title: Hank Azaria

text: Since "Huff"s conclusion in 2006, Azaria has continued to make multiple film appearances. He played the smooth-talking Whit in David Schwimmer's directorial debut "Run Fatboy Run" (2007). During production he became good friends with co-star Simon Pegg, performing "The Simpsons" voices on request, frequently distracting Pegg when he was supposed to be filming. He worked with Stiller again on 2009's "" in which Azaria played the villainous pharaoh Kah Mun Rah, utilizing a Boris Karloff accent. Although the film received mixed reviews, critics praised Azaria's performance. Perry Seibert of "TV Guide" wrote that "thanks to Azaria, a master of comic timing. His grandiose, yet slightly fey bad guy is equally funny when he's chewing out minions as he is when deliberating if Oscar the Grouch and Darth Vader are evil enough to join his team." He appeared as Abraham in "Year One" (2009), Dr. Knight in 2010's "Love & Other Drugs", and played "Deep Throat" director Gerard Damiano in "Lovelace" (2013).


title: Hank Azaria

text: Azaria played Gargamel in the computer-animated/live-action adaptation of "The Smurfs" (2011). Azaria wore a prosthetic nose, ears, buck teeth, eyebrows and a wig, as well as shaving his head. He spent approximately 130 hours in the make-up chair over the course of the production. Azaria considered Gargamel's voice to be the most important part of his performance. The producers wanted an "old, failed, Shakespearean actor" voice, but Azaria felt this would lack energy and wanted something more Eastern European. He eventually selected a voice similar to that of Paul Winchell's from the cartoon. Azaria disliked the cartoon when it first aired, and considered Gargamel too one-dimensional a character and "just this straight villain"; he opted to make Gargamel "more sarcastic" than in the cartoon, but "discovered that there's no way to play Gargamel without screaming your head off at certain points – ramping him up and getting him very upset over Smurfs". He interpreted him as "very lonely", adding that "he hates the Smurfs because they're such a happy family. He wants in really badly. I think he wants to be embraced as a Smurf". Azaria worked with the writers to "infuse" the script with some of his ideas about the character, "particularly with the 'married' relationship between Gargamel and [his cat] Azreal " which Azaria conceived.


title: Hank Azaria

text: Reviewers from "The San Francisco Chronicle" and "The Boston Globe" commented on Azaria's "overacting" in the role of Gargamel. More positive reaction came from Scott Bowles of "USA Today" called Azaria the "human standout"; Betsy Sharkey of the "Los Angeles Times" felt he suffered the "greatest disservice" of the film's cast due to a poor script. Azaria noted in an interview with "The A.V. Club" that "The Smurfs" and "Night at the Museum" were films he agreed to do primarily for the money, but that "I won't even do that unless I think it will at least be fun to do...I really try to throw myself into it, figure out the funniest, cleverest way to get the material over, and make it fun to do and fun to watch." Azaria reprised his role in the 2013 sequel "The Smurfs 2". In 2016, Azaria starred in "" with Richard Gere.


title: Hank Azaria

text: Azaria performed a number of voice roles in addition to "The Simpsons", although he noted in 2005: "I started doing other voiceovers for cartoons for a couple of years, but I didn't really love it. I was spoiled by "The Simpsons"." He voiced Eddie Brock / Venom in "Spider-Man: The Animated Series" between 1994 and 1996. In the animated feature "Anastasia" (1997), he voiced Bartok the bat and reprised the role in the direct-to-video prequel "Bartok the Magnificent" (1999). For his performance in "Anastasia", Azaria won the Annie Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement for Voice Acting by a Male Performer in an Animated Feature Production. He also voiced Eric in the American dub of the series "Stressed Eric", Harold Zoid in the 2001 "Futurama" episode "That's Lobstertainment!", and Abbie Hoffman and Allen Ginsberg in "Chicago 10" (2007). For the 2011 film "Hop", Azaria voiced Carlos and Phil. The response to the film was mostly negative, but many reviewers praised Azaria's performance. For example, Sandie Chen of "The Washington Post" said "Azaria has been honing his over-the-top Spanish accent since "The Birdcage", so anything he says grabs some laughs", while Emma Simmonds of "Time Out" called him an "unflappable presence, voicing two characters with style". Later in the year he voiced The Mighty Sven in "Happy Feet Two". Azaria voices Shelfish Sheldon in "Mack & Moxy." He also voices the lead character, Texan border agent Bud Buckwald, in "Bordertown", which started in 2016.


title: Hank Azaria

text: Once "The Simpsons" was "going steadily" and Azaria had enough money to live on, he stopped working on commercials as he found them "demoralizing", feeling that he sounded sarcastic whenever he read for them. When recording the part of "Jell-O Man" for a Jell-O commercial, he was told to make the voice he offered "more likable and friendly so that children like him." After pointing out that "Jell-O Man" was a fictional character, he left and pledged to never record for an advertisement again. However, in 2012 he voiced several insects in a commercial for the Chevrolet Sonic.


title: Hank Azaria

text: Azaria wrote and directed the 2004 short film "Nobody's Perfect", which won the Film Discovery Jury Award for Best Short at the US Comedy Arts Festival. In January 2007, he was confirmed to be directing "Outsourced", a film about two American workers who journey to get their jobs back, after their factory is moved to Mexico. In 2009, Azaria told "Empire" he was instead focusing on making a documentary about fatherhood. Two years later he told the "Los Angeles Times" that this project was "half-complete" and was "forever looking for financing to finish it." It eventually began in 2014, airing on AOL as an online series titled "Fatherhood". According to AOL, the series of short episodes documents Azaria's "touching, humorous, and often enlightening journey from a man who is not even sure he wants to have kids, to a father going through the joys, trials and tribulations of being a dad."


title: Hank Azaria

text: He has periodically returned to theatrical work, appearing in several productions. In 2003, he appeared as Bernard in a run of David Mamet's play "Sexual Perversity in Chicago", along with Matthew Perry and Minnie Driver, in London's West End. Azaria made his first appearance as Sir Lancelot, the French Taunter, and four other characters in "Spamalot", the musical version of "Monty Python and the Holy Grail", which opened in Chicago in December 2004, before moving to the Shubert Theatre on Broadway. The show met with critical acclaim, receiving fourteen Tony Award nominations in 2005, with Azaria being nominated for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical. Reuniting with "The Birdcage" director Mike Nichols, and being a huge "Monty Python" fan, he saw it as an opportunity he could not pass up, describing it as "so much fun that I haven't realized how tiring it is," and "the most fun that I've ever had in my entire life." He took a break from the show in June 2005, with Alan Tudyk filling in for him, to work on "Huff", but returned in December 2005. In late 2007 he starred in Aaron Sorkin's "The Farnsworth Invention", playing RCA head David Sarnoff. In 2016, he starred in the world premiere of "Dry Powder" opposite Claire Danes, John Krasinski, and Sanjit De Silva, directed by Thomas Kail, at the off-Broadway Public Theater in New York City.


title: Hank Azaria

text: Azaria starred in and co-wrote the third episode of the Funny or Die web-series "Gamechangers", entitled "A Legend in the Booth." He played Jim Brockmire, a legendary baseball announcer, fired for a profanity-filled breakdown live on air after discovering his wife was having an affair. Azaria based the voice and style of Brockmire on several veteran sportscasters, including Bob Murphy and Phil Rizzuto. He has since appeared as Brockmire on the NFL Network's "The Rich Eisen Podcast" to discuss the National Football League. In November 2012, Azaria sued actor Craig Bierko over the ownership of the Brockmire voice. The case was ruled in Azaria's favor in 2014. Both actors had been using a baseball announcer voice before and since meeting at a party in 1990, but US district judge Gary Allen Feess ruled that only Azaria's voice was, as Brockmire, a defined, "tangible" character and thus subject to copyright.


title: Hank Azaria

text: Azaria's friends refer to him as "the freakish mimic" due to his ability to copy almost anyone's voice, instantly after he has heard it. As a child, he believed that everyone could do this, but later realized that it was not a common talent. Azaria can "remember every voice I hear, famous or otherwise ... they kind of remain in the memory banks, so I'm ready to trot them out." Azaria was glad to have found the "ultimate outlet" for this skill, in "The Simpsons". He "didn't realize it [when he joined the show], but it became like a lab for a character actor. I had to do so many voices." In the early 2000s, Azaria felt he had reached the maximum number of voices he was capable of: "For the first 10 years of "The Simpsons", I would develop a bunch of voices. And then ... I hit a point when I was tapped out. Every noise I can make, I have made. Even characters like Gargamel, I've done. Even if it was only two or three lines, at some point I've done something similar on "The Simpsons", at least somewhere along the line."


title: Hank Azaria

text: For many of Azaria's characters, much of their humor is derived from a "funny voice", such as "The Birdcage" and "Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian". He stated that "being funny with a funny voice is more my comfort zone, a broader character that I try to humanize, a kind of silly or wacky persona that I try to fill in," although he finds it "much easier to be someone much closer to myself," as it requires "less energy ... than playing characters that are so out there and high strung."


title: Hank Azaria

text: "The Simpsons" creator Matt Groening has stated that Azaria possesses the ability to turn unfunny lines into some of the best in an episode, while former writer Jay Kogen stated: "Just when I think I know [Azaria's] bag of tricks, he's always got a new thing he does to surprise me." Throughout the run of "The Simpsons", Azaria has had to sing in character several times, a task which he describes as easier than singing normally. "The Smurfs" writer David N. Weiss says Azaria "has a beautiful treasure trove of talent," and "became what you wished you were writing." Playwright Jenelle Riley wrote in 2005 that Azaria was "by far" her favorite actor, praising his "versatility" and "tendency to take small roles that would normally fade into the background and to consistently create characters people care about," noting his roles in "Shattered Glass", "Mystery, Alaska" and especially "".


title: Hank Azaria

text: In the early 1990s, Azaria was in a relationship with actress Julie Warner. His relationship with actress Helen Hunt began in 1994; they married in a traditional Jewish ceremony at the couple's home in Southern California on July 17, 1999. The two had appeared together in "Mad About You" and the "Simpsons" episode "Dumbbell Indemnity". After a year of marriage, Azaria moved out of the couple's home, and Hunt filed for divorce after a six-month separation, citing irreconcilable differences. The divorce was finalized on December 18, 2000.


title: Hank Azaria

text: Azaria began dating former actress Katie Wright in 2007, and the two married later that year. They have a son named Hal (born 2009). The family has one dog, Truman, and two rescue cats, Mookie and Wilson. In 2013, the family began renting a home on 80th Street in Manhattan, with plans to make a final decision on where to live in two years. They previously lived in a four-bedroom house in Pacific Palisades, which Azaria bought from his "Simpsons" co-star Dan Castellaneta in 2011. Several weeks earlier, Azaria had sold his home in Bel Air. Azaria previously owned the fifth-floor co-op loft on Mercer Street in Manhattan's Soho neighborhood, which he bought from photographer Cindy Sherman in 2005, before selling it in 2013.


