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[[caption-width-right:350:Well, the old BattleCry seems kind of redundant now, eh?[[note]]Clockwise starting from the left: Clint Barton[=/=]ComicBook/{{Hawkeye}}, Bruce Banner[=/=]ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk, Sam Wilson[=/=]ComicBook/TheFalcon, Steve Rogers[=/=]ComicBook/CaptainAmerica, [[ComicBook/TheMightyThor Thor the Thunderer]], Natasha Romanoff[=/=]ComicBook/BlackWidow and Tony Stark[=/=]ComicBook/IronMan[[/note]]]]

''Avengers Assemble'' is an American animated series that premiered on Creator/DisneyXD's WesternAnimation/{{Marvel Universe|DisneyXD}} block in 2013. Based on the long-running ''[[ComicBook/TheAvengers Avengers]]'' comic book franchise and inspired by the success of the live-action ''[[Film/TheAvengers2012 Avengers]]'' movie, the show uses a cast and designs similar to those seen in the Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse. It's not ''quite'' an AnimatedAdaptation of the movies (they never reference events from it), more a series that just takes cues from it. It is set within the same universe as ''WesternAnimation/UltimateSpiderMan2012'' -- or least it ''was'', until the last season suddenly switched over to being connected to ''WesternAnimation/MarvelsSpiderMan'' with no acknowledgement to the former show. [[ContinuitySnarl Your guess is as good as ours how that works.]]

The series was launched as a replacement for the fan-favorite animated series, ''WesternAnimation/TheAvengersEarthsMightiestHeroes'', and doesn't reference the events of that show in order to make ''Assemble'' [[ContinuityLockOut accessible to new viewers]]. Joe Casey, Joe Kelly, Duncan Rouleau and Steven T. Seagle of Creator/ManOfActionStudios were served as executive producers of the first season, and became as consultants in the second season.

In keeping with the influence of the movie, the show features an Avengers line-up consisting of ComicBook/CaptainAmerica, ComicBook/IronMan, [[ComicBook/TheMightyThor Thor]], ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk, ComicBook/BlackWidow and ComicBook/{{Hawkeye}}. ComicBook/TheFalcon appears as the team's seventh member, the only Avenger not present in the movie (though he does join the Avengers proper in ''Film/AvengersAgeOfUltron'' as one of newest recruits).

The series began airing on July 7th, 2013, preceded by a 1-hour preview special that aired on May 26th, 2013, the same month as the release of ''Film/IronMan3''.

The second season premiered on September 28. The show’s second season picks up where the first left off and see the titular heroes going up against the mad titan himself, {{ComicBook/Thanos}}, as well as {{ComicBook/Ultron}} and the Squadron Supreme in the latter episodes. The season also sees ComicBook/AntMan join the team, as part of a promotion for his [[Film/AntMan1 solo film]].

The third season was titled ''[[NewSeasonNewName Avengers: Ultron Revolution]]'', capitalizing on the success of the ''[[Film/AvengersAgeOfUltron Age of Ultron movie]]'' and gradually building up to a ''ComicBook/{{Civil War|2006}}'' adaptation to tie in to ''Film/CaptainAmericaCivilWar''. ComicBook/BlackPanther, [[ComicBook/MsMarvel Captain Marvel]], and [[ComicBook/MsMarvel2014 Ms Marvel]] have guest spots in the season.

A fourth season was announced at the 2016 San Diego Comic-Con and aired on the June 17th of that year, titled ''Avengers: Secret Wars'', where the team goes missing and Black Panther must form a new team in their absence, featuring Ms. Marvel, Captain Marvel, The Vision, Ant-Man, Wasp, and the Jane Foster version of ComicBook/{{Thor|2014}}.

The fifth season was titled ''Avengers: Black Panther’s Quest'', to cash in on the success of ''[[Film/BlackPanther2018 Black Panther]]''. The season focuses on T’Challa being stuck between his duties as an Avenger and his duties as the king of Wakanda. This also being a rather surprising first for a Disney cartoon (Most Disney shows never really go past four seasons. ''Especially'' their animated ones.)

It was eventually [[https://mobile.twitter.com/MickWingert/status/1099869624470986757?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1099869624470986757&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fs9e.github.io%2Fiframe%2Ftwitter.min.html%231099869624470986757 confirmed]] by the voice actors that [[https://mobile.twitter.com/Julie_Nathanson/status/1100077036570210304?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1100077036570210304&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fs9e.github.io%2Fiframe%2Ftwitter.min.html%231100077036570210304 season 5]] is the last season of the series. The series ended on February 2019 at 126 episodes.

A [[Characters/AvengersAssemble character sheet]] is currently under construction.

Not to be confused with the comic book series of the same name, the MarketBasedTitle for the UK release of the [[Film/TheAvengers2012 movie]], or the [[AvengersAssemble trope named for the show's source material]].

----
!!Tropes:

* TwoDVisualsThreeDEffects: There's a lot of CG used for the creation of vehicles, planes, weaponry and buildings.
* AbortedArc: Season 2 ended with Tony and Steve deciding that the Avengers needed to expand their roster in order to face bigger threats. In the Season 3 premiere, Falcon casually {{Handwave}}s this by saying that the idea was scrapped after being deemed unnecessary.
** Despite Captain America's promise to redeem Bucky, now the Winter Soldier, the show seems to forget about this plot point between each of Bucky's appearances. This was never resolved.
** [[CanonForeigner Aaron Reece]], aka Molecule Kid from the same-titled Season 1 episode. At the end of the episode, he (and Fury) are convinced that he should join up with Fury's S.H.I.E.L.D. Academy Hero Program, the same one that [[WesternAnimation/UltimateSpiderMan2012 Spider-Man]] is in. Despite him departing with Fury in the end, and despite a rather powerful and emotion-filled episode introducing the character, Aaron is nowhere to be seen or heard after the episode ends. Not even the 3rd and 4th seasons of ''[[WesternAnimation/UltimateSpiderMan2012 Ultimate Spider-Man]]'', which expand the hero count and even shift focus to the Academy's HQ, [[WhatHappenedToTheMouse see any hide or hair of Aaron]].
* ActionGirl: Black Widow, of course. Come Season 4, Captain Marvel, Peggy Carter, and The Wasp also count, and {{downplayed|trope}} with Ms. Marvel.
* AcidTripDimension: [[spoiler: The dimension that Doctor Strange creates to hold Ultron.]] It's in perpetual twilight with random floating structures and giant eye-balls all over the place.
* ActorAllusion:
** Again, Creator/TroyBaker's is voicing [[WesternAnimation/GeneratorRex a British-accented-villain in a Man of Action TV show]].
** Sam was told by J.A.R.V.I.S to wear the ComicBook/WarMachine armor, but instead went with the Falcon suit. War Machine, like Falcon in this series, was voiced by Creator/BumperRobinson in the previous series.
** The episode "Blood Feud", is not the first time Creator/LauraBailey has voiced a [[VideoGame/BloodRayne vampire]]
** Creator/CoreyBurton uses his Creator/ChristopherLee voice when playing Dracula. 'Nuff said.
* AdaptationDistillation[=/=]BroadStrokes:
** The show looks to be drawing from the mainstream comics, as well as the ComicBook/{{Ultimate|Marvel}} line and the Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse. Falcon has a background similar to his Ultimate counterpart, while the HYDRA troops wear outfits similar to those seen in ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheFirstAvenger''. Also, ComicBook/{{MODOK}} acts more as an {{expy}} of Arnim Zola from the same movie.
** [[http://www.toonzone.net/2013/07/third-season-marvels-ultimate-spider-man-spins-onto-disney/ It's been confirmed that this series takes place in the same universe as]] ''[[WesternAnimation/UltimateSpiderMan2012 Ultimate Spider-Man]]'', ''WesternAnimation/HulkAndTheAgentsOfSMASH'' and ''WesternAnimation/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy2015''.
** The [[ComicBook/BuckyBarnes Winter Soldier]] looks like his [[Film/CaptainAmericaTheWinterSoldier movie counterpart]], but was "killed" and recreated by the Red Skull, just like in ''WesternAnimation/TheAvengersEarthsMightiestHeroes''
** In addition to Hyperion having elements of King Hyperion, the show's version Squadron Supreme also has elements of the Squadron Sinister, including the Whizzer being called "Speed Demon".
* AdaptationInducedPlothole:
** In ''ComicBook/TheInfinityGauntlet'', one of the things that led to ComicBook/{{Thanos}}' downfall was his decision to purposefully hold back against the heroes so that he could impress Death. The cartoon adapts this plot point but removes Death from the equation, meaning Thanos basically holds back against the heroes either because of [[NoChallengeEqualsNoSatisfaction his own arrogance]] or a random case of BondVillainStupidity.
** In the comic, there were several good reasons the Masters of Evil were able to go around unrecognized as the Thunderbolts; their team had gone through several line-ups over their career, the members they used for this plan all had powers that are pretty common in the comic book Marvel universe (and in Moonstone's case, she avoided using her most recognizable power-intangibility- precisely so no one would recognize her), and they arrived at a time where most superheroes were missing, making it all easier for the civilians to welcome these news mysterious heroes with open arms. In this series, the Avengers (and presumably all the other heroes) are still active and well, the Masters of Evil met them barely three episodes before and they had no other line-up than the one they use as the Thunderbolts, making you wonder how the Avengers don't recognize them right away. It doesn't help either that Zemo steals a Facial and Voice recognition fooling gadget ''exactly one episode'' before the Thunderbolt's debut, and Mimi keeps her accent as Songbird anyway.
* AdaptationTitleChange: Despite taking inspiration from both the comics and the live-action film, the show was titled ''Avengers, Assemble!'' rather than ''The Avengers''. Ironically this was technically {{averted|trope}} in the UK, where the film's MarketBasedTitle was the same as the cartoon that succeeded it.
* AdaptationalBadass:
** MODOK is shown to be more powerful than he usually is in other Marvel shows. He also has technopathic powers now and took down Iron Man with relative ease.
** Princess Python starts off as a former member of the Circus of Crime, but reforms and joins ComicBook/{{SHIELD}} by the end of the episode.
** In their comics debut, the U-Foes were quickly defeated by the Hulk not long after gaining their powers due to their lack of experience and inability to work together. In "The U-Foes", they get to grips with their powers far more easily, and can fight as a unit effectively enough to give the Avengers a run for their money.
** The Leader is more competent and far less of a SmugSnake here than he is in ''WesternAnimation/HulkAndTheAgentsOfSMASH'', managing to outsmart the Avengers in "Building the Perfect Weapon", and [[spoiler: leading the new Cabal to trap the Avengers and scatter them across time and space in "Avengers No More"]].
* AdaptationalHeroism:
** [[spoiler: Both men to have operated under the name "Radioactive Man" were super villains in the comics, but this version of Igor Stancheck is a member of the Winter Guard and helps to dissolve a destabilized facility that was falling towards a village to save said village. Similarly, despite being based on Ivan Vanko from ''Film/IronMan2'', the Crimson Dynamo is a member of the heroic Winter Guard and only stole a capsule because it contained Radioactive Man.]]
* AdaptationalNiceGuy: Captain America's father is shown here to be a good parent, judging by the photo of him and a young Steve fishing together. In the comics, he was a drunk, a [[DomesticAbuse wife beater]], and generally [[{{Jerkass}} an unpleasant person]].
* AdaptationalSpeciesChange: The supervillain Ghost, rather than being pure human like in the comics, is instead a human with latent Inhuman DNA that was awakened due to [[spoiler:Seeker's superweapon creating a MassEmpoweringEvent]].
* AdaptationalUgliness: In the comics, the Atlanteans looked like blue-skinned humans. Here, they (with a few exceptions, such as Attuma) are far more fish-like in appearance.
* AdaptationalVillainy:
** [[ComicBook/SquadronSupreme Hyperion]] gains the villainy of King Hyperion, his MirrorUniverse counterpart from ''ComicBook/{{Exiles}}''. As such, he's depicted as a sociopath who is revealed [[spoiler: to have destroyed his own planet when they wouldn't submit to his rule. However, given the rest of the Squadron Supreme appeared and how they behaved, it may be a downplayed version as they're more in line with the Squadron Sinister, though played straight with Power Princess and Nuke as the Squadron Sinister never had versions of them.]]
** This version of Killmonger is far worse then his comicbook or movie counterparts.
* AdaptationalWimp:
** As powerful as Thanos has been portrayed, this version is not "godlike" in stamina or invulnerability. [[spoiler:On one occasion, he was apparently winded by the time Arsenal removed his Infinity Gauntlet. There's also the fact that an Earth-based satellite beam was capable of ''completely'' vaporizing him, even though it's something he can come back from]].
** Kang the Conqueror is ''severely'' rudimentary and unskilled compared to his comic and ''WesternAnimation/TheAvengersEarthsMightiestHeroes'' counterparts.
