Free Avengers and Philosophy: Earth's Mightiest Thinkers, The by Mark White Page A

in Avengers: Kang—Time and Time Again (2005).
7. Avengers Forever #3 (February 1999), reprinted in Avengers Legends Vol. 1: Avengers Forever (2001).
8. Ibid.
9. Avengers Forever #11 (October 1999), reprinted in Avengers Legends Vol. 1: Avengers Forever.
10. Young Avengers #2.
11. Hawking, “Space and Time Warps.”

APPENDIX
     
    Why Are There Four Volumes of Avengers?
     
    Since there are so many Avengers titles, which seem to be relaunched or renumbered as often as Iron Man updates his armor, here is a “simple” guide to delving into the Avengers canon, covering the main ongoing titles (and by necessity leaving out many miniseries and one-shots).
     
    The first volume of Avengers started in September 1963 and lasted for over four hundred issues (and annuals) until September 1996. In 1984, the West Coast Avengers appeared in a self-titled miniseries (an obvious ploy to get Hawkeye out of Avengers Mansion), followed in 1985 by an ongoing series that lasted until 1994 (after changing its title to Avengers West Coast in 1989). In order to keep busy, Hawkeye also headlined the Solo Avengers title (which featured another Avenger in the backup story) starting in 1987 and lasting until 1991 (also changing its title to Avengers Spotlight in 1989).
     
    The first Avengers run ended when the Avengers were “Heroes Reborn,” thrown into a pocket dimension of distorted anatomy and even worse costume design. The second volume of Avengers mercifully lasted only thirteen issues (from November 1996 to November 1997). You will notice that this run is never cited in this book—for a reason. (’Nuff said.) The third volume of Avengers started in February 1998 when our heroes returned to the normal Marvel Universe with a near-classic lineup (and the Avengers spotlight now focused on the Scarlet Witch’s navel). In September 2004, the series was renumbered starting with issue #500 to reflect the original volume’s numbering (as if it had been followed throughout all the volumes). However, this was also the beginning of “Avengers Disassembled,” as the team and mansion were decimated by a very angry Scarlet Witch. (You connect the dots, my friend.)
     
    Then the fun started: after much soul-searching on the part of Iron Man and Captain America, the first volume of New Avengers launched in January 2005 (yes, the same month that the original Avengers disbanded forever !). It was followed by Young Avengers in April 2005, which lasted a year and told the story of a group of second-generation heroes (including another upstart archer). Then the Civil War happened in 2006, and the New Avengers reemerged afterward as an underground ragtag band of renegades fighting against superhero registration—and yes, Clint Barton was there. But the pro-registration forces, led by Iron Man, had their own team. The Mighty Avengers title started in May 2007, followed soon by Avengers: The Initiative in June 2007, detailing the training of young heroes (not including the Young Avengers, who continued on in a series of one-shots and miniseries).
     
    After the Skrulls’ Secret Invasion ended in January 2009, the lineups of the New and Mighty Avengers were shaken up (but the titles continued, without even renumbering them!). More important, Dark Avengers launched in March 2009, featuring evil doppelgängers for key Avengers like Hawkeye and Ms. Marvel, and led by none other than Norman Osborn. After Osborn’s Siege of Asgard in summer 2010, all the Avengers titles— New , Mighty , Dark , and Initiative —ended. In the new Heroic Age , not only was a second volume of New Avengers launched, but we also saw a fourth volume of Avengers as the classic title was revived for the first time in fifteen years. Add to this Secret Avengers (Steve Rogers’s black ops team, later headed by Hawkeye), Avengers Academy (the latest young-heroes-in-training title), and Avengers Assemble , which began in March 2012—not to mention the live-action movie, cunningly titled