The Avengers (Marvel Cinematic Universe)


 * Note: This article is about the version of the Avengers from the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The mainstream version can be found here: The Avengers. 

"And there came a day. A day unlike any other when Earth's Mightest Heroes are united against a common threat. To fight the foes no single superhero can withstand. On that day... the Avengers were born."

- Nick Fury on the Avengers.

"Avengers... Assemble!"

- Captain America in Avengers: Age of Ultron, and Endgame.

The Avengers are a team of superheroes that appear in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. They were assembled by S.H.I.E.L.D.'s director Nick Fury through the Avengers Initiative. They are the eponymous titular main protagonists of the 2012 live-action crossover film The Avengers and it's sequels, the 2015 live-action film Avengers: Age of Ultron, the 2018 live-action film Avengers: Infinity War, and the 2019 live-action film Avengers: Endgame; and the titular main protagonists of the 2016 live-action film Captain America: Civil War.

They are being portrayed by Chris Evans (who also played The Human Torch), Robert Downey Jr. (who also played Sherlock Holmes), Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Scarlett Johansson (who also played Lucy), and Jeremy Renner (who also played William Brandt). The new Avengers that joined them in the sequel are Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch, and Vision, but also War Machine and Falcon. The new Avengers are being portrayed by Aaron Taylor-Johnson (who also played Kick-Ass and Ford Brody), Elizabeth Olsen (also portrayed Elle Brody), Paul Bettany who also voiced J.A.R.V.I.S., Anthony Mackie and Don Cheadle. Spider-Man officially joined the avengers in Avengers: Infinity War and is portrayed by Tom Holland (who will play Nathan Drake). Rocket Racoon, Nebula, Captain Marvel, Okoye, and Ant-Man joined to undo Thanos' fingersnap, portrayed by Bradley Cooper (who also played Chris Kyle), Karen Gillan (who also played Amy Pond), Brie Larson (who also played Mason Weaver), Danai Guirra (who also played Michonne), and Paul Rudd (who also played Tommy Doyle). It's founder was played by Samuel L. Jackson (who also played Zeus Carver).

Iron Man
In the end of the first Iron Man, when Tony Stark was welcomed back home by J.A.R.V.I.S., Nick Fury appeared before him wanting to talk to him about the Avengers Initiative.

The Incredible Hulk
At the end of The Incredible Hulk, Stark appeared in a bar where Thunderbolt Ross was drinking and saying, "What if I told you we were putting a team together?", which Ross responded with, "Who's we?"

Iron Man 2
When Stark was dying from the Arc Reactor, Fury send his best agent Natasha Romanoff to keep an eye on Stark. However, due to the events of the film such as the fight with Ivan Vanko and his fight with his friend James Rhodes, they decided to disband him from the Initiative and require the Iron Man suit, and have Stark as a consultant, he would accepted unless he and Rhodes would be given medal for their heroics, which Fury accepts.

Thor
During his time in exile, Thor finds himself meeting with a human, including S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, who's got a whole of his hammer and attempted to get it back along with Jane Foster's items. He eventually came across with S.H.I.E.L.D. agents including Clint Barton who was attempting to aim his arrow on him. Near the end after Thor got his powers, he form a friendship with Agent Phil Coulson and would fight by his side if he and his agents return Jane's items they took from her.

Captain America: The First Avenger
After waking up from being frozen, Steve Rogers found himself in modern time where he meets with Fury who told that he has been a sleep for 70 years.

The Avengers
In the 2012 movie, the team are being founded by Nick Fury to join forces and learn how to work as team to fight and defeat Thor's villainous adoptive brother, Loki, who uses the cosmic cube The Tesractt to bring an armies of deadly and scary aliens warriors called The Chitauri, what the team didn't know that the armies are commanded not just by Loki, but by the bigger bad villain, Thanos, the ruthless alien warlord of The Chituari. The Avengers assemble after Loki escapes and the death of Phil Coulson, angering the team and S.H.I.E.L.D. itself. The Avengers win the battle of New York, with Thor taking Loki back to Asgard as the team disbands to their own lives.

