AVENGERS ROLL CALL: Ant-Man and Wasp were both founding Avengers in Avengers #1 (1963). Hawkeye and Scarlet Witch both joined the team in Avengers #16 (1965), Vision in Avengers #58 (1968), Wonder Man in Avengers #158 (1977) as a provisional member and Avengers #181 (1979) as a full member, Falcon in Avengers #184 (1979) and Tigra in Avengers #211 (1981).
AVENGERS: UNITED THEY STAND
(Fox, October 30, 1999-February 26, 2000)
Marvel Studios, Saban International A.G., Fox Family
Worldwide
The Avengers made their debut in Marvel Comics’ Avengers #1 (September, 1963), written by Stan Lee and drawn by Jack Kirby. The book primarily
consisted of characters previously introduced in Marvel’s various books since the
company’s revitalization with Fantastic Four #1 in 1961.
 |
| Iron Man, Hulk, Thor, Ant-Man and Wasp vs. Loki in Avengers #1. |
The evil Asgardian god of mischief,
Loki (Journey
Into Mystery #85, 1962), sought
revenge against his half-brother, the thunder god Thor (Journey
Into Mystery #83, 1962), for his
constant interference in Loki’s schemes. Part of his plan involved Loki pitting
Thor against the Hulk
(The Incredible
Hulk vol. 1 #1, 1962), the
alter-ego of scientist Bruce Banner who, after he was exposed to gamma radiation,
emerged whenever Bruce got angry. However, Loki’s
scheme backfired when he inadvertently involved billionaire inventor Tony
Stark, who created a suit of armor to become Iron Man (Tales of
Suspense #39, 1963), scientist Henry
Pym, whose matter-shrinking Pym Particles and ant communicating helmet let him
become Ant-Man (Tales to Astonish #27, 1962), and heiress Janet Van Dyne, Henry’s girlfriend who
sprouted synthetic wings when she used Pym Particles to shrink as the Wasp (Tales to
Astonish #44, 1963). Together with the
Hulk, the heroes banded together and defeated Loki. Deciding they made a great
team, the Avengers was born, eventually becoming the New
York Yankees of the superhero set.
In
1997, FOX was
experiencing a decline in its ratings as ABC, Kids' WB, Nickelodeon and
the Disney Channel were delivering a broad slate of programs and
aggressively marketing them to their audiences. Roland
Poindexter, Vice President and Head of
Programming at Fox
Kids, recognized that his network had become
known for its action-adventure shows, particularly based on Marvel properties.
He approached X-Men:
The Animated Series writers Robert N. Skir and Marty Isenberg to develop a proposal for an Avengers series. They produced
a detailed 13-episode story arc in their series bible, but Fox became more
interested in pursuing a Captain
America solo series.
 |
| Captain America returns to comic in 1964's Avengers #4. |
Cap, first debuting during
Marvel’s days as Timely in 1941’s Captain
America Comics #1, was scrawny Steve
Rogers who was given a Super Soldier formula to turn him into a soldier at the
peak of human development. However, like many of the superheroes at the time,
his popularity waned following the end of World War II, and he was removed from
his own book with issue #73 (the book ran as a horror anthology title for two
more issues). Timely attempted to revitalize the character in the 1950s by
pitting him against communists, but that return was short-lived and his book
cancelled again. He disappeared from publication until Lee and Kirby decided to
revive the character in Avengers #4 in 1964; his absence explained by his being frozen in
suspended animation after World War II, found by the Avengers, and thawed out
in the then-present day. (The plot hole of Cap being able to battle
commies while supposedly frozen was later addressed as other men tasked with
taking up the mantle in his absence).
 |
| Captain America makes an appearance. |
Neither show went into
development as Marvel had gone into bankruptcy during the comics
bust of the 1990s. When Marvel’s financial troubles stabilized in 1998,
Poindexter revisited the idea and brought in X-Men series
story editor Eric
Lewald and his wife Julia to
serve as story editors for the show. In 1999, Fox green-lit the series and Ron Myrick was hired to oversee the show’s visual development.
It was decided to leave out the “big three” Avengers--Captain America, Iron Man
and Thor--in order recapture the popularity of the team when those heroes
weren’t members in the comics, and to focus on a line-up of more flawed
characters for greater story potential without their risking being overshadowed
by the bigger names. The trio, however, did make an appearance at the end of
the opening sequence throughout the show’s run.
 |
| Hawkeye, Tigra, Wasp, Ant-Man, Wonder Man, Scarlet Witch, Falcon and the Vision. |
The team’s line-up was
loosely borrowed from the Avengers spin-off West Coast Avengers (later
renamed Avengers West Coast). Founding Avenger Ant-Man (Rod Wilson)
was made the leader of the team, and was joined by fellow founder Wasp (Linda
Ballentyne). Filling out the roster was Captain America’s former partner, Sam
Wilson, aka Falcon (Martin Roach), who could fly via a special harness and
communicate with birds—in particular his falcon Redwing; Clint Barton, aka
Hawkeye (Tony Daniels), a former criminal and master bowman; Wanda Maximoff,
aka the mutant Scarlet Witch (Stavroula Logothettis), with hex-casting
abilities that she activated by saying “Winds of destiny, change!”; Greer
Nelson, aka Tigra (Lenore Zann), an athlete who underwent genetic treatments to
give her an edge that ended up transforming her into a tiger woman (an origin
different from the comics); the synthezoid android The Vision (Ron Ruben), who
was created by the evil robot Ultron (John Stocker) to destroy the Avengers and turned to their side after
being given Wonder Man’s memories; and Simon Williams, aka Wonder Man (Hamish
McEwan), whose ionic powers gave him super strength, flight,
near-invulnerability and energy blasts, and who spent half the series in a coma
after being attacked by Vision. Supporting the team was Edwin Jarvis (Graham
Harley), the team’s butler who maintained their headquarters. Captain America (Dan Chameroy) and Iron Man (Francis Diakowsky) each made a guest appearance on the show, but Thor never
appeared outside of his title sequence cameo. The series’ main focus was the
team trying to live up the legacy established by the big three, particularly
Ant-Man who, as team leader, was following in Captain America’s very large
footsteps.
