Out With The Old...

In my other blog yesterday, I covered the justly classic Avengers #16, and the first of the "changing of the guard" issues. Let's take a look at some of the classic Avengers line-ups, and one or two of the less memorable ones, shall we?

The Originals (Thor, Iron Man, Ant-Man, the Wasp, and the Hulk)


The ones who kicked it all off. Hulk might have only hung about for two issues, but his shadow hangs over the book, whilst the others, in one identity or another, have remained with the book for over 40 years now.

Mid-60s (Captain America, Quicksilver, the Scarlet Witch, and Hawkeye)


Cap's Kooky Quartet, three ex-supervillains who Stan Lee liked enough to turn them into heroes (albeit second-stringers - sorry, Hawkeye). Unlike the originals, none of them had their own book, so the writers pretty much had free reign to do what they wanted with them. And they did, establishing many of the character quirks which make them famous today.

Late 60s (Vision, Black Panther, Hawkeye, Wasp, and Yellowjacket)


Stan Lee had, by now, handed the book onto Rascally Roy Thomas, who brought us Hank Pym, by now into his third costumed identity, the sometime-FF ally, Black Panther, and the unearthly Vision. With a few additions, this was the cast that saw us through to the Kree / Skrull War.

Early 70s (Thor, Iron Man, Vision, Scarlet Witch, Swordsman, Mantis, Cap, and the Black Panther)


The early 70s brought another new writer, Steve Englehart, and saw a mix of old guard, next generation Avengers, and a couple of brand new faces, around whom Englehart based much of his work at Marvel. Mostly good stuff, although the continuity of the book does get, shall we say, somewhat dense at times.

Late 70s (Iron Man, Vision, Scarlet Witch, Cap, Beast, Wasp, and Wonder Man)


This is the line-up that lots of folk cite as the definitive team, and the run which unfortunately includes the "was it, weren't it" rape of Ms. Marvel and the spousal abuse storyline for which Hank Pym and Writer/Editor-In-Chief Jim Shooter are best remembered for. Still, that line-up's hard to beat.

Early 80s (Cap, Wasp, Vision, Scarlet Witch, She-Hulk, Starfox, and Captain Marvel)


When I started reading comics, this was the Avengers team, courtesy of Rambling Roger Stern, who brought us Crazy Takin' Over The World Vision, his own Captain Marvel II, Rohypnol-powered Starfox, and the soon-to-be-pinched-by-John-Byrne She-Hulk. (For those who were missing Hawkeye from the book, he was about to headline the new West Coast Avengers book.)

Mid 80s (Cap, Hercules, Captain Marvel, Sub-Mariner, Black Knight, and the Wasp)


Still with Stern writing, and now with the added love/hate relationship between Hercules and the Sub-Mariner. This is the line-up which faced Baron Zemo and the famous Siege of Avengers Mansion, and for my money, it's one of the best.

Late 80s (Thor, The Captain, Mister Fantastic, Invisible Girl, Gilgamesh)


Oh my. An awkward time for the book: Stern had gone, replaced by Walt Simonson, who, while a fine, fine writer, was not a good fit for the Avengers. The idea of recruiting half of the Fantastic Four to the team just does not sit right, and whatever Simonson may have intended to do with Gilgamesh, we never got to find out, as Simonson was out the door with this very issue. Gilgamesh, justly called the Forgotten One, didn't last much longer.

Early 90s (Black Knight, Hercules, Black Widow, Crystal, Cap, and Sersi)


This was, of course, the "leather jacket" era of the Avengers, in which with the exception of Captain America, the whole team got dressed up in natty brown jackets and fought against their evil doppelgangers, under the guidance of soon-to-be-editor-in-chief, Whispering Bob Harras.

Late 90s (Cap, Thor, Hawkeye, Wonder Man, Iron Man, Firestar, Justice, Scarlet Witch)


After the Image experiment, the Avengers came under the stewardship of Kurt Busiek and George Perez, and gained a, shall we say, traditional line-up. New blood came in the form of ex-New Warriors, Firestar and Justice, in a line-up which lasted into the new millennium.

Early 00s (Cap, Vision, Jack Of Hearts, Wasp, Iron Man, Ms. Marvel, Yellowjacket, Ant-Man, Black Panther, Falcon, Scarlet Witch, She-Hulk, Uncle Tom Cobley, and all.)


When Geoff Johns took over the reigns of the book, he didn't know which Avengers to use, so he pretty much used all of them. Less a team and more of an army, this line-up lasted until Brian Bendis disassembled the team a few months later.

Late 00s (Ms. Marvel, Wolverine, Iron Fist, Spider-Man, Spider-Woman, Ronin, Mockingbird, Luke Cage, Cap)


The current, post-Secret Invasion line-up. On the upside, we have my favourite, Iron Fist, but on the other hand, they have yet to find him anything to do. Of course, at this point, there's either two teams of Avengers, or three, I'm sort of losing track, so if your favourite Avenger isn't in this team, maybe he's in one of the other ones.