Introduction
For over 60 years, Earth’s Mightiest Heroes have been the Avengers. Originally conceived as Marvel’s answer to the “Distinguished Competition’s” Justice League of America, creators Stan Lee and Jack Kirby assembled the team’s roster from many of their top recent creations in the various Marvel superhero titles at the time. The popularity that these heroes proved in their own titles led to the natural decision to use them further in another title. As time went on, the all-star, founding members moved on, replaced by other characters, most of whom could not sustain their own title. Although the original Avengers would return for extended periods of time, these lesser-known heroes would sometimes go on to become stars themselves. Additionally, from the readers’ point of view, this rotating cast of characters led to a continuing reinvention of the title, allowing change to be a constant source of interest to an established property.
In time, for both in-universe and with readers, induction into the Avengers started to carry a certain prestige, an acknowledgment of being worthy to work alongside some of the most respected and long-serving superheroes in the world. While the team may have greatly expanded and even splintered into various sub-groups, the moment of making the roster, often paired with a press conference reveal, usually brought a higher profile and increased attention to these characters’ solo endeavors. Although characters came and went (and at times came and went again), every one of these members is honored by the team. After all, as the saying goes: Once an Avenger, Always an Avenger.
Much as with our X-Men Roster article, the purpose of this article is to chart the various comings and goings of the main Avengers teams over the years with some focus placed on the sub-teams.
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