Micro-Episodes of "Avengers Unleashed"

The pilot episodes of Avengers Unleashed.

Featured Characters

 * Avengers (first appearance; assembled)
 * Captain America / Steve Rogers (first appearance) (flashback and main story) (origins revealed)
 * Iron Man / Tony Stark (first appearance) (flashback and main story) (origins revealed)
 * Thor (first appearance) (flashback and main story) (origins revealed)
 * Hulk / Bruce Banner (first appearance) (flashback and main story) (origins revealed)
 * Black Widow / Natasha Romanoff (first appearance)
 * Hawkeye / Clint Barton (first appearance)
 * Spider-Man / Peter Parker (first appearance) (flashback and main story) (origins revealed)

Captain America's segment

 * United States Army
 * Howling Commandos (first appearance) (flashback only)
 * James Buchanan "Bucky" Barnes (first appearance) (flashback and main story)
 * Dum-Dum Dugan (first appearance) (flashback only)
 * James Falsworth (first appearance) (flashback only)
 * Jim Morita (first appearance) (flashback only)
 * Gabe Jones (first appearance) (flashback only)
 * Jacques Dernier (first appearance) (flashback only)
 * Strategic Scientific Reserves (first appearance) (flashback only)
 * Col. Chester Phillips (first appearance) (flashback only)
 * Sgt. Duffy (first appearance) (flashback only)
 * Project Rebirth
 * Dr. Abraham Erskine (first appearance) (flashback only)
 * Stark Industries
 * Howard Stark (first appearance) (flashback only)
 * S.H.I.E.L.D.
 * Captain Marvel / Carol Danvers (first appearance)
 * Maria Hill (first appearance)
 * Nick Fury (first appearance)
 * Phil Coulson (first appearance)

Iron Man's segment

 * Ho Yinsen (single appearance; dies)
 * Pepper Potts (first appearance)
 * Col. James "Rhodey" Rhodes (first appearance)

Spider-Man's segment

 * Mary Jane Watson (first appearance) (flashback and main story)
 * Sally Avril (first appearance) (flashback and main story)
 * Uncle Ben (single appearance; dies)

Hulk's segment

 * Betty Ross (first appearance)
 * Dr. Leonard Samson (first appearance)
 * Wasp / Janet Van Dyne (first appearance)

Thor's segment

 * Jane Foster
 * Odin
 * Frigga
 * Lady Sif
 * Warriors Three
 * Fandral
 * Hogun
 * Volstagg
 * Heimdall

Villains

 * Thanos (first appearance)
 * Oscorp
 * Donald Menken (single appearance) (dies)
 * Green Goblin / Norman Osborn (first appearance)
 * Dennis Carradine

Premise
Twelve micro-episodes centering on the origins of Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, Hulk, Spider-Man and the foundation of the Avengers respectively.

01) “Out of Time (Captain America's Story, Part 1)”
In the Arctic sea, Captain Marvel is melting some gigantic ice blocks until she discovers the frozen body of Captain America, who is heard narrating: "It's been for about 70 years... and I still ask myself: "How am I still here?"... "How am I still alive?"... if you call this just alive.". Scene shifts back to the year of 1945, when an sickly Steve Rogers was being subjected to Dr. Abraham Erskine's "super-soldier" experiment, from which he emerged taller and more muscular. Shortly after, he also survived an explosion in the lab (which resulted in Erskine's death) caused by Red Skull's spy Heinz Kruger, whom Rogers then pursued and apprehended for interrogation. Scene then shifts to Rogers, in the moniker of Captain America, and his fellow Howling Commandos - James Buchanan "Bucky" Barnes, Dum-Dum Dugan, James Falsworth, Jim Morita, Gabe Jones and Jacques Dernier - assaulting the Red Skull's Hydra Base, where Captain America and Bucky pursue Skull in his airship the Valkyrie in a chaotic battle which causes the three to fall off the destroyed ship to their apparent deaths in the Arctic sea.

02) “Heart of Steel (Iron Man's Story, Part 1)”
In a desert of war-torn Afghanistan, Tony Stark, near death after beig critically wounded by one of his own company's rocket-propelled grenades which was used by his captors, awakens to discover that Professor Yinsen, a fellow captive who is a doctor, implanted an electromagnet into Stark's chest to keep the shrapnel shards which wounded him from reaching his heart and killing him. After secretly building a small, powerful electric generator called an Arc Reactor to power Stark's electromagnet and a prototypical suit of powered armor, Stark and Yinsen manage to make thier escape. Battling their way through the cave and destroy the stolen weapons before they can be sent to Hydra. Though they succeed, Yinsen is caught in the explosion and greatly injured. He has Stark promise him to take care of his daughter Toni Ho before dying as Stark sighs in relief, but saddened by his friend's death.