title: Hank Azaria

text: Azaria is the godfather of Oliver Platt's son, George. He is also a regular poker player, appearing twice on "Celebrity Poker Showdown" and competing at other events, finishing a few places short of the bubble in the main event of the 2010 World Series of Poker. Azaria is a supporter of the Democratic Party. He enjoys the music of Elvis Costello, and has stated that he would have been a therapist if he were not an actor. He considers "The Godfather Trilogy" to be what inspired him to become an actor, and counts Peter Sellers and Walt Frazier as his heroes. Azaria co-founded the educational support charity, "Determined to Succeed".


title: Hank Azaria

text: On May 22, 2016, he was awarded the Honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters (DHL) from Tufts University.


title: Pit bull

text: Pit bull is a term used in the United States for a type of dog descended from bulldogs and terriers, while in other countries such as the United Kingdom the term is used as an abbreviation of the American Pit Bull Terrier breed. The term was first used in 1927. Within the United States the pit bull is usually considered a heterogeneous grouping that includes the breeds American Pit Bull Terrier, American Staffordshire Terrier, American Bully, Staffordshire Bull Terrier and occasionally the American Bulldog, along with any crossbred dog that shares certain physical characteristics with these breeds. In other countries including Britain, the Staffordshire Bull Terrier is not considered a pit bull. Most pit bull-type dogs descend from the British Bull and terrier, a 19th-century dog-fighting type developed from crosses between the Old English Bulldog and the Old English Terrier.


title: Pit bull

text: Pit bull-type dogs have a controversial reputation as pets both in the United States and internationally, due to their history in dog fighting, the number of high-profile attacks documented in the media over decades, and their proclivity to latching on while biting. Proponents of the breed and advocates of regulation have engaged in a nature-versus-nurture debate over whether apparent aggressive tendencies in pit bulls may be appropriately attributed to owners' care for the dog or inherent qualities. Numerous advocacy organizations have sprung up in defense of the pit bull. Some studies have argued that the type is not disproportionately dangerous, offering competing interpretations on dog bite statistics. Independent organizations have published statistics based on hospital records showing pit bulls are responsible for more than half of dog bite incidents among all breeds despite comprising 6% of pet dogs. Some insurance companies will not cover pit bulls (along with rottweilers and wolf hybrids) because these particular breeds cause a disproportionate rate of bite incidents. Dog bite severity varies by the breed of dog, and studies have found that pit bull-type dogs have both the highest risk of biting and a tendency to produce the most severe injuries.


title: Pit bull

text: Pit bull-type dogs are extensively used in the United States for dogfighting, a practice that has continued despite being outlawed. A number of nations and jurisdictions restrict the ownership of pit bull-type dogs through breed-specific legislation. A pro-pit bull lobby exists that spends millions of dollars a year promoting pit bulls as family pets, funding pro-pit bull researchers, and opposing laws that regulate their ownership.


title: Pit bull

text: It is believed all dogs that are now classified as pit bulls descend from the British bull and terrier, which were first imported into North America in the 1870s. The bull-and-terrier was a breed of dog developed in the United Kingdom in the early 19th century for the blood sports of dog fighting and rat baiting, it was created by crossing the ferocious, thickly muscled Old English Bulldog with the agile, lithe, feisty Black and Tan Terrier. The aggressive Old English Bulldog, which was bred for bear and bull baiting, was often also pitted against its own kind in organised dog fights, but it was found that lighter, faster dogs were better suited to dogfighting than the heavier Bulldog. To produce a lighter, faster more agile dog that retained the courage and tenacity of the Bulldog, outcrosses from local terriers were tried, and ultimately found to be successful.


title: Pit bull

text: As it was in the United Kingdom, dog fighting became a popular pastime in 19th century America and bull-and-terriers were imported to the New World to pursue the blood sport. In the United States organised dog fights have been progressively outlawed in various states since 1874, culminating in federal legislation criminalising animal fighting in 2007.


title: Pit bull

text: In the 1890s breeders of American pit bull-type dogs attempted to have their dogs recognised by the American Kennel Club, but because of the type's association with dogfighting, the club rejected these entreaties. Following this rejection, in 1898 breeders of American Pit Bull Terriers established a rival kennel club, the United Kennel Club. In addition to being a breed registry, the United Kennel Club also regulated dogfights. In the 1930s the American Kennel Club was faced with a dilemma, whilst not wishing to condone dogfighting there was a desire to recognise a uniquely American dog breed for which over 30 years of breed records existed. The solution was to recognise Pit Bull Terriers under a different name and prohibit these dogs from being used in organised fights and in 1935 the American Kennel Club recognised Pit Bull Terriers as Staffordshire Terriers.


title: Pit bull

text: The name "Staffordshire Bull Terrier" was first used in Britain in 1930 in advertisements for bull-and-terrier-type dogs. Organised dog fighting had been effectively eliminated in the United Kingdom by the Protection of Animals Act 1911, but devotees of the bull-and-terrier type continued to breed these dogs, predominantly in England's Black Country. Throughout the early 1930s attempts were made in England to gain recognition for these dogs with The Kennel Club, these efforts were successful in 1935. In order to avoid confusion with the British breed, in 1972 the American Kennel Club changed the name of their American breed to the American Staffordshire Terrier.


title: Pit bull

text: Despite criminalisation, illegal fights using pit bull-type dogs have continued to be widespread in the United States, in the 1990s in that country it was estimated 1,500 dogs died annually in organised fights and by the mid-2000s it was estimated over 40,000 people were involved in the illegal blood sport. Pit bull-type dogs are also used by criminal organisations to guard illegal narcotics, and to intimidate and attack civilians, other criminals and police, the type becoming a status symbol in American gang culture. On the other side of the law, pit bull-type dogs have been used by U.S. Customs and Border Protection as drug detection dogs.


title: Pit bull

text: There is a lobby of animal rights groups that are spending millions of dollars to try to rebrand pit bulls as family dogs. In efforts to counter negative perceptions about pit bull-type dogs, both the San Francisco Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and the New York City Center for Animal Care and Control have unsuccessfully attempted to rename the type.


title: Pit bull

text: Studies have found that when people involved in dog rescue, adoption, and regulation identify the breed of a dog of mixed parentage, this identification did not always correlate with the DNA analysis of that dog. Mixed-breed dogs are often labeled as pit bulls if they have certain physical characteristics, such as a square-shaped head or bulky body type.


title: Pit bull

text: A 2000 joint review project between researchers in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) and American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) found the data indicated that Rottweilers and pit bull-type dogs accounted for 67% of human dog bite-related fatalities in the United States between 1997 and 1998, and followed with ""It is extremely unlikely that they accounted for anywhere near 60% of dogs in the United States during that same period and, thus, there appears to be a breed-specific problem with fatalities."" Pit bull-type dogs were identified in approximately one-third of dog bite-related fatalities in the United States between 1981 and 1992. The review notes that studies on dog bite-related fatalities which collect information by surveying news reports are subject to potential errors, as some fatal attacks may not have been reported, a study might not find all relevant news reports, and the dog breed might be misidentified.


title: Pit bull

text: In a 2021 review of 19 retrospective dog bite studies from U.S. Level I trauma centers, pit bulls were found to inflict a higher prevalence and severity of injuries compared with other breeds. A 2020 literature review in "Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery" found that from 1971 to 2018 of all pure breed dogs in the United States, pit bull-type breeds were second, behind the German Shepherd, and ahead of Labradors, Chow Chows, and Rottweilers (in that order) for the most bites severe enough to require hospital treatment. The study found that the proportion of bites caused by German Shepherds decreased by 0.63 percent per year over that time interval while the proportion caused by pit bulls increased by 1.17 percent per year. The pit bull proportion of dog bites increased more slowly in Denver, Colorado, where breed-specific legislation had been in place.


title: Pit bull

text: In a 2014 literature review of dog bite studies, the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) argues that breed is a poor sole predictor of dog bites. Some controlled studies have not identified pit bulls as disproportionately dangerous, while others have found that compared with other dog breeds they are far more likely to attack unprovoked and often go off property to do so. Pit bull-type dogs are more frequently identified with cases involving very severe injuries or fatalities than other breeds, but a 2007 study suggested this may relate to the popularity of the breed, noting that sled dogs, such as Siberian Huskies, were involved in a majority of fatal dog attacks in some areas of Canada. Bite statistics by breed are no longer tracked by the CDC, and are discouraged by the AVMA and the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA).


title: Pit bull

text: Pit bulls were originally bred for bull baiting and dog fighting, and because of this heritage, they often show a tendency to attack other animals with a remarkable ferocity that contributes to public stigma against the breed. In fighting with dogs of other breeds, pit bulls, German Shepherds, Great Danes and Rottweilers were often the aggressor, and more than twenty percent of studied Akitas, Jack Russell Terriers and pit bulls displayed serious aggression towards other dogs. Although there may be a connection between breed of dog and aggression towards humans, the difficulty of classifying dog attacks by specific breed after the fact has made this point controversial and debated. Violent interactions between humans and canines have been studied by the U.S. government, notably the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), as well as academic veterinary researchers. The interpretation of these studies, breed identification and relevance issues, and variable circumstances have given rise to intense controversy. Additionally, researchers on both sides of the pit bull debate rarely disclose when they are being funded by lobbyists, leading to a risk that the scientific literature on pit bulls has been influenced by money.


title: Pit bull

text: Pit bulls are known for their tenacity and refusal to release a bite, even in the face of great pain. A popular myth mischaracterized pit bulls as having "locking jaws." The refusal to let go is a behavioral, not physiological trait, and there is no locking mechanism in a pit bull's jaws. Pit bull-type dogs, like other terriers, hunting and bull-baiting breeds, can exhibit a bite, hold, and shake behavior and at times refuse to release. Pit bulls also have wide skulls, well-developed facial muscles, and strong jaws, and some research suggests that pit bull bites are particularly serious because they tend to bite deeply and grind their molars into tissue. Breaking an ammonia ampule and holding it up to the dog's nose can cause the dog to release its hold.


title: Pit bull

text: Widely reported pit bull attacks have resulted in the enactment of breed-specific legislation (BSL) in several jurisdictions. In two cases, breed-specific bans have been reversed by city councils.


title: Pit bull

text: Breed-specific legislation has been largely found to be ineffective at reducing the number of dog attacks. Research has indicated that there is resistance by those who work in the adoption industry, applying a sharper distinction before allowing a dog to be labelled as a pit bull, as well as objections from veterinarians.


