To commemorate the launch of Al Ewing and Paco Medina's U.S.Avengers in 2017, Marvel rolled out a series of variant covers that gave every state its own Avenger. The 12-issue series centered around a group of patriotically-themed working with the U.S. military. After Roberto da Costa purchased Advanced Idea Mechanics (A.I.M), a traditionally villainous group of scientists bent on world domination, he re-branded it as American Intelligence Mechanics. The new A.I.M. was transitioned into a subdivision of S.H.I.E.L.D., with the U.S.Avengers acting as its own super team.
The first issue of U.S.Avengers featured more than 50 variant covers by artist Rod Reis, with one Avenger for each state. The designated heroes ranged from insanely appropriate to downright questionable, but Marvel did its best to give every state in the Union a hero of its very own. Read on to see how well each Avenger related to the state given to them.
When It Came Down To It, Some Heroes Were No-Brainers
As the hero of Harlem, Luke Cage was given the prime opportunity of representing New York. This is a big deal considering the bevy of heroes within the state, but very much a good one considering Cage's inspirational, man-of-the-people spirt. Iron Man got the chance to grace the Californian coast, which makes sense considering Tony's time as a West Coast Avenger, as well as his MCU equivalent launching his superhero career in Malibu. Bruce Banner may not be from New Mexico, but his terrifying Hulk persona first came to life in the desert of New Mexico.
Ms. Marvel wasn't just born and raised in New Jersey, she burst onto the scene and made a name for herself as Jersey City's protector. The connection to Mississippi runs deep in Rogue's blood, making her the only choice for the Magnolia state. And while Sam Wilson wasn't born in the state of Maryland, the area's significance to United States history is an appropriate pick for someone serving as Captain America at the time. Whether personal or symbolic, the Avengers in this tier were no doubt some of the strongest.
Some Heroes Got States Close To Their Hearts
Of course, not every hero gets the area immediately identifiable to them, but some heroes were given the state they were born, such as Doctor Strange getting Pennsylvania. Captain Marvel is given her home state of Massachusetts, while Spectrum gets Louisiana. Characters who've spent their entire life traveling such as Winter Soldier and Hawkeye return home to rep their states of Indiana and Iowa, respectively. USAgent goes back home to the Peach State of Georgia, while Nova gets the state he lives in with his family, Arizona.
X-Men such as Beast, Havok and Cannonball may have journeyed far from home, but they all returned to their places of origin in Illinois, Hawaii and Kentucky, respectively, for their variant covers. Despite his galactic-faring adventures, Quasar represented the quaint state of Wisconsin. And even if they aren't A-list, Whizzer, D-Man and The Irredeemable Ant-Man Eric O'Grady got covers featuring their birthplaces of Missouri, Nebraska and Vermont, respectively. While not the most exciting picks, 50 states is a lot of ground to cover so it makes sense to try and give some states to the heroes who called them home.
Others Got States That Brought Back Old Memories
Even if these Avengers weren't born to these particular territories, they often had run-ins in some capacity. Thor is quite familiar with Oklahoma after Asgard was famously resurrected within the state. And how did Hellcat wind up with Alaska? Probably because she had experience protecting the area in Tony Stark's 50-State Initiative, as did Tigra when it came to Arkansas and Firebird with Texas. Scott Lang isn't just a Floridian native, he also created his own private security company, Ant-Man Security Solutions, when he moved to Miami. And the speedster hero Quicksilver had prior experience protecting Virginia when he joined Serval Industries' X-Factor team.
Unfortunately, not every past experience was a positive one. Red Hulk delivered one of his most powerful blows in Nevada, creating a destructive earthquake that registered a 10.0 on the Richter scale. Jack of Hearts' variant cover reflects a mission of his in South Dakota where he encountered a mysterious fog that killed people upon contact. Interestingly enough, this same fog affected She-Hulk and caused her to go on a rampage in Idaho, her cover's state. That said, not every hero in this tier had a terrible experience with their designated area. In fact, for Amadeus Cho, Utah is where the eventual Totally Awesome Hulk would recognize the intellectual potential of his "hypercomputer" brain. Whether good or bad, past experiences were a decent way to fill out some states, though with several states remaining, the choices really started reaching for connections.
Some Covers Even Hid Interesting Facts In Plain Sight
Admittedly, some of these assignments are stretches. But it seems as though some were based on some small, interesting trivia. For example, the Jane Foster version of Thor was assigned to Alabama. While the character herself has no personal connection to the state, the writer responsible for her assuming Thor's title, Jason Aaron, is an Alabama native. And how does Red Wolf relate to his delegated state? Well, Wyoming's capital city is Cheyenne, which was named after the Cheyenne people. Several incarnations of Red Wolf have been shown to have a deep, ancestral roots to the Cheyenne people.
Steve Rogers may be from the streets of New York, but he was given Delaware instead. An odd choice for the "kid from Brooklyn," but considering Delaware is the first state in the Union, it actually fits the First Avenger pretty well. It's probably stating the obvious to say that Montana was a key territory of the Wild West, but that doesn't make Two-Gun Kid's assignment to the state any less appropriate. And what about The Thing? It turns out that Memphis, Michigan was the site of one of the earliest self-propelled vehicles that just so happened to share Ben Grimm's nickname of The Thing! But for all the factoids these covers provided, a slew of states remained. And that's where the picks began to take a bit of a dive.
Other Covers Were Just Odd Picks
In the end, not every state could get a hero with a deep or even faint connection to their allotted Avenger, making for some truly strange pairings. While its citizens may be happy to have him, Spider-Man has no real, obvious connection to New Hampshire. Nor Scarlet Witch to Maine or Hercules with Colorado. A coastal state like North Carolina kind of makes sense for Namor, but the same can't exactly be said for Marvel Boy in South Carolina. For the Sentry, unless his state of Kansas is a sly Superman joke, there's really nothing tying the hero there. And who can say how Valkyrie or Black Knight wound up with their respective states of West Virginia and Ohio?
Does Tennessee have a wasp problem? Because Wasp graced the cover of the featuring the Volunteer State. Danny Rand may have been the Immortal Iron Fist and defender of K'un-Lun, and yet he somehow wound up as Rhode Island's Avenger. While Minnesota isn't exactly known for its earthquakes, that didn't stop Quake from representing the Land of a 10,000 Lakes. Jocasta and Machine Man share some robotic similarities, but the jury's out on how that translates to their assignments of Washington and North Dakota. And unless Sunspot is a fan of Portlandia, his connection to Oregon is tenuous at best. The Avenger and state pairs in this tier have all been pretty strange, but the one that makes the least sense? Black Widow somehow being given Connecticut. Some clarification there would be nice.
And there it is: 50 Avengers for 50 states (though Marvel also followed up by assigning White Tiger to Puerto Rico, Vision to Washington DC, Deadpool to Canada, and Captain Britain to the United Kingdom.) It was a massive effort and no doubt there's some contention when it comes to the choices made. But it's nice to know that Marvel took the time to give every state their own personal hero, for better or worse.