* AdaptedOut:
** There are no mutants (in the Marvel definition anyway) in this series.
** The Soul Stone is left out of the Infinity Stone collection. Possibly because of the religious connotations and the greater plotline surrounding it. The stone is actually with Adam Warlock who was buried on Planet X as if the events of ''Guardians of the Galaxy'' Season 2. It's not heard from since but considering the Black Order is still alive, it's entirely possible Thanos got ahold of the stone to set them free. Warlock's fate is unknown.
** Pepper Potts does not appear in this continuity at all.
** Barring any future revelations, it would seem that like in the movies, the original Ant-Man and Wasp were ''not'' the Avengers' founding members in this continuity.
** The series accurately recreates the original Thunderbolts line-up with the exception of Jolt, the team's youngest member [[spoiler: and TokenGoodTeammate]].
** For the first time since ''WesternAnimation/TheMarvelSuperheroes'', averted with Igor Drenkov, the spy who sabotaged Banner's test and turns the Hulk, as he actually appears in "Dehulked".
** When Captain Marvel's origin is briefly recounted, all the audience is told is that she was an Air Force pilot who was kidnapped and experimented upon by the Kree. No mention is made of Mar-Vell, who was Carol's lover and the original Captain Marvel before she got her powers.
* AesopAmnesia: No matter how many times Tony learns that relying solely on technology will not work, he's right back to being a smug jerk who thinks his tech is infallible the very next episode.
** Eventually [[DeconstructedTrope deconstructed]] during the Avengers Disassembled arc where Ultron's actions exacerbates Tony's behavior to be worse than usual, causing half of the team to quit over it. Becomes a SubvertedTrope at the resolution of the story as following episodes show Tony actually giving forethought to problems the team as a whole has and trying to fix them.
* AffablyEvil: The Beyonder, he's pretty polite, you know, for a guy who literally took chunks out of entire worlds, dooming their inhabitants if it isn't fixed soon enough.
* AllAccordingToPlan: It happens two times in "Bring On The Bad Guys". First, the Avengers defeat and capture Red Skull, who is taken prisoner to SHIELD's tricarrier. Captain America suspects: it was too easy. The [[spoiler:Red Skull was actually a TrojanHorse; Dracula was hidden in his armor, liberated him, and let him assault the Tricarrier]]. And then again in the end of the episode: the bad guys were driven away, and the tricarrier was liberated... [[spoiler:but the bad guys achieved their true objective: liberate Hyperion, who was held prisoner there]]
* AllYourPowersCombined:
** The Super-Adaptoid had all of the Avengers' powers and skills.
** The nations of the world combined their power grids in order to make a blast powerful enough to defeat Thanos.
* AlternateUniverse:
** In "Dark Avengers", the Reality Stone is used by the Squadron Supreme to create one where the Avengers are villains, though the true reality was eventually restored.
** The final season takes place in a separate reality from the rest, officially called Earth-17628 while the previous four seasons are on Earth-12041. However it is can be assumed that the previous seasons happened in the new universe in BroadStrokes, with the only real difference being that the final season isn't canon with ''Ultimate Spider-Man'' and ''Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H.''
* AmnesiaDanger: In "Hulk's Day Out", Hulk has to get the other Avengers to help him and Thor fight the [[ItMakesSenseInContext giant tentacle monster on the Moon]] but forgets what he's supposed to do since he got amnesia from Thor knocking him back to Earth.
* AppropriatedAppellation:
** Captain America is the one that gives the Space Phantoms their name.
** Kamala makes up the name "Renegade Avengers" for the original team after they quit.
* ArbitrarySkepticism: Hawkeye was reluctant to believe vampires are real and even more reluctant about Count Dracula (actually King Dracula) being real despite being part of a team that has [[ComicBook/TheMightyThor a god]] among them. Thor himself brings it up that the others used to consider him a myth before meeting him.
* ArchEnemy:
** Red Skull, and possibly Dracula, for Cap.
** Loki, but also Doctor Doom, for Thor.
** Justin Hammer wishes he was this for Tony, but MODOK and Red Skull are actually better fits for Iron Man.
** Attuma for Hulk, at least in "Depth Charge".
** Nighthawk can be considered one for both Falcon and Iron Man for matching their genius and cunning, but lacking their compassion.
* ArtifactOfDoom: The Infinity Stones act as this. Individually they're unstable, massively destructive Macguffins. In a near complete set they have a corrupting influence rivaling the One Ring.
* ArtEvolution: Season 5 ''Black Panther's Quest'' greatly simplifies the designs of the cast, looking more smoothed out and sleeker rather than the generally detailed previous seasons, giving it a look more similar to ''WesternAnimation/MarvelsSpiderMan''.
* ArtShift:
** The {{Flashback}} in "Molecule Kid" is done in the style of ''WesternAnimation/TheAvengersEarthsMightiestHeroes''.
** The show also black boxes certain scenes, possibly to emulate the feel of a comic book or action movie.
* ArtisticLicensePhysics
** After Hyperion splits apart a meteor with heat vision, the show forgets about both the meteor chunks raining down New York and the heat that would be generated from the meteor entering the atmosphere.
** In "Mighty Avengers", Captain Marvel, Vision and Ant-Man try to rescue astronauts from a crashing space station. While both Vision and Captain Marvel have invulnerability that protects them, it's not explained how Ant-Man is able to touch a massive, super-heated chunk of metal that is crashing towards Earth at incredible speeds without burning to death. It can be assumed his suit protected him.
* AscendedExtra:
** Black Widow was largely absent for most of Season 1. She becomes a regular in Season 2, appearing in all episodes to date.
** All of the Mighty Avengers (sans Red Hulk) appeared during Season 3 and received DayInTheLimelight episodes, and reappeared in the finale. Come Season 4, they're the main characters when the original Avengers go missing (save for Songbird vanishing with no explanation).
** {{Zig Zagged}} with Ant-Man. He first appears as a guest character in Season 1, then joins the main team in Season 2, only to be DemotedToExtra in Season 3, and then becomes a main team member again along with the other Mighty Avengers
* AssimilationPlot: [[spoiler:Ultron's ultimate goal is to copy himself onto human hosts and eventually replace humanity as the planet's sole sentient lifeform.]]
* AttackAttackAttack
--->'''Thor''': What is our plan to fight with this Skull?
--->'''Iron Man''': Hit everything! Hard!
--->'''Hawkeye''': So... the plan is that there is no plan. I thought he was the smart one.
--->'''Hulk''': I like the plan!
* AttackOfTheFiftyFootWhatever: The Midgard Serpent.
* AudienceSurrogate: Falcon fills this role as the newest Avenger, acting as a stand-in for the audience as he's introduced to the team.
* AvengersAssemble: Naturally, belonging to the franchise that this trope is named after[[note]]and sharing the name with that trope,[[/note]], this occurs in the first episode when [[spoiler: Captain America goes missing in a fight with the Red Skull.]]
* AwakeningTheSleepingGiant: Justin Hammer mining vibranium in the Savage land, ignited the wrath of the rock people. They still did not fight, but they helped Tony Stark to manufacture a basic armor.
* BadassBoast: Cap gets an excellent one on behalf of the team in "Thanos Triumphant".
--> When Avengers stand, tyrants fall!
* BadFuture: By the 30th Century, Kang the Conqueror will rule the Earth. [[spoiler:They trap Kang millions of years in the past, freeing the 30th century Earth from his tyranny. However, that future might have been negated due to Avengers Tower being destroyed]]. [[spoiler:Of course, ''another'' bad future is created as a result of Kang's time travel, and there, it's more dystopian, most of New York went into hiding, and a black hole that threatens to consume the Earth has to be contained]].
* TheBadGuyWins: For a largely up-beat show, this happens a lot.
** [[spoiler:The first episode ends with the ComicBook/RedSkull and MODOK seizing control over Tony's armor along with severely injuring him by ripping out the surgically implanted arc-reactor that protects his heart.]]
** [[spoiler: The Cabal manages to successfully hijack the Tri-Carrier and bust Hyperion out of prison in "Bring On The Bad Guys".]]
** [[spoiler: In "By The Numbers", The Cabal seizes control of the Tessarct]].
** [[spoiler: After the Season 1 finale, Red Skull manages to give his master Thanos the Tesseract]].
** [[spoiler: In Episode 12 of Season 2, Thanos gains the Infinity Gauntlet. In the next episode, its powers are absorbed by Arsenal, who is promptly possessed by Ultron]].
** [[spoiler: In "Crack In The System" and "Avengers Disassembled", Ultron manipulates first Steve into leaving, then the Avengers into splitting into two camps, with Spider-Man, who'd been called up by Tony after Cap's departure, swinging off in disgust]].
** [[spoiler: In "Terminal Velocity", Nighthawk and Speed Demon successfully steal the Avenger's data and in ''Avengers Last Stand'' Squadron Supreme ends up taking over the world.]]
** [[spoiler: In the Season 4 premier, the Cabal succeeds in scattering the Avengers throughout space and time, and in cutting off the connection to Iron Man.]]
* BangFlagGun: In Episode 7 of Season 1, Hawkeye's distraction arrow emits a flag that says, "BANG!"
* BatmanGambit:
** When Steve Rogers and Tony Stark were trapped in the submarine of Red Skull and his minions, with no armor, shield or technology (not even to call the other Avengers), they had to rely on this. [[spoiler: They staged being captured, and staged a fight between themselves, with Stark telling Cap that "leaders" exploit the knowledge of the intelligent guys and then leave with nothing... which reinforced MODOK's suspicions about the intentions of Red Skull, and turned against him]].
** "The Ambassador" has Doom pull one of these to gain access to Tony's database. [[spoiler:He got outgambitted.]]
** Fittingly considering he's an {{Expy}} of the guy this trope is named after, Nighthawk performs several.
** In "Crack in the System" and "Avengers Disassembled", on the other hand, [[spoiler: Ultron forces Tony to destroy everything he's ever built and plays on the divisions between Steve and Tony to split the Avengers in two]].
* BeautyIsNeverTarnished: Black Widow.
* BewareTheSuperman: Like Superman if he ever decided to abuse his powers, Hyperion is a super powered alien who inflicts terror all in the name of what he perceives as right.
* BigBad:
** ComicBook/RedSkull in Season 1.
** ComicBook/{{Thanos}} in Season 2, with [[spoiler:Ultron]] and the Squadron Supreme serve as {{Arc Villain}}s in between.
** Ultron mostly stays behind the scenes but orchestrates many attacks on the Avengers in Season 3.
** Loki is technically the main antagonist of the whole Season 4 but gets the biggest role in the first half and leaving the second to his accomplice, the Beyonder.
** Erik Killmonger for Season 5, who attempts to overrule T'Challa's power in Wakanda and completely destroys his reputation as an Avenger with the rest of the world.
* BigBadDuumvirate: Red Skull and MODOK in the first episode.
* BigBadEnsemble: Thanos, Ultron, and the Squadron Supreme all act as the BigBad of Season 2 at different points.
* BigBadWannabe:
** Justin Hammer in both episodes he has appeared in to-date.
** The Leader [[WesternAnimation/HulkAndTheAgentsOfSmash as usual]].
* BigDamnHeroes: [[spoiler:The Falcon rescues Iron Man from the Red Skull-possessed Captain America.]]
* BigNo:
** Iron Man does one when Captain America's seemingly vaporized by Red Skull.
** Doom shouts this in "The Serpent of Doom" [[spoiler:as he's being sent flying into the underworld]].
* BiggerOnTheInside: Thor's room.
* BlessedWithSuck: Tony's Arc Reactor keeps him alive, powers his suit, and is the power source for one of his most powerful attacks. Great! It's also been used by villains to further their own goals at least once a season. So far:
** In Season 1, [[spoiler: the Red Skull steals the Arc Reactor and suit to keep himself alive. He later accesses J.A.R.V.I.S. and Tony's computers through the suit]].
** In Season 2:
*** Nighthawk disables Tony by turning the Arc Reactor into a giant electromagnet, which draws various metal objects to him to the point where he can't move.
*** The Time Stone attaches itself to the Arc Reactor, causing temporal rifts to open up, bringing dinosaurs, killer robots, and WWII pilots to attack New York. The chaos allows the Red Skull to escape and use the Time Stone to make ''himself'' younger, so that he's back to peak Super Soldier condition and able to go toe-to-toe with Cap without any weapons.
** In Season 3:
*** Tony destroys the power of the device that Ultron was planning to use to kill all life on Earth, so Ultron just hooks the Arc Reactor up to it and uses that as a power source.
*** [[spoiler: Ultron gains control of Tony's body by inhabiting the Arc Reactor, and as long as Ultron is still there, Tony can't leave Strange's PrisonDimension without Ultron coming back again, at least until he gets a new arc reactor.]]
* BookEnds: The series started with the Avengers fighting the Red Skull. The series ends with them fighting him again, this time with Hydra by his side before taking on Madame Masque.
* BrainwashedAndCrazy:
** [[spoiler:Every Avenger besides Iron Man in episode 2.]]
** [[spoiler:All the Inhumans in the Season 3 finale.]]
* BreakingOutTheBoss:
** The Cabal break the Red Skull out of prison in "Bring On the Bad Guys".
** The Black Order break out Thanos in "New Frontiers".
* BreakingTheFellowship:
** Apparently happened before the series even began, with Captain America's apparent death prompting Iron Man to bring the team back together again.