title: Pit bull

text: Many of the jurisdictions that restrict pit bulls apply their restriction to the modern American Pit Bull Terrier, American Staffordshire Terrier, Staffordshire Bull Terrier, and any other dog that has the substantial physical characteristics and appearance of those breeds. Such jurisdictions include the Canadian province of Ontario, and the U.S. cities of Miami and Denver. However, a few jurisdictions, such as Singapore, also classify the modern American Bulldog as a "pit bull-type dog". In the United Kingdom, a pit bull is an American Pit Bull Terrier.


title: Pit bull

text: Courts in the United States and Canada have ruled that expert identification, when using published breed standards, is sufficient for the enforcement of breed-specific legislation.


title: Pit bull

text: Debates often center on whether apparent aggressive tendencies are the result of poor dog ownership or natural behaviors of the breed.


title: Pit bull

text: In England and Wales, the Dangerous Dogs Act of 1991 prohibits the ownership of American Pit Bull Terriers, along with three other breeds; the Act also bans the breeding, sale and exchange of these dogs. Similar legislation exists in Australia. Under Irish law, American Pit Bull Terriers must be led by someone at least 16 years of age, kept on a short strong lead, be muzzled, and wear a collar bearing the name and address of their owner in public at all times. In Germany the importation of pit bulls is banned among other breeds.


title: Pit bull

text: Dog owners in the United States can be held legally liable for injuries inflicted or caused by their dogs. In general, owners are considered liable if they were unreasonably careless in handling or restraining the dog, or if they knew beforehand that the dog had a tendency to cause injury (e.g., bite); however, dog owners are automatically considered liable if local laws hold an owner strictly liable for all damage caused by their dog, regardless of carelessness or foreknowledge of a dog's tendencies. Homeowners and renters insurance policies typically provide liability coverage from US$100,000–300,000 for injuries inflicted by dogs; however, some insurance companies limit their exposure to dog bite liability claims by putting restrictions on dog owners that they insure. These restrictions include refusing to cover dog bites under the insurance policy, increasing insurance rates for homeowners with specific breeds, requiring owners of specific breeds to take special training or have their dogs pass the American Kennel Club Canine Good Citizen test, requiring owners to restrict their dogs with muzzles, chains, or enclosures, and refusing to write policies for homeowners or renters who have specific breeds of dogs.


title: Pit bull

text: Owners of rental properties may also be held liable if they knew an aggressive dog was living on their property and they did nothing to ensure the safety of other tenants at the property; as a result, many rental properties forbid pit bull-type dogs and any other breeds if the rental property's insurance will not cover damage inflicted by that type of dog. The dog breeds most often not covered by insurance companies include pit bull-type dogs, Rottweilers, German Shepherd Dogs, Doberman Pinschers, Akitas (Akita Inu and American Akitas), and Chow Chows.


title: Pit bull

text: In 2013, Farmers Insurance notified policyholders in California that it will no longer cover bites by pit bulls, Rottweilers and wolf-dog hybrids. A spokeswoman for Farmers said that those breeds account for more than a quarter of the agency's dog bite claims.


title: Pit bull

text: Several air carriers embargo certain brachycephalic dog breeds. The following table has a sampling of air carrier embargoes on dogs.


title: Pit bull

text: Owning dogs like pit bulls and rottweilers can be seen as a symbol of power. In 2005, two American lawyers used a pit bull logo and the phone number 1-800-PIT-BULL in a television advertisement to convey that they were "especially fierce litigators". The Supreme Court of Florida ruled that this use was in breach of Florida Bar advertising rules. White supremacist groups such as the Keystone State Skinheads have used a graphic of a pit bull as their logo. The Anti-Defamation League lists the pit bull under "General Hate Symbols."


title: Pit bull

text: Pit bulls have appeared in the logo of Brown Shoe Company. The above mentioned Nipper appeared in the logo of RCA.


title: Avengers (comics)

text: The Avengers are a team of superheroes appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The team made its debut in "The Avengers" #1 (cover-dated Sept. 1963), created by writer-editor Stan Lee and artist/co-plotter Jack Kirby. Labeled "Earth's Mightiest Heroes", the original Avengers consisted of Iron Man, Ant-Man, Hulk, Thor and the Wasp. Captain America was discovered trapped in ice in issue #4, and joined the group after they revived him.


title: Avengers (comics)

text: The Avengers are an all-star ensemble cast of established superhero characters from the Marvel Comics portfolio. Diegetically, these superheroes usually operate independently but occasionally assemble as a team to tackle especially formidable villains. This in contrast to certain other superhero teams such as the X-Men, whose characters were created specifically to be part of their team, with the team being central to their identity. The Avengers were created to create a new line of books to sell and to cross-promote Marvel Comics characters. An Iron Man fan might buy an Avengers book because Iron Man appears in them, and perhaps in turn take an interest in Thor, who appears in the same book as Iron Man's friend and comrade. The cast usually features a few highly popular characters who have their own solo books, such as Iron Man, alongside a number of lesser-known characters who benefit from exposure, such as Quicksilver.


title: Avengers (comics)

text: The Avengers have appeared in a wide variety of media outside of comic books, including several different animated television series and direct-to-video films. Beginning in 2008, they were adapted in a series of movies from Marvel Studios known as the Marvel Cinematic Universe, culminating with "The Avengers" in 2012, with more appearances of the team in subsequent films.


title: Avengers (comics)

text: The team debuted in "The Avengers" #1 (September 1963). Much like the Justice League, the Avengers were an assemblage of superheroes who each had an existing series of his own. All of the characters were created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. This initial series, published bi-monthly through issue #6 (July 1964) and monthly thereafter ran through issue #402 (Sept. 1996), with spinoffs including several annuals, miniseries and a giant-size quarterly sister series that ran briefly in the mid-1970s. Writers of the first series included Roy Thomas, Steve Englehart, Gerry Conway, Jim Shooter, David Michelinie and Roger Stern. Artists included John Buscema, Tom Palmer, Neal Adams, George Perez, John Byrne and Steve Epting.


title: Avengers (comics)

text: Other spinoff series include "West Coast Avengers", initially published as a four-issue miniseries in 1984, followed by a 102-issue series (Oct. 1985–Jan. 1994), retitled "Avengers West Coast" with #47; and the 40-issue "Solo Avengers" (Dec.1987–Jan. 1991), retitled "Avengers Spotlight" with #21.


title: Avengers (comics)

text: Between 1996 and 2004, Marvel relaunched the primary Avengers title three times. In 1996, the "Heroes Reborn" line took place in an alternate universe, with a revamped history unrelated to mainstream Marvel continuity.


title: Avengers (comics)

text: "The Avengers" vol. 3 ran for 84 issues from February 1998 to August 2004. Early issues were written by Kurt Busiek and pencilled by George Perez. To coincide with what would have been the 500th issue of the original series, Marvel changed the numbering, and "The Avengers" #500–503 (Sept.– Dec. 2004), the one-shot "Avengers Finale" (Jan. 2005) became the "Avengers Disassembled" storyline and final issues. In January 2005, a new version of the team appeared in the ongoing title "The New Avengers", followed by "The Mighty Avengers", "", and "Dark Avengers". "Avengers" vol. 4 debuted in July 2010 and ran until January 2013. Vol. 5 was launched in February 2013. After Secret Wars, a new Avengers team debuted, dubbed the "All-New, All-Different Avengers", starting with a Free Comic Book Day preview. Following "Civil War II", the book was relaunched in 2016 as "Avengers", while retaining the same writer and much of the cast from the "All-New, All-Different" run. The series ran for 11 issues before reverting to the numbering of the original "Avengers" series with issue #672. Starting with issue #675, all four Avengers titles being published at the time ("Avengers", "Uncanny Avengers", "U.S. Avengers" and "Occupy Avengers") were merged into a single weekly series dubbed "Avengers: No Surrender, lasting 16 issues", designed to close out this era of the team's history.


title: Avengers (comics)

text: When the Asgardian god Loki seeks revenge against his brother Thor, his machinations unwittingly lead teenager Rick Jones to collect Ant-Man (Hank Pym), the Wasp and Iron Man to help Thor and the Hulk, the latter of whom Loki used as a pawn. After the group vanquished Loki, Ant-Man stated that the five worked well together and suggested they form a team; the Wasp named the group "Avengers".


title: Avengers (comics)

text: The roster changed almost immediately; in the second issue (November 1963), Ant-Man became Giant-Man, and at the end of the issue, the Hulk left once he realized how much the others feared his unstable personality. Captain America joined the team in issue #4 (March 1964), and he was given "founding member" status in the Hulk's place. The Hulk, upset about being replaced by Captain America and the apparent betrayal by Rick, sought revenge against the Avengers, who teamed up with the Fantastic Four to stop him in "The Fantastic Four" #26 (May 1964). The Avengers went on to fight foes such as Baron Zemo, who formed the Masters of Evil, Kang the Conqueror, Wonder Man, and Count Nefaria.


title: Avengers (comics)

text: The next milestone came when every member but Captain America resigned; they were replaced by three former villains: Hawkeye and the Maximoff twins, Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver. Giant-Man, now calling himself Goliath, and the Wasp rejoined. Hercules became part of the team, while the Black Knight and the Black Widow abetted the Avengers but did not become members until years later. Spider-Man was offered membership but did not join the group. The Black Panther joined after rescuing the team from the Grim Reaper and Klaw. "The X-Men" #45 (June 1968) featured a crossover with "The Avengers" #53 (June 1968). This was followed by the introduction of the android Vision. Pym assumed the new identity of Yellowjacket in issue #59, and married the Wasp the following month.


title: Avengers (comics)

text: The Avengers headquarters was in a New York City building called Avengers Mansion, courtesy of Tony Stark (Iron Man's real identity). The mansion was serviced by Edwin Jarvis, the Avengers' faithful butler, and furnished with state of the art technology and defense systems, and included the Avengers' primary mode of transport: the five-engine Quinjet.


title: Avengers (comics)

text: The prequel comic "Avengers" #1 1/2 (Dec. 1999), by writer Roger Stern and artist Bruce Timm, told a retro-style story taking place between issues #1 and #2, detailing Ant-Man's decision to transform himself into Giant-Man.


title: Avengers (comics)

text: The team encountered new characters such as Arkon in issue #75 (April 1970) and Red Wolf in #80 (Sept. 1970). The team's adventures increased in scope as the team crossed into an alternate dimension and battled the Squadron Supreme, and fought in the Kree-Skrull War, an epic battle between the alien Kree and Skrull races and guest-starred the Kree hero, Captain Marvel. The Avengers briefly disband when Skrulls impersonating Captain America, Thor, and Iron Man used their authority as founders of the team and disbanded it. The true founding Avengers, minus the Wasp, reformed the team in response after complaints from Jarvis.


