

The lineup was ever changing: The Hulk departed, Captain America joined, and Ant-Man grew up to be Giant-Man.

Not everyone got along-the Hulk fought with everyone-but working together they could defeat the baddest of Marvels bad guys, like Loki, Kang the Conqueror, the Masters of Evil, and Immortus. If the Fantastic Four were family, then the Avengers were the co-workers you didnt choose. Right away it was clear this team was different.

So Lee and artist Jack Kirby assembled Iron Man, Ant-Man and the Wasp, Thor, and the Hulk to create the Avengers. I was writing these characters and I thought it would fun to put them together in a team, he recalled. Still, Marvel editor in chief Stan Lee realized something was missing. Following the introduction of the Fantastic Four in 1961 came the amazing (Spider-Man), the astonishing (Ant-Man), the strange (Doctor, that is), the incredible (Hulk), the invincible (Iron Man) and the mighty (Thor). Book Synopsis By early 1963 the foundations of the Marvel Universe had been laid. They not only fought together, they occasionally fought each other! The first 20 stories from the Avengers are collected in this Hulk-sized volume and have been meticulously. About the Book Super-hero teams had been around since the 1940s, but Thor, Ant Man, the Wasp, Hulk, and Iron Man broke new ground when they joined forces to form the Avengers in 1963.
