The Avengers #28
Avengers #28 is a pivotal Silver Age roster issue that accomplishes two landmark feats in a single story: it introduces Henry Pym under his Goliath identity — marking his formal break from the Giant-Man name — and delivers the first appearance of the Collector, a villain who would eventually be retconned as one of the immortal Elders of the Universe and become a cornerstone of Marvel's cosmic mythology. The issue also closes the 'Cap's Kooky Quartet' era by returning both Hank Pym and Janet Van Dyne (the Wasp) to the active Avengers lineup, meaningfully reshaping the team's Silver Age dynamic. Its cultural reach expanded dramatically when the Collector, debuting here as little more than a peculiar old man with a taste for living trophies, was later portrayed by Benicio del Toro across multiple MCU films including Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) and Avengers: Infinity War (2018).
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Written and edited by Stan Lee with interior pencils by Don Heck, inking by Frank Giacoia, and lettering by Artie Simek, the issue carried a cover date of May 1966 and went on sale in March of that year. The cover itself was penciled by Jack Kirby and inked by Giacoia — a standard division of labor during the mid-1960s Marvel period when Kirby provided cover layouts or pencils for titles he no longer drew interiorly, as Don Heck had taken over the Avengers series from Kirby following issue #8. The Goliath identity for Hank Pym appears to have emerged organically within the story rather than from any known documented editorial mandate, with the costume famously being supplied in-story by Scarlet Witch. The issue was published at roughly the same time Roy Thomas was being brought in to eventually replace Lee as the series writer, situating it right at the tail end of Lee's own creative tenure on the book.
Trivia · 8 facts
- First appearance of the Collector (Taneleer Tivan), created by Stan Lee and Don Heck; he would later be established as one of the immortal Elders of the Universe in Avengers #174 (1978).
- First appearance of Henry Pym under the Goliath codename — Scarlet Witch presents him with a new costume she has sewn, and he adopts the name upon rejoining the team.
- Both Hank Pym and Janet Van Dyne (the Wasp) rejoin the Avengers in this issue, and both reveal their secret identities as Henry Pym and Janet Van Dyne to their teammates for the first time.
- The story establishes a new physiological limitation for Pym: at the issue's cliffhanger ending, he collapses and is stuck at ten feet tall, unable to return to normal size — a plot thread carried forward into subsequent issues.
- The Beetle (Abner Jenkins) appears as a villain under the Collector's control, having been dosed with an obedience potion; it is his second consecutive appearance in the Avengers title (following issue #27).
- Written by Stan Lee, with interior art by Don Heck and Frank Giacoia; cover by Jack Kirby and Frank Giacoia; lettered by Artie Simek. Cover-dated May 1966, on-sale March 1966.
- The Collector was later portrayed by Benicio del Toro in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, appearing in Thor: The Dark World (2013), Guardians of the Galaxy (2014), and Avengers: Infinity War (2018).
- The issue has been reprinted extensively, including in Marvel Masterworks: The Avengers Vol. 3, the Avengers Omnibus Vol. 1 (2012), Avengers: The Many Faces of Henry Pym (2012), Ant-Man / Giant-Man: Growing Pains (2018), and the Penguin Classics Marvel Collection (2023).
Cast · 15 characters
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Full plot ⚠ may contain spoilers
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Giant-Man returns to the line-up, but with a new name, Goliath, and a more limited size-changing power.
Plot details indexed by the Grand Comics Database (CC BY-SA).