title: Avengers (comics)

text: Mantis joined the team along with the reformed Swordsman. "The Avengers-Defenders Clash" storyline crossed over between the two team titles. "The Celestial Madonna" arc linked Mantis' origins to the very beginnings of the Kree-Skrull conflict in a time-spanning adventure involving Kang the Conqueror, and Immortus, who were past and future versions of each other. Mantis was revealed to be the Celestial Madonna, who was destined to give birth to a being that would save the universe. It was revealed that the Vision's body had only been appropriated, and not created by Ultron, and that it had belonged to the 1940s Human Torch. With his origins clear to him, the Vision proposed to the Scarlet Witch. The "Celestial Madonna" saga ended with their wedding, presided over by Immortus. The Beast and Moondragon joined the team soon after. A seven-part story featured the Squadron Supreme and the Serpent Crown.


title: Avengers (comics)

text: Other classic storylines included "The Bride of Ultron", the "Nefaria Trilogy", and "The Korvac Saga", which featured nearly every Avenger who joined the team up to that point. Henry Peter Gyrich became the Avengers' liaison to the United States National Security Council. Gyrich was prejudiced against superhumans and acted in a heavy-handed, obstructive manner, and insisted that the Avengers follow government rules and regulations or else lose their priority status with the government. Among Gyrich's demands was that the active roster be trimmed down to only seven members, and that the Falcon, an African American, be admitted to the team to comply with affirmative action laws. This last act was resented by Hawkeye, who because of the seven-member limit lost his membership slot to the Falcon. The Falcon, in turn, was unhappy to be the beneficiary of what he perceived to be tokenism, and decided to resign from the team, after which Wonder Man rejoined. The true origins of Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch were revealed in a three-part story that ran in issues #185–187 (July–Sept. 1979). After this adventure, the Scarlet Witch took a leave of absence and Ms. Marvel officially joined the team as her replacement.


title: Avengers (comics)

text: The first major development was the breakdown of Henry Pym, with his frequent changes of costume and name being symptomatic of an identity problem and an inferiority complex. After he abused his wife, failed to win back the confidence of the Avengers with a ruse and was duped by the villain Egghead, Pym was jailed. Pym would later outwit Egghead and defeated the latest incarnation of the Masters of Evil single-handedly, and proved his innocence. Pym reconciled with the Wasp, but they decided to remain apart. Pym retired from super-heroics, but returned years later.


title: Avengers (comics)

text: This was followed by several major storylines, such as "Ultimate Vision" in which the Vision took over the world's computer systems in a misguided attempt to create world peace; the formation of the West Coast Avengers; and "Avengers Under Siege" which involved the second Baron Zemo and the Masters of Evil taking over the mansion and severely injuring Jarvis and Hercules. "Assault on Olympus" featured Hercules' father, Zeus, blaming the Avengers for his son's injuries and brought them to Olympus for trial, and the "Heavy Metal" arc saw the Super Adaptoid organized several robotic villains for an assault on the team. New members during the 1980s included Tigra; the She-Hulk; Monica Rambeau (then going by the name Captain Marvel); Starfox (the brother of Thanos); Hawkeye's wife, Mockingbird; and Namor, while Henry Pym emerged from retirement to join the West Coast Avengers. Spider-Man was again offered membership, but failed to gain admission due to security concerns by the Avengers' government liaison.


title: Avengers (comics)

text: The villain Nebula falsely claimed to be the granddaughter of Thanos. The team relocated for a period to a floating island off the coast of New York called Hydrobase after Avengers Mansion was severely damaged during the events in "Under Siege". Hydrobase was later sunk during the "Acts of Vengeance" crossover.


title: Avengers (comics)

text: The Avengers and West Coast Avengers changed to allow members to be active when available and reserved when not available and merged the two separate Avengers teams into one team with two bases. The Vision had his personality fundamentally altered, along with the discovery that the children of the Scarlet Witch and the Vision were actually illusions. The loss of the Scarlet Witch's children and the Vision, who was disassembled by government agents in retaliation for the "Ultimate Vision" storyline, drove her insane, although she eventually recovered and rejoined the team. This story revealed that the Scarlet Witch's powers included wide-range reality manipulation and she was what the time-traveling Immortus refers to as a "nexus being" setting the stage for 2004's eventual "Chaos" and "Avengers Disassembled" storylines. This played out in the "Darker than Scarlet" storyline which ran in "Avengers West Coast" from issues #51–62 (Nov. 1989–Sept. 1990). The Avengers titles in late 1989 were involved in the major crossover event "Acts of Vengeance" where Loki assembled many of Marvel's arch-villains, his inner circle consisted of Doctor Doom, Magneto, Kingpin, Mandarin, Wizard, and Red Skull, in a plot to destroy the team. Loki orchestrated a mass breakout of villains from prison facility, the Vault, as part of his "Acts of Vengeance" scheme, but he ultimately failed in his goal to destroy the Avengers.


title: Avengers (comics)

text: The U.S. government revoked the Avengers' New York State charter in a treaty with the Soviet Union. The Avengers then received a charter from the United Nations and the Avengers split into two teams again with a substitute reserve team backing up the main teams.


title: Avengers (comics)

text: At this point, ongoing storylines and character development focused on the Black Knight, Sersi, Crystal, Hercules, the Vision, and the Black Widow. Their primary antagonists in this run were the mysterious Proctor and his team of other-dimensional Avengers known as the Gatherers. During this period, the Avengers found themselves facing increasingly murderous enemies and were forced to question their rule against killing.


title: Avengers (comics)

text: This culminated in "", a 19-part storyline that ran through all Avengers-related titles and showcased a conflict between the Kree and the Shi'ar Empire. The team split when Iron Man and several dissidents executed the Supreme Intelligence against the wishes of Captain America. After a vote disbanded the West Coast Avengers, Iron Man formed a proactive and aggressive team called Force Works. During the team's first mission, Wonder Man was killed again, though his atoms were temporarily scattered. Force Works later disbanded after it was revealed that Iron Man became a murderer via the manipulations of the villain Kang, the same storyline seeing Iron Man sacrificing himself and being replaced by his teenage counterpart from a parallel timeline.


title: Avengers (comics)

text: During the Heroes Reborn event, many of the Avengers together with the Fantastic Four and others, died trying to stop the psychic entity Onslaught, although it was revealed that Franklin Richards preserved those heroes in a pocket universe. Believing the main team to be gone, the Black Widow disbanded the Avengers, and only butler Edwin Jarvis remained to tend to the Mansion.


title: Avengers (comics)

text: The previous continuity of the Marvel Universe was set aside as the heroes were "reborn" in the pocket universe created by Franklin Richards to save his parents and their friends, while the "Heroes Reborn" line ended and the heroes returned to the prime Marvel Universe. This restoration also undid recent changes to the team members such as the Wasp being mutated into an insectoid state, Hawkeye being rendered deaf, and Stark being replaced by his teenage self, attributed to Franklin's childish perception recreating the heroes in the manner he was more familiar with.


title: Avengers (comics)

text: After the Heroes Reborn series concluded, the Avengers comic was restarted with vol. 3 #1 written by Kurt Busiek and pencilled by George Pérez. New members during this run included the revived Wonder Man, Justice, Firestar, Silverclaw, and Triathlon. The Avengers fought many of their traditional villains such as the Grim Reaper, Ultron, Count Nefaria, and Kang the Conqueror. The limited series "Avengers Forever", starting during this period, was a time travel story that explored the history of the Avengers and resolved many outstanding questions about Kang and Immortus's past manipulations of the team, featuring various Avengers from the past (Captain America immediately after "Secret Empire", Hank Pym early in his Yellowjacket delusion, and Hawkeye just after the Kree-Skrull war), present (Hank Pym as Giant-Man and Janet as the Wasp) and possible futures (Genis-Vell and Songbird) working alongside Kang the Conqueror and Rick Jones as part of Kang's attempt to escape his perceived 'destiny' as Immortus.


title: Avengers (comics)

text: The Avengers were granted international authority by the United Nations. Members joining during that period included Jack of Hearts and the second Ant-Man. A new Captain Britain was added to the team. The "Avengers Disassembled" storyline followed. Titled "Chaos", the story featured the deaths of some members and a loss of credibility for the team. The culprit is revealed to be the Scarlet Witch, who had gone insane after agonizing over the memory of her lost children and who subsequently lost control of her reality-altering powers. With the team in disarray and Avengers Mansion ruined, the surviving members agreed to disband.


title: Avengers (comics)

text: A new Avengers team formed, in the series "New Avengers" after a group of heroes banded together to thwart a break-out at super-villain prison the Raft, composed of Iron Man, Captain America, Luke Cage, Wolverine, Ronin, Spider-Man, Spider-Woman, and the mysterious Sentry. This was soon followed by the "House of M" event.


title: Avengers (comics)

text: In the company-wide "Civil War" story arc, Marvel superheroes were split over compliance with the U.S. government's new Superhuman Registration Act, which required all superpowered persons to register their true identities with the federal government and become agents of same. The New Avengers disbanded, with a rebel underground starring in a series retaining "The New Avengers" in its trademarked cover logo and "New Avengers" in its copyright indicia. Luke Cage led this team, consisting of himself, Echo, Ronin, Spider-Man, Spider-Woman, Wolverine, Iron Fist, and Doctor Strange. During the long-term Secret Invasion by the shape-shifting alien race the Skrulls, it was revealed that Spider-Woman had been abducted and replaced by the Skrull queen Veranke before she even joined the team. After the Skrulls' defeat, Spider-Woman was rescued along with other abducted and replaced heroes. During the company-wide story arc "Dark Reign", Echo and Iron Fist left the team and the Avengers gained Ms. Marvel, Bucky Barnes as a fill-in Captain America, and Mockingbird.


title: Avengers (comics)

text: Iron Man, in the series "The Mighty Avengers", formed a team under the aegis of the government's program, and took up residency in New York City, joined by Ares, the Black Widow, the Sentry, the Wasp, Wonder Man, and leader Carol Danvers as Ms. Marvel. After the events of the Secret Invasion story arc, Norman Osborn assumed control of the formerly S.H.I.E.L.D.-sponsored Avengers, now under the auspices of his own agency, H.A.M.M.E.R. All but Ares and the Sentry left this team — the Wasp appeared to have died — and the team migrated to the series "Dark Avengers". Osborn recruited Marvel Boy to pose as Captain Marvel and Daken to pose as his father, Wolverine, bringing Moonstone, Bullseye, and Venom from his previous Thunderbolts team to impersonate Ms. Marvel, Hawkeye, and Spider-Man respectively.