03) “For Asgard! (Thor's Story, Part 1)”
It begins with the flashback of a young Thor standing before the statues of the ancient Allfathers and kings of Asgard and swearing to honor their memory by doing what must be done to protect those in need of him. In Present Day, a ceremony is being held in Asgard by Odin for his son Thor, who is knighted by his father Odin as the Lord of Thunder and gifted with his war-hammer Mjolnir. One year later, Thor overhears of the Jötun (frost giants from Jotunheim) attacking a village near Odin's castle and, followed by Sif and the Warriors Three (Fandral, Hogun and Volstagg), goes there to battle them. Right when he was the last Frost Giant at his mercy, Thor overhears a child from the village of who the mastermind behind the invasion is: Loki, who had allowed the Jötun as another attempt for the throne of Asgard. Thor confronts Loki at the Bifrost Bridge and, after a long fight, Thor manages to stop Loki from completing his device, which would be used to destroy the other Nine Realms, and take him to the Throne Room to stand trial. As punishment for his treachery (which previously cost the life of Thor's half-brother Balder), Loki is banished to the Frost Giant's realm of Jotunheim. Though pleased with the safety of Asgard, Thor expresses concern that Asgard is not the only realm which was threatened by Loki's schemes. Odin agrees with his words as Thor pays his last respects for Balder and leaves to protect Midgard / Earth as Odin heard saying: "May the Allfathers of the past guide you, my son.".

04) “The First Smash (Hulk's Story, Part 1)”
It all starts with Dr. Bruce Banner in a hospital bed being analysed by nurses as he remembers what happened; one month ago, he was working with colleague and girlfriend Betty Ross, within the Berkeley Biotechnology Institute on nanomed research to achieve instantaneous cell repair by using low level Gamma radiation exposure to turn on the nanomeds once they were introduced into a living organism, planning to use it to cure all from sicknesses such as cancer and Alzheimer's, though they got harassed by Major Glenn Talbot who planned to use their work to forge super soldiers (which Banner and Betty were reluctant to agree with due to the possible consequences). During routine maintenance of their appropriated gamma-ray spectrometer, a circuit shorted and triggered the experiment's program sequence. Unable to prevent the machine from firing, Banner threw himself in front of a colleague to shield the man and was exposed to a massive amount of gamma radiation. In Present Day, Banner sees and overhears from the outside Betty's father General Ross and his men (including Talbot) arriving to take Banner in and collect his DNA sample. Just as Betty is forced out of their way, Banner, seeing their act as a threat, gets angered enough to transform into the Hulk, fighting back against Ross' troopers and destroying their equipment. Hulk almost kills Ross and Talbot until Betty calms him down. Unable to finish Ross off in front his of daughter, Hulk forcibly flees saddened as Betty angrily scolds and scorns her father for ruining everything. As Betty also leaves tearfully with Dr. Leonard Samson comforting her, Hulk is shown sitting in the top of a building ashamed of his acts.

05) “Great Power... Great Responsibility (Spider-Man's Story, Part 1)”
It all starts with Peter Parker feeling ill in the school bus as he is comforted by Mary Jane. Just then, he starts having visions of Steve Rogers' transformation into a super soldier before he wakes up feeling well as if he was feeling nothing. As he goes home, Peter is heard narrating: "Well, apparently this is how it all started. A nerdy student who's treated by the popular guys like a little nobody until the first step of his big change goes by.". A short flashback plays in three hours ago, on which Peter and his classmates were attending to a field trip in a Oscorp research lab and left, but not before one of the facility's enhanced spiders follows Peter and bites him. Next day, Peter goes to school on foot and oddly, he arrives even before the school staff arrives. Suddenly discovering that the spider which bit him physically enhanced him; making him stronger, faster and able to leap higher places and climb walls. This new trait allows him to humiliate the schools' finest sport players in Basketball and Football. Having been taught and persuaded by Uncle Ben that a 'Great Power will also come with a Great Responsibility', Peter later uses his new tricks to help contribute with his neighborhood, though he also gets in a fight with Manuel, one of school's resident bullies, who got jealous of Peter's seemly new popularity and stalks him out of rage of being humiliated in front of his girlfriend Sally Avril (who broke up with him earlier). In the issuing mayhem, Manuel's car is hijacked and stolen by a unknown burglar. Suddenly, Peter overhears a gunshot and Sally screaming. Just then, Peter finds in horror his uncle Ben laying in the ground dead as Peter mourns his uncle and Sally (visibly guild-ridden) comforts him.

