Episode 54 – Avengers Origins

In this episode, Curt and Kevin look forward to the April 27 release of Avengers: Infinity War by reviewing the first appearances of the original lineup of Marvel Comics' Avengers!  It's a whirlwind lightning round of takes on Phase One of the comic-book Avengers: "The Man in the Ant Hill!" (Henry Pym, Tales to Astonish #27) "The Hulk" (The Incredible Hulk #1) "Thor the Mighty and the Stone Men From Saturn!" (Thor, Journey Into Mystery #83) "Iron Man is Born!" (Iron Man, Tales of Suspense #39) "The Creature From Kosmos!" (The Wasp, Tales to Astonish #44) And finally, "the first in a star-studded series of book-length super-epics" ... "The Coming of the Avengers" (Avengers #1)! Can the combined power of the Avengers defeat the sinister spells of Loki, god of evil? And can Earth's mightiest heroes gain entry into that awesome assemblage known as … The Comics Canon?  Things Discussed in This Episode:  Curt's got Avengers fever A busy couple of years for Marvel Comics The Rodney Dangerfield of the Marvel Universe A handy rule of thumb when testing a shrinking formula The Marvel Universe's monster-pulp roots The tragic figure that was Iron Man Unfortunate racial stereotypes The cutting-edge technology of … transistors! Marvel's first retcon? "Go to the ants, thou sluggard!" (Turns out it was a thing) The Wasp ... well, she's been treated better Avengers #57: Behold … The Vision! Avengers #16: The Old Order Changeth Doomwar Join us in two weeks as we conclude our trilogy of Marvel origins episodes with Uncanny X-Men #1, Giant-Size X-Men #1, and prepare for season 2 of Legion with a look at Psi War! from Uncanny X-Men #117!  Until then, please rate us on iTunes, send us an email, or hit us up on Twitter or Facebook, and we may read your comments in an upcoming episode. And as always, thanks for listening!