** [[spoiler: Unfortunately, the team is shattered again in "Crack in the System" and "Avengers Disassembled", the team breaks up with Captain America and Tony Stark not on the best terms. Widow, Hulk, and Falcon join Captain America, but Hawkeye and Thor remain on Iron Man's side, with Ant-Man joining him afterwards. Spider-Man is the only one who doesn't pick a side. By "Small-Time Heroes", there are now ''two'' factions that refer to themselves as "The Avengers". The team ultimately reassembles in "The Ultron Outbreak" and Ant-Man becomes a full member.]]
** Season 3 has a less severe version of this. It's revealed that the Avengers gradually stopped meeting up after the fight with Thanos, since there were no more threats that warranted the full might of the team. They end up coming back together in the premier in order to fight the Masters of Evil.
** {{Averted}} in the Season 3 finale. Despite Steve declaring the Avengers "disassembled" the team still stays together, but they could no longer call themselves Avengers.
* BrokeEpisode: [[spoiler:"Small-Time Heroes" sees Iron Man's half of the Avengers operating without electricity, the Avenjet, and advanced technology. They may not be impoverished, but their severe lack of resources hampers their ability to deal with even low-level supervillains. Their only option was to recruit Ant-Man, and camping with him gave them almost everything they needed.]]
* TheBusCameBack: Season 4 marks the reappearances of many characters and foes from the first two seasons as well as [[WesternAnimation/UltimateSpiderMan2012 previous]] [[WesternAnimation/HulkAndTheAgentsOfSMASH shows]]. Quite notable is the appearance of Rocket and Groot in "Westland", marking their first appearance in this show after ''[[WesternAnimation/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy2015 their series]]'' aired.
* ButHeSoundsHandsome: Even while pretending to be Grim Reaper, Tony wastes no time in calling Iron Man's technology awesome, complimenting him on his genius.
* TheCameo:
** The ComicBook/RedHulk makes a cameo in "Avengers Underground".
** Images of ComicBook/SpiderMan, ComicBook/BlackPanther, [[ComicBook/MsMarvel Captain Marvel]], ComicBook/DoctorStrange and ComicBook/MoonKnight can be seen on a computer screen in the Season 2 finale.
** The captive Inhuman girl seen in "Captain Marvel" is Iso, a character from ''ComicBook/InhumansCharlesSoule''.
** Iso has a larger role in the Civil War episodes at the end of Season 3. Flint, Inferno, and Haechi also appear. The first two are from Soule's Inhumans comics. Haechi is from ComicBook/NewWarriors.
* CanonDiscontinuity: Despite the fact it started the universe and its version of Spider-Man previously guest-starred, ''Black Panther's Quest'', like ''WesternAnimation/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy2015'', disregards ''[[WesternAnimation/UltimateSpiderMan2012 Ultimate Spider-Man]]'' in favor of ''WesternAnimation/MarvelsSpiderMan'', complete with Creator/RobbieDaymond as Spidey, Creator/AlastairDuncan as the Vulture, and Creator/TroyBaker as Kraven instead of Creator/DrakeBell, Creator/TomKenny, and Creator/DiedrichBader. It's confirmed that Season 5 of AA, GOTG and MSM all exist in a seperate continuity from the first four seasons.
* CanonForeigner: Aaron, aka Molecule Kid.
* CardCarryingVillain: Can be safely assumed of any group that calls itself The Masters of Evil.
* CastingGag:
** Creator/BrianBloom voices [[ComicBook/SquadronSupreme Hyperion]], a corrupt CaptainErsatz of Franchise/{{Superman}}, just like in ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueCrisisOnTwoEarths''.[[note]]He also voiced ComicBook/CaptainAmerica in the previous series ''WesternAnimation/TheAvengersEarthsMightiestHeroes'' and also voiced the character of Matt Horner in ''VideoGame/StarcraftII'', captain of the battle-cruiser ''Hyperion''.[[/note]]
** Daryl Sabara voices Molecule Kid, who looks a ''lot'' like [[WesternAnimation/GeneratorRex Rex Salazar]].
** Creator/AnthonyRuivivar, who voiced Franchise/{{Batman}} in ''WesternAnimation/BewareTheBatman'', as Batman-{{expy}} Nighthawk.
** The rest of the Squadron Supreme get in on this as well, as Creator/PhilLaMarr, who voiced Franchise/GreenLantern in ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'' as Green Lantern-expy Doctor Spectrum and Jason Spisak, who voiced Kid Flash in ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice2010'' and Franchise/TheFlash in ''WesternAnimation/JLAAdventuresTrappedInTime'', voices Flash-expy Speed Demon.
** Creator/CoreyBurton uses his Creator/ChristopherLee impersonation (albeit with less of a British dialect) when voicing Dracula; fitting, since the latter is famous for his portrayal of Dracula.
** Creator/TaraStrong, known for voicing Comicbook/HarleyQuinn in various cartoons and video games, voices Typhoid Mary, another insane and flamboyant female villain with a painted up face.
* CerebusSyndrome: Things get considerably darker and more serious when [[spoiler: Ultron turns up]]. It takes him approximately two episodes to do what the Cabal and Thanos both tried and failed to do: [[spoiler:break up the Avengers]] and he does it without even getting out of third gear.
* TheChase: Black Widow is chased by a bunch of different groups after the Infinity Stones in "Widow's Run".
* ChuckCunninghamSyndrome:
** Spider-Man doesn't appear at all during Season 3, despite being a reserve Avenger. This is especially notable during the Civil War four-parter, which brought back almost every other superhero that had guest-starred on the show at that point. This is possibly due to ''Ultimate Spider-Man'' having ended, as well as Disney XD's intention to replace it with a new, unrelated Spider-Man show.
** Around half the team disappears for Season 5 ''Black Panther's Quest'', including Ant-Man, Wasp, Thunderstrike, Vision and even Hulk.
* CivvieSpandex: Falcon wears his ComicBook/UltimateMarvel look "Planet Doom", which is basically mechanical wings worn over a T-shirt and some cargo pants.
* ClassReunion: Thor takes Hulk and Hawkeye to his in "Back to the Learning Hall".
* ComicBookFantasyCasting:
** Justin Hammer looks just like Creator/SamRockwell, who played the character in ''Film/IronMan2''.
** Creator/RogerCraigSmith and Creator/LauraBailey channel Creator/ChrisEvans and Creator/ScarlettJohansson as Captain America and Black Widow, respectively.
** As he's basically a DecompositeCharacter of Ivan Vanko from ''Film/IronMan2'' without Whiplash's elements, Crimson Dynamo is modeled on Creator/MickeyRourke.
* ComicBookMoviesDontUseCodenames: The Space Phantoms don't actually go by that name; it's just a term Captain America uses to describe them. Even Hawkeye comments on how incredibly cheesy it sounds.
* CompositeCharacter:
** The Falcon started off as close friends with Iron Man, much like ComicBook/WarMachine and was even meant to pilot the War Machine armor. Also, his "Planet Doom" look was inspired by his ''Ultimate'' version. [[spoiler:Additionally, by season 4, the Falcon has a PlotRelevantAgeUp and his time in a BadFuture traded his classic inspired costumes in favor of one inspired by his ''MCU'' and ''Ultimate'' ones.]]
** The ComicBook/RedSkull, like his movie counterpart, is a combination of his comic depiction and the first Baron Zemo, with elements of the ComicBook/DarkReign version of ComicBook/NormanOsborn thrown into to the mix.
** As mentioned above, MODOK plays a similar role to the movie version of Arnim Zola.
** The Midgard Serpent is combined with Cul, Odin's brother ([[spoiler:and Thor's prophesied killer]]) from the comics.
** Justin Hammer looks just his MCU version but has elements of Justine Hammer, her daughter in the comics, due to antagonizing the Thunderbolts.
** Hyperion is given elements of ComicBook/TheSentry (one of the Avengers' ''[[FountainOfExpies other]]'' Franchise/{{Superman}} [[CaptainErsatz analogues]]), such as his alien fortress. He also has a bit of King Hyperion from the ''ComicBook/{{Exiles}}'' comic.
** Dracula has much more in common with Baron Blood, particularly his UsefulNotes/WorldWarII background and connection to Captain America.
** Hawkeye's alternate version is known as Bullseye, in reference the ComicBook/{{Daredevil}} foe of the same name. Also, Hawkeye's EvilCounterpart in the ''ComicBook/DarkAvengers'' is... guess who.
** Comicbook/AntMan is the Scott Lang version, but has the science background and high-tech lab of the original [[UsefulNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks Silver Age]] Hank Pym iteration. WordOfGod was that this was intentional, as the creators wanted to mix together elements of the various Ant-Men from the comics.
** Arsenal is eventually revealed to be a vessel for [[spoiler: ComicBook/{{Ultron}}]].
** The Radioactive Man is the short-lived Igor Stancheck version from Russia, but he sports the costume and design of the original Chen Lu iteration from China.
** Doctor Spectrum is the Billy Roberts version, but is black like the original Kenji Obatu version.
** A literal in-universe example is the Supreme Adaptoid, a FusionDance of the Scientist Supreme and the three A.I.M. Adaptoids. [[spoiler:Ultron then makes his return by merging with the Supreme Adaptoid.]]
** The Beetle is presumably the original Abe Jenkins version [[spoiler:since he's also MACH-IV and later reforms with the Thunderbolts]], but he sports the unnamed Latverian iteration's armor from the ComicBook/UltimateMarvel continuity.
** The Detroit Steelcorps' leader is [[spoiler:Igor Drenkov]].
** Crimson Widow's enmity with Black Widow comes from her comic counterpart but her association with Crossbones comes from Sinthea "Sin" Schmidt, the Red Skull's daughter.
** Truman Marsh is an interesting case. His primary characterization as a government liaison is taken directly from James Murch but is also a prison warden with the Guardsmen as enforcers like his (albeit extremely obscure) comic counterpart. [[spoiler:He's also Ultron in disguise in this version.]]
** Baron Mordo is a CardCarryingVillain like his comic counterpart and sports his classic comic outfit, but is a black man like his MCU counterpart.
** [[spoiler:Jane Foster briefly gains Thor's powers like in ''ComicBook/Thor2014'' after briefly getting ahold of Mjölnir (which Thor can still use) and the "Thunderstrike" namesake and hammer is given to her by Odin.]]
* TheConsigliere: If Captain America tells Tony that something might be a bad idea, you can just bet your eyeteeth it'll end up blowing up in Tony's face.
* ContinuityCavalcade: "U-Foes" is one for ''WesternAnimation/HulkAndTheAgentsOfSMASH'', having Hulk in his hometown of Vista Verde and the return of Red Hulk.
* ContinuityNod:
** In "Ghost of a Chance", Falcon is fighting Captain America's Space Phantom double and he at first wonders if the Red Skull and MODOK are pulling the [[spoiler: Mind Swap trick]] again.
** The same episode has a cameo from ComicBook/NickFury and a mention of ComicBook/{{SHIELD}}'s teenage superhero program from ''[[WesternAnimation/UltimateSpiderMan2012 Ultimate Spider-Man]]''.
** Hawkeye's dislike of Spider-Man in "Avengers Disassembled" apparently carries on from when they first met in ''[[WesternAnimation/UltimateSpiderMan2012 Ultimate Spider-Man]]''.
** Beetle's armor no longer has shoulder missiles, as they were torn off and assimilated by [[ComicBook/{{Venom}} Agent Venom]] in Season 3 of ''Ultimate Spider-Man''.
** One episode ends with Loki being locked away inside an Asgardian prison. That's where he is during his first appearance in ''WesternAnimation/HulkAndTheAgentsOfSMASH'' episode "For Asgard".
** Likewise, the Agents of S.M.A.S.H. met Heimdall in "For Asgard", In "The Most Dangerous Hunt", Hulk tells Black Panther that he already knows Heimdall.
** It's never explained in the season three premiere how AIM had custody of [[spoiler:a spare Ultron body, despite Ultron being sent flying into the ''Sun'' in season two.]] However, it is possibly linked to a tie-in comic printed in the "Marvel Super Hero Spectacular" trade. [[spoiler:Said comic features a lone drone, with hints of Ultron's mind, already active in the absence of the main consciousness itself.]] [[ContinuitySnarl However, the body's damage is significantly different than the one in the comic.]]
** The Hulk mentions having encountered the Inhumans previously, something which occurred in the ''Agents of S.M.A.S.H.'' episode "Inhuman Nature".
** Vista Verde, the town that celebrates the Hulks in ''Agents of S.M.A.S.H.'', appears in "U-Foes".
*** In the same episode, Captain America mentions that all of the previous Helicarriers were destroyed. This is likely a reference to the first Helicarrier's destruction in the Season 1 finale of ''[[WesternAnimation/UltimateSpiderMan2012 Ultimate Spider-Man]]'' and the Tri-Carrier in the Season 4 premiere of the same show.