Avengers: Age of Ultron
The Avengers appear in Sokovia where they are attacking a HYDRA base under the control of Wolfgang von Strucker. The Avengers win against the HYDRA forces and capture the base and Wolfgang. Iron Man also builds Ultron to replace him but he gets corrupted and goes rogue and betrays the Avengers. The team then assembles and goes after him and Ultron's new army in Sokovia where he plans to use the city to wipe out humanity. The Avengers win and Ultron is destroyed despite the countless death; including Quicksilver. At the end, Thor leaves to locate the infinity stones and Tony Stark leaves, and Hulk leaves to Sakkar, but they're replaced with Scarlet Witch, War Machine, Falcon, and War Machine.

Captain America: Civil War
In Nigeria, Captain America leads Scarlet Witch, Falcon, and Black Widow as they attack the IFID Headquartes which is under seige by Crossbones, a HYDRA agent-turned rogue mercenary, and his mercenary army. They battle his forces and soon face off against Crossbones only to end up with him attempting suicide and Scarlet Witch flying him up where he blows up and kills numerous Wakandan workers in a nearby building. This causes the United Nations to gather and form the Sovokia Accords to regulate the Avengers and superheroes in general. Tony supports the plan but Steve opposes it and soon the Avengers are divided as half side with Tony and the rest side with Iron Man. This soon boils over into a civil war between the two factions and it ends with Captain America's team being captured and imprisoned. Iron Man meets up with Captain America and the Winter Soldier in the HYDRA Siberian Base where Helmut Zemo is and after he shows Iron Man footage of Bucky killing Martha and Howard Stark, Tony loses it and fights the two of them but is defeated by them. Bucky and Steve escape while Iron Man returns to the New Avengers facility and takes over what's left of the Avengers as their leader. Steve breaks his team out and they all go rogue and says that he'll help them when needed but the Avengers are left divided and disbanded at the end though.

Spider-Man: Homecoming
After Spider-Man successfully defeated Vulture and had him arrested, Stark decided to make Peter the new member of the Avengers; even offering him the Iron-Spider Suit. Parker declines, wanting to help the little guy as Stark enters the room as Pepper and others awaited for the young hero to enter.

Avengers: Infinity War
Bruce Banner fell down on New York Sanctum after Heimdall had used the Bifrost Bridge to help him to safety, warning Doctor Strange and Wong that Thanos' imminent arrival was coming. Tony Stark and Pepper Potts were talking about Stark's dream to have a baby but were interrupted by Doctor Strange who called upon Stark and asked for his help. They explained the Infinity Stones to Stark in the Sanctum until they heard a sound outside. They saw the Q-Ship and were approached by Black Order members Ebony Maw and Cull Obsidian, under the orders of Thanos to steal the Time Stone. The four fought the Order.

The battle caught the attention of Peter Parker, who was on a school bus returning from a field trip, felt danger and saw the Q-Ship off in the distance. With the help of Ned Leeds, Parker was able to sneak away with his Spider-Man to go help. Parker arrived just in time to save Stark from an on-coming attack from Obsidian. They continued together, deflecting all of Obsidian's advances until Wong was able to teleport him away. Meanwhile, Strange was battling Ebony Maw in an effort to prevent the Time Stone from being stolen. However, Maw was able to gain the upper-hand on Strange immobilizing him in the process. Parker, despite his best efforts, was unable to save Strange and left him hanging on to the Q-Ship, which was heading towards space. It also caused Parker to run out of breath causing Stark to order F.R.I.D.A.Y. to activate the Iron Spider Armor in an attempt to parachute Parker away from the ship to safety, but was unsuccessful, with Parker stowing away on it. In the aftermath of the battle, Wong decided to stay to protect the Sanctum due to Strange's absence and Banner opts to call Captain America to help locate Vision. While walking on the streets of Edinburgh, Wanda Maximoff and Vision noticed a news report regarding the Attack on Greenwich Village. Vision suggested that he would leave immediately, and just when he was about to, suddenly, he was stabbed by Corvus Glaive, in an attempt to extract the Mind Stone from him.

