The Avengers are a team of superheroes assembled by Nick Fury and the intelligence agency S.H.I.E.L.D. through the Avenger Initiative. They exist in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and feature all the heroes of Marvel Studios' independent productions. They first appeared as a team in 2012's The Avengers.

The team currently consists of Captain America, Black Widow, Wanda Maximoff, War Machine, Vision, and Falcon. The original team consisted of Iron Man, Captain America, Hulk, Thor, Black Widow and Hawkeye in The Avengers and Avengers: Age of Ultron and shifted when Tony Stark, Thor, Clint Barton, and Bruce Banner/Hulk left the team after the events of Age of Ultron. They were initially brought together by S.H.I.E.L.D. to combat Loki, Thor's adoptive brother. The Avengers are based on the superhero team created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko and feature a similar roster to Mark Millar's Ultimates, the Ultimate Marvel Universe version of the team. The team was initially formed by Nick Fury to "fight the battles that S.H.I.E.L.D. never could".