HULK

Loki set the trap with a phantom. From his prison on the Isle of Silence, the god of mischief projected an image of dynamite onto a railway bridge, and the Hulk — trying to stamp out the blast — smashed the bridge instead. Framed, hunted and suddenly the most wanted creature in America, the Hulk needed a hiding place in Avengers Vol. 1 #1 (1963), and he chose the last one any search party would check twice: a traveling circus.

There he performed as Mechano, billed as the most powerful, lifelike robot on Earth. Under greasepaint, a yellow-and-red striped costume and crimson pom-poms, the strongest mortal alive earned his keep juggling full-grown animals — an elephant, a horse and a seal turning in the air above him — while audiences applauded what they assumed was machinery.

The act collapsed because of ants. Ant-Man sent his insects burrowing beneath the ring, the ground caved in, a steel cylinder and a net followed, and the crowd roared at what it took for more showmanship. The Hulk wiped the hated makeup from his face, fought Iron Man hard enough to cripple the armor's power, and escaped into the desert — while Thor captured Loki and cleared the fugitive's name, turning the manhunt into the first meeting of the Avengers.