Proxima Midnight also arrived to help with the extraction. Glaive demanded that Vision hand over the stone, otherwise they would kill Maximoff. After being cornered into a train station, the Black Order made their move to get the stone, when from the shadows, Captain America, as well as Black Widow, and FalconBruce Banner came out of hiding to defend Maximoff and Vision. Getting the upper hand, the Black Order then retreated, in a failed attempt to secure the stone. As Tony Stark attempted to locate Doctor Strange, he ran into the Cloak of Levitation and Peter Parker and became angry with the latter for disobeying his direct order to return home. However, Parker claimed that he could not stay as a "friendly neighborhood Spider-Man" if there was no neighborhood in the first place. Relenting, Parker came up with a plan to defeat Ebony Maw and save Strange by having Stark blast a hole in the hull of the Q-Ship causing Ebony Maw to be sucked out while Parker saved Strange from sharing his fate. While Strange suggested they return to Earth, Stark insisted that they maintain the course the ship was heading and to ambush Thanos. Strange then told Stark that if it came down between sacrificing the life of Stark or Parker over the Time Stone he would for the good of the universe. Stark also appointed Parker as a member of the Avengers much to his delight. With Doctor Strange, Iron Man, and Spider-Man aboard the Q-Ship that was on auto-pilot towards Titan, they arrived and met the Guardians of the Galaxy who arrived because of Nebula's order to Mantis. The two groups mistook each other for being allied with Thanos and fought each other until the identity of the Avengers were revealed. They organized a plan to defeat Thanos, whose arrival was to get the Time Stone. Doctor Strange looked over 14 million outcomes from the future and knew that they would've only won once. Thanos arrived and were ambushed by the Guardians and the few members of the Avengers. They all each fought valiantly and ferociously against Thanos and managed to hold their own effectively, although they could not restrain and defeat him despite their capability of repeatedly keeping Thanos from closing his fist, making him incapable of using the Infinity Gauntlet, which was only brief as Thanos would quickly break out of any hold they attempted.

However, eventually, Nebula arrived and managed to distract Thanos long enough that they all overpowered Thanos and Mantis was able to hold Thanos into a state of immobility, while the others were trying to work on removing the Gauntlet. The operation was almost successful until Star-Lord, discovering what Thanos had done to obtain the Soul Stone, leading to Gamora death, became enraged and started to react violently to Thanos; punching him, due to his anger. The reaction made Thanos go free of Mantis' hold and threw off many of the team, and then he threw one of Titan's moon aboard the planet which slowed others off. Doctor Strange confronted Thanos on his own and used a couple of spells to attack Thanos, all of which were repelled effectively with Thanos's skill with the Infinity Gauntlet's powers. Eventually, Thanos defeated Strange after dispersing all of the mystical copies Strange conjured and stunning him long enough for him to put him in a choke-hold using the Power and Soul Stones. Iron Man then confronted Thanos, battling valiantly, to the point where Stark made Thanos bleed, but only found himself no match for the Titan, who crushed Stark's armor bit by bit and swiftly defeated him by stabbing him with his own nanotech-fashioned dagger. Strange bargained the Time Stone for Stark's life and Thanos teleports to Earth, in search of the sixth and final Mind Stone. With Vision now a target of the Black Order and Thanos, Captain America decided the best place to protect him would be Wakanda. Whilst Shuri worked on a way to separate the Mind Stone from Vision and keep him alive, Captain America, Black Panther, Black Widow, Bruce Banner, War Machine, Falcon as well as M'Baku and his army held off the Black Order and Outriders. Black Panther was forced to open the barrier to stop the Outriders from getting to Vision leading to the battle.

