The Avengers What was the Avengers Initiative anyway?

[Thundercrack85]

In the film, if I recall correctly, they mention that the initiative was cancelled. What was it in the first place?

It's first mentioned in Iron Man. Nick Fury alludes to other superheroes, but there weren't any. Unless you count the Hulk, who was a fugitive at the time. Thor wasn't on the scene yet, and Captain America had been presumed dead for nearly 70 years.

Sequel material or questionable writing?

 

[MMMMM...Pancakes]

Maybe they know about other heroes too, like characters that haven't appeared in the MCU, but they couldn't contact them or turned Fury down or something.

Remember the map in Iron Man 2?

 

[Webfoot Hero]

I think the Avengers Initiative had been active for awhile, probably as an offshoot of the search for Cap. When they couldn't find him initially, SHIELD/SSR might have made contingencies to make sure they were able to track down other super-powered beings. I think that in IM, they probably knew about Hulk and still searching for Cap, but possibly had eyes on Wakanda, which I think will be used sometime down the line after TA2.

 

[captainrogers]

"This isn't our first rodeo"
-Coulson to Stark in IM 1

"you think you're the ONLY superhero in the world?"
-Fury to Stark in IM.

"the world is filling up with people that can't be matched"
-Fury to the Assembled team in the room.

 

[riprat]

The world is filling up with people that can't be matched! That is so cool! I forgot that line. In my own fevered brain I interpret it as they know about other Marvel heros that can't be mentioned due to other studios owning the rights... but ya, Shield has dossiers on many super individuals in the MCU!

 

[Quasimod0]

The avengers initiative was the idea to bring together a group of superhuman individuals, so that when we needed them, they could fight the battles that we never could.

 

[Thundercrack85]

Problem, there were no superhuman individuals until after Iron Man. Except possibly the Hulk. He'd be the only superhuman threat, if there's another... they haven't mentioned it, and it's not readily apparent.

Maybe they'll expand upon that in a sequel.

 

[cherokeesam]

Problem, there were no superhuman individuals until after Iron Man. Except possibly the Hulk. He'd be the only superhuman threat, if there's another... they haven't mentioned it, and it's not readily apparent.

Maybe they'll expand upon that in a sequel.

I'm pretty sure it's just a case of there *are* other superhumans (hero and villain) already out there, but they just haven't been referenced in film yet. Doesn't mean they're not well-known....Black Panther, for instance, *might* already exist and be well-known in Wakanda and most of Africa, but isn't necessarily a household name elsewhere in the world yet.

 

[Pink Ranger]

Yeah, just because we didn't see other superhumans in TA, doesn't mean they didn't exist. Black Panther is a likely one; maybe the Ant Man and Wasp already exist at this point too, and they could easily make an argument that some of the C-list Avengers might already be around, but they were just more difficult to track down in the limited time frame SHIELD had.

 

[Smashlilman]

Problem, there were no superhuman individuals until after Iron Man. Except possibly the Hulk. He'd be the only superhuman threat, if there's another... they haven't mentioned it, and it's not readily apparent.

Maybe they'll expand upon that in a sequel.

There are many Super powered individuals in the MCU. Its just that we the audience don't know about them because we haven't been introduced to them yet. The MCU is bigger than just whats on the screen. There are tons of other super powered people out there that shield noes about. HULK, IM, Cap, and Thor are just the most prominent where just on there imitate radar.

 

[captainrogers]

Problem, there were no superhuman individuals until after Iron Man. Except possibly the Hulk. He'd be the only superhuman threat, if there's another... they haven't mentioned it, and it's not readily apparent.

Maybe they'll expand upon that in a sequel.

Cap? (Asgaurdians as well)
More than likely MANY others.
It's just that we, as the audience haven't been privy to them yet.

 

[Thundercrack85]

Cap?

Presumed dead for 60-70 years. Wasn't found until after Iron Man.

Were they aware of the Asgardians before Thor?

 

[captainrogers]

Presumed dead for 60-70 years.

Exactly .
Presumed.
We, the audience don't know Everything Shield knows.
For all we know, PowerMan and Ironfist are running around NY somewhere.
T'Challa is being kept tabs on.

 

[Thundercrack85]

They weren't expecting that he survived. They made that clear.

Maybe, but really, they seem to have dropped the ball on the reason. Unless they start the next movie "this is why the Avengers Initiative was begun".

 

[captainrogers]

They weren't expecting that he survived. They made that clear.

Maybe, but really, they seem to have dropped the ball on the reason. Unless they start the next movie "this is why the Avengers Initiative was begun".