title: Avengers (comics)

text: In "The Mighty Avengers", Pym, assumed the Wasp identity in tribute to his fallen ex-wife, led a new team of Avengers, and claimed the name for his team as he was the only founding Avenger on any of the three active Avengers rosters (Wasp and Cap were dead, Thor was acting solo, and Iron Man was on the run from Osborn). His team operated under a multinational umbrella group, the Global Reaction Agency for Mysterious Paranormal Activity (GRAMPA). This team featured the roster of Hercules, Amadeus Cho, Stature, the Vision, Jocasta, U.S. Agent, Quicksilver, and Pym. Loki in disguise as the Scarlet Witch was a recurring character. Iron Man and the Hulk were briefly with them.


title: Avengers (comics)

text: After Osborn's Dark Avengers are exposed as criminals and their attack on Asgard was thwarted, the next iteration of the Avengers roster consists of Thor, Hawkeye, Spider-Man, Wolverine, Captain America, Spider-Woman, Iron Man, and team leader Maria Hill. Steve Rogers, briefly eschewing his Captain America persona, responds to Luke Cage's concerns about the team reverting to old methods by granting Cage's "New Avengers" recognition as an official team independent of Stark's more traditional Avengers. Bucky Barnes as Captain America joined the main Avengers, while Iron Fist, Power Woman, and the Thing joined Cage's team, Spider-Man and Wolverine maintaining dual membership in both teams. Rogers was an occasional presence and Victoria Hand was added as a government liaison for the New Avengers with Rogers's backing.


title: Avengers (comics)

text: A second series, titled "Secret Avengers", was released in May 2010, written by Ed Brubaker with Mike Deodato as the regular artist. The second volume of the "New Avengers" series was launched in June 2010, written by Bendis and drawn by Stuart Immonen. A fourth title, "Avengers Academy", was launched in June 2010, replacing "Avengers: The Initiative". Christos Gage served as writer, with Mike McKone as artist.


title: Avengers (comics)

text: Following a meeting between Rogers and MI-13, Captain Britain accepts a position with the Avengers. Noh-Varr later does as well. Bruce Banner made arrangements with Rogers for the Red Hulk to join.


title: Avengers (comics)

text: The "Shattered Heroes" storyline leads to several changes in the main Avengers lineup, with Quake and Storm being recruited, and the Vision rejoining the team. Wolverine and Spider-Man leave the main team and become more involved with the New Avengers. During the events of the "Avengers vs. X-Men" storyline, Storm quits to side with her fellow mutants as a member of the X-Men. The Avengers dismiss Noh-Varr after he attempted to betray the team, though ultimately he did not. The conflict ends with both teams united but defeated by an unrepentant Cyclops. A new series, "Uncanny Avengers", debuted in the flagship title of the Marvel NOW! initiative. The title is written by Rick Remender with art by John Cassaday, and the team contains members of both the Avengers and the X-Men. As well, a biweekly "Avengers" title was launched, written by Jonathan Hickman and drawn by different artists for each story arc. Hickman also began writing "New Avengers".


title: Avengers (comics)

text: During the 2014 "AXIS" storyline, when a now-evil Scarlet Witch invades Latveria, Doctor Doom forms his own team of Avengers consisting of 3D Man, Elsa Bloodstone, Stingray, Valkyrie, and U.S. Agent. After various heroes and villains experience a moral inversion in the battle against the Red Skull empowered with Professor Charles Xavier's abilities, Rogers later assembles Magneto, Doctor Doom, the Absorbing Man, Carnage, Deadpool, the Enchantress, the Hobgoblin, the fifth Jack O'Lantern, Loki, Mystique, and Sabretooth, all temporarily 'inverted' to act as heroes, to assist he and Spider-Man in defeating the inverted Avengers and X-Men until the original spell can be undone. During the "Time Runs Out" storyline, Sunspot created a team of the Avengers, consisting of himself, Black Widow, Cannonball, Manifold, Pod, Shang-Chi, Smasher, Spider-Woman, Validator, and the Children of the Sun. The "Multiversal Avengers" division of this team consists of Abyss, the Ex Nihili (including Ex Nihilo), Hyperion, Nightmask, Odinson, and Star Brand.


title: Avengers (comics)

text: Following the destruction and reconstruction of reality in the 2015 "Secret Wars" storyline, a new team is created known as Avengers Idea Mechanics, set to tackle Avengers-level threats beyond simply fighting villains, while the Avengers Unity Squad continues to operate to support mutant relations. Iron Man forms a new team of Avengers in the "All-New All-Different Avengers" series consisting of himself, the Vision, Nova (Sam Alexander), Ms. Marvel, Spider-Man (Miles Morales), Captain America (Sam Wilson), and Thor (Jane Foster). Following the "Civil War II", storyline, the title was canceled and replaced with a new volume of the regular "Avengers" title. The roster was also changed, where following Iron Man being placed in a coma, and Spider-Man (Miles Morales), Nova, and Ms. Marvel's resignation from the team (who instead teamed up with other heroes their own age to form their own group the Champions), the remaining three members are paired up with Spider-Man (Peter Parker), Hercules and Wasp (Nadia Pym) to form a new team.


title: Avengers (comics)

text: During the 2017 "Secret Empire" storyline, when Captain America was 'reprogrammed' to believe that he had been a Hydra sleeper agent since childhood, the Hydra regime formed their own Avengers. This team consisted of Odinson (Thor currently doubting his worth and believing that Rogers must be 'right' as he could wield Mjolnir when Thor couldn't, unaware that Hydra had used the cosmic cube to change the nature of the enchantment), Deadpool, a Chthon-possessed Scarlet Witch, Vision (who was suffering from an A.I. Virus created by Arnim Zola), Taskmaster, Eric O'Grady's Life Model Decoy counterpart Black Ant, and Doctor Octopus' Superior Octopus appearance. However, in the final stand, Odinson rejects Rogers' authority and sides with his old allies, while the Vision's daughter purges him of the virus and Brother Voodoo exorcises Chthon from the Witch. Taskmaster and Black Ant free the imprisoned Champions in exchange for leniency, and the true version of Steve Rogers was restored, using Mjolnir against his counterpart.


title: Avengers (comics)

text: In May 2018, another volume for the series was launched as part of Marvel's Fresh Start initiative, written by Jason Aaron and drawn by Ed McGuinness. This new volume also saw the return of the main three core members, as Steve Rogers and Thor met up with Tony Stark to convince him to reassemble the group with themselves at its core. The reunion was consolidated by the machinations of Loki, who facilitated the arrival of the world-threatening Dark Celestials as a ploy to get the Avengers back in action, resulting in the participation of Black Panther, Captain Marvel, She-Hulk, Ghost Rider and Blade, with the Black Panther being elected chairperson. After the Dark Celestials were defeated, the Celestials set upright the corpse of the long-time dead Progenitor in the North Pole. The Avengers refurbished the Progenitor's corpse, transforming it into their base of operations, the Avengers Mountain.


title: Avengers (comics)

text: The Avengers team lineup is known for being perpetually fluid and changing, with many members coming and going, often more than once. The founding members of the team were Iron Man, Thor, Hulk, Ant-Man and the Wasp. Hulk left after a single issue, which would become a running gag among splinter team members (for example, Spider-Man leaving the second incarnation of the Avengers Unity Division), and his founder status was retroactively filled in by Captain America. Later additions and frequent members include Hawkeye, Black Widow, Falcon, Black Panther, Captain Marvel, Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver, and Vision, among others.


title: Avengers (comics)

text: There are also numerous splinter teams that have formed, starting with the West Coast Avengers in 1984. Each of these splinter teams tends to specialize in a way the main team does not. Members of these teams can be on other splinter teams or on the main team. These teams are, in alphabetical order:


title: Avengers (comics)

text: Of these teams, only the main team, Avengers World, the Great Lakes Avengers, the Savage Avengers, and the Young Avengers are currently active. Additionally, all members of the Fantastic Four, as well as various members of the X-Men, Heroes for Hire, and other prominent Marvel teams have served as members of the Avengers.


title: Avengers (comics)

text: Most of the characters that appear in Marvel Comics' books are set in the same fictional universe, known as the Marvel Universe. They occasionally make guest appearances in each other's books, and more regularly in team books such as "The Avengers". Such crossovers encouraged readers to buy other books in the Marvel Comics catalogue, and readers became engrossed not just in the individual characters but in their web of relationships across the broader setting. DC Comics pioneered this idea with the Justice Society of America and the Justice League, likewise promoting and developing the DC Universe. Many readers devoted themselves to just one of these two comic book universes. After all, they were both quite large and didn't overlap. Thus, the superhero fan community developed sub-communities of DC devotees and Marvel devotees.


title: Avengers (comics)

text: Marvel Studios repeated this business strategy when it produced the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), culminating with the release of "The Avengers" in 2012. Before the MCU, superhero movies were usually isolated productions mostly because of licensing issues, but the shared universe model has led to its continued growing success. In response, Warner Brothers (which owns DC Comics) began to produce its own series of interconnected superhero movies known as the DC Extended Universe (DCEU), culminating with "Justice League" in 2017. Movies tend to have bigger audiences than comic books, so, the general public are more aware that the likes of Wonder Woman and Captain America existed in separate universes owned by different companies. The movies raised brand awareness of DC Comics and Marvel Comics.


title: Avengers (comics)

text: After the acquisition by Disney in 2009, Marvel films began to be marketed at the Innoventions attraction in Tomorrowland at Disneyland. For "Iron Man 3", the exhibit, entitled "Iron Man Tech Presented by Stark Industries", featured the same armor display that was shown at the 2012 San Diego Comic-Con, with the Marks I-VII and the new Mark XLII. In addition, there was a simulator game, titled "Become Iron Man", that used Kinect-like technology to allow the viewer to be encased in an animated Mark XLII armor and take part in a series of "tests," in which you fire repulsor rays and fly through Tony Stark's workshop. The game was guided by J.A.R.V.I.S., who is voiced again by Paul Bettany. The exhibit also had smaller displays that included helmets and chest pieces from the earlier films and the gauntlet and boot from an action sequence in "Iron Man 3". The exhibit for "Thor: The Dark World" was called "Thor: Treasures of Asgard", and featured displays of Asgardian relics and transports guests to Odin's throne room, where they were greeted by Thor. "Captain America: The Winter Soldier"s exhibit, "Captain America: The Living Legend and Symbol of Courage", featured a meet and greet experience.


title: Avengers (comics)

text: From May to September 2017, Disneyland Resort featured the "Summer of Heroes", which sees members of the Guardians and Avengers making appearances throughout the Disneyland Resort. Additionally, the Guardians of the Galaxy: Awesome Dance Off event was featured, which involved Peter Quill / Star-Lord blasting music from his boombox, along with the Avengers Training Initiative, a limited experience where Black Widow and Hawkeye "assemble a group of young recruits to see if they have what it takes to be an Avenger." Marvel-related food and merchandise was also available throughout Hollywood Land at Disney California Adventure during the "Summer of Heroes".