 |
| The "Big Three" oversee operations in spirit, if not presence. |
A major difference from the
source material was the introduction of special armor for Ant-Man, Wasp, Falcon
and Hawkeye, which they donned in stock Super Sentai-inspired
transformation sequences. Although no explanation was given on the show itself
for the armor, the tie-in comic series attempted to do so by setting its first two issues
before the premiere. The story saw the Avengers laid low by an early version of
Ultron. As a result, Pym developed their armor to give them more protection and
strength in battle, based on the armor he created for himself after his legs
were broken by Dragon
Man. The series was also set 25 years in the
future, accounting for their armor, futuristic technology, and how some of the
settings looked, in an attempt to try and emulate Batman
Beyond and duplicate its success.
 |
| DVD release cover art. |
Avengers: United They Stand debuted as part of Fox Kids on October 30th,
1999, replacing Spider-Man:
Unlimited. The series was written by Michael Edens, John Loy, Len Uhley, Brooks Wachtel, Len Wein, Steven Melching, Bruce Reid Schaefer and Jan Strnad. The opening theme was
composed by Sky Flyers with Jeremy
Sweet, Deddy Tzur, Shuki Levy and Haim Saban (as Kussa Mahchi) handling
the rest of the series’ music. Early information about the show’s line-up and
changes had left potential viewers cold, and seeing it did nothing to change
that as it was generally given a poor reception. Ultimately, low-ratings saw
the series cancelled after its initial 13 episodes; scrapping plans producers
had for the second season which would have included appearances by the X-Men (making
use of the fact both shows shared some of the same cast and were both produced
by Saban), the Hulk, and Thor.
 |
| Vision's action figure. |
During the show's run, Toy Biz produced a line
of action figures and two vehicles based on the show, which included
Captain America and, surprisingly, Thor. The previously mentioned comic series
ran longer than the show, ending that June after only seven issues. During its
run, it featured additional characters and groups that didn’t appear in the
show; including Black
Widow, Hydra, Doctor Doom and A.I.M. In
2007, Maximum Entertainment
released the complete
series to DVD in the United Kingdom. In 2009, Bright Vision Entertainment
released the first four episodes along with episodes from The Marvel Super Heroes animated series from 1966. In 2011, Clear
Vision released two
3-episode collections as well as re-released the complete
series the following year. Although the series has yet to see any kind of
release in North America, it was made available on Amazon
Prime Video.
It wouldn’t be until 2008’s Iron Man movie,
and the introduction of the Marvel Cinematic
Universe, that The Avengers franchise would start
getting renewed attention from Marvel and fans. The comics were revitalized and
the team given a new cartoon with Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes.
After the release of Marvel’s The Avengers (so
called to differentiate it from the British program and 1998 movie), the cartoon was retooled into Avengers Assemble with
a line-up closer reflecting the one featured in the film.
EPISODE GUIDE:
“Avengers Assemble, Part One” (10/30/99) – Ultron creates the Vision
to destroy Ant-Man, but Wonder Man ends up wounded.
“Avengers Assemble, Part Two” (11/6/99) – The Avengers defeat Ultron
and reprogram Vision with some of Wonder Man’s mind. He and Falcon join the
team.
“Kang” (11/13/99) – Kang seeks an obelisk to help him return to the future
and rule its people, but the Avengers set out to stop him.
“Comes a Swordsman” (11/27/99) – Hawkeye must face off against his
mentor Swordsman while the Avengers battle Ringmaster and his Circus of Crime.
“Remnants” (12/4/99) – Ultron’s previous experiments threaten to cause
a nuclear war.
“Command Decision” (12/11/99) – The Avengers team-up with Captain
America to stop the Masters of Evil from stealing dangerous government weapons.
“To Rule Atlantis” (1/15/00) – Namor joins the Avengers in stopping Attuma
from creating earthquakes in an attempt to conquer Atlantis.
“Shooting Stars” (1/22/00) – The Avengers call Iron Man for help
against the criminal organization Zodiac as they attempt to blackmail Earth’s
cities.
“What a Vision Has to Do” (1/29/00) – Vision allows himself to be
captured by Ultron so that the Avengers can follow them to his base.
“Egg-Streme Vengeance” (2/5/00) – Egghead sabotages Ant-Man’s Pym
particles, causing him to shrink out of existence.
“The Sorceress’ Apprentice” (2/12/00) – Scarlet Witch seeks help for
Wonder Man, but she ends up kidnapped by the Salem’s Seven while the Avengers
are busy battling Grim Reaper.
“Earth and Fire, Part One” (2/19/00) – Wasp’s father’s old business
partner, Cornelius Van Lundt, is causing dangerous disruptions to Earth’s
magnetic fields.
“Earth and Fire, Part Two” (2/26/00) – The Avengers battle the Zodiac
over an ancient meteorite.
Originally posted in 2015. Updated in 2019.
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