run – which, by the way, also fits with the film where Loki also wants to exploit Hulk to harm the Avengers.
In the comic, Hulk tricks out, causing him to destroy a railway bridge. Loki hopes that Thor will be lured by this. A corresponding distress call is also sent out by the character “Rick Jones”, who is directed towards the Fantastic Four. This doesn’t fit into Loki’s plan, who redirects the distress call towards Thor, who, by the way, is disguised as a human dentist “Dr. Blake”.
The distress call reaches Thor, who starts searching for Hulk. But this is precisely how Ant-Man, Wasp, and Iron Man become aware of the situation and join Thor to stop Hulk.
In the end, Thor uncovers Loki’s evil scheme and realizes that Hulk is the wrong target – although he has already had some proper fights with Iron Man and the others in between. Fortunately, Thor is able to confront Loki on the lonely island in time, defeat him, and bring him to Earth. There, Loki is presented to the heroes and ultimately securely contained.
Ant-Man and Wasp then literally suggest in the second-to-last panel of the story that they could form a team to thwart evil in the future. Wasp suggests the name “The Avengers”, and Iron Man and Thor also think forming a team is a good idea. And Hulk joins because he no longer wants to be alone and on the run.
There’s no Nick Fury assembling the team. Instead, the Avengers form more out of the situation.
And what about Captain America? The hero that many see as the leader of the Avengers is not present here at all. He only joins in issue 4 of the Avengers. Hulk, on the other hand, drops out already in the second volume.
Differences from the Avengers as we know them today
A few points stand out when reading the first comic. In many ways, the Avengers are still far from what we know them to be today.
- Iron Man, for example, looks quite different; he is a yellow tin man without his iconic armor. He resembles the very first model from the first Iron Man movie that Tony Stark cobbles together in a cave.
- Hulk is not a completely rage-filled monster but rather contemplative and on the run. He’s just looking for peace.
- Which also shows that the comics were a bit crazier back then than the movies are today: In between, Hulk tries to disguise himself as a robot in the circus to hide, juggling a horse, a kind of marten, and an elephant.
- Loki’s costume is also quite different. This was actually referenced in the Loki series.
- Ant-Man and Wasp are Hank Pym and Janet van Dyne – characters we also know from the films, but here Scott Lang and Hope van Dyne are more in the foreground.
- Iron Man is not officially Tony Stark but keeps his identity secret.
- Thor also takes the form of “Don Blake” to not draw attention on Earth.
And overall, the entire story in the first comic feels significantly lighter
than Loki’s world-threatening invasion in the first film. The colorful art style of the comic also contributes to a certain lightness. It’s definitely interesting to see how much the Avengers have changed over the years. If you want more stories in this direction, you can read here who the very first Marvel hero was.