06) “The First Avenger (Captain America's Story, Part 2)”
It starts with Steve Rogers walking around the streets and visiting a graveyard as he mourns his war colleges, who died years after World War II was over. A short flashback plays, showing Captain America being frozen in the Arctic sea along with Bucky and Red Skull before, decades later, being found still alive by S.H.I.E.L.D. agents guided by Captain Marvel, though Bucky and Skull are not found. Rogers is later comforted by Carol Danvers as they meet with the descendants of his colleges, including Sharon Carter, who takes a secret liking to him. Remembering Dr. Erskine's supportive words, Rogers regains confidence as he vows to battle alongside his new allies against the new forces of Hydra while honoring the memory of his deceased friends. Scene shifts to Red Skull (frozen, but still alive) being found by Arnim Zola along with Bucky, who is being experimented on by Madame Hydra.

07) “Armored Avenger (Iron Man's Story, Part 2)”
One day after being retrieved back to New York by Colonel James Rhodes' men, Tony Stark is attending to Yinsen's funeral before he is met with Yinsen's daughter Toni Ho, who gently complements that her father's death was not Stark's fault as she chooses to blame it on her country's President for having done nothing about the terrorists who wanted to steal the weapons of Stark Industries. In his laboratory, Stark shows Rhodes and Pepper Potts his latest invention: a sleeker, more powerful version of his improvised armor suit. Obadiah Stane arrives interested with Stark's new invention, but when Ho arrives, Stark (reminded of what his kidnappers planned to use his weapons for) informs that the armor is not for sale. Plus; his company will no longer manufacture weapons, but instead, will start selling high-tech humanitarian resources to help global community. Just as Stark and Stane argue over the situation, the facility is attacked by a Hydra squad which was sent there to steal Stark's newly concealed weapons. Stark quickly dons his new armor and fights back against the invaders as the citizens and reporters are watching. After defeating the troops, Stark hack one of the agents' recorded files and broadcasts a footage revealing that Stane was the one who hired the Afghanistanian terrorists to capture Stark and was staging a coup to replace him as Stark Industries' CEO. As Stane is arrested, Stark is cheered on by the citizens as Iron Man before setting out to Afghanistan to apprehend the remaining terrorists and save Yinsen's home village, Gulmira while muttering "This is for you, old friend.".

08) “Asgardian Avenger (Thor's Story, Part 2)”
Following his battle with the Frost Giants in Asgard and Loki's exile, Thor arrives in Midgard / Earth to battle the possible threats which were unleashed by Loki before. Having explored Earth for a year ago, Thor had also learned more of and appreciated the human's cultures. He had also taken a liking to astrophysicist Dr. Jane Foster. Just then, Thor overhears of an assault at the company Jane works on. He makes it there and confronts the invaders: the Wrecking Crew (Wrecker, Bulldozer, Piledriver and Thunderball), who were out to attack and destroy the facility as hired by Loki (who was disguised as Kingpin). Thor had been informed of the Crew's activities and taunts that their wrecking activities had not made them true warriors. The villains attack Thor, who defeats them with little effort. Just as Thor addresses to the citizens, Wrecker recovers and tries to lift Mjolnir, which fails much to the everyone's amusement. Just as all crew members try to lift the hammer at once, Thor conjures a lightning bolt which descends to Mjolnir and electrocutes the Crew, knocking the unconscious. As the Crew members are taken to prison, Thor addresses to Jane, who is marveled with what Thor can do and the two go out for a date.

09) “Incredible Avenger (Hulk's Story, Part 2)”
It all starts with the Hulk walking around a forest still ashamed of his condition. He is somewhat comforted by the presence of the resident animals before he encounters a family of farmers who show no fear of him. Later on, he encounters high school student Janet Van Dyne (who secretly operates as young heroine Wasp). Admiring her dedication with citizens, Hulk becomes convinced that heroic acts will redeem his actions as a rampaging monster. Just then, he sees Wasp facing General Ross' super soldier in the Hulkbuster Emil Blonsky, who had become the monstrous Abomination after injecting himself with a sample of the Hulk's Gamma blood combined with the Super Soldier Serum which granted him with size and strength matching that of the Hulk, but drove him insane. Unable to let Wasp handle this alone, Hulk joins her fight and the two defeat Abomination as Wasp finds the evidences of the Hulkbusters' involvement with the incident to expose Ross, who is then removed from his role as U.S. army general and arrested, the Hulkbusters are disbanded and Abomination is imprisoned in the Cube as Hulk is praised as a new hero.