During the battle, Scarlet Witch decided to join, and was able to kill Proxima Midnight, with help from Black Widow and Okoye. Meanwhile, Corvus Glaive managed to sneak up on Vision and attack him, but he was saved by Captain America. However, the overwhelming number of Outriders made it difficult for the Avengers to contain, with many getting overpowered. Suddenly, Thor arrived at the battle from Nidavellir using a Bifrost Bridge, with his newly made Stormbreaker and his new companions Groot and Rocket. Reunited with his fellow Avengers after three years, Thor and Captain America remarked on each others hair and beards. Bruce Banner used the Hulk Buster suit to kill Cull Obsidian and Vision impaled Corvus Glaive with his own scepter.

However, unfortunately for the Avengers, as soon as they had defeated all of Thanos's forces, at the same moment Thanos had acquired the Time Stone and arrived on the Battle of Wakanda to get the final stone. Seeing this, Vision told Maximoff it was finally time to destroy the Mind Stone along with himself, which she reluctantly accepted to do just as Thanos was effortlessly knocking aside the remaining members of the Avengers and Guardians that stood in his way. Captain America was able to hold his hand back for a short time before Thanos knocked him out with his other hand. Maximoff was able to hold back Thanos just long enough to destroy the Mind Stone, however, Thanos, in possession of the Time Stone, was able to reverse her effects, bring both Vision and the Mind Stone back before killing Vision a second time and adding the Mind Stone to his Gauntlet finally completing his quest. It was at this moment that Thor, in a last-minute attempt to stop him and avenge his people and brother, launched a full-power assault at the surprised Thanos and managed to impale Stormbreaker into Thanos' chest and then twisted it as deep as he could into the Titan's chest, wounding and agonizing him, as Thor claimed he had kept his word that he would kill Thanos.

However, the blow was not enough to kill or hinder the Mad Titan and he simply mocked Thor, saying he "should have gone for his head" before snapping his fingers and teleporting away. Thor stood in silence, realizing and lamenting what he had failed to do. Realizing they had lost, many of the Avengers started to disintegrate, leaving the remaining surviving Avengers to look on in horror, unable to do anything but accept defeat.

Captain Marvel
Following the Decimation, the Avengers retrieve Nick Fury's Transmitter Pager, which apparently was sending a call to someone. As Steve Rogers and Natasha Romanoff were watching in shock the casualties counter, James Rhodes informed them that the Pager had stopped working. The three asked Bruce Banner if he could make it work but he claimed that he did not understand what it was yet. However, Captain Marvel suddenly approached them, asking for Fury's whereabouts.

Avengers: Endgame
"Whatever it takes."

- Captain America, Hawkeye, Black Widow, and Iron Man in Avengers: Endgame.

Following the Decimation and half of all life in the universe was wiped out, the Avengers attempt to find the location of Thanos to capture the Infinity Stones and use them to bring back all of the beings that died at his hands. After Captain Marvel saves Iron Man and Nebula and brings them back to Earth, she joins them and they all raid his farm on Titan II. The Avengers hold Thanos down and cut off his left arm holding the Infinity Gauntlet, but are horrified to discover that the stones are gone. They demand he reveal where they are, but he says that he destroyed the stones using them and nearly died in the process saying that with the Decimation complete, they served no purpose. In a fit of rage, Thor used Stormbreaker and beheaded the Mad Titan saying that he "aimed for the head" after Rocket asked what he did.

Five years later the Avengers were now inactive and monitor events happening on both Earth and in the universe. During the five year timeskip however, Ant-Man was in the Quantum Realm and was brought back by a rat five years later not knowing what had happened.

Trivia

 * In the MCU series, the Avengers are reminiscent of the DCEU Justice League.
 * Also, the team being assembled is similar to the Marvel Ultimates comics.