*** It is also mentioned that Hydra's numbers have been significantly reduced. This accounts for the fact that Spider-Man and the Web Warriors defeated most of Hydra by the time of the Season 4 "Spider Slayers" arc.
** The Cabal's ship in the Season 4 premiere appears to be the Leader's space vessel from Season 2 of ''WesternAnimation/HulkAndTheAgentsOfSMASH''.
** In a short featuring Captain Marvel, a Nova Corps ship from ''WesternAnimation/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy2015'' is shown docked in the hangar, and gets trashed during her fight.
** In the Season 3 finale, a red car can be seen in Howard Stark's old lab. The Season 4 episode "New Year's Resolution", which chronologically takes place before the Season 3 finale, reveals Howard gives Tony a red car before the former returns to the past.
* ContinuitySnarl:
** How exactly Bruce got his powers as the Hulk is contradicted on two separate occasions. The incident was first shown in "Planet Doom" as a small gamma bomb that went off in a lab near Bruce, ultimately giving him his powers. In "Dehulked", his origin is closer to the ''Film/TheIncredibleHulk2008'' film's take on it, with Bruce ''willingly'' getting the gamma blasted into him by a laser under the supervision of General Ross. On top of all that, if what A-Bomb said in ''WesternAnimation/HulkAndTheAgentsOfSMASH'' is supposed to believed, ''Rick himself'' was supposed to be there to be saved by Bruce before he got hit by the gamma radiation, although Rick Jones wasn't in "Dehulked".
** Klaw's appearance in "Thunderbolts Revealed" is ''radically'' different than how was previously-established in ''Ultimate Spider-Man'', which takes place in the same universe: He is human again [[spoiler:(albeit briefly)]], despite the fact that he was a living embodiment of sound prior to this episode; he now resembles his Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse counterpart, as opposed to having his red full-body containment suit, including a different sound generation located on the opposite arm; and, no longer voiced by Creator/MattLanter, "Klaue" now sports a ambiguously foreign accent that is completely distinct from Lanter's gruff bad guy voice.
** Emil Blonsky, who had his Abomination persona forcibly removed in the ''Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H.'' episode "Spirit of Vengeance", is a gamma monster again in "Dehulked" with no explanation, though it's possible that this took place before ''Agents of S.M.A.S.H.''
** Egghead begins his villainous career midway through Season 3, despite the fact that he was already a villain Scott Lang sold tech to, according to a line of a dialogue in "Spectrums", a ''Season 2'' episode.
** In Season 3, it was stated that prior to becoming Ant-Man, Scott Lang was a scientist who sold tech to supervillains, and it's implied that this is what landed him in jail. In Season 4, he's now stated to have been a former thief, much like his movie counterpart. It's possible he's done both, but the intent in Season 3 is clearly that he's only guilty of naivety in never checking what his clients wanted the tech for, rather than being a deliberate lawbreaker.
** Season 4's HalloweenEpisode is a continuity nightmare. For starters, it stars the original six Avengers and features none of the new recruits, even though by this point in the season, the original Avengers had already been scattered across time and space, and wouldn't return for another five episodes. Next, Iron Man is still with the team, even though he'd been trapped in another dimension at the end of the last season, and wasn't rescued alongside the other Avengers in Season 4. Crimson Widow is also still working for HYDRA, even though she betrayed them in Season 3 and was already shown working alone earlier in Season 4. Finally, the episode ends in the training room of Avengers Tower, even though Season 3 ended with the Avengers moving into the Avengers Compound [[spoiler:after the Tower was destroyed]], and the replacement Avengers were operating out of the Wakandan Embassy at that point before the compound was repaired. Timeline-wise, the episode really only makes sense if it's meant to be taking place some time prior to the Season 3 finale. While that is assumed to be the case, it creates yet ''another'' issue; Season 3 already had a Halloween episode, and if the timeline of ''Ultron Revolution'' happened spanned over an entire year, Yelena being with HYDRA still wouldn't make sense since her debut episode was after Season 3's Halloween Episode and during the ''winter season''.
** "New Year's Resolution" raises all sorts of issues about time travel in this series. First of all, time travel can now erase the memories of travelers. Then, Kang explains that if someone is brought to the future, they can only stay there for a short period of time before everything after the point when they left starts to be erased from history. In this episode, Peggy and Howard are in the future for a few hours at most before things start falling apart, while Falcon was trapped in the future for YEARS, and this never seems to happen. Even Baron Heinrich Zemo was in the future for about a few hours and didn't suffer the same problem either. If anything, the TimeyWimeyBall is in effect in this universe, so the rules of time travel are bound to vary. It also has the same continuity problems as the aforementioned Halloween special, since Iron Man is back on the team without explanation, and the Avengers are still operating out of Avengers Tower. However, that this episode is ADayInTheLimelight for Peggy Carter and Howard Stark taking place in the past while involving TimeTravel, [[FridgeBrilliance so the "future" they travel to doesn't necessarily have to be the "present" this episode airs in (which in this case is Season 4)]].
** Much like Klaw, Baron Mordo shows up in Season 4, where he is a black man like his [[Film/DoctorStrange2016 movie counterpart]], though retaining his powers, and alignment with Hydra from ''[[WesternAnimation/UltimateSpiderMan2012 Ultimate Spider-Man]]''. This is despite the fact that Mordo previously shown up in ''Ultimate Spider-Man'' as a white guy.
** In "Beyond", Black Widow states that the Avengers [[spoiler:had assumed that Iron Man died after the connection to his dimension was cut off. This is despite the fact that in Season 4's first episode, when the cut off happened, the Avengers are very clearly determined to bring him back]].
** Iron Man shows up in "Beyond" [[spoiler:after being trapped in an alternate dimension when Ultron possessed him in the Season 3 finale. He doesn't have his armor with him, so the implication is he left it, and Ultron, behind in the section of Battleworld made up of No Tech Land, and that's why he's not possessed anymore. The only problem is that Ultron possessed him via the Arc Reactor, not the armor, which is why he had to stay behind in the first place. He needs the Arc Reactor to live, and leaving would mean Ultron would take over again when it reactivated. Tony shouldn't have been able to leave No Tech Land at all]].
** Season 5 ''Black Panther's Quest'' is a continuity nightmare. It's still officially listed as taking place after Season 4 ''Secret Wars'', but several characters are missing without explanation. The crossover with Spider-Man features the Spidey of ''WesternAnimation/MarvelsSpiderMan'' and '''not''' ''[[WesternAnimation/UltimateSpiderMan2012 Ultimate Spider-Man]]'' (a change that also carried on into ''[[WesternAnimation/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy2015 Guardians of the Galaxy]]'')! The changed character designs are also the same as in ''Marvel's Spider-Man''. When T'Challa meets with Attuma in Atlantis, he's a completely different character from the tyrant in the Red Skull's Cabal in the early seasons. It's like the show just hopped universes between seasons. (This was eventually confirmed by WordOfGod; the first four seasons, along with ''Ultimate Spidey'' and ''Agents of S.M.A.S.H.'', are set on Earth-12041; ''Panther's Quest'' is set on Earth-17628 with ''Marvel's Spider-Man'' and ''Guardians''.)
** "...Assemble", originally a series of shorts to introduce the All-New, All-Different Avengers, doesn't fit anywhere. It's Ms. Marvel's first day as an Avenger, and all the other All-New, All-Different characters are having a training session in Avengers Compound, while she discusses them with Captain America. In the actual series, all the All-New characters joined simultaneously, ''after'' the Compound was destroyed and Cap was sent to Dimension Z, and immediately had to fight the Cabal. On Disney+, the compilation version is placed just after the original Avengers are brought back, and presumably after the Compound was rebuilt, but that makes it ever weirder that Kamala is calling it her first day, and talking about her teammates as if she still hasn't met them properly. And you can't even say "Well, maybe the shorts aren't in continuity", because in the last scene of the Season 4 finale, Kamala specifically refers to her conversation with Cap.
* CoolShades: Hawkeye has a nice pair of purple shades, and even carries spares in his belt pouches.
* TheCorruption: [[spoiler: When the Infinity Stones gather together they begin to mentally whisper in the person ears and promise ultimate power.]]
* CrazyPrepared: Nighthawk. Fitting, since he's a CaptainErsatz of Franchise/{{Batman}}.
-->'''Nighthawk''': I'm ''always'' one step ahead.
* CrapsackWorld: The world under Doom's control in "Planet Doom".
* CreativeClosingCredits: The end of "Avengers: Impossible":
** Director: Impossible Man
** Producer: Impossible Man
** Script: Impossible Man
** Camera: Impossible Man
** Make up: Impossible Man
** Special effects: Impossible Man
** Best boy: Sr. Impossible
** Clapper loader: Impossible Man
** 1st assist. clapper loader: Impossible Man
** Assistant to Mr. Man: Avengers
** All the best ideas: Impossible Man
** [[TheStinger Is there a bonus scene at the end of this?]] [[LampshadeHanging Impossible!]]
* DeadpanSnarker: The Hulk, [[WesternAnimation/TheAvengersEarthsMightiestHeroes like before]].
* DebateAndSwitch: The Avengers have split. Captain America, Hulk, Black Widow and Falcon are on one team, working for SHIELD. Iron Man, Thor, Hawkeye and Ant-Man are on the other. Nick Fury order his Avengers to detain the others, as Stark had become a DestructiveSaviour. They show up, face each other, but there was no Avengers vs. Avengers fight, not even a pre-fight debate, as the bad guy shows up immediately and forces them to join forces.
* DecompositeCharacter:
** The Red Skull sports a monocle like Baron Strucker. Both characters are shown as separate leaders of their own fraction of HYDRA.
** MODOK (via Super-Adaptoid) is similar to Arnim Zola. Both characters have taken the Avengers on different occasions.
** The Black Bride is Black Widow's alternate timeline counterpart sporting Madame Masque's iconic golden mask. Whitney Frost herself later appears and eventually takes on the Madame Masque alias.
** Trick Shot is this: Clint Barton was the original Trick Shot before being reformed while the second Trick Shot is a villain.
** Maria Hill is sporadically seen as a member of S.H.I.E.L.D., however, her primary characterization in wanting the Avengers to fall in line with the government is instead used by Truman Marsh.
** The Iron Patriot armor is occasionally used by Tony and Steve as well as hijacked by Ultron and Kang. Toni Ho herself appears briefly in the future timeline where Kang originated from.
** Arsenal and Vision are two (similar) Foils to Ultron.
** Crimson Dynamo is Ivan Vanko without Whiplash's elements. This gets bizarre as Whiplash (Anton Vanko) also appears briefly in Kang's debut episode.
** Songbird is with the Thunderbolts while being like Jolt as a good teammate.
** The Detroit Steelcorps are tech pirates while Sasha Hammer is mentioned to be unaffiliated.
** The Thunderstrike namesake and hammer is given to be used by Jane Foster after briefly getting ahold of Mjölnir. Erik Masterson himself previously appears briefly in Kang's future timeline.
* DefiantStoneThrow: After one man threw a stone at Thanos, the rest of new York joined in, hitting him with whatever they could find.
* DelayedRippleEffect: In the climax of "New Year's Resolution", the future starts erasing itself because Peggy and Howard are displaced in time.
* DemotedToExtra:
** Ant-Man in Season 3 is removed as a full member of the team, and only shows up in a DayInTheLimelight episode and as a member of the Mighty Avengers in the finale. He then joins the team ''again'' in Season 4, only to be busted back down to guest star status (appearing in only a single episode) in Season 5.
** Crystal, a part of the Inhuman royal family who appears in ''WesternAnimation/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy2015,'' is only seen in a brief, non-speaking cameo in "The Inhuman Condition". She has a larger role in the ''Black Panther's Quest'' episode "Mists of Attilan" but it's eventually revealed that [[spoiler:the real Crystal had been kidnapped and impersonated by Princess Zanda]].
* DependingOnTheWriter: Like Superman in ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'', Thor's power level depends on the writer and situation going on in the show. Thor has taken on Thanos alone only to be beaten by Attuma and Hyperion in only a few seconds.
* DiabolusExMachina: [[spoiler:Happens right at the end of "Thanos Triumphant"; Tony has successfully rebuilt Arsenal to take the Infinity Gauntlet from Thanos and allows the Avengers to defeat him. Yay! Except that Ultron somehow hacks into Arsenal, takes him over, rebuilds him in his image, drains the power from the Infinity Gauntlet, and takes off with plans of his own.]]
* DidYouJustFlipOffCthulhu: [[spoiler:In the Season 2 finale "Avengers World", the citizens of New York do this to Thanos. Thanos defeats the Avengers in front of everyone and demands the citizens of Earth [[KneelBeforeZod bow to him]]. Instead, the New Yorkers throw trash at him and declare themselves to be Avengers too, [[HeroicBystander giving the Avengers time to get back in the fight]]. Later in the same episode, Black Widow convinces the world leaders to unite their power girds to power a machine that can defeat Thanos, essentially accomplishing world peace, if only temporary, to stop Thanos.]]
