And there came a day, a day unlike any other, when Earth's mightiest heroes and heroines found themselves united against a common threat. On that day the Avengers were born, to fight the foes no single super hero could stand! Over the years their roster has prospered and has changed many times, but their glory has never been denied! For now...
Iron Man, the Invincible Knight for the Twenty First Century...
Thor, the Mighty and Mysterious God of Thunder...
Hulk, the Incredible Man turned Monster...
Ant Man, the Astonishing Size Changer...
Wasp, the Wonderful Fashion Designer turned heroine and leader...
Captain America, the War Flung Sentinel of Liberty...
Hawkeye, the Sensational Bowman and Misunderstood Villain turned Hero...
Scarlet Witch, the Reality Shifting Hex Empowered Magic User...
Quicksilver, the Protective but Hot Tempered Speedster...
Black Panther, the Fearless Guardian of Wakanda...
Black Widow, the Agile Red Room Prodigy turned SHIELD Agent...
Vision, the Intangible Android who defied his Creator...
Spider-Man, the Amazing Wall Crawler and Web Spinner...
Captain Marvel, the Kree Empowered Woman of the Skies...
Spider-Woman, the Pheromoned HYDRA Puppet turned Super Heroine...
Wolverine, the Uncanny Clawed Mutant...
For all of these men and women, they have chosen to answer and hear the cry... AVENGERS ASSEMBLE!
AN: Hey, welcome to my new one-shot anthology series for the Avengers, inspired by similar works such as Reborn Dark Phoenix's 'Mighty and Marvelous' (with Peter and Carol as a pairing) and Of Miracles and Men's 'Dr Wagner: Or How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love the Lightning' (with Kurt and Ororo as a pairing.) And what with this year seeing a new Avengers film, I wanted to do a series of one shots with the most renowned Avenger characters. So here's a quick Q and A so you know what to expect...
Q: How many one shot chapters are you planning?
A: As the title states, a hundred and twenty, which is liable to take a while to complete, very likely more than a year.
Q: How do the stories work?
A: I've made a list of word prompts, mostly taken from the Hundred Themes Challenge you can find on the internet, and assigned each to a set of two Avengers. In each fic they will be the focus of the one-shot and the prompt used to shape the story. I've selected sixteen Avengers in total - the ones mentioned above - and each one will have one-shots with all of the other fifteen! This team up or interaction idea meets you might get to see two Avengers together you don't usually see together! And of course pairs who hang out all the time too, but in interesting stories I hope.
Q: The examples you gave above involve romantic pairings, will there be romance in some or all of the pairs you've picked?
A: Probably not extensively save where romantic relationships might have been canon (Hawkeye and Spider Woman or Captain Marvel and Spider-Man) or arguably viable in some verses (I have a fondness for Bruce and Natasha in the MCU!). This series will be more about friendship, comradely and occasional rivalry, not to mention both of the characters being Avengers.
Q: Why no Hercules/Luke Cage/Doctor Strange/Wiccan/Other Avenger Character?
A: I wanted a nice sized list of Avengers without going crazy and ending up with a hundred Avengers, because that would be impossible! That's not to say that other Avengers and Marvel characters might appear in a one-shot - and you can expect some Super Villains to appear in a few - but the sixteen selected are some of the most iconic (or quirky) Avengers and my favs, so they'll be the focus.
Q: But Wolverine?
A: Logan was a late addition to the list and whilst I know some people think of him more as an X-Man than an Avenger, he's fun enough to play alongside them, so I figured I'd include him.
Q: Which versions of those characters are you using, and what verses?
Most of the stories I write will probably be from the classic comic universe, though if I have the right idea a MCU or Ultimate or other universe fic is possible. That means that it is possible you might see Falcon's Captain America, the female Thor, Scott Lang or Eric O'Grady's Ant Man etc.
Q: What will be the first chapter and when is it coming?!
A: The first one-shot will focus on Captain Marvel and Wasp and is aptly entitled 'Introductions', I'm hoping it'll be up some time shortly. Hoping for semi regular updates around my other fics.
Q: How long will each chapter be?
A: There is likely to be some scope for larger fics but most should range about 2000 words long, since I don't want huge work on each chapter if there's going to be a hundred and twenty of them!
Q: I have an idea for a prompt for two of the above Avengers, can I suggest it to you?
A: Sure thing, whilst I have prompts in mind for all the characters I'm not against hearing others. Give me your suggestions in reviews or by IM, whatever works for you.
Q: I like the idea of this! Will you do something similar for the X-Men?
A: It's something I have considered, if you like the idea of that let me know! I suspect it wouldn't be something I would work on until I was about halfway through this anthology though, probably in 2016 to tie in with X-Men: Apocalypse.
Anyway, hope that's answered some of your questions, so thanks for reading and I'll hope to get the first chapter up shortly (together with more Ravencroft for Spidey and a new original Avengers story).