title: Jack Lemmon

text: John Uhler Lemmon III (February 8, 1925 – June 27, 2001) was an American actor. Considered equally proficient in both dramatic and comic roles, Lemmon was known for his anxious, middle-class everyman screen persona in dramedy pictures, leading "The Guardian" to coin him "the most successful tragi-comedian of his age."


title: Jack Lemmon

text: He starred in over sixty films and was nominated for an Academy Award eight times, winning twice, and received many other accolades, including six Golden Globe Awards (counting the honorary Cecil B. DeMille Award), two Cannes Film Festival Awards, two Volpi Cups, one Silver Bear, three BAFTA Awards, and two Emmy Awards. In 1988, he was awarded the American Film Institute's Lifetime Achievement Award for his contributions to the American cinema.


title: Jack Lemmon

text: His best known films include "Mister Roberts" (1955, for which he won the year's Oscar for Best Supporting Actor), "Some Like It Hot" (1959), "The Apartment" (1960), "Days of Wine and Roses" (1962), "Irma la Douce" (1963), "The Great Race" (1965), "Save the Tiger" (1973, for which he won Best Actor), "The China Syndrome" (1979), "Missing" (1982), and "Glengarry Glen Ross" (1992). He also acted in several Broadway plays, earning Tony Award nominations for "Tribute" and the 1986 revival of "Long Day's Journey into Night".


title: Jack Lemmon

text: Lemmon had a long-running collaboration with actor and real-life friend Walter Matthau, which "The New York Times" called "one of Hollywood's most successful pairings," that spanned ten films between 1966 and 1998; "The Fortune Cookie" (1966), "The Odd Couple" (1968) and its sequel "The Odd Couple II" (1998), "The Front Page" (1974), "Buddy Buddy" (1981), "JFK" (1991), "Grumpy Old Men" (1993) and its sequel "Grumpier Old Men" (1995), "The Grass Harp" (1995), and "Out to Sea" (1997).


title: Jack Lemmon

text: Lemmon was born on February 8, 1925, in an elevator at Newton-Wellesley Hospital in Newton, Massachusetts. He was the only child of Mildred Burgess ("née" LaRue; 1896–1967) and John Uhler Lemmon II (1893–1962), president of the Doughnut Corporation of America. John Uhler Lemmon II was of Irish heritage, and Jack Lemmon was raised Catholic. His parents had a difficult marriage, and separated permanently when Lemmon was 18, but never divorced. He attended John Ward Elementary School in Newton and the Rivers School in Weston, Massachusetts. Often unwell as a child, Lemmon had three significant operations on his ears before he turned 10. He had spent two years in hospital by the time he turned 12.


title: Jack Lemmon

text: During his acceptance of his lifetime achievement award, he stated that he knew he wanted to be an actor from the age of eight. He began to act in school productions. Lemmon attended Rivers Country Day School and Phillips Andover Academy (Class of 1943), where he pursued track sports with success, and Harvard College (Class of 1947), where he lived in Eliot House. At Harvard, he was president of the Hasty Pudding Club and vice president of Dramatic and Delphic Clubs. Except for drama and music, however, he was an unexceptional student.


title: Jack Lemmon

text: Forbidden to act onstage due to academic probation, Lemmon broke Harvard rules to appear in roles using pseudonyms such as Timothy Orange.


title: Jack Lemmon

text: A member of the V-12 Navy College Training Program, Lemmon was commissioned by the United States Navy, serving briefly as an ensign on the aircraft carrier during World War II before returning to Harvard after completing his military service. After graduation with a degree in War Service Sciences in 1947, he studied acting under coach Uta Hagen at HB Studio in New York City. He was also a pianist, who became devoted to the instrument at age 14 and learned to play by ear. For about a year in New York City, he worked unpaid as a waiter and master of ceremonies at the Old Knick bar on Second Avenue. He also played the piano at the venue.


title: Jack Lemmon

text: Lemmon became a professional actor, working on radio and Broadway. His film debut was a bit part as a plasterer in the film "The Lady Takes a Sailor" (1949), but he had already appeared in television shows, which numbered about 400 from 1948 to 1953.


title: Jack Lemmon

text: Lemmon believed his stage career was about to take off when he was appearing on Broadway for the first time in a 1953 revival of the comedy "Room Service", but the production closed after two weeks. Despite this setback, he was spotted by talent scout Max Arnow, who was then working for Columbia, and Lemmon's focus shifted to films and Hollywood. Columbia's head, Harry Cohn, wanted to change Lemmon's name, in case it was used to describe the quality of the actor's films, but he successfully resisted.


title: Jack Lemmon

text: His first role as a leading man was in the comedy "It Should Happen to You" (1954), which also featured the established Judy Holliday in the female lead. Bosley Crowther in his review for "The New York Times" described Lemmon as possessing "a warm and appealing personality. The screen should see more of him." The two leads soon reunited in "Phffft" (also 1954). Kim Novak had a secondary role as a brief love interest for Lemmon's character. "If it wasn't for Judy, I'm not sure I would have concentrated on films", he told "The Washington Post" in 1986 saying early in his career he had a snobbish attitude towards films over the stage. He managed to negotiate a contract with Columbia allowing him leeway to pursue other projects, some of the terms of which he said "nobody had gotten before". He signed a seven-year contract, but ended up staying with Columbia for 10 years. Lemmon's appearance as Ensign Pulver in "Mister Roberts" (1955), with James Cagney and Henry Fonda, for Warner Bros., gained Lemmon the Best Supporting Actor Oscar. Director John Ford decided to cast Lemmon after seeing his Columbia screen test, which had been directed by Richard Quine. At an impromptu meeting on the studio lot, Ford persuaded the actor to appear in the film, although Lemmon did not realize he was in conversation with Ford at the time.


title: Jack Lemmon

text: In the military farce "Operation Mad Ball" (1957) set in a U.S. Army base in France after World War II, Lemmon played a calculating private. He met comedian Ernie Kovacs, who co-starred, and they became close friends, appearing together in two subsequent films, as a warlock in "Bell, Book and Candle" (1958, a film he apparently disliked) and "It Happened to Jane" (1959), all three under the direction of Richard Quine. Lemmon starred in six films directed by Quine. The others were "My Sister Eileen" (1955), "The Notorious Landlady" (1962) and "How to Murder Your Wife" (1965).


title: Jack Lemmon

text: Lemmon worked with director Billy Wilder on seven films. Their association began with the gender-bending comedy "Some Like It Hot" (1959), with Tony Curtis and Marilyn Monroe. His role required him to perform 80% of the role in drag. People who knew his mother, Millie Lemmon, said he had mimicked her personality and even her hairstyle. Critic Pauline Kael said he was "demoniacally funny" in the part. The sequence of films with Wilder continued with "The Apartment" (1960) alongside Shirley MacLaine. The film received mixed reviews from critics at the time, although it has been re-evaluated as a classic today. It received 11 nominations, winning five Academy Awards for Best Picture and Best Director. Lemmon received Oscar nominations for his performances in "Some Like it Hot" and "The Apartment". He reunited with MacLaine in "Irma la Douce" (1963). MacLaine, observing the director's relationship with his male lead, believed it amounted to "professional infatuation".


title: Jack Lemmon

text: Lemmon's first role in a film directed by Blake Edwards was in "Days of Wine and Roses" (1962) portraying Joe Clay, a young alcoholic businessman. The role, for which he was nominated for the Best Actor Oscar, was one of Lemmon's favorites. By this time, he had appeared in 15 comedies, a Western and an adventure film. "The movie people put a label attached to your big toe — 'light comedy' — and that's the only way they think of you", he commented in an interview during 1984. "I knew damn well I could play drama. Things changed following "Days of Wine and Roses". That was as important a film as I've ever done." "Days of Wine and Roses" was the first film where Lemmon was involved with production of the film via his Jalem production company. Lemmon's association with Edwards continued with "The Great Race" (1965), which reunited him with Tony Curtis. His salary this time was $1 million, but the film did not return its large budget at the box office. "Variety", in its December 31, 1964, review, commented: "never has there been a villain so dastardly as Jack Lemmon".


title: Jack Lemmon

text: In 1966, Lemmon began the first of his many collaborations with actor Walter Matthau in "The Fortune Cookie". The film has been described by the British film critic Philip French as their "one truly great film". Matthau went on to win an Academy Award for his performance in the film. Another nine films with them co-starring eventually followed, including "The Odd Couple" (1968), "The Front Page" (1974), and "Buddy Buddy" (1981).


title: Jack Lemmon

text: In 1967, Lemmon's production company Jalem produced the film "Cool Hand Luke", which starred Paul Newman in the lead role. The film was a box-office and critical success. Newman, in gratitude, offered him the role of the Sundance Kid in "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid", but Lemmon turned it down.


title: Jack Lemmon

text: The best-known Lemmon-Matthau film is "The Odd Couple" (1968), based on the Neil Simon play, with the lead characters being the mismatched Felix Unger (Lemmon) and Oscar Madison (Matthau), respectively neurotical and cynical. The much-admired comedy "Kotch" (1971), the only film Lemmon directed, starred Matthau, who was nominated for the Best Actor Oscar. "The Out-of-Towners" (1970) was another Neil Simon-scripted film in which Lemmon appeared.


title: Jack Lemmon

text: In 1972, at the 44th Academy Awards, Jack Lemmon presented the Honorary Academy Award to silent screen legend Charlie Chaplin.


title: Jack Lemmon

text: Lemmon starred with Juliet Mills in "Avanti!" (1972) and appeared with Matthau in "The Front Page" (1974). Both films were directed by Wilder. He felt Lemmon had a natural tendency toward overacting that had to be tempered; Wilder's biography "Nobody's Perfect" quotes the director as saying, "Lemmon, I would describe him as a ham, a fine ham, and with ham you have to trim a little fat." Wilder, though, also once said: "Happiness is working with Jack Lemmon".


title: Jack Lemmon

text: Lemmon in "Save the Tiger" (1973) plays Harry Stoner, a businessman in the garment trade who finds someone to commit arson by burning down his warehouse to avoid bankruptcy. The project was rejected by multiple studios, but Paramount was prepared to make the film if it were budgeted for only $1 million. Lemmon was so keen to play the part that he worked for union scale, then $165 a week. The role was demanding; like the character, Lemmon came close to breaking point: "I started to crack as the character did," he recalled. "I just kept getting deeper and deeper into the character's despair." For this film, Lemmon won the Best Actor Oscar. Having won the Best Supporting Actor Academy Award for "Mister Roberts", he became the first actor to achieve that particular double, although Helen Hayes had achieved this feat three years earlier in the equivalent female categories.