* DivideAndConquer:
** Cap and Tony figure out that Red Skull's Cabal isn't the unified, well-oiled machine he makes it out to be in ''In Deep'' and play on MODOK's resentment at being number two in AIM and HYDRA's hierarchy and Attuma's hunger for power to have them start a little brawl with Red Skull.
** The Squadron Supreme has the same problem, and Falcon saw it coming.
* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: The scene where Captain America and Captain Marvel argue while both asking a sheepish Falcon to take their side looks an awful lot like a nervous child being being caught in the middle of an argument between their parents.
* TheDoorSlamsYou: Falcon used this against the Impossible Man. His fault, for using his powers to turn a fight against villains into a sitcom parody.
* TheDragon: MODOK, to Red Skull.
** [[spoiler: DragonAscendant: Once Cosmic Skull has been defeated, and he becomes a threat on his own, even without the Cabal]].
* DreamTellsYouToWakeUp: In "Saving Captain Rogers", an aged Baron Zemo hypnotized Captain America into believing that he was still fighting WWII, alongside Bucky, and against the first Baron Zemo (father of the modern one). The important part of that fantasy is when WWII Zemo captures Bucky and takes him to his lab, forcing Captain America to find the way to Zemo's secret lab. Outside the fantasy, the old Zemo had retrieved his father's castle but ignored how to access into the hidden lab, so the Captain did so for him. Once it is done, Zemo got the super soldier serum of his father that renewed his youth and gave him strength to stand to Iron Man and Black Widow, while leaving Captain America perpetually in that dream. As they fight, Captain America is worried that something is happening that is destroying the castle, and Bucky got trapped under one of the rocks. Bucky then told him: everything is a dream, he has to let it go, and return to the real world.
* DrillTank: One is used in Hammer's mining operation in ''Savage''.
* DullSurprise: Adrian Pasdar often lapses into it as Iron Man.
* EarlyBirdCameo
** ComicBook/AntMan shows up wearing the same costume Scott Lang sported the following year in the [[Film/AntMan1 live-action movie]].
** Kamala Khan made a non-speaking cameo as a normal human before actually appearing later in the series as Ms. Marvel.
* EnemyMine:
** Skull summons Dracula, Attuma, and Doctor Doom to join him against the Avengers. The first two join up while Doom remains on his own. However, none of the Cabal members particularly like each other, but by the end of "Bring On The Bad Guys", they seem to trust each other to some degree after a major victory came from truly working as a team. Dracula even voices newfound respect for Skull.
** In [[AlternateUniverse "The Dark Avengers"]], the villainous Avengers all work alone, but decide to work together to take on the Squadron Supreme.
** The Squadron themselves seem to be doing this, as they start fighting and all go their separate ways soon after the Avengers are defeated.
* EvilCounterpart:
** Red Skull to Captain America, as per usual. [[spoiler: Later he's this for both Cap and Iron Man.]]
** The Squadron Supreme (Supervillains here, like the Squadron Sinister in the comics) serve as Evil Counterparts to the Avengers, but they're even more directly counterparts to DC rivals the Justice League (Nighthawk = Franchise/{{Batman}}, Hyperion = Franchise/{{Superman}}, Speed Demon = Franchise/TheFlash, Zarda = Franchise/WonderWoman, Doctor Spectrum = Franchise/GreenLantern)
* EvilCostumeSwitch:
** Played with, after Red Skull jacks Iron Man's armor, he repaints it black and adds the HYDRA logo. The Costume is the same, but the person in it is now evil.
** Happens again in ''The Dark Avengers'', when [[spoiler: the Avengers]] are [[BrainwashedAndCrazy brainwashed]] into thinking they're villains. They trade in their normal outfits for black colored or color-reversed costumes.
* EvilVersusEvil: Doom and Red Skull's forces fight over an Asgardian weapon in "Serpent of Doom".
* ExposedToTheElements: Hulk and Thor have no problems with low temperatures, Iron Man wears his suit, but Hawkeye and the Black Widow are out there in Antarctica wearing the same clothing they always do, and have no problem at all. Hawkeye's suit does not even have sleeves!
* {{Expy}}:
** The Squadron Supreme is made up of expies of the Franchise/JusticeLeagueOfAmerica. Most notably the Justice Lords from the WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague series.
** The Thunderbolts' publicist is a redheaded woman with glasses named Gabby. Visually, she's a dead ringer for Dallas Riordan, the team's police liaison from the comics.
* FamilyUnfriendlyDeath: An alien guard quite literally dies screaming as he's being vaporized at the beginning of "New Frontiers".
* FastballSpecial: Hulk and Hawkeye perform the move in "Ghost of a Chance".
* FightDracula: Occurs multiple times in the first season after he's introduced in "Blood Feud."
* FlyingCar: Black Widow owns one. [[TheAllegedCar It gets trashed almost every time its shown]].
* FoeRomanceSubtext: Black Widow with Dracula, Doctor Doom, and Impossible Man (though he's not really evil).
* {{Foreshadowing}}:
** During an action scene in "The Age of Tony Stark", Hulk was referred to as "Maestro" by one of the machines from the future. The Maestro eventually showed up in WesternAnimation/HulkAndTheAgentsOfSMASH
** There's a lot for the [[ComicBook/CivilWar2006 storyline]] that is the basis for the Season 3 finale:
*** In "The Ultimates," Natasha gets into a very tense argument with Tony over his leadership style, and the other Avengers have to intervene and break it up. Near the end, Cap remarks that fighting villains is so much better than the Avengers fighting one another. And to top things off, it ends with Tony mentioning how proud he is to be an Avenger and how he's honored to call these heroes his friends. Now remember
*** Similarly, when Kang the Conqueror arrives from the future, he says that these are the Avengers from "before the schism".
*** In the very next episode, one of the exhibits in the 30th century museum is a holographic image of Falcon and Iron Man fighting each other. Later, Kang chastises Cap for his naivety, telling him "You'll learn when..." before being cut off.
*** [[spoiler: All this is averted though, as the Season 3 Civil War doesn't actually feature any of the main Avengers fighting each other, just the original Avengers vs. the Mighty Avengers. That and the fact that Avengers Tower is destroyed]].
* ForgottenFallenFriend:
** [[spoiler: Arsenal performs a HeroicSacrifice near the end of Season 2 to [[TakingYouWithMe make sure Ultron is destroyed once and for all]]. Tony is clearly devastated at the time (and indeed, had shown he was quite fond of Arsenal throughout the season), but when Ultron returns in Season 3, nary a mention is made to Arsenal, or the fact that the poor guy essentially sacrificed himself FOR NOTHING.]]
** [[spoiler: In "The Return," the Avengers spend a lot of time talking about how great it is that they're all together again, completely ignoring the fact that Iron Man is still stuck in a PrisonDimension.]]
* FountainOfYouth: The Time Stone makes Tony increasingly younger when it gets stuck in his chest in "The Age of Tony Stark".
* FreakyFridayFlip:
** [[spoiler: Between Red Skull and Captain America.]]
** Happens again in ''Head to Head'', this time to the entire team.
* GasMaskMooks: The HYDRA soldiers wear gas masks.
* GenderEqualEnsemble: The new Avengers lineup has an equal number of 3 female and 3 male heroes.
* GenreSavvy: Hawkeyes spends "Why I Hate Halloween" citing all the rules about vampires and putting them to good use. The only part he messes up is trying to stake Dracula with normal wood; that's good enough for the underlings, but not the vampire lord.
* GladiatorGames: Mojo organized those games [[JustForFun/RecycledINSPACE IN SPACE]]!!
* GoMadFromTheRevelation: When Loki uses the Eye of Agamotto to see what happens after the Tree of Life is consumed by the Casket of Alldark, he realizes that he too will be destroyed by it in a pretty gruesome fashion, after which he promptly denies it and calls the eye and everyone else but himself a liar in a constant maddening mantra.
* GoshDangitToHeck: Iron Man mocks Captain America for doing this in "The Citadel".
* GoryDiscretionShot: One of the alien guards in the opening of "New Frontiers" is strongly hinted at being impaled by Corvous Glaive, thanks to the "below-the-torso" angle.
* GottaCatchEmAll: Season 2 has the Infinity Stones being scattered across Earth, with the Avengers, Thanos and the Squadron Supreme wanting to find them. Unlike most examples the Avengers are not very proactive about finding them, having so far gathered them by stumbling onto them during missions.
* GrandTheftMe:
** Red Skull attempts to do this to Captain America.
** [[spoiler: Ultron does this to Tony via his Arc Reactor in the Season 3 finale.]]
* GRatedDrug: The concoction Nighthawk uses to neutralize the Hulk has the effect of causing the Hulk to act as though he's drunk or stoned. It's actually PlayedForLaughs just how blatantly [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything his behavior resembles that of a drunk person]].
* GrandTheftPrototype: [[spoiler:The ComicBook/RedSkull takes control of Tony's armor at the end of the first pilot.]]
* HatePlague: MODOK uses nanobots to cause this effect on the Avengers.
* HateSink:
** [[ObstructiveBureaucrat Truman Marsh]] fills this role after the government decided to take control of the Avengers in "U-Foes". Marsh is shown as a complete {{Jerkass}} who constantly bashes on the Avengers when they don't get intel even if they saved many lives from the U-Foes and Hydra. Out of all the Avengers, he makes Hulk more miserable by blaming him for the messes the U-Foes make, and for the failure of the missions. After saving an old Helicarrier from crashing into a nuclear power plant, he tells Hulk he can no longer be part of the team, causing Hulk to leave in sadness. Unsurprisingly, this has earned the scorn of all the Avengers. To add insult to the injury, Marsh brings in Hulk's old friend Red Hulk to replace him. He gets worse during the "Civil War" finale, where he starts the Inhuman Registration Act, which deprives Inhumans of their freedom by placing them under the watch of the U.S. government by forcing them to wear registration disks. Additionally, Marsh also endorses raids on various Inhumans and the Avengers are also forced to detain and imprison them without trial if they refuse to comply. This new development caused the Avengers to go rogue. It turns out this was an {{exploited|trope}}: [[spoiler:Ultron was masquerading as Marsh in order to sow discord between humans, Inhumans, and superheroes.]]
** Season 5 has Princess Zanda. Her most loathsome moment in the season is when [[spoiler:she impersonates Black Widow and successfully turns the other Avengers against Black Panther for allegedly killing Captain America. Then she tries to blow up Atlantis by rigging Iron Man's armor into a bomb]]. Both of these make her the most despicable character in the series.
* HeelRealization: Sort of. In "Hulked Out Heroes" when the others are...well, Hulked Out and acting just like Hulk does when he's particularly angry, Hulk realizes he's not the easiest guy to live with. The other heroes also realize they weren't very understanding of the level of anger and frustration that Hulk has to live with and ''constantly'' keep under control.
* HeroicBystander: After Thanos defeats all the Avengers, the people of New York start to fight him as best they can, as well as helping the Avengers up.
* HeroicSacrifice: [[spoiler: Arsenal destroys himself in order to stop Thanos from blowing up the Earth. He's later rebuilt, but ends up having to sacrifice himself ''again'' to destroy Ultron who stole his body.]]
* HiddenDepths: The Hulk collects glass animal figurines.
* HollywoodHistory: "Blood Feud" had a back story of Dracula being a reluctant ally with the Allies in UsefulNotes/WorldWarII for the sake of defending Transylvania. Since Transylvania is literally in the middle of Romania, an ally of the Axis, this is only plausible if the events depicted took place after August 1944, when Romania defected to the Allies following King Michael's coup.
* HumanAliens: The Squadron Supreme are all human enough to pass for SHIELD agents.
* HumanShield: Ultron uses Iron Man as one by [[spoiler:hijacking his body]] in the Season 3 finale
* {{Hypocrite}}:
** Red Skull criticizes Iron Man for hiding behind his armor. Then he [[spoiler:decides to steal that armor to sustain himself throughout Season 1]].
** Ultron insits that humans are inferior to machines, but, in the Season 3 finale, he [[spoiler: inhabits Tony's human body to defeat the Avengers.]] he even {{Lampshades}} it.
** Clint initially dislikes Ant-Man because back when Clint was with the Circus of Crime, Ant-Man betrayed the team via disabling the tech he'd built for them, stole their money and ran off. This was money that the Clint had helped steal from innocent people (to which Scott returned said money), and the same Circus of Crime Clint would later betray to the authorities and quit in order to become a hero. So basically, Clint hates Ant-Man for doing far lesser versions of things he'd done.
* InNameOnly:
** In the comics, the Cabal is a meeting of villains with huge political power and influence. Here, it is just a regular super villain group.
** In the comics, ''ComicBook/TheUltimates'' are an alternate version of the Avengers, who work as a military force under SHIELD command. Here, they are just robot copycats of the Avengers controlled by Ultron.
* InnocentlyInsensitive: In "Dehulked", a child is openly saying he admires Hulk, not realizing he is standing in front of a de-powered Bruce Banner who, at the time, despises Hulk thoroughly.
