The Avengers is a fictional group of superheroes from the world of Marvel Comics. They were created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby and made their debut in The Avengers #1 in September 1963 as a response to the trend of superhero teams, started by DC Comics’ Justice League. On October 20, 2010, a TV series called Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes was created based on the comics.
The original lineup of the team consisted of Tony Stark/Iron Man, Ant-Man (Dr. Henry Pym), Wasp (Janet Van Dyne), Thor, and Hulk. In the fourth issue, Captain America joined the team after being found by the other members. The group was known for frequent changes in its lineup, but the comic’s central theme of fighting “an enemy no single superhero can defeat” remained constant.
The Avengers comic debuted in September 1963, featuring pre-existing characters primarily created by writer and editor Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby. The series was initially released as a bi-monthly until issue 6 (July 1964), after which it became a monthly publication until issue 402 (September 1996). Between 1996 and 2004, Marvel rebooted the series three times, first in 1996 with Avengers vol. 2, which ran for 13 issues until October 1997. The series was then relaunched in February 1998 as Avengers vol. 3, which ran for 84 issues until August 2004. In September 2004, Marvel returned to the original series and numbering, starting with issue #500 in September. The series was concluded in December 2004. Since 2005, Marvel has released several Avengers series, with the current ongoing series being Avengers vol. 4.