Again, Fury said in the first MCU film, Stark is NOT the only superhuman out there.
In TA, he states that the world is filling up with people that can't be matched. Whether it be allies or threats, that's left ambiguous.
I believe they've stated and left it well open enough for them to fill in the blanks however they see fit.

 

[SuperSoldier985]

I think it alludes to that it's something they've been trying to do for a long time and it hasn't quite come together until now. I mean, sure it would've been interesting if they mentioned them trying to contact other "heroes" to join the group, but it might've felt forced and become a throwaway.

 

[jaqua99]

ya, and when Fury looks down after stark walks away after couson's death, and Fury hopelessly says "its an old fashion notion" and then later he looks out the window, and sees them heading for the battle, outside of ironman shooting his repulsor rays off cap's shield, that was the biggest HELL YEAH FIST PUMP moment of the movie

 

[Avenger]

Problem, there were no superhuman individuals until after Iron Man.

"You think you're the only superhero in the world?"

 

[LostSon88]

In the film, if I recall correctly, they mention that the initiative was cancelled. What was it in the first place?

It's first mentioned in Iron Man. Nick Fury alludes to other superheroes, but there weren't any. Unless you count the Hulk, who was a fugitive at the time. Thor wasn't on the scene yet, and Captain America had been presumed dead for nearly 70 years.

Sequel material or questionable writing?

Nick Fury explicitly explains it in the movie.

"The Avengers Initiative was an idea to put together a group of extrodinary people so that when the time came, they could fight the battles we never could."

The reason it was cancelled was because the World Security Counsel didn't feel comfortable putting their faith in a bunch of "freaks" to protect the world.

In terms of alluding to other superheroes, there's nothing to suggest that the initiative hasn't been around for a while and that by the time they encountered Tony Stark, they may have already found dozens of 'superheroes' around the world.

The question as to why they wearn't brought into the team, one can argue that much like Tony at the end of IM2, many had been evaluated by SHIELD and deemed unfit for the A.I.

 

[DarkJester]

Why oh why does this thread even exist...? Avengers Initiative: clearly explained in the movie. The other superheroes? How 'bout a whole school full of mutants? "But Xmen isn't part of the MC-" yeah yeah yeah, but they ARE part of the Marvel universe and if Fox didn't have the rights to the franchise, they'd no-doubt have, at the very least, a mention. Close thread.

 

[Thundercrack85]

Which doesn't make a whole lot of sense. Again, before Iron Man, the only supernatural thing in existence (i.e. not dead or presumed dead) was the Hulk. Unless things were happening off screen, which they haven't bothered to mention (six movies and counting).

Unless Fury was anticipating a random invasion of aliens and Norse gods. What other battles was he anticipating before Iron Man?

It would have made more sense for the Avengers to be established around the time of Thor.

 

[ThePowerCosmic]

The world is filling up with people that can't be matched! That is so cool! I forgot that line. In my own fevered brain I interpret it as they know about other Marvel heros that can't be mentioned due to other studios owning the rights... but ya, Shield has dossiers on many super individuals in the MCU!

Yeah, your brain is pretty fevered... Why would that mean other heroes that can't be mentioned due to other studios owning the rights, when Marvel already has PLENTY of heroes that they do own? I'm sure Fury wasn't talking about Spider-Man, the X-Men, Fantastic Four, etc. There are a lot more Marvel heroes out there, you know.

 

[Thundercrack85]

Why oh why does this thread even exist...? Avengers Initiative: clearly explained in the movie. The other superheroes? How 'bout a whole school full of mutants? "But Xmen isn't part of the MC-" yeah yeah yeah, but they are part of the Marvel universe and if Fox didn't have the rights to the franchise, they'd no-doubt have at the very a mention. Close thread.

You could simply leave.

Also, what makes you believe the X-Men exist in this universe? Not a single mutant has been seen or mentioned. Or even alluded to.

 

[ThePowerCosmic]

Why oh why does this thread even exist...? Avengers Initiative: clearly explained in the movie. The other superheroes? How 'bout a whole school full of mutants? "But Xmen isn't part of the MC-" yeah yeah yeah, but they ARE part of the Marvel universe and if Fox didn't have the rights to the franchise, they'd no-doubt have, at the very least, a mention. Close thread.

IF Fox didn't own the rights, then they probably would be in that category. However, since they DO own the rights then your argument is invalid. Once again, the Marvel Universe is full of plenty of other heroes other than the most popular ones.

 

[DarkJester]

It doesn't matter, period, which superheroes Fury alluded to is the point I'm trying to make. This thread is completely ******ed. Hell, Fury could've been talking about Howard the damn Duck. Did you want Fury to whip out a laundry list of superheroes and rattle them all off for you before the scene ended? There are plenty of superheroes that could very well exist in the MCU with absolutely no reason to mention them.