* InventionalWisdom: In "Mojo World," Hawkeye disables Mojo's hoverchair by hitting an unprotected circuit board on its underside (He even [[LampshadeHanging lampshades]] the design flaw).
* IronicEcho: Episode 1 has Iron Man sending holographic images to get the Avengers back together.[[spoiler: The Red Skull does the same thing near the end of episode 2 when recruiting villains for his Cabal.]]
* IrrationalHatred: Hawkeye's initial dislike of Ant-Man in "The New Guy" straddles the line between this and InsaneTrollLogic. The reasons Clint gives for not liking Ant-Man are that he's not a team player (technically true as Scott is new to working with a team but trying), that he's a showboater (not really true and something Clint is far more guilty of) and that Clint doesn't trust him because Scott allegedly betrayed him once (see below). To make matters worse, Clint flat out stated that he would leave the Avengers if Scott was on the team, being willing to abandon his teammates if he didn't get his way, showcasing that he's a much worse team player than Scott. Hawkeye basically comes off as an unlikable hypocrite the entire episode.
** As for Scott's betrayal, back when Clint was a supervillain, Scott had been hired by the Circus of Crime to beef up their technology. However, a few weeks after doing so, Scott abruptly destroys their gear, took the money the Circus (including Clint) had stolen from innocent people and ran off. The same Circus Clint eventually betrayed by turning them over to the authorities and left as well. So Clint is mad that Scott basically did the same thing that he did, and was just mad because it had happened to him.
** And the reason for Scott's betrayal? The Circus Ringmaster had lied to Scott about the Circus being legit performers, and on learning that they were criminals, disabled their tech and returned the money to its rightful owners. It takes Clint learning this and Scott performing a heroic sacrifice to finally get Clint to accept him as an Avenger, when Clint probably should have realized holding a grudge against someone for betraying a supervillain in the same way he betrayed the same supervillains.
* ItOnlyWorksOnce: Remember how MODOK took apart Tony's armor with his mind in the first episode? He tries again in ''In Deep'' only to find out Tony put something in his armor to avoid a repeat of the experience.
* KidFromTheFuture: {{Inverted}}, Howard Stark is Tony's parent from the past.
* KilledOffForReal: [[spoiler: Loki finally meets his end, in a rather dark fashion, in the season four finale.]]
* KilledOffScreen: Doctor Doom used time travel in "Planet Doom" to interfere with the origin stories of the Avengers and make sure that they never develop super powers. He says that he did the same with the ComicBook/FantasticFour, who do not exist in that timeline either. We do not get to see a flashback of that, it's just a passing by mention (note that the timeline was fixed at the end of the episode, so this was temporary anyway).
* KneelBeforeZod: Thanos does this to New York in "Avengers World," where he orders the citizens to bow to him after he defeats the Avengers. [[spoiler:Instead, they throw trash at him, declaring to all be Avengers, and help the heroes get back in the fight.]]
* KnightOfCerebus: When Hyperion showed up that's when the series started getting darker in tone.
* LastSecondWordSwap: When stuck on a Zola-controlled world with no Wireless connections, Ant-Man drops this little gem:
--> '''Ant-Man'': "This whole old-timey thing is a real pain in my.. buuut]] if Zola is not using wireless, then things have to be wired!"
* LaughTrack: Invoked by the Impossible Man, who turns a battle against Attuma into a sitcom scene. Of course, Hulk and Thor can hear and complain about the strange laughing in the air.
* TheLeader:
** Tony is the leader rather than Cap again. However, they both split the role.
** Similarly, Carol and T'Challa split the role in the Mighty Avengers.
** T'Challa becomes the leader in Season 4 after the original team disappears.
* LegionOfDoom:
** In the first season, the Red Skull leads a group of villains called the Cabal, which consists of Attuma, Dracula, Hyperion, and the Super-Adaptoid (controlled by M.O.D.O.K. this time).
** In Season 3, the Masters of Evil appear as recurring foes. Their ranks include Beetle, Goliath, and Screaming Mimi.
* LighterAndSofter: Despite the dark colors and overuse of shading, it still possesses a relatively light-hearted tone compared to its [[WesternAnimation/TheAvengersEarthsMightiestHeroes predecessor]].
* LetsYouAndHimFight: Just about standard when it comes to the Avengers meeting new heroes.
** Tony's reaction to the Thunderbolts stealing the Avengers' arrests is to sneak into their base and spy on them. They then have an all-out brawl before it's revealed that [[spoiler:the Thunderbolts are actually the Masters of Evil, but then they have a HeelFaceTurn later]].
** The Inhumans are even worse, with both sides attacking the other. They get into a fight over the Inhumans keeping secrets (though given that the Inhumans inadvertently caused the whole episode's conflict, it may be justified). Black Bolt punches people just for touching him – [[SkewedPriorities even when in the middle of a battle with a huge monster]].
* LimitedAnimation: In some places.
* LoopholeAbuse: Hawkeye knows in "Why I Hate Halloween" that vampires can't enter a building unless invited and denies them entry, so Dracula orders his minions to tear the cabin to pieces.
* MacGuffin:
** The Tesseract, like in the movie.
** The Infinity Stones in Season 2.
* MacGuffinEscortMission: Thor and Black Widow spend "Widow's Run" looking for someone to deliver the Infinity Stones to.
* MachiavelliWasWrong: This is the main theme with every episode involving the Squadron Supreme; they fail to accept that instilling fear will not earn them any loyalty from others. This is why people rebel against them, and why Nighthawk can't keep the rest of the Squadron in line.
* MaleGaze: Black Widow's SpyCatsuit receives highly detailed animation, which makes it perfect for the shots of her shapely buns, well-toned yet shapely long legs and pelvic center; Zarda is another example.
* MassOhCrap: How most of the Avengers react when the ''Hulk bodychecks Odin!''
* MineralMacGuffin: The Infinity Stones
* MirrorUniverse: The Reality gem creates a Mirror Universe, wherein the Squadron Supreme are earth's heroes, while the Avengers are not only criminals, they're not even a team. The villainous Avengers all dress in shades of black (or just straight up reversals of their costume colors), though they acted more like delinquents than megalomaniac super villains.
* MissingReflection: A hilarious moment where Black Widow, having been bitten by a vampire, attempts to escape from Captain America and Iron Man... [[HoistByHerOwnPetard and promptly knocks herself out running into a mirror because she didn't see her reflection.]]
* MsFanservice: Black Widow, Zarda, and Hela.
* MuggedForDisguise:
** In the episode "In Deep", [[spoiler: Cap and Iron Man do this to Crossbones and the Grim Reaper, with the real villains kept tied up at Avengers Tower]].
** Hulk does this to Crimson Dynamo in "Secret Avengers", stealing the outer layer of his armor to use as a disguise.
** The entire team does this to a group of A.I.M. workers in "Adapting to Change".
* MultiPartEpisode:
** The premiere, "Avengers Protocol," is a two-parter.
** The Season 3 finale "Civil War" is divided into four parts.
** The Season 4 premiere "Avengers No More" is also two-parts.
* MundaneUtility: In "Savages", Thor and Hulk use Thor's Lightning powers to make popcorn.
* MyFriendsAndZoidberg: Hulk in "Mojo World", and... his friend. That guy with sharpened rods. What's that sound, are there [[ChirpingCrickets crickets in space]]?
* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: In "Doomstroyer", after Doom takes control of the Destroyer armor and starts wrecking Latveria because the armor is messing with his head. Once he's freed from the armor, he looks upon the damage with utter horror.
* MythologyGag: There are so many of them that they have [[MythologyGag/AvengersAssemble their own page]].
* TheNameIsBondJamesBond: The Red Hulk introduces himself in this manner when he joins the team.
* NaturalDisasterCascade: Using the Infinity Gauntlet, Thanos begins using this trope to destroy the Earth: causing multiple hurricanes to rapidly form (visible from Thanos' new base in space), earthquakes to spew lava in cities, rocks to rain on Egypt (don't ask how that one works), and tropical islands and the surrounding waters to literally freeze solid. He has the power to instantaneously wipe out stars with a hand-wave, but chooses to destroy Earth this way to make its death slow and painful.
* NeverFoundTheBody: Red Skull is aware of this trope and refuses to believe Iron Man had been killed when Justin Hammer couldn't find his body in "Savages".
* NeverMyFault: In "Inhumans Among Us" when the Avengers and Inhumans get into a fight the Inhumans blame the Avengers for starting it and claim that they're racists despite the fact the Inhumans spent the better part of the episode disdainfully referring to the Avengers as "humans" and attacking Iron Man for claiming they were withholding important information (which they were).
* NeverSayDie:
** In "Thanos Rising", the Falcon finds footage of Thanos destroying Titan, and expresses shock at what he's seeing. The only onscreen acknowledgement of the genocide Thanos committed is a computerized caption stating "Population decreasing."
** In Season 4. Thor says [[spoiler: Iron Man]] is "lost to the void" when they "die". This is {{Justified|Trope}} in the sense that that is more accurate to what happened to them, and Black Widow does use the word "dead" when they turn out to be alive.
* NewPowersAsThePlotDemands: The Avengers membership cards in "Depth Charge" rather inexplicably have built in scanners that can instantly identify Atlantaean technology despite never having seen it before.
* NiceJobBreakingItHero: The Space Phantoms escaping their dimension was pretty much Iron Man's fault.
* TheNicknamer: Ironclad of the U-foes. He is the one who comes up with the group's name, and even dubs the Helicarrier they stole as "The U-Boat".
* NoAntagonist: "The Last Avenger" has no villains in it nor any appearance of the Shadow Council, just Black Panther on the run from the other Avengers on account of him being blamed for [[spoiler:murdering Captain America]]. [[spoiler:Subverted when there is actually one member of the Shadow Council in this episode, and it's Princess Zanda impersonating Black Widow.]]
* NoodleIncident:
** Whether this is a continuation of ''Earth's Mightiest Heroes'' or not, the team has long since disbanded...for yet undisclosed reasons.
** In "The Ambassador", J. Jonah Jameson reports that the "controversial speaker" at the [=UN=] is "not Spider-Man... this time."
** It's unclear why Ant-Man and Hawkeye hate each other so much, but it apparently stems from an incident that occurred between them in the past.
*** It's been revealed: [[spoiler: Scott developed tech for the Circus of Crime during the period Hawkeye served as Trick Shot, not knowing of their ulterior motives, and thus betrayed them, which apparently included blowing up an arrow in Trick Shot'''!'''Hawkeye's face]].
** During the battle with the Supreme Adaptoid:
-->'''Black Widow''': Hey, remember Tokyo?
-->'''Hawkeye''': Why would you bring ''that'' up?
-->'''Black Widow''': The ''other'' thing thing that happened in Tokyo!
-->'''Hawkeye''': ''Oh''. Why didn't you just say so?
* NonAnswer: In "New Year's Resolution," Howard asks Tony if he was a good dad, and Tony says that Howard taught him everything he knew, but doesn't actually answer the question (of course, considering how much Tony values knowledge, he may believe that he did).
* NotSoHarmlessVillain:
** Justin Hammer could be seen as this. He did build the Super-Adaptoid after all, and he almost killed the Avengers with it. That's gotta count for something.
** Doom seems to slowly be realizing how much of a threat the Cabal really are.
* OffhandBackhand: Black Widow, upon calling Tony out to actually ''lead'' the team he declared himself leader of, casually backhands a mook trying to get the drop on her.
* OhCrap:
** The Avengers' reaction to seeing [[spoiler: Dracula HulkingOut after drinking the Hulk's blood]]. They quickly get another OhCrap when [[spoiler: Hulk turns into a vampire under Dracula's control]].
** Cap and Tony get another one when they finally take a look at one of the cargo holds aboard Red Skull's command sub and realize that he is building an army in conjunction with Dracula and Attuma the likes of which the world has never seen before; surpassing even their worst fears about what the Cabal was capable of. Amusingly, Skull gets a genuinely huge one when Cap punches Tony.
** Cap has this reaction in ''Bring on the Bad Guys'' when [[spoiler: he realizes the Cabal just busted Hyperion out of prison.]]
** They have this reaction when the Hulk body-checks ''Odin''.
* OnlyTheChosenMayWield: When the mind stone causes a mix-up between the Avengers' minds and their bodies, Hawkeye, who is in Thor's body tries to lift {{Mjolnir}} but can't since he's not worthy and a FreakyFridayFlip doesn't trick the hammer.
* OpenSaysMe: Iron Man asks Black Widow if she get past a Russian security panel; she proceeds to do so by kicking the door open.
* OrcusOnHisThrone: After the fight in the first episode, Red Skull spends several episodes as the BigBad in the shadows who doesn't actually do anything.
* OrderVersusChaos:
** In Season 2, Steve and Tony are interestingly inverted from their [[spoiler: Civil War alignments, this time we have Tony as the anti-authority chaos while Steve is the militant Order, as opposed to the Logical Order Tony and Freedom-based Chaos Steve of Civil War]].
*** This is the stance that [[spoiler: Cap and Iron Man]]'s [[ComicBook/UltimateMarvel Ultimate]] counterparts took in ''Hulk Vs. Wolverine''.
