The group's expansion accelerated after they opened a second headquarters on the
West Coast,
Avengers Compound, manned by both Avengers veterans and new recruits like Hawkeye's wife
Mockingbird,
War Machine (who also served as an alternate Iron Man),
Thing,
Moon Knight,
U.S.Agent,
Firebird,
Human Torch,
Living Lightning,
Julia Carpenter as Spider-Woman,
Machine Man, and
Darkhawk. The western roster was led first and longest by Hawkeye, but the expansion team gradually deteriorated under later leaders and was shut down after major losses of resources and personnel. Regardless, the original eastern roster continued to grow, adding recruits such as
Sub-Mariner,
Doctor Druid, The Captain (actually a temporarily re-costumed Captain America),
Demolition Man,
Gilgamesh,
Mister Fantastic,
Invisible Woman,
Quasar,
Sersi,
Spider-Man,
Stingray,
Rage,
Sandman,
Crystal,
Thunderstrike (who also served as an alternate Thor),
Justice,
Firestar,
Triathlon,
Silverclaw, the new
Ant-Man and
Captain Britain. Some of these served long stints, others only briefly, but all made some sort of mark with the team, as did more informal associates such as
Marrina, a new
Yellowjacket (Rita DeMara), a new
Swordsman (Phillip Jarvert),
Magdalene,
Deathcry,
Masque, and an alternate-timeline teenage
Iron Man. The group suffered setbacks, going through many changes of leadership and several changes of headquarters, losing various members and even disbanding more than once (most notably following disastrous conflicts with
Terminatrix and
Onslaught), but the team always regrouped in some form or another, continuing to evolve and grow. Few heroes refused offers of Avengers membership, though allies who did decline the honor included
Daredevil,
Jessica Jones,
Spider-Woman,
Silver Surfer,
Archangel,
Iceman,
Dazzler,
Black Cat,
Doc Samson,
Shroud and
Songbird.
Avengers Disassembled and the New Avengers
It required a threat from within to ultimately vanquish the original Avengers. The Scarlet Witch, whose mind had slowly been damaged by her reality-altering powers, caused a series of events which resulted in the apparent deaths of Hawkeye, Vision,
Jack of Hearts and Ant-Man. The Avengers Mansion was completely destroyed, and Tony Stark's fortune was, at the time, too depleted to rebuild, and the remaining members disbanded. Months later, much like the original inception of the team, a random gathering of heroes sparked the reformation of the Avengers. After teaming with Iron Man, Spider-Man, Luke Cage, Spider-Woman (Drew), Daredevil and
Sentry to contain a mass breakout at the super-criminal prison known as the
Raft, Captain America invited his six allies to join him in rebuilding the Avengers. Most of them accepted, though Daredevil declined and the unstable Sentry had gone into seclusion. Leading intelligence agency
S.H.I.E.L.D. was reluctant to sanction a new Avengers team, but Captain America reminded them that his "full champion license" status with the government gives him the authority to assemble any team he requires for any given mission, so he required no approval from the authorities to reassemble the Avengers. Iron Man offered the top floors of his new
Stark Tower skyscraper to serve as the team's high-tech headquarters (staffed again by ever-faithful Jarvis), and the group resolved to capture the forty-odd Raft escapees-starting with
Sauron, the prisoner whose liberation by
Electro had touched off the jailbreak.
Capturing Electro and tracking Sauron to the
Savage Land, the new Avengers teamed with
Wolverine to oppose an illegal
Vibranium mining operation run by Sauron's
Savage Land Mutates and an apparently rogue S.H.I.E.L.D. faction. In the end, a retaliatory strike by the mainstream S.H.I.E.L.D. organization wiped out the entire mining operation except for a recaptured Sauron, conveniently eliminating almost all evidence and witnesses apart from the Avengers. Shaken by this, and by their discovery along the way that the Raft had been stockpiling supposedly deceased super-criminals held in reserve for unknown purposes, the Avengers have secretly dedicated themselves to rooting out the institutional corruption behind these events and have recruited Wolverine, whose espionage background and ruthless attitude are seen as assets for the team.
Realizing the potential danger of a loose canon Sentry, Iron Man held a secret conclave with the
Illuminati and organized a large team to track down the hero. The Sentry warned the Avengers of his alter ego, the Void, who assaulted the Avengers and the other heroes. With the help of
Emma Frost, the Sentry gained control of the Void. The Sentry accepted membership into the Avengers, which they hoped would prevent him becoming another Scarlet Witch situation. Returning to Stark Tower, the Avengers were stunned to find the Sentry's
Watchtower located directly above theirs.
Tracking down the
Silver Samurai (one of the escaped criminals from the Raft) to Japan with the help of
Ronin, the Avengers found
Hydra trying to strike a deal with the
Hand and
Clan Yashida. After defeating the forces of the Hand and Hydra, the Avengers confronted the Silver Samurai, who planned to stay in Japan to serve as a protector. Ronin returned to Japan to make sure that Samurai stayed out of trouble. Shortly after leaving, Spider-Woman freed
Madame Hydra and accidentally nearly killed Captain America. When the Avengers interrogated her, she revealed that long before the Avengers had recruited her, she had lost her powers. Hydra approached her with the chance to regain her abilities provided she become a double agent for them in S.H.I.E.L.D. When
Nick Fury learned this, he agreed to reinstate Spider-Woman into S.H.I.E.L.D. provided that she play a double agent for him. Spider-Woman regained her powers and things went smoothly until Nick Fury went underground and left Spider-Woman with no one to trust. The Avengers realized the situation, but before they could act, they were forced to go public since the Watchtower had alerted the public to their presence.
House of M and Civil War
Soon after this,
Professor Charles Xavier and
Dr. Strange called a meeting with the Avengers and the
X-Men to determine the fate of the Scarlet Witch, ultimately triggering a
reality-altering event after which the world's mutant population was largely de-powered. The Avengers subsequently fought a
being comprised of the mutant energy of the de-powered mutants. The
Superhuman Registration Act seems poised to split the team in twain, but, since the idea of the Avengers has always been particularly resilient, it seems unlikely that the current rift will be permanent.
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