How The MCU Had The Original Avengers Team Decided For Them

The Art Of Marvel’s The Avengers is a book that gives an in-depth behind-the-scenes look at one of the MCU‘s most iconic movies, and among its biggest reveals is that Marvel’s original team of heroes in The Avengers was decided for the studio. With the MCU going through a rough time at the moment, it can be easy to look back wistfully at the first iteration of the Avengers. Funnily enough, however, that team wasn’t as intentional as it would seem, with Marvel boss Kevin Feige now going on record admitting that it was a lucky coincidence that saw The Avengers thrown together.

A quote by Kevin Feige himself revealed how the original plan was to make a successful Iron Man movie first and foremost, with a franchise of successful Marvel movies to follow. Given how well the iconic team came together, it’s easy to assume that the union of the original Avengers was always part of that plan. The truth, however, is that Marvel had a limited pool of Marvel superheroes with which to launch their own film franchise, and that pool just so happened to include the lineup of original Avengers that are now synonymous with the MCU.

Related: Every Avengers Movie, Ranked Worst To Best (Including Endgame)

MCU’s Avengers Team Was Decided By Which Characters Hadn’t Been Taken By Other Studios

According to Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige, The Avengers was born thanks to the fact that the eponymous team’s founding members were what was leftafter several movie studios started snatching up the rights for Marvel characters. Spider-Man, for instance, was Sony’s (despite now being a paid-up member of the newer iteration of the Avengers), while the X-Men, a self-contained group in their own right, belonged to Fox. However, the original lineup of Avengers in the comics comprises Iron Man, Ant-Man, the Wasp, Thor, and Hulk. Fortunately, all of these heroes and few more were available for Marvel to use.

Related: All 6 Original MCU Avengers Ranked By Power

The MCU’s Infinity Saga then began padding out the Avengers lineup with other members who were part of its earliest iterations. This included, of course, Hawkeye and Black Widow, while Scarlet Witch and Vision were introduced in the Avengers’ second cinematic outing, Avengers: Age of Ultron. While the move was no guarantee given several Avengers’ relative lack of popularity compared to heroes like Spider-Man or Wolverine, the decision to focus on the Avengers obviously paid off.

How The MCU Avengers Setup Made The Perfect Movie Team

With some creative license being deployed to ensure an extra level of polish, the original team of Avengers made the perfect group – something that Ant-Man was the first to suggest in the comics. The mix of characters in their cinematic format, however, is nothing short of seminal. One of the main ways in which the MCU succeeded over the DCEU was how the first team-up movie was suitably set up by a string of preceding solo movies, with each of the less well-known founding members being given substantial recourse to establish themselves and their motives.

What resulted was a compelling mix of different personalities and backgrounds that made The Avengers dynamic and enthralling in equal measure. The risk of having the Hulk on board, Captain America’s fish-out-of-water story, and Thor’s deep connection to the movie’s big bad are just some of what made the team so compelling. It stands to reason that Marvel, in an attempt to recoup their losses, is reportedly discussing getting the old band back together when the original setup was so perfect.

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