The Avengers characters are the creation of Marvell Comics. This company, which started in the 1950s as Atlas Comics, was the source of a great many 20th and early 21st century comic characters. Specifically, the Avengers were created through the partnership of Stan Lee and Jack Kirby.

Stan Lee was formerly the president of Marvel comics, and earlier in his career he was one of the most important people in the creation of the company. He is a writer and editor, and in the 1960s he was one of several people who conceived and created characters like Spider-Man, the Hulk, X-Man etc. Working with him on these characters was the artist Jack Kirby, as well as others such as the comic book artist Steve Ditko. Kirby (who is now dead) unlike Lee felt he had not been well treated by Marvel Comics, and he left the company in 1970 to work for a competitor.