** The Mighty Avengers are Order and the Renegade Avengers are Chaos in the Season 3 Civil War.
* OutOfFocus:
** [[spoiler:Since the Avengers split in two teams, there are two episodes dedicated to each half. ''Small Time Heroes'' solely centers on the main Avengers Team, led by Iron Man. Captain America's half is sidelined and hardly appears until the end, when the unusual amount of destruction Iron Man's team left behind gets Nick Fury's attention. ''Secret Avengers'' focuses mostly on Cap's SHIELD Team, likewise with Iron Man's Avengers completely sidelined]].
** The original Avengers for a portion of Season 4, but they will come back.
* PersonAsVerb: In "Guardians and Space Knights", Cap tells the others their roles in the "just in case ComicBook/{{Galactus}} comes back" plan, and Tony tells them good luck with that, but he has his own and runs off. We find that going off on your own is called "Pulling a Stark."
* PhantomZone: Limbo, the Space Phantoms home dimension.
* PlotHole: In "Blood Feud" vampire!Black Widow [=TKOed=] herself by running into a mirror, which Cap says is because she [[MissingReflection didn't have a reflection]]. He immediately holds a piece of the mirror up to her to reveal that she ''does'' have a reflection. Sure it's fading a little, but it's still visible to anyone who cares to look.
* PlotTailoredToTheParty: Every Avenger gets a moment to shine in their plan to trick Thanos into running through the use of the stones one by one.
** Thor's Asgardian longevity protects him from the Time Stone.
** Hulk's practice with directing his anger lets him lead the rest in the HatePlague induced by the Mind Stone.
** Widow and Hawkeye share a moment when she deduces the timing of Thanos' teleporting from the Space Stone allowing Hawkeye to shoot him.
** Captain America is grounded enough to realize when the illusion of the Reality Stone is too good to be true.
** Falcon comes in at the end successfully evading fire from the Power Stone due to his greater maneuverability.
** All this so Tony can finish rebuilding Arsenal so he may drain power from the stones and seize the gauntlet.
* PoweredArmor: Naturally, Iron Man. [[spoiler: Which Red Skull takes for himself at the end of the first episode.]] Also, Falcon.
* PowerGlows:
** When the Hulk gets really angry and really strong he starts glowing green.
** Tony has a constant golden aura when he serves as Galactus' herald.
** Captain Marvel glows when she fires energy attacks or flies.
* PrisonDimension: [[spoiler: Doctor Strange creates one to hold Ultron that keeps technology from working.]]
* PutOnABus:
** Ant-Man quits the team off-screen between Seasons 2 and 3, though he does show up as a guest-star later [[spoiler: and returns during the Civil War four-parter]], then becomes a regular again in Season 4.
** The Main Avengers get scattered across space and time at the premiere of Season 4, and it will take five episodes to bring them back. Due to Iron Man's unique circumstance, he will still remain absent from the cast for a while longer.
* PuttingOnTheReich: The Red Skull wears an SS uniform. Not surprising considering his origin.
* PuttingTheBandBackTogether:
** Iron Man puts the team back together in the first episode.
** As a CallBack, Season 3 starts with the Avengers having to reassemble again after having gone their separate ways.
* RaceLift:
** Like his [[Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse MCU]] counterpart, the show's version of the [[DivineRaceLift Norse god]] Heimdall is black.
** By this point ComicBook/NickFury resembling Creator/SamuelLJackson instead of his mainstream Franchise/MarvelUniverse self hardly ''counts'' as a RaceLift anymore; the last time we saw his old design outside the comics was ''VideoGame/MarvelUltimateAlliance 2''.
** Doctor Spectrum is black as a result of being a CompositeCharacter with the original Doctor Spectrum (who was Ugandan).
** Baron Mordo is black.
* RecognitionFailure:
-->'''A Kid''': Thank's Hawkeye!
-->'''Falcon''': What?
* RedEyesTakeWarning:
** The first sign that something was not right with Captain America.
** When MODOK infects the Avengers with his nanobots, they all naturally sport red eyes.
** In the Season 3 finale, the Inhumans have these while under [[spoiler:Ultron's]] control, and [[spoiler: Tony, when Ultron hacks his body]]
* RedIsHeroic:
** Practically all of the main cast with [[ComicBook/{{Hawkeye}} two ]] [[ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk exceptions]].
*** Interestingly, Hawkeye's proto-design was red, though it was changed to purple at some point. The old red version can still be seen in some merchandise, as well as ''[[WesternAnimation/UltimateSpiderMan2012 Ultimate Spider-Man]]'' prior to the actual crossover with this series (Hawkeye, like [[HeroesUnlimited everyone else]], has had his turn to be the guest star of the week in that show a time or two, but his design wasn't a 100% match for this show's until the actual crossover with it.)
** Inverted with [[RedAndBlackAndEvilAllOver the Red Skull]].
* RemakeCameo:
** Creator/BrianBloom, who voiced Captain America in ''The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes'', voices Hyperion.
** Creator/ElizabethDaily is Moonstone of the Masters of Evil[[spoiler:/Meteorite of the Thunderbolts]], whereas in the previous series she was Hawkeye's old partner Bobbi [=Morse/Mockingbird=]
* RememberTheNewGuy:
** During their debut, the Guardians of The Galaxy are known by Thor. After [[WesternAnimation/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy2015 their own series came]], we actually get to see how Thor and later Captain America met them for the first time.
** The Avengers meet the Inhumans in "Inhumans Among Us", but Hulk already knows who they are. This is in part due to Hulk's first encounter with them in the ''WesternAnimation/HulkAndTheAgentsOfSmash'' episode "Inhuman Nature".
** Vision shows up with no origin given, and the Avengers apparently already know who he is.
** This is repeated with Captain Marvel. The Avengers all know her when she first shows up, and it's mentioned that she's teamed up with them in the past, even though she never became an official part of the team.
* ReplacedTheThemeTune: Season 5 has a new opening stinger and end credit theme, reflecting the fact that Black Panther is now the primary focus.
* ReplicantSnatching: Done by the Space Phantoms in "Ghost of a Chance".
* ReptilesAreAbhorrent: The Midgard Serpent, which is destined to kill Thor.
* RunningGag:
** Hawkeye's cool purple shades are constantly getting knocked askew on his face.
** Hulk doesn't like anyone touching his glass animal collection.
** The cookies made by Falcon's mom gets a ''lot'' of love.
** Hawkeye does not like it when people blink an eye to him. It eventually becomes a BerserkButton. Don't worry, Clint, we understand you ;)
* SadisticChoice:
** Red Skull fires two missiles, heavily implied to be nuclear tipped, at Las Vegas and Los Angeles knowing full well the Avengers would be lucky to stop one. [[spoiler: And even if they stopped both missiles, he would still get away with the MacGuffin so they served their purpose as a decoy]].
** In "Inhuman Condition", the Avengers cannot stop Ultron's DeathRay, so they could either let it fire, or convert it back to its original purpose, which is to awaken latent inhuman DNA in normal humans. [[spoiler:They choose the latter, and which means there will be more Inhumans popping up in subsequent episodes]].
* SadlyMythtaken: Valhalla being portrayed as the underworld ruled by Hela where people go when they die in "Valhalla Can Wait". In the actual mythology, the realm of the dead she rules is Helheim, and is the place where most people go when they die, while Valhalla is a Hall on Asgard where only the greatest warriors can go after their death. This is particularly jarring because it's one of the few points that the original comic and actual Norse Mythology ''agree'' on.
* ScrewDestiny: When the Midgard Serpent shows up, Thor is sure that he must die in order to stop it, because legends say so. The legend of the Ragnarok, to be precise: Thor will kill the serpent, go nine steps back, and die. All the Avengers rejected the old myths, and [[TakeAThirdOption took a third option]]: reopen the portal, and send the serpent back to it.
* SenselessSacrifice: [[spoiler: Arsenal sacrifices himself near the end of Season 2 to destroy Ultron once and for all. Unfortunately, Ultron returns in the Season 3 premier, and continues to menace the Avengers throughout the remainder of the series.]]
* SequelHook: The Season 4 premiere ends with Mjolnir flying off somewhere... [[spoiler:It ended up back with Thor]].
* SharedUniverse:
** The first four seasons are canon with ''[[WesternAnimation/UltimateSpiderMan2012 Ultimate Spider-Man]]'' and ''WesternAnimation/HulkAndTheAgentsOfSMASH''. As the jolly green giant is a member of both the latter and this show's main cast, it's implied one takes place after the other or concurrently.
** The final season takes place in the same universe as ''WesternAnimation/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy2015'' and ''WesternAnimation/MarvelsSpiderMan''.
* ShoutOut:
** Falcon refers to Thor's interdimensional bedroom as "[[Series/DoctorWho Bigger on the inside]]".
** Loki's first appearance in "Doomstroyer" is in a similar pose to his first appearance in ''Film/TheAvengers2012''. There's also a scene of a depowered Iron Man falling to the ground, rescued by Hulk.
** Hawkeye calls Cap "Film/VanHelsing" in "Blood Feud".
** Combined with a TakeThat, when Hyperion steals Thor's red cape in episode 7, he looks ''even more'' like the Creator/DCComics [[Franchise/{{Superman}} hero]] [[CaptainErsatz he was patterned after]].
** ''Film/JurassicPark'' gets referenced during the encounter with the T-Rex in ''Savage''.
** The aura surrounding the Cosmic Skull looks very much like the aura of another [[ThePhoenix incredibly powerful cosmic character]], particularly during its days bonded with Rachel Grey.
** Falcon gets new armor from Tony for the season finale. It looks like Tony was trading designs with the ''Anime/ScienceNinjaTeamGatchaman''.
** The sequence from "The Age of Tony Stark" where the kid version of Tony is forced to use gadgets and trickery to outwit the Red Skull seems like a high-tech homage to ''Film/HomeAlone''.
** In "Avengers' Last Stand", Ant-Man calls Sam "[[VideoGame/FZero Captain Falcon]]".
** Season 3, episode 3 is called "[[Film/SavingPrivateRyan Saving Captain Rogers]]."
** "Under Siege" is an episode about [[Film/DieHard bad guys taking over the tower, and a shoeless Hawkeye being the only one who can stop them]].
** Thor destroys the Super Adaptoid crying that "[[Music/AliceCooper School is out for summer!]]"
** "Dehulked" shows the schematic of a [[VideoGame/{{Portal}} Portal Gun]] near the end.
** In the episode "Inhumans Among Us," Cap and Gorgon crash into a local jail staffed by [[Series/TheAndyGriffithShow a gawky small town cop who looks and sounds like]] Creator/DonKnotts.
** This exchange from "The Conqueror":
-->'''Kang''' What did you ancient people used to say? "[[Film/SuddenImpact Make my morning?]]"
-->'''Iron Man''': Close enough.
** The rogue A.I. the Red Skull originally created to run his base is called "[[Franchise/{{Terminator}} [=SkullNet=]]]."
** Several of Zarda's {{Catch Phrase}}s in "Prison Break" are deliberate nods to things Comicbook/WonderWoman says, such as "Great Hera!" and "Suffering savage!" (a play on "Suffering Sappho!").
** "Under the Spell of the Enchantress" is essentially one big ''WesternAnimation/Frozen2013'' reference. The Enchantress takes over a frozen asteroid, has snowmen act as her servants, including one big one that "loves big hugs", and Thor says "Ice never bothered me".
* ShownTheirWork:
** When Black Widow is flung out into the void of space in "Thanos Triumphant," she closes her eyes and mouth and places her hands over her ears in order to avoid having all the air sucked out of her body.
** When Black Panther and Captain Marvel are squabbling over leadership in "The Incredible Herc," Hercules claims his people (the ancient Greeks) invented democracy.
** In "Show Your Work," Ms. Marvel holds her breath after Vision tells her they'll be flying through space. Vision quickly tells her that holding her breath would simply kill her, since it would cause her lungs to inflate and explode in the vacuum of space.
* SimultaneousArcs: Season 4's 5-episode arc dealing with the Avengers' rescue is set up as such, where the heroes are split up and sent to different locations across space and time. Vision and Wasp retrieve Falcon, Ant-Man retrieves Captain America, Black Widow, and Hawkeye, Black Panther retrieves Hulk, and the two Marvels retrieve Thor. Each episode happens simultaneously, and the 5th serves as the meeting point.
* SlouchOfVillainy: The Red Skull at the end of episode 2.
* TheSmurfettePrinciple:
** As with the live-action movie, Black Widow will apparently be the only female Avenger, at least at the start. For the longest time she was the only female in the entire show, until Sam's mother was introduced. And even then, Widow was absent from a lot of the Season 1 episodes, though she did get a much bigger role in the subsequent seasons.
** ''Finally'' averted in Season 4, where Ms. Marvel, Captain Marvel, the Wasp, and the new Thor join the Avengers.
* SocialMediaBeforeReason: Oh, no! Hulk and Thor are having a destructive fight in the middle of the city! What should common citizens do? Oh course! Take selfies!
