Are the other Avengers sponging off Iron Man? (in A:EMH)

[ShadowStar]

Think about it: out of the 8 team members, Iron Man, Ant-Man/Giant Man and Wasp are the only ones who have careers, lives even, away from Avengers Mansion. Tony Stark is basically taking care of Thor, Hulk, Captain America, Black Panther and even Hawkeye (whose identity is a secret from the general public I'm assuming).

Thor and Panther could occasionally depart the fold for Asgard and Wakanda respectively, but most of the time they're loitering around in Avenger's Mansion, and it's not like they can lead public lives: Thor is a thunder god and Panther is a prince who, if he's anything like his people, prefers to remain private. So it's safe to say that those two aren't getting out and about much, let alone looking for jobs in order to repay Stark for his generosity. Though I suppose Panther can give Stark some rent money since he is a prince and therefore must have some fortune, especially when his supply of vibranium is taken into consideration.

Hulk struck a deal with Banner that he would be the one occupying their body, so it's safe to say that he doesn't have a life away from the mansion.

Captain America is a bit of a mystery because we don't know if his true identity is public knowledge. But I guess the news bulletin in "Meet Captain America", which named him as Steve Rogers, is a strong indication that the public know who he is... Also, he was outside, in costume, but without his mask in "Everything is Wonderful". However, just because he's comfortable with people knowing who he is doesn't necessarily mean that he's got a job and is repaying Tony that way. That said, Nick Fury offered to give him anything he might need, which may include some cash for rent. ;)

Hawkeye turned down his job at S.H.I.E.L.D. (which I'm assuming would have paid well) to join the Avengers. Is he using part of whatever sum of money he got from being a S.H.I.E.L.D. special agent previously to repay Stark? Hah, I doubt it. But as I haven't seen any of the episodes that come after "Gamma World part 2", I can't comment much on him.

So are the aforementioned 5 Avengers taking advantage of Iron Man? I suppose all of them (except for Hulk) could push off and go somewhere else if it became difficult for Stark to manage their mansion headquarters. Also, I know that Iron Man is doing it out of the kindness of his heart since this team needs the headquarters it has, but what do you think?

[Aquaman OS]

Captain America is fresh from the iceberg. He doesn't have any life that still exists at the moment. And while in the regular Marvel universe he eventually would, currently he's just earning his keep by being an Avenger.

Hulk Iron Man has to keep because he's in charge of making sure he doesn't rampage anymore. So he basically is sponging off him, but Iron Man's ok with that.

Panther probably sustains himself with funding from Wakanda.

Don't know about Hawkeye.

[AlgeaX]

Well in the comics, each active Avenger got a monthly stipend of about a thousand bucks a month from the Maria Stark Foundation though they had the option of just donating it to charity. Presumably, the animated Avengers have a similar set-up.

[suss2it]

Tony Stark is a billionaire, and offered them the mansion, rent-free to use. So no they aren't taking advantage of him by accepting his offer.

[Rick Jones]

The founding members would have been perfectly fine doing what they were previously doing if Tony didn't make the Mansion and all of its services fully available to them. I think Thor, Jan and Hank are fully capable of living on their own means. I'd imagine that they don't just live off of Tony. The same goes for Panther, who I'm not sure even stays at the Mansion most of the time. We saw that he had a Wakandan Embassy set up in "Masters Of Evil", and he seemed to have made himself at home there. Hulk, Cap, and Hawkeye were all offered membership and all of the side perks that went along with it. They're pretty much full-time superheroes, which is a non-profit gig, and Tony is a very charitable supporter.

[Monte]

I think panther does have a life beyond the mansion... I think he basically acts as Wakanda's ambassador; if i recall it was even said he staid he stayed at the embassy... So likely when he is not acting as an avenger he is doing what any ambassador does over at the united nations or something. Though he might visit occasionally, he doesn't have the freedom to visit wakanada too often since he needs to be nearby in case the avengers are needed.

Also Jan despite having a job beyond the avengers does live in the mansion, as we had the previous episode where she decided she was gonna leave her apartment and move into the mansion...

Thor, while he could have gone back to asgard seems to be avoiding doing so... my guess is that he really does not wish to face his father. Though technically i would say the avengers card probably can't call between realms and as such Thor could not stay in asgard too long... Though it does kind of make me wish they would have had thor maintain a secret identity like he did in the comics; might have been a nice way of showing him getting to know humanity better... though maybe yost and his team might save that for later in the series, like when Thor realizes that he has to do more than just protect humanity to understand them.

Also i don't think any of the avengers identities are kept a secret... i mean at this point the villains already know who each of them are, so its kind of pointless to even try to maintain the secret. Not to mention i feel it adds and added quality to the avengers that they are not just a team of superheroes but heroes that do not feel they need to hide from the public eye and thus closer to the people than most others...

[Medinnus]

Also i don't think any of the avengers identities are kept a secret... i mean at this point the villains already know who each of them are, so its kind of pointless to even try to maintain the secret.


Well, lets see...

* Iron Man - Official story is that Iron Man is Stark's bodyguard, but its not clear if, as in the movie, Stark went public.

* Thor - No secret identity, although its unclear if the Public feels that Thor is the real Norse god.

* Captain America - I think that after WWII, that his secret identity would be publicly known, but its not clear that the general public knows or believes that the current Captain America is the same as the "original" Captain America - especially since we don't know if any of the other Captains America served in the intervening decades.

* Ant-Man/Wasp - Generally known, I'm thinking

* Black Panther - Perhaps generally known, perhaps not.