title: Jack Lemmon

text: Lemmon was nominated for a Best Actor Oscar for his role in "The China Syndrome" (1979), for which he was also awarded Best Actor at the Cannes Film Festival. In "Tribute", a stage drama first performed in 1979, he played a press agent who has cancer while trying to mend his relationship with his son. The Broadway production ran for 212 performances, but it gained mixed reviews. Nevertheless, Lemmon was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play. For his role in the 1980 film version, Lemmon gained another Oscar nomination.


title: Jack Lemmon

text: His final Oscar nomination was for "Missing" (1982), as a conservative father whose son has vanished in Chile during the period the country was under the rule of Augusto Pinochet; he won another Cannes award for his performance. A contemporary failure was his last film with Billy Wilder, "Buddy Buddy" (1981). Lemmon's character attempts suicide in a hotel while a hitman (Matthau) is in the next suite. Another flop at the box office was his final film with Blake Edwards, another of his friends; in "That's Life!" (1986), he appeared in the director's self-autobiographical part with Edwards' wife, Julie Andrews. A seductress role was played by Lemmon's wife, Felicia Farr. His later career is said to have been affected by other bad choices, such as "Mass Appeal" (1984), about a conservative Catholic priest, "Macaroni" (1985), a tale about old Army friends with Marcello Mastroianni, and "That's Life". Lemmon received the AFI Life Achievement Award in 1988.


title: Jack Lemmon

text: Lemmon was nominated for a Tony Award the second and last time for a revival of Eugene O'Neill's "Long Day's Journey into Night" in 1986; Lemmon had taken the lead role of James Tyrone in a production directed by Jonathan Miller. It had a London run in 1987, Lemmon's first theatre work in the city, and a television version followed. A return to London in 1989 for the antiwar play "Veterans' Day", with Michael Gambon, was poorly received by critics, and following modest audiences, soon closed. Lemmon also worked with Kevin Spacey in the films "The Murder of Mary Phagan" (1987), "Dad" (1989), and "Glengarry Glen Ross" (1992), as well as the production of "Long Day's Journey into Night".


title: Jack Lemmon

text: Lemmon and Matthau had small parts in Oliver Stone's film "JFK" (1991), in which both men appeared without sharing screen time. The duo reunited in "Grumpy Old Men" (1993). The film was a surprise hit. Later in the decade, they starred together in "The Grass Harp" (1995), "Grumpier Old Men" (1995), "Out to Sea" (1997), and "The Odd Couple II" (1998). While "Grumpier Old Men" grossed slightly more than its predecessor, "The Odd Couple II" was a box-office disappointment.


title: Jack Lemmon

text: In 1996, Lemmon was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Or Nonmusical Album for his narration on "Harry S Truman: A Journey To Independence". Around the same time, Lemmon starred along with James Garner in the comedy "My Fellow Americans" (1996) as two feuding ex-presidents. The supporting cast included Dan Aykroyd and Lauren Bacall.


title: Jack Lemmon

text: For his role in the William Friedkin-directed version of "Twelve Angry Men" (1997), Lemmon was nominated for Best Actor in a Made-for-TV Movie in the 1998 Golden Globe Awards.


title: Jack Lemmon

text: The award ceremony was memorable because Ving Rhames, who won the Golden Globe for his portrayal of "Don King: Only in America", stunned the A-list crowd and television audience by calling Lemmon up to the stage and handing him the award. Lemmon tried not to accept but Rhames insisted. The emotional crowd gave Lemmon a standing ovation to which he replied that, "This is one of the nicest, sweetest moments I have ever known in my life."


title: Jack Lemmon

text: The role was as the contentious juror, played in the original 1957 film version by Henry Fonda. Lemmon appeared in the remake with George C. Scott and reunited with him in another television film, this time "Inherit the Wind" (1999).


title: Jack Lemmon

text: Lemmon was a guest voice on "The Simpsons" episode "The Twisted World of Marge Simpson" (1997), as the owner of the pretzel business. For his role as Morrie Schwartz in his final television role, "Tuesdays with Morrie" (1999), Lemmon won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie. His final film role was uncredited: the narrator in Robert Redford's film "The Legend of Bagger Vance".


title: Jack Lemmon

text: Lemmon was married twice. He and first wife actress Cynthia Stone, with whom he had a son, Chris Lemmon (born 1954), divorced. Lemmon married actress Felicia Farr on August 17, 1962, while shooting "Irma La Douce" in Paris. The couple's daughter, Courtney, was born in 1966. Lemmon was the stepfather to Denise, from Farr's previous marriage to Lee Farr. He was close friends with actors Tony Curtis and Kevin Spacey, among others.


title: Jack Lemmon

text: His publicist Geraldine McInerney said, "I remember Jack once telling me he lived in terror his whole life that he'd never get another job. Here was one of America's most established actors and yet he was without any confidence. It was like every job was going to be his last". As the 1970s progressed, Lemmon increased his drinking to cope with stress. He was fined for driving under the influence in 1976, finally quitting alcohol in the early 1980s. On a 1998 episode of the television program "Inside the Actors Studio", he stated that he was a recovering alcoholic.


title: Jack Lemmon

text: Lemmon was known as the "star" of the celebrity-packed, third-round telecast of the annual AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, held at Pebble Beach Golf Links each February. Lemmon's packed gallery was there not only for his humor, but also to root him on in his lifelong quest to "make the cut" to round four, something he was never able to achieve. The amateur who helps his team most in the Pro-Am portion is annually awarded the Jack Lemmon Award. During the 1980s and 1990s, Lemmon served on the advisory board of the National Student Film Institute. Lemmon was a registered Democrat.


title: Jack Lemmon

text: Lemmon died of bladder cancer on June 27, 2001. He had suffered from the disease privately for two years before his death. His body was interred at Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Westwood, California. (The graves of Marilyn Monroe, Walter Matthau, George C. Scott, Rodney Dangerfield, and film director Billy Wilder lie in the same cemetery.) Lemmon's gravestone reads like a title screen from a film: "JACK LEMMON in". Guests who attended the private ceremony included Billy Wilder, Shirley MacLaine, Kevin Spacey, Gregory Peck, Sidney Poitier, Kirk Douglas, Michael Douglas, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Frank Sinatra's widow Barbara and Walter Matthau's son Charlie.


title: Jack Lemmon

text: Lemmon received eight Academy Award nominations and won for "Mister Roberts" (1955) and "Save the Tiger" (1973). He was nominated for "Some Like it Hot" (1959), "The Apartment" (1960), "Days of Wine and Roses" (1962), "The China Syndrome" (1979), "Tribute" (1981), and "Missing" (1982). He received two Tony Award nominations for his performances in "Tribute" (1979), and "Long Day's Journey into Night" (1986). He received four Golden Globe Awards from 21 nominations, and received the Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award for his lifetime achievement in 1991. The year before he won the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award. He was given tribute at the Kennedy Center Honors in 1996. He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1960.


title: Jack Lemmon

text: In 1986, the U.S. National Board of Review of Motion Pictures gave Lemmon a "Career Achievement" Award; two years later, the American Film Institute gave him its Lifetime Achievement Award in March 1988. In 1995, Lemmon was awarded the inaugural Harvard Arts Medal. In 1996, Lemmon was awarded the Honorary Golden Bear award at the 46th Berlin International Film Festival.


title: Gamal Abdel Nasser

text: Gamal Abdel Nasser Hussein (15 January 1918 – 28 September 1970) was an Egyptian politician who served as the second president of Egypt from 1954 until his death in 1970. Nasser led the Egyptian revolution of 1952 and introduced far-reaching land reforms the following year. Following a 1954 attempt on his life by a Muslim Brotherhood member, he cracked down on the organization, put President Mohamed Naguib under house arrest and assumed executive office. He was formally elected president in June 1956.


title: Gamal Abdel Nasser

text: Nasser's popularity in Egypt and the Arab world skyrocketed after his nationalization of the Suez Canal Company and his political victory in the subsequent Suez Crisis, known in Egypt as the "Tripartite Aggression". Calls for pan-Arab unity under his leadership increased, culminating with the formation of the United Arab Republic with Syria from 1958 to 1961. In 1962, Nasser began a series of major socialist measures and modernization reforms in Egypt. Despite setbacks to his pan-Arabist cause, by 1963 Nasser's supporters gained power in several Arab countries, but he became embroiled in the North Yemen Civil War, and eventually the much larger Arab Cold War. He began his second presidential term in March 1965 after his political opponents were banned from running. Following Egypt's defeat by Israel in the Six-Day War of 1967, Nasser resigned, but he returned to office after popular demonstrations called for his reinstatement. By 1968, Nasser had appointed himself Prime Minister, launched the War of Attrition to regain the Israeli-occupied Sinai Peninsula, began a process of depoliticizing the military, and issued a set of political liberalization reforms. After the conclusion of the 1970 Arab League summit, Nasser suffered a heart attack and died. His funeral in Cairo drew five to six million mourners, and prompted an outpouring of grief across the Arab world.


title: Gamal Abdel Nasser

text: Nasser remains an iconic figure in the Arab world, particularly for his strides towards social justice and Arab unity, his modernization policies, and his anti-imperialist efforts. His presidency also encouraged and coincided with an Egyptian cultural boom, and the launching of large industrial projects, including the Aswan Dam, and Helwan city. Nasser's detractors criticize his authoritarianism, his human rights violations, and the dominance of the military over civil institutions that characterised his tenure, establishing a pattern of military and dictatorial rule in Egypt which has persisted, nearly uninterrupted, to the present day.


title: Gamal Abdel Nasser

text: Gamal Abdel Nasser Hussein was born in Bakos, Alexandria, Egypt on 15 January 1918, a year before the tumultuous events of the Egyptian Revolution of 1919. Nasser's father was a postal worker born in Beni Mur in Upper Egypt, and raised in Alexandria, and his mother's family came from Mallawi, el-Minya. His parents married in 1917. Nasser had two brothers, Izz al-Arab and al-Leithi. Nasser's biographers Robert Stephens and Said Aburish wrote that Nasser's family believed strongly in the "Arab notion of glory", since the name of Nasser's brother, Izz al-Arab, translates to "Glory of the Arabs".


title: Gamal Abdel Nasser

text: Nasser's family traveled frequently due to his father's work. In 1921, they moved to Asyut and, in 1923, to Khatatba, where Nasser's father ran a post office. Nasser attended a primary school for the children of railway employees until 1924, when he was sent to live with his paternal uncle in Cairo, and to attend the Nahhasin elementary school.


title: Gamal Abdel Nasser

text: Nasser exchanged letters with his mother and visited her on holidays. He stopped receiving messages at the end of April 1926. Upon returning to Khatatba, he learned that his mother had died after giving birth to his third brother, Shawki, and that his family had kept the news from him. Nasser later stated that "losing her this way was a shock so deep that time failed to remedy". He adored his mother and the injury of her death deepened when his father remarried before the year's end.


