Fans and even Marvel Comics itself have often laughed at how the avengers‘ name doesn’t make much sense, but is instead meant to sound cool. However, in Avengers #82 Captain America gives the best explanation yet for the team’s name and its true heroic meaning.
Even in the MCU, the Avengers name doesn’t make sense, but at least it’s revealed that Nick Fury chose it as an homage to Captain Marvel’s call sign. However, in the pages of the comics, the origin of the name is less interesting. The flagship issue of 1963 Avengers #1 by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby brings together Ant-Man, the Wasp, Iron Man, Thor and Hulk to defeat Loki. After the Asgardian trickster’s plans are thwarted, Hank Pym suggests that the heroes work as a team. Janet van Dyne then suggests the name “Avengers”, and it fits. No explanation is ever given for the choice at the time of the founding of the team. Thereafter, the Avengers would split up and reform several times with a rotating roster including most of Marvel’s greatest heroes, and over the years various justifications have been given for the name “Avengers”, but most never make almost no sense.
However, in 1998 Avengers #82, written by Chuck Austen with art by Scott Kolins, Captain America clears the name while speaking at the funeral of recently deceased hero Jack of Hearts. Steve Rogers explains why the team is not called “Defenders” or “Protectors”, but “Avengers”. According to Cap, the name is apt because they only act after a wrong has been done. “Not because we want innocent people to die,” he says. “But because the real “hero” doesn’t strike first.” For someone like Captain America, using superpowered force is a last resort, and if the Avengers are deployed in a situation, all other options have been exhausted and all that remains is to avenge evil.
Some people may dispute that idea – and it’s one of the reasons Iron Man became a villain in Civil war — but it matches the name “Avengers.” Out of necessity, a team of super-powered heroes must be the last line of defense against the injustices of the world. Cap says the Avengers are first responders who are called in to help with events after they happen, which are too big for typical law enforcement or government agencies. That means some innocent people will die, but being anything else could lead to a world where the Avengers become super-powered police force or even dictators of law. That kind of mindset wouldn’t make them any better than Ultron, Magneto, or any other supervillain. Surrounded by war memorials on the grounds of Avengers Mansion, Steve Rogers fully understands the ramifications of what he’s saying, but to do anything else would be to lose their place as heroes.
There’s no doubt that Marvel sometimes chooses lazy names, or that Stan Lee called them “Avengers” because it sounded like something that would sell more comics. Yet since their first appearance in the 1960s, the team has grown and changed, and the title “Avenger” has evolved to represent more than just a member of a colorful team of costumed individuals. Although there is still debate over the exact meaning of the group’s name, Captain America gave fans the best reason why the avengers name has a meaning, and why they deserve to be called”Earth’s Mightiest Heroes.”
