Avengers Disassembled is a crossover event between several Marvel Comics series. The general idea is that the teams (the Avengers and the Fantastic Four) and heroes are assaulted, not just physically, but emotionally.  For example, the Fantastic Four are attacked by a group of aliens who want to use the Invisible Woman's power to save their worlds from Galactus, and Iron Man is attacked by a killer wearing a copy of his armour.

One thing that separates this crossover from others is that Bendis has said that "not everyone is coming back from this one"; the Vision has been ripped in half, Ant-Man II (Scott Lang) was blown up, and Hawkeye died destroying a starship. As a result Yellowjacket and The Wasp (Hank and Janet Pym) have reconciled, and are retiring to give their relationship a real go.

In the end, it was revealed that the Scarlet Witch was behind the random attacks, having been driven insane by the loss of her children. At the end of Avengers Disassembled she was whisked away by Magneto. Her storyline continues in the pages of Excalibur, which will lead in to the upcoming House of M miniseries, which will also be written by Bendis. Magneto and Quicksilver will also be major characters in the story. It has also been implied that she was the one responsible for the Magneto impostor that destroyed New York in the "Planet X" arc that took place during New X-Men #146-#150.

Issue Listing

• Avengers #500-503 (main story)
• Avengers Finale (epilogue)
• Captain America #29-32 (aftermath)
• Captain America and the Falcon #5-7 (prologue)
• Fantastic Four #517-519 (aftermath)
• Iron Man #84-85 (prologue) and #86-89 (aftermath)
• Spectacular Spider-Man #15-20 (prologue)
• Thor #80-81 (prologue) and #82-85 (parallel story)

Effects

In the wake of Avengers Disassembled two new Avengers series have been created. The New Avengers title replaces the Avengers title (with a new number 1 in December, 2004) which ends with issue #503 and Avengers Finale (November, 2004). This new title will continue with the current creative team of writer Brian Michael Bendis and artist David Finch .

The other title, premiering February, 2005, is the Young Avengers which will feature young versions of some of the main Avengers characters. This series will be written by Allan Heinberg, a writer for The OC, with art by Jim Cheung . Scott Lang's daughter, Cassie, has become a member of this team, seeking to carry on in her father's footsteps.