title: Gamal Abdel Nasser

text: In 1928, Nasser went to Alexandria to live with his maternal grandfather and attend the city's Attarin elementary school. He left in 1929 for a private boarding school in Helwan, and later returned to Alexandria to enter the Ras el-Tin secondary school and to join his father, who was working for the city's postal service. It was in Alexandria that Nasser became involved in political activism. After witnessing clashes between protesters and police in Manshia Square, he joined the demonstration without being aware of its purpose. The protest, organized by the ultranationalist Young Egypt Society, called for the end of colonialism in Egypt in the wake of the 1923 Egyptian constitution's annulment by Prime Minister Isma'il Sidqi. Nasser was arrested and detained for a night before his father bailed him out. Nasser joined the paramilitary wing of the group, known as the Green Shirts, for a brief period in 1934. His association with the group and active role in student demonstrations during this period "imbued him with a fierce Egyptian nationalism", according to the historian James Jankowski.


title: Gamal Abdel Nasser

text: When his father was transferred to Cairo in 1933, Nasser joined him and attended al-Nahda al-Masria school. He took up acting in school plays for a brief period and wrote articles for the school's paper, including a piece on French philosopher Voltaire titled "Voltaire, the Man of Freedom". On 13 November 1935, Nasser led a student demonstration against British rule, protesting against a statement made four days prior by UK foreign minister Samuel Hoare that rejected prospects for the 1923 Constitution's restoration. Two protesters were killed and Nasser received a graze to the head from a policeman's bullet. The incident garnered his first mention in the press: the nationalist newspaper "Al Gihad" reported that Nasser led the protest and was among the wounded. On 12 December, the new king, Farouk, issued a decree restoring the constitution.


title: Gamal Abdel Nasser

text: Nasser's involvement in political activity increased throughout his school years, such that he only attended 45 days of classes during his last year of secondary school. Despite it having the almost unanimous backing of Egypt's political forces, Nasser strongly objected to the 1936 Anglo-Egyptian Treaty because it stipulated the continued presence of British military bases in the country. Nonetheless, political unrest in Egypt declined significantly and Nasser resumed his studies at al-Nahda, where he received his leaving certificate later that year.


title: Gamal Abdel Nasser

text: Aburish asserts that Nasser was not distressed by his frequent relocations, which broadened his horizons and showed him Egyptian society's class divisions. His own social status was well below the wealthy Egyptian elite, and his discontent with those born into wealth and power grew throughout his lifetime. Nasser spent most of his spare time reading, particularly in 1933 when he lived near the National Library of Egypt. He read the Qur'an, the sayings of Muhammad, the lives of the Sahaba (Muhammad's companions), and the biographies of nationalist leaders Napoleon, Atatürk, Otto von Bismarck, and Garibaldi and the autobiography of Winston Churchill.


title: Gamal Abdel Nasser

text: Nasser was greatly influenced by Egyptian nationalism, as espoused by politician Mustafa Kamel, poet Ahmed Shawqi, and his anti-colonialist instructor at the Royal Military Academy, Aziz al-Masri, to whom Nasser expressed his gratitude in a 1961 newspaper interview. He was especially influenced by Egyptian writer Tawfiq al-Hakim's novel "Return of the Spirit", in which al-Hakim wrote that the Egyptian people were only in need of a "man in whom all their feelings and desires will be represented, and who will be for them a symbol of their objective". Nasser later credited the novel as his inspiration to launch the coup d'état that began the Egyptian Revolution of 1952.


title: Gamal Abdel Nasser

text: In 1937, Nasser applied to the Royal Military Academy for army officer training, but his police record of anti-government protest initially blocked his entry. Disappointed, he enrolled in the law school at King Fuad University, but quit after one semester to reapply to the Military Academy. From his readings, Nasser, who frequently spoke of "dignity, glory, and freedom" in his youth, became enchanted with the stories of national liberators and heroic conquerors; a military career became his chief priority.


title: Gamal Abdel Nasser

text: Convinced that he needed a "wasta", or an influential intermediary to promote his application above the others, Nasser managed to secure a meeting with Under-Secretary of War Ibrahim Khairy Pasha, the person responsible for the academy's selection board, and requested his help. Khairy Pasha agreed and sponsored Nasser's second application, which was accepted in late 1937. Nasser focused on his military career from then on, and had little contact with his family. At the academy, he met Abdel Hakim Amer and Anwar Sadat, both of whom became important aides during his presidency. After graduating from the academy in July 1938, he was commissioned a second lieutenant in the infantry, and posted to Mankabad. It was here that Nasser and his closest comrades, including Sadat and Amer, first discussed their dissatisfaction at widespread corruption in the country and their desire to topple the monarchy. Sadat would later write that because of his "energy, clear-thinking, and balanced judgement", Nasser emerged as the group's natural leader.


title: Gamal Abdel Nasser

text: In 1941, Nasser was posted to Khartoum, Sudan, which was part of Egypt at the time. Nasser returned to Egypt in September 1942 after a brief stay in Sudan, then secured a position as an instructor in the Cairo Royal Military Academy in May 1943. In February 1942, in what became known as the Abdeen Palace Incident, British soldiers and tanks surrounded King Farouk's palace to compel the King to dismiss Prime Minister Hussein Sirri Pasha in favour of Mostafa El-Nahas, whom the United Kingdom government felt would be more sympathetetic to their war effort against the Axis. The British Ambassador, Miles Lampson, marched into the palace, and threatened the King with the bombardment of his palace, his removal as king, and his exile from Egypt unless he conceded to the British demands. Ultimately, the 22 year old King submitted, and appointed El-Nahas. Nasser saw the incident as a blatant violation of Egyptian sovereignty and wrote, "I am ashamed that our army has not reacted against this attack", and wished for "calamity" to overtake the British. Nasser was accepted into the General Staff College later that year. He began to form a group of young military officers with strong nationalist sentiments who supported some form of revolution. Nasser stayed in touch with the group's members primarily through Amer, who continued to seek out interested officers within the Egyptian Armed Force's various branches and presented Nasser with a complete file on each of them.


title: Gamal Abdel Nasser

text: Nasser's first battlefield experience was in Palestine during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. He initially volunteered to serve with the Arab Higher Committee (AHC) led by Mohammad Amin al-Husayni. Nasser met with and impressed al-Husayni, but was ultimately refused entry to the AHC's forces by the Egyptian government for reasons that were unclear.


title: Gamal Abdel Nasser

text: In May 1948, following the British withdrawal, King Farouk sent the Egyptian army into Israel, with Nasser serving as a staff officer of the 6th Infantry Battalion. During the war, he wrote of the Egyptian army's unpreparedness, saying "our soldiers were dashed against fortifications". Nasser was deputy commander of the Egyptian forces that secured the Faluja pocket (commanded by Said Taha Bey nicknamed the "Sudanese tiger" by the Israelis). On 12 July, he was lightly wounded in the fighting. By August, his brigade was surrounded by the Israeli Army. Appeals for help from Transjordan's Arab Legion went unheeded, but the brigade refused to surrender. Negotiations between Israel and Egypt finally resulted in the ceding of Faluja to Israel. According to veteran journalist Eric Margolis, the defenders of Faluja, "including young army officer Gamal Abdel Nasser, became national heroes" for enduring Israeli bombardment while isolated from their command.


title: Gamal Abdel Nasser

text: Still stationed after the war in the Faluja enclave, Nasser agreed to an Israeli request to identify 67 killed soldiers of the "religious platoon". The expedition was led by Rabbi Shlomo Goren and Nasser personally accompanied him, ordering the Egyptian soldiers to stand at attention. They spoke briefly, and according to Goren, after learning what the square phylacteries found with the soldiers were, Nasser told him that he "now understands their courageous stand". During an interview on Israeli TV in 1971, Rabbi Goren claimed the two agreed to meet again when the time of peace comes.


title: Gamal Abdel Nasser

text: The Egyptian singer Umm Kulthum hosted a public celebration for the officers' return despite reservations from the royal government, which had been pressured by the British to prevent the reception. The apparent difference in attitude between the government and the general public increased Nasser's determination to topple the monarchy. Nasser had also felt bitter that his brigade had not been relieved despite the resilience it displayed. He started writing his book "Philosophy of the Revolution" during the siege.


title: Gamal Abdel Nasser

text: After the war, Nasser returned to his role as an instructor at the Royal Military Academy. He sent emissaries to forge an alliance with the Muslim Brotherhood in October 1948, but soon concluded that the religious agenda of the Brotherhood was not compatible with his nationalism. From then on, Nasser prevented the Brotherhood's influence over his cadres' activities without severing ties with the organization. Nasser was sent as a member of the Egyptian delegation to Rhodes in February 1949 to negotiate a formal armistice with Israel, and reportedly considered the terms to be humiliating, particularly because the Israelis were able to easily occupy the Eilat region while negotiating with the Arabs in March.


title: Gamal Abdel Nasser

text: Nasser's return to Egypt coincided with Husni al-Za'im's Syrian coup d'état. Its success and evident popular support among the Syrian people encouraged Nasser's revolutionary pursuits. Soon after his return, he was summoned and interrogated by Prime Minister Ibrahim Abdel Hadi regarding suspicions that he was forming a secret group of dissenting officers. According to secondhand reports, Nasser convincingly denied the allegations. Abdel Hadi was also hesitant to take drastic measures against the army, especially in front of its chief of staff, who was present during the interrogation, and subsequently released Nasser. The interrogation pushed Nasser to speed up his group's activities.


title: Gamal Abdel Nasser

text: After 1949, the group adopted the name "Association of Free Officers" and advocated "little else but freedom and the restoration of their country’s dignity". Nasser organized the Free Officers' founding committee, which eventually comprised fourteen men from different social and political backgrounds, including representation from Young Egypt, the Muslim Brotherhood, the Egyptian Communist Party, and the aristocracy. Nasser was unanimously elected chairman of the organization.


title: Gamal Abdel Nasser

text: In the 1950 parliamentary elections, the Wafd Party of el-Nahhas gained a victory—mostly due to the absence of the Muslim Brotherhood, which boycotted the elections—and was perceived as a threat by the Free Officers as the Wafd had campaigned on demands similar to their own. Accusations of corruption against Wafd politicians began to surface, however, breeding an atmosphere of rumor and suspicion that consequently brought the Free Officers to the forefront of Egyptian politics. By then, the organization had expanded to around ninety members. According to Khaled Mohieddin, "nobody knew all of them and where they belonged in the hierarchy except Nasser". Nasser felt that the Free Officers were not ready to move against the government and, for nearly two years, he did little beyond officer recruitment and underground news bulletins.