Avengers (1996) #12
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Characters
Earth's Mightiest Heroes joined forces to take on threats that were too big for any one hero to tackle. With a roster that has included Captain America, Iron Man, Ant-Man, Hulk, Thor, Wasp and dozens more over the years, the Avengers have come to be regarded as Earth's No. 1 team.
Vowing to serve his country any way he could, young Steve Rogers took the super soldier serum to become America's one-man army. Fighting for the red, white and blue for over 60 years, Captain America is the living, breathing symbol of freedom and liberty.
After being exposed to cosmic rays, Reed Richards, Susan Storm, Ben Grimm and Johnny Storm found they had amazing new powers. Reed Richards found he has the ability to stretch his body in any way he wanted, while Susan Storm can turn herself, objects and other people invisible. Ben Grimm transformed into a rocky, super-strong behemoth and Johnny Storm has the ability to set himself on fire. Dubbed the Fantastic Four, Mr. Fantastic, Invisible Woman, Thing and the Human Torch are Marvel's First Family.
Caught in a gamma bomb explosion while trying to save the life of a teenager, Dr. Bruce Banner was transformed into the incredibly powerful creature called the Hulk. An all too often misunderstood hero, the angrier the Hulk gets, the stronger the Hulk gets.
Wounded, captured and forced to build a weapon by his enemies, billionaire industrialist Tony Stark instead created an advanced suit of armor to save his life and escape captivity. Now with a new outlook on life, Tony uses his money and intelligence to make the world a safer, better place as Iron Man.
When Zenn-La was threatened by the world-devouring entity known as Galactus, Norrin Radd stood up for his home planet and offered to work for Galactus, finding him new planets to eat, in exchange for saving his own. Years later, the Surfer has protected Earth and many other planets, becoming one of the greatest heroes in the universe.
Tyros was once the dictator of the city Lanlak on the planet Birj, where his superhuman ability to command rocks and earth enabled him to overcome all resistance, but his rule of Lanlak came to an end when he was sought by the world-devouring Galactus to serve as his latest Herald.
The radiation that mutated Reed Richards, Sue Storm and Johnny Storm into superhuman beings had also mutated Ben Grimm, transforming him into a grotesque, rock-hided strongman dubbed the Thing.
As the Norse God of thunder and lightning, Thor wields one of the greatest weapons ever made, the enchanted hammer Mjolnir. While others have described Thor as an over-muscled, oafish imbecile, he's quite smart and compassionate. He's self-assured, and he would never, ever stop fighting for a worthwhile cause.
The metal monstrosity called Ultron created the synthetic humanoid known as the Vision from the remains of the original android Human Torch of the 1940s to serve as a vehicle of vengeance against the Avengers.
When Janet Van Dyne's father died, she convinced her father's associate Hank Pym to give her a supply of "Pym particles"; Pym also subjected her to a procedure which granted her the ability to, upon shrinking, grow wings and fire blasts of energy, which she called her "wasp's stings."