If you’re geeky enough to read Neatorama, then you undoubtedly already know that The Avengers comes out Friday and that it’s all slated to be the biggest film of the summer. Of course, depending on your individual geek levels, you could be thrilled to see it or irritated that they ruined yet another great comic franchise by failing to follow the actual plots Marvel has already written. Here’s a look at the comic and how the movie will differ from the original storyline.
In 1960, the Justice League first appeared in DC’s The Brave and the Bold. The line up, featuring Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Green Lantern, Aquaman and the Martian Manhunter, soon became quite a hit. Not to be left in the dust, Stan Lee and Jack Kirby quickly put together their own super-hero team and launched The Avengers in September of 1963.
The first line up featured Thor, Hulk, Ant-Man, the Wasp and Iron Man. Similar to the ending of Captain America: The First Avenger, at the end of Captain America’s last story line prior to meeting The Avengers, he is lost in the Atlantic Ocean. In the comic, The Avengers discover his body floating in a block of ice and then revive him in issue #4. He soon joins the team and is given “founding member” status in place of Hulk. Hawkeye is added to the team in issue #63. While he always intended to be a good guy, he fell victim to a misunderstanding during his first outing as a super hero.
After being chased by other heroes, he eventually runs into, and quickly falls in love with, the Black Widow, a spy for the U.S.S.R. Following her lead, he helps her steal technology from Tony Stark. Black Widow is injured during one of their escapades, but before Hawkeye can get her to the hospital, she disappears. After this, he pledges to be nothing but good from then on. Later on, he rescues Edwin Jarvis from a mugger, so Jarvis introduces him to The Avengers to help him clear his name. Iron Man sees that Hawkeye is sincere and sponsors his membership into the group.
Black Widow’s backstory is even more interesting as she is a spy for the Soviet Union who has been repeatedly brainwashed to ensure her loyalty. Despite this, she does try to defect to the U.S. after falling in love with Hawkeye and seeing that he has since joined The Avengers. Unfortunately, she is injured by an agent of the KGB and re-brainwashed. She then goes on to fight against the heroes until she recovers her past identity and then manages to successfully defect and join the team in issue #111, eight years after Hawkeye joined.