10) “Webbed Avenger (Spider-Man's Story, Part 2)”
Peter Parker is standig next to his tearful aunt May attending to Uncle Ben's funeral, where they are comforted by Peter's friends from school, including Sally Avril, who tearfully assumes that Ben's death was her fault; she was speaking with Uncle Ben in a street near to the one Manuel picked a fight with Peter until the carjacker (who has been Manuel's long time rival in streets) attempted to shoot her, but only for Ben to save her and take the shoot in her place. Next day, the students pay their respects for Peter over his grief as they loudly scorn Manuel and choose to blame him for Uncle Ben's death. Sometime later, Peter is met with Commissioner George Stacy, who informs him the burglar who shot Uncle Ben, revealing his identity of Dennis Carradine, a former Oscorp employee who was reported fired because of is involvements with gang wars. Using the high-tech resources he bought from Stark Industries, Peter creates for himself a red and blue bodysuit with mechanical devices to attach to his wrists to shoot a biocable "web", becoming a new vigilante identified by citizens as the "Spider-Man". At the night, Peter tracks down and ambushes Carradine and turns him over to the police, but not before taking a device from Carradine which contains secret information of Oscorp. Through the files, he discovers that his father Richard Parker refused to cooperate with Norman Osborn's plans to make biogenetic weapons and, as an act of retaliation, Osborn ordered his men to execute Richard and his wife Mary to stop them from exposing Oscorp's corrupt involvements. Peter consequently hands the evidence to the authorities, who allow S.H.I.E.L.D. Forces led by Black Widow and Hawkeye to attack and destroy the facilities, though Osborn escapes after injecting himself with a serum which transforms him into a goblin-like creature called "Green Goblin". One year later, Peter, satysfied to know the murderers of his parents and uncle were brought to final justice, resumes to fight crime as Spider-Man.

11) “Hail Hydra! (the Avengers' Story, Part 1)”
The episode starts with S.H.I.E.L.D. Director Nick Fury overseeing footage of Captain America, Iron Man, Thor and Hulk battling crime and other threats individually while checking on the project he and his closest informant Maria Hill have een working on: the Avenger Initiative, of which Black Widow and Hawkeye are also listed in. Meanwhile, Captain America and Iron Man are battling a pack of Hydra mercenaries led by Baron Zemo in Washington D.C. at the same time Hulk and Thor are battling Hydra-owned Chitauri in a Siberian mountain. At the same time, Black Widow and Hawkeye are sent to infiltrate a Hydra facility in Siberia commanded by Baron Strucker and discover the Red Skull's plans with the Tesseract. The duo defeat several agents and ambush Strucker, who (against Skull's orders) activates the Tesseract's power, which triggers an teleportation portal and summons a bigger threat than Hydra is... Thanos.

12) “Avengers Assemble! (the Avengers' Story, Part 2)”
As Thanos realizes what was going on and exacts to retrieve the Tesseract, the artifact he has been after for years, Baron Strucker and his soldiers attempt to halt him, but the Mad Titan takes little effort in neutralizing them. Black Widow and Hawkeye manage to retrieve the Tesseract and retreat as Thanos chases after them. Seeing what was going on, Director Fury, seeing Thanos as a potential threat compared to Hydra, activates the Avenger Initiative, summoning Captain America, Iron Man, Thor and Hulk. Black Widow and Hawkeye arrive in Manhattan with Thanos still in pursuit. Just then, he is intercepted by Captain America, Iron Man, Thor and Hulk, who had answered Fury's distress call and arrive to reinforce Black Widow and Hawkeye. After a great battle through the city, the united heroes defeat Thanos as Iron Man and Thor use the Tesseract to open a portal to another part of the galaxy which Hulk punches Thanos into. Thanos is teleported into a lifeless uninhabited planet as he vows revenge. Knowing that there will be future threats which none of them can handle alone, the six heroes accept their new decision of banding together as Avengers and, after inaugurating their official headquarters, exact to recruit new members for the team, starting with Black Panther, Captain Marvel and Spider-Man...