* Hulk - As the Absorbing Man bragged to Banner about knowing all about him, I'm going to guess that the military has withheld his identity from the Public.

* Hawkeye - As a SHIELD operative, I'm pretty sure his identity isn't generally known.

[suss2it]

Well, lets see...

* Iron Man - Official story is that Iron Man is Stark's bodyguard, but its not clear if, as in the movie, Stark went public.
I'm pretty sure it is public knowledge. Didn't Wonder Man know who he was, as well as Nick Fury.

[Aquaman OS]

Yeah, Iron Man is public knowledge. Probably because it's been public knowledge for awhile in the comics as in the films, so they're going with what most people know nowadays. I assume that's why they aren't bothering with the whole Donald Blake thing for Thor as well.

[ShadowStar]

I'm pretty sure it is public knowledge. Didn't Wonder Man know who he was, as well as Nick Fury.

Yeah, and in "Breakout part one", one of the supervillains in the Vault said, "Get up Stark, we're not done".

[Anwar]

I have to wonder what Stark's activities being public knowledge has done to his stock value.

[Munkiman]

They're not really sponging off of Tony if he offered.

I think of it as kind of like getting paid for their job with room and board. Thor and Hulk can't really function in normal society, being Avengers is their job. Hawkeye, too, I would guess, since he was probably living with SHIELD, though it's possible he's got a separate job. But the Avengers seems to be more of a full-time thing on this show rather than an occasional superhero team-up - I don't think we've seen any Avengers really go solo since the Breakout except Wasp vs. "Whirlwind" in Masters of Evil, and that was because she happened to be out shopping and saw him - she wasn't just on patrol by herself. Hawkeye was actually berated for trying to go solo in "Widow's Sting."

[Medinnus]

Stark formed the team, and then spent a small fortune in renovations on the Avengers Mansion, explicitly making it a "firehouse" kind of place for the members of the team.

I fail to see how this is somehow "sponging"; if Stark wants the Avengers proximal enough to be able to assemble (although time/distance is one of those things the writers fudge so that when the Avengers hear about a threat they can respond in minutes, not days... that way the bad guys don't win because the Avengers are somewhere over Ohio...), then he needs to have them nearby, and not restricted by 'day jobs'.

[Anwar]

The villains' proximity to the Avengers has made me curious. I know HYDRA Island is supposed to be some secret base in the middle of the Ocean somewhere but they only seem to invade New York and not other places.

Same for AIM, you'd think that they'd want to relocate their main base to any other city than the one the Avengers' live in.

[Monte]

The villains' proximity to the Avengers has made me curious. I know HYDRA Island is supposed to be some secret base in the middle of the Ocean somewhere but they only seem to invade New York and not other places.

Same for AIM, you'd think that they'd want to relocate their main base to any other city than the one the Avengers' live in.

Well that can be said for MANY of the villains in comics... i mean most superheroes primarily locate themselves in one particular city and only occasional go elsewhere. Why would villains try to rob and cause havoc in cities with superheros when their are hundreds of reasonably large cities they could settle down in and never have to worry about superheroes... i mean unless you have hard ties to a city or have a personal thing against a superhero you are just asking for pain by operating in that particular city on a regular occasion.

[Aquaman OS]

That's just how Marvel operates.

95 percent of the time stuff is happening in the New York area and nearly all of their heroes live there. You just kind of get used to it after awhile.

[JTMarsh]

DC's not that overly different. Gotham City, Central City & Keystone City are all crawling with Rogues galleries who are routinely thwarted by the Batman and/or the Flash, repsectively. Now in the Joker's case I imagine he operates in Gotham mostly because he enjoys the the conflict with Batman. The Flash Rogues may be too deeply attached to their hatred of the Flash to move. Or in some cases it's just easier to stick with a city you know than it is to move to a different city and learn how that city operates. Or perhaps they just can't afford to move.

[Munkiman]

The villains' proximity to the Avengers has made me curious. I know HYDRA Island is supposed to be some secret base in the middle of the Ocean somewhere but they only seem to invade New York and not other places.

Same for AIM, you'd think that they'd want to relocate their main base to any other city than the one the Avengers' live in.
We saw HYDRA invade NYC only once in the episodes that have been shown in the U.S. - they sent a few agents into the city besides that, true, like when they were dealing with MODOK, but the only time you could really say "HYDRA's attacking New York!" was in "Iron Man is Born!" when they attacked the UN (which they were expecting to lose so that Grim Reaper could break Strucker out of the Vault).

(spoiler for Australian-released episode "Hail Hydra!" ahead)
The only other time that HYDRA invaded NYC was when they waged war on AIM for the Cosmic Cube, where Strucker wasn't that worried about the Avengers because as soon as he got his hands on the Cube, he would write them out of existence.

As for why AIM is based in NYC, they were there before the Avengers existed, and they had established too much to just pick up and leave. Not to mention that NYC is a big place, it's not like they're across the street from Avengers Mansion. Their location was a secret.

And on top of that, it doesn't really matter. As long as they're a threat to the world somehow, the Avengers would find their base. HYDRA Island wasn't anywhere near New York and that didn't stop Hawkeye, Cap, Panther and Mockingbird. The Avengers have had missions in Wakanda, out west at the Cube, they've gone to the Arctic looking for Hulk and into space looking for Kang. Being an Avengers-level villain in NYC only hastens the inevitable, if the Avengers are needed, they tend to show up despite the commute.