The Avengers are a team of superheroes appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer-editor Stan Lee and artist/co-plotter Jack Kirby, the team made its debut in The Avengers #1. Labeled "Earth's Mightiest Heroes," the original Avengers consisted of Iron Man, Ant-Man, Hulk, Thor and the Wasp. Captain America was discovered trapped in ice in issue #4, and joined the group after they revived him.
Lucas "Luke" Cage, born Carl Lucas and also known as Power Man, is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. He first appeared in Luke Cage, Hero for Hire #1 and was created by Archie Goodwin, George Tuska, Roy Thomas, and John Romita Sr. He is one of the earliest black superheroes to be featured as the protagonist and title character of a Marvel comic book.
Sal Buscema is an American comics artist, primarily for Marvel Comics, where he enjoyed a ten-year run as artist of The Incredible Hulk and an eight-year run as artist of The Spectacular Spider-Man. He is the younger brother of comics artist John Buscema.
Joseph Quesada is an American comic book artist, writer, editor, and television producer. He became known in the 1990s for his work on various Valiant Comics books, such as Ninjak and Solar, Man of the Atom. He later worked on numerous books for DC Comics and Marvel Comics, such as Batman: Sword of Azrael and X-Factor, before forming his own company, Event Comics, where he published his creator-owned character, Ash.
The Champions are a fictional team of superheroes appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The team first appears in The Champions #1 and was created by writer Tony Isabella and artist Don Heck. Their titular series is regarded as an example of a failed superteam comic, suffering from constant turnover in the writers and artists working on the series, lack of a consistent direction or concept, and mediocre sales.
Scarlet Spider is the title of two comic book series published by Marvel Comics about two clones of Spider-Man while they functioned as the then-current version of the Scarlet Spider. The first volume lasted only two issues as a brief temporary replacement of the Spider-Man series and was published in 1995. The second volume started publishing in January 2012 and ended in December 2013 with issue 25 after a total of 26 issues, because there was a special Marvel Point One issue published between issues 12 and 13.
Living Lightning is a fictional superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. He first appeared in Avengers West Coast #63, published in October, 1990. The character was created by writers Dann Thomas and Roy Thomas and artist Paul Ryan.
Humberto Ramos is a Mexican comic book penciller, best known for his work on American comic books such as Impulse, Runaways, The Spectacular Spider-Man, The Amazing Spider-Man and his creator-owned series Crimson.
Dan Slott is an American comic book writer, known for his work on Marvel Comics books such as The Amazing Spider-Man, as well as She-Hulk, Silver Surfer, The Superior Spider-Man, Tony Stark: Iron Man, The Mighty Avengers, and Fantastic Four. His work for DC Comics includes the books Arkham Asylum: Living Hell and Batman Adventures.
Spider-Woman is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared in Marvel Spotlight #32, and 50 issues of an ongoing series titled Spider-Woman followed. At its conclusion, she was killed, and though later resurrected, she fell into disuse, supplanted by other characters using the name Spider-Woman.
Tom Brevoort is an American comic book editor, known for his work for Marvel Comics, where he has overseen titles such as New Avengers, Civil War, and Fantastic Four. He became Executive Editor in 2007, and in January 2011 was promoted to additionally serve as Senior Vice President of Publishing.
Christopher Lee Yost is an American film, television, animation, and comic book writer best known for his work for Marvel Studios' Marvel Cinematic Universe with Thor: The Dark World (2013) and Thor: Ragnarok (2017) and on The Mandalorian for Lucasfilm and Disney+.
Shooting Star is a comic book superheroine appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character was created by writer Bill Mantlo and penciller Sal Buscema and first appeared in Incredible Hulk #265. She is a member of the Rangers, the American Southwest superhero team.
"Secret Invasion" is a comic book crossover storyline that ran through a self-titled eight-issue limited series and several tie-in books published by Marvel Comics from April through December 2008. The story involves a subversive, long-term invasion of Earth by the Skrulls, a group of alien shapeshifters who have secretly replaced many superheroes in the Marvel Universe with impostors over a period of years, prior to the overt invasion. Marvel's promotional tagline for the event was "Who do you trust?".
The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes is an American superhero animated television series by Marvel Animation in cooperation with Film Roman, based on the Marvel Comics superhero team the Avengers. The show debuted on Disney XD and online in the fall of 2010, starting with a 20-part micro-series that were later broadcast as five television episodes. In the second season, it was one of the inaugural shows of the Marvel Universe programming block alongside Ultimate Spider-Man.
MODOK is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The first MODOK is George Tarleton, a former employee of Advanced Idea Mechanics (A.I.M.), an arms-dealing organization specializing in futuristic weaponry, who undergoes substantial mutagenic medical experimentation originally designed to increase his intelligence. While successful, the experiments result in him developing a freakishly overdeveloped head and a stunted body, causing the character's signature look and use of a hoverchair for mobility. After the experiments, he kills his creators and takes control of A.I.M. Following Tarleton being split from MODOK, the new independent being dubs himself MODOK Superior, becoming the archenemy of Gwen Poole. IGN's list of the Top 100 Comic Book Villains of All Time ranked MODOK as #100.
Avenging Spider-Man is the title of an American comic book series published monthly by Marvel Comics, featuring the adventures of the fictional superhero Spider-Man. The events in the story take place in the primary continuity of the mainstream Marvel Universe along with the events of The Amazing Spider-Man and later The Superior Spider-Man. This was the first ongoing series to feature Spider-Man as the main character besides The Amazing Spider-Man since the cancellation of Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man and the second volume of Sensational Spider-Man in December 2008 following the conclusion of the "One More Day" storyline. Avenging Spider-Man has also been instrumental in Marvel's shift towards including codes to receive free digital copies of the comic with purchased print comic books.
Marvel Now! is a comic book branding for the relaunch of several ongoing comic books published by Marvel Comics, that debuted in October 2012 with new #1 issues. The relaunch also included some new titles, including Uncanny Avengers and All-New X-Men. Described as a shifting of the Marvel Universe following the conclusion of the "Avengers vs. X-Men" storyline, Marvel Now! entailed changes to both the publishing format and the universe to attract new readers. Publishing changes included new creative teams for each of the titles and the in-universe changes included changes to character designs and new storylines. It marked the next stage of the Marvel ReEvolution initiative, which began in March 2012. The original run went through several waves before coming to an end in May 2015 at the start of the "Secret Wars" storyline. A second Marvel Now!, Marvel Now! 2.0, debuted in 2016 following the "Civil War II" storyline. Marvel Now! 2.0 was followed in 2017 by Marvel Legacy.
"Infinity" is a 2013 comic book crossover storyline that was published by Marvel Comics. Written by Jonathan Hickman with artwork by a rotating team of artists including Jim Cheung, Jerome Opeña, and Dustin Weaver, the series debuted in August 2013 and ran through November 2013.
Marvel's The Avengers Prelude: Fury's Big Week, or simply Fury's Big Week, is a limited series comic book published by Marvel Comics as an official tie-in comic to the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), specifically the 2012 film Marvel's The Avengers. The comic was written by Eric Pearson from stories by himself and Chris Yost, with art by various pencillers. Fury's Big Week follows Nick Fury and several agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. as they deal with the various events of the MCU films leading up to The Avengers.
