The Marvelous Avengers

At the end of the 2008 superhero flick Iron Man, audiences were treated to a surprise post-credits scene: Iron Man’s alter-ego, Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.), arrives home to find a mysterious intruder awaiting him, a one-eyed man who introduces himself as Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson). Fury tells Stark that he’s come to talk to him about something called the “Avengers Initiative.”

It was a scene designed to titillate fanboys everywhere, for in the Marvel Comics universe, Iron Man is indeed a member of a superhero team known as the Avengers, a group that also boasts such heroic heavyweights as Captain America, Thor, and the Incredible Hulk.

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