Using The Tesseract, The Chitauri now open a gateway over New York City and emerge to invade Earth en masse. They gradually come to realise that this is part of Loki’s plan and that he has manipulated events to allow the Hulk inside Bruce Banner to emerge and go amok against the team, at the same time as the fortress is invaded by his mind-controlled agents. Loki is tracked down and captured in Stuttgart and taken prisoner aboard a S.H.I.E.L.D. They are later joined by the Asgardian Thor, returned to stop his brother Loki’s intended goal of becoming ruler of Earth. They also bring Bruce Banner in from where he is living in the slums of Calcutta for his expertise with gamma rays in order to track the whereabouts of The Tesseract. operative Natasha Romanoff is recalled from an undercover operation in Russia Tony Stark is convinced to abandon his self-interest and don the Iron Man suit to save the world while a recently cryogenically awakened Steve Rogers agrees to put on the Captain America costume and becomes The Avengers’ field head. To this extent, a number of superheroes are persuaded to come into action – top S.H.I.E.L.D. Nick Fury immediately pushes the World Council to put the defunct Avengers Initiative into operation to counter the threat. agents, including Clint ‘Hawkeye’ Barton, and escape with The Tesseract. Loki has been given a staff of power by the alien Chitauri that he uses to take over the minds of several S.H.I.E.L.D. It opens a gateway out of which emerges the Asgardian god Loki. base, the alien artifact known as The Tesseract comes to life.