* SpannerInTheWorks: The Space Phantoms' plan ultimately failed because they didn't count on Falcon's involvement.
* SparedByTheAdaptation: Sam's mother appears, and bakes cookies for the team in a few episodes. In the comics, both of Sam's parents were killed while he was still a child.
* SpikedBlood: In "Blood Feud", Dracula manages to suck blood from the Hulk, which causes him to hulk out and make him stronger. However, it also severely harms Dracula due to Hulk's blood containing gamma energy, which is also what cures Black Widow of her vampirism.
* SpoilerTitle: [[spoiler: "Inhumans Among Us" pretty much gives away its own reveal: that there are secretly Inhumans living among humans.]]
* StealthHiBye: At the end of the second episode, Black Widow pulls this off when the team's assembled at Stark Tower.
* StoryArc: Season 2 can neatly be cut up as follows:
** The Infinity Stone arc which focuses on Thanos coming to earth and the Avengers locating the Infinity Stones.
** The Avengers Disassembled arc which focuses on Ultron separating the team for his own ends.
** The Squadron Supreme arc which focuses on the Squadron Supreme enacting a plan to deal with the Avengers and giving each Squadron member ADayInTheLimelight, save for Nighthawk and Hyperion, each of whom had their own early on.
* SuperheroParadox: [[spoiler:Tony's reassembling of the Avengers gets the ComicBook/RedSkull to form The Cabal in response.]]
* SwallowedWhole: In 'Beneath The Surface', Hawkeye is swallowed alive by the whale Atlantean Giganto. After spending the fight inside his stomach, a Hulk punch to the gut causes him to regurgitate Hawkeye back out.
* TakeAThirdOption: In the Season 3 finale, Ultron has [[spoiler: taken over Tony's body. The Avengers can either defeat Ultron by killing Tony, or let him kill all of humanity. Instead, they trap Ultron in a pocket dimension that Doctor Strange created where technology won't work, but until he gets a new arc reactor, Tony has to stay there too.]]
* TakingTheBullet: Iron Man stepped in and saved the Wrecker from Hyperion.
* TailorMadePrison: [[spoiler: Doctor Strange creates a PocketDimension specifically for Ultron where technology doesn't work. It's also one for Tony, since he can't leave as long as Ultron is in the Arc Reactor.]]
* {{Technopath}}: This show's version of MODOK has this ability, making him much more effective.
* TeleportationRescue:
** MODOK teleports the Cabal and the Avengers out of the collapsing quarry in "The Final Showdown"
** Iron Man tries to make a HeroicSacrifice by using the last of the power in his armor to manually push Ultron into the Sun. Luckily for him, Thor suddenly teleports in to take him back to Earth.
* TemporalParadox: One starts to erase history in "New Year's Resolution."
* ThisCannotBe: Ulik helped to unleash the Midgard Serpent in Asgard, and legend says that Thor would die fighting her. The mere sight of Thor ''still alive'' causes this reaction in him.
* TimeyWimeyBall: In this series, time travel doesn't have any consistent rules, so the rules tend to vary. For Peggy Carter and Howard Stark, their memories would get erased each time they they change eras, the timeline would collapse, and they were on SanDimasTime. For [[spoiler:Falcon]], he at most was subject to YearInsideHourOutside.
* TitleDrop: The show's title is said by Iron Man in both opening episodes, and pretty much every other episode, it being the team's rallying cry.
* TookALevelInBadass: The Supreme Adaptoid in Season 3 vs. the Super-Adaptoid from the first two seasons. Hawkeye even {{Lampshades}} this when he expresses disbelief that the Avengers are actually getting their butts handed to them by an Adaptoid.
* TooSpicyForYogSothoth: In "New Frontier", Supergiant tries to control/feed on Hulk's mind, but is overwhelmed by all the rage within him.
* TotallyRadical: Tony calling MODOK "Modork".
* TrainingThePeacefulVillagers: Iron Man convinces the peaceful natives of the Savage Land to help him deal with Justin Hammer.
* TrashTheSet: [[spoiler:Avengers Tower was destroyed in the Season 3 finale, leading them to relocate to a compound, which also gets blown up. Black Panther chooses the Wakandan Embassy as the All-New All-Different Avengers HQ to feel more at home]].
* TwoKeyedLock: One episode of the ''Black Panther's Quest'' arc features a door that cannot be opened unless an Inhuman and a member of Wakanda's Royal Family open it together.
* UnexplainedRecovery:
** [[spoiler:Klaw returns in "Panther's Rage" with nothing more than a HandWave for how he survived ''complete disintegration''. Since he got put back together, so did Zemo]].
*** However, an FilmComic adaptation of "Thunderbolts Revealed" explained that [[spoiler:Baron Zemo "ran off" during the giant Klaue fight; presumably 'detaching' himself from the monstrosity somehow.]]
** Ultron comes back in Season 3 despite the fact that the last time he was seen, he was ''thrown into the sun.''
** Arnim Zola comes back in Season 4 even though he was thrown in the ocean in Season 4 of ''[[WesternAnimation/UltimateSpiderMan2012 Ultimate Spider-Man]]''.
* UnusuallyUninterestingSight:
** In "Adapting to Change", the team [[DressingAsTheEnemy dresses as AIM members]] for an infiltration. While this is not an unusual action, you can't help but notice that all the AIM guys are men, but not one thought the '''''very obviously''''' ''female'' person (Black Widow) wearing one of their outfits was a bit suspicious?
** [[spoiler: Falcoln ages several years while trapped in the future, and none of the other Avegers feel the need to ask about this when they reunite in "The Return."]]
** Peggy Carter and Howard Stark are shocked by the future and comment on several things that they see, such as the holograms, cars, and clothing, but never comment on the fact that Tony has a giant, glowing, piece of metal in his chest.
* VehicularTurnabout: Red Skull and the Cabal actually manage to [[spoiler: hijack the Tri-Carrier and use its weapons against the Avengers.]]
* VillainExitStageLeft: ComicBook/RedSkull and MODOK at the end of the first and second episode.
* VitriolicBestBuds: Hulk's relationship with Thor and Hawkeye is this. He also has a competitive edge with his bowling buddy, The Thing.
* VocalDissonance: In "The Ultimates", Black Widow's Ultron-created double uses Ultron's voice.
* VoicesAreMental:
** [[spoiler: Used when Skull and Cap switch bodies]].
** This happens when the Avengers switch bodies in "Head to Head."
** Tony [[spoiler: speaks with Ultron's voice while being controlled by him.]]
* WellIntentionedExtremist: Hyperion is a genocidal tyrant, but seems to honestly believe that mankind would be much safer under his rule.
* WhamEpisode: At the end of "Crack in the System", Cap's frustration with Tony's way of doing things [[spoiler: results in him quitting the team.]]
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse:
** Producer Steve Wacker openly said that they have no plans for Molecule Kid to appear again on Avengers Assemble.
** No mention is made as to why JARVIS [[spoiler:has been replaced in Season 3 with FRIDAY. When The Vision appears he has Jarvis's voice actor, but it's not stated that the situation is the same as in Age of Ultron. It is stated FRIDAY's existence is due to being the most advanced AI Tony has, effectively outclassing JARVIS]].
** Thanos gets the Tesseract... and it's never seen again.
** Songbird and Red Hulk [[spoiler: become reserve Avengers]] at the end of Season 3, but do not appear [[spoiler: as part of the team in the subsequent season]]. Red Hulk does show up eventually, but only in a BadFuture. On his blog, Stephen Wacker confirmed there are currently no plans for Songbird.
** FRIDAY has also disappeared after Season 3.
* WhatMeasureIsANonHuman:
** The Avengers don't seem to have any qualms with using lethal force against the Space Phantoms. Though it's never stated if what they did actually kill them.
** They also had no problem using lethal force against vampires either. But being mystical creatures, they probably don't stay dead anyway (or aren't really alive in the first place).
** During the fight with Doctor Spectrum, it's established that Ant-Man once killed one of his own ants by accident, and that he harbors intense guilt over the incident. Then, during the final battle with Hyperion, he sends a whole army of insects against the villain, many of which are then killed by Hyperion's heat vision. Ant-Man has no visible reaction to this, despite clearly being upset by the accidental death of a single ant just a few episodes earlier.
* WhatIf: "Planet Doom" takes place in an alternate timeline where Doom prevented Tony Stark from being wounded in the Middle East, Bruce Banner from being exposed to Gamma Radiation, and Captain America from being unfrozen. The resulting world has no Avengers or any other heroes, allowing Doom to easily conquer the planet.
* WholePlotReference:
** As mentioned, the character cast and their designs are based on the successful movie ''Film/{{The Avengers|2012}}''. The episode "Avengers: Impossible" features an alien invasion of the Chitauri, coming through a portal in the sky, which is stopped when Iron Man manages to send a missile though the portal. Sounds familiar? And what is shawarma, anyway?
** The entire first season appears to have been this for the movie, seeing as [[spoiler: Skull is revealed to have been only TheHeavy, trying to get the Tesseract for his master, Thanos. Thanos likewise makes a brief, silent cameo at the end.]]
** "Hulk's Day Out" is this to ''Film/TheHangover''.
** The second season plays out somewhat similarly to the [[spoiler: Skrull arc of ''WesternAnimation/TheAvengersEarthsMightiestHeroes'', with Captain America being the catalyst for a broken fellowship as planned by the Villains]].
** As mentioned in the ShoutOut section, "Under Siege" is an homage to ''Film/DieHard'', with Hawkeye in the John [=McClane=] role.
** "Nighthawk" is about a villain using contingency plans that one of the heroes created to take down their teammates should they ever turn evil. So basically, the Marvel version of the famous "Tower of Babel" storyline from ''[[ComicBook/JusticeLeagueOfAmerica JLA]]'' (which was previously adapted as ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueDoom'').
* WindowLove: Captain America and Iron Man do this against a force field in the Season 3 finale, since [[spoiler: Tony has to stay behind in Doctor Strange's pocket dimension to keep Ultron from escaping.]]
* WolverinePublicity:
** The cast consists solely of characters who have appeared in the movies, while other, non-MCU heroes like ComicBook/BlackPanther, ComicBook/MsMarvel, ComicBook/TheVision, ComicBook/AntMan, and ComicBook/TheWasp were removed from the team. The major guest stars from the first season were mostly more heroes who have appeared in the movies (such as the ComicBook/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy), or heroes who are ''about'' to be joining the MCU (ComicBook/AntMan).
*** If you want a good example of how this trope works, Black Panther, Ant-Man, Captain Marvel (the former Ms. Marvel), and Vision all started appearing once they either had movie appearances or were confirmed to appear in future movies.
** Ironically, the [[ComicBook/{{Wolverine}} man]] [[TropeNamer the trope is named after]] did ''not'' appear in the first season, despite having movie appearances, appearing in [[WesternAnimation/UltimateSpiderMan2012 Ultimate Spider-Man]], ''and'' an action figure in the official toy line.
* WorfEffect:
** Despite being around the Hulk's strength and with weather powers Thor gets his butt kicked and needs saving a disturbing number of times compared to other characters. Attuma dismissed him with nary a thought in the latter's debate episode and he had to be saved by Iron Man from Ulik, a foe from his own rogue's gallery. His lightning attacks are often treated as prime examples of TheWorfBarrage.
** The U-Foes managed to hold their own very well against the Avengers...at first. [[spoiler:By the end of their debut episode, the U-Foes suddenly become severely under-powered and are swiftly taken out. They're ultimately defeated by ''knockout gas''. Bear in mind, one of their members is literally ''made of gas''.]]
* WorldOfSnark
* XanatosGambit:
** [[spoiler: Red Skull in ''Blood Feud''. He tricks Black Widow into becoming a vampire so the Avengers will fight Dracula, which could end in 2 scenarios beneficial to the Skull: 1) Dracula kills them and gets the super soldier serum, thus ridding Skull of his enemies, or 2) which actually happened, the Avengers beat Dracula, thus convincing him he needs to join the Cabal to defeat Captain America.]]
** Nighthawk, as a Franchise/{{Batman}} {{Expy}} loves to use these.
* XanatosSpeedChess: Red Skull's plans in the first episode.
* YearInsideHourOutside: In season 4, when all the original Avengers disappeared, [[spoiler:Falcon got sent to a BadFuture, and he spent ''years'' with Kang trapped there. By the time Dr. Foster finds the Avengers, it's been ''weeks'', and when Falcon returns he remains aged up into an adult with no ResetButton]].
* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: Crossbones and Crimson Widow were ordered by HYDRA to save Whitney Frost from the Avengers. However, Frost had been experimenting on vampires and became a target of Dracula. With vampires attacking at every turn, Crimson Widow notes Frost has gone from an asset to a liability, so she and Crossbones flee.
* YouNeedABreathMint: Hawkeye makes this point to Hulk with a multiple bank shot landing the tin in Hulk's mouth.
* YouWouldntLikeMeWhenImAngry
** Inverted as Thor states that he likes Hulk when he's angry.
** Falcon also told this to the Impossible Man. Hulk interrupts them with a BigWhat.
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