The team that defined a generation—and reshaped a universe.

The Avengers was the comic book of the 1970s. From Civil Rights to the Women’s Liberation Movement, battles for the soul of America became battles between super heroes.

Writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby co-created the all-star group of six super heroes in September 1963. From there, just three main writers chronicled Earth’s Mightiest Heroes in that most turbulent of decades: Roy Thomas, Steve Englehart, and Jim Shooter, each with differing approaches. The Avengers quickly became the pivot around which the Marvel Universe turned. To look back through its issues is to get a crash course in ’70s pop culture.