Assembling The Team

Have you ever tried to put together a puzzle when half the pieces didn't want to fit? That is exactly what it felt like when Nick Fury tried to assemble the Avengers.

The call went out across the world like a stone tossed into a still pond — and the ripples reached the most extraordinary people in the most unexpected places.

First was Steve Rogers, tall and broad-shouldered, punching a heavy bag inside a gym in Washington, D.C. He hit it so hard the chain snapped and the bag sailed into the wall. WHAM. Agent Phil Coulson — a quiet, steady man in a dark suit who admired Captain America more than almost anyone alive — stepped through the gym door and handed Steve a dossier. Steve looked at the file. He nodded once. He was in.

Then came Tony Stark. Agent Coulson traveled to the gleaming tower in New York City that Tony had built with his own name on the side — Stark Tower — and delivered a hard drive full of data. Tony spun it in his fingers, skimmed through thousands of files in three seconds flat, and said something sarcastic. But his eyes were bright and curious, because Tony Stark could never resist a mystery or a challenge. He was in.

Far away in a crowded, colorful city in India, a woman with red hair moved through the market like a shadow. Natasha Romanoff — also known as the Black Widow — could blend in anywhere, speak any language, and read any room. She found Doctor Bruce Banner sitting quietly in a small clinic, treating sick children. He looked up at her with tired eyes. Bruce Banner was gentle. Kind. He carried a secret inside him like a thunderstorm inside a bottle. His name for it was the Hulk. He was cautious. He didn't like fighting. But when Natasha explained what was at stake — that the world needed him — Bruce Banner put on his glasses and said he would try.

So far so good. Then came the difficult part.

BOOM.

A bolt of lightning split the sky over a dark forest, and Thor — the actual god of thunder, the prince of Asgard, seven feet tall with a red cape and a hammer that could call storms — landed on top of a S.H.I.E.L.D. aircraft and took Loki away before anyone could stop him.

Iron Man rocketed after him. WHOOSH. He grabbed Loki back.

And then — CRASH — Thor leaped from a mountain ledge straight onto Iron Man, and the two of them fought through the dark forest, felling trees left and right. Lightning crackled. Repulsor beams lit up the night. An entire hillside of ancient pines was flattened.

Then Captain America — in his blue suit and vibranium shield — landed between them. He held up one hand.

"That's enough," said Steve Rogers.

Thor swung his hammer Mjolnir. The shield sent the shockwave in every direction. The explosion lit up the whole mountainside like a tiny sun.

Then there was silence.

Three heroes stood in a clearing of fallen trees, breathing hard, looking at each other.

That was the first Avengers meeting.

After that, everyone was brought aboard the Helicarrier — and if you could picture any flying machine more amazing than this, I would like to hear about it. The Helicarrier was as big as an aircraft carrier, with enormous spinning rotors on its sides that let it float in the sky like a metal island. From up there you could see the whole world spread below like a map.

All six of them were aboard now. Steve Rogers, a soldier out of time. Tony Stark, a genius who never stopped talking. Thor, a god of another world. Bruce Banner, a scientist hiding a giant inside himself. Natasha Romanoff, the spy who had seen everything. And somewhere out there, Clint Barton — still under Loki's spell — waiting to come back to them.

They argued. Of course they argued. Tony thought he knew best. Steve thought Tony was reckless. Thor thought both of them were children. Bruce didn't want to be there at all.

They were a complete mess.

But somewhere in the middle of all that arguing and misunderstanding and noise, something very small and very important was beginning to happen.

They were starting to become a team.

Can you feel it? That warm, tricky, wonderful feeling — right at the moment when scattered puzzle pieces start to find each other?

That feeling had a name: the Avengers.