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* MeaningfulName / PunnyName: The Yellow Claw's true name is [[spoiler:Master Plan]].
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* MeaningfulName / PunnyName: The Yellow Claw's true name is [[spoiler:Master Plan]].[[spoiler: Plan Chu, so everybody addresses him as ''Master Plan'']].
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* AwesomeMcCoolname: Jimmy is also Woo Yen Jet, and it turns out the Golden Claw's real name is [[spoiler: Plan Chu, so everybody addresses him as Master Plan.]]
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-->''The Spy. The Spaceman. The Siren. The Mermaid. The Robot. The Gorilla.''
Back in the 1970s, {{Marvel}} did ''ComicBook/WhatIf'' #9, which asked "What If ComicBook/TheAvengers Had Formed In The [[TheFifties 1950s]]?", bringing together a team of Marvel's [[TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks Golden Age]] heroes to rescue a kidnapped [[UsefulNotes/DwightDEisenhower President Eisenhower]].
Back in the 1970s, {{Marvel}} did ''ComicBook/WhatIf'' #9, which asked "What If ComicBook/TheAvengers Had Formed In The [[TheFifties 1950s]]?", bringing together a team of Marvel's [[TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks Golden Age]] heroes to rescue a kidnapped [[UsefulNotes/DwightDEisenhower President Eisenhower]].
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Back in the 1970s,
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!!This comic provides examples of the following tropes:
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That was pretty much it for the next three decades, until editor Mark Paniccia stumbled across the "What If?" and decided to ask writer Jeff Parker what he'd do with the idea in the mainstream MarvelUniverse. The result was a six-issue miniseries called ''Agents of Atlas'', which came out in 2006.
to:
That was pretty much it for the next three decades, until editor Mark Paniccia stumbled across the "What If?" and decided to ask writer Jeff Parker what he'd do with the idea in the mainstream MarvelUniverse. The result was a six-issue miniseries called ''Agents of Atlas'', which came out in 2006.
Atlas'' (October, 2006 -March, 2007).
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Back in the 1970s, {{Marvel}} did ''ComicBook/WhatIf'' #9, which asked "What If ComicBook/TheAvengers Had Formed In The [[TheFifties 1950s]]?", bringing together a team of Marvel's [[TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks Golden Age]] heroes to rescue a kidnapped [[DwightDEisenhower President Eisenhower]].
to:
Back in the 1970s, {{Marvel}} did ''ComicBook/WhatIf'' #9, which asked "What If ComicBook/TheAvengers Had Formed In The [[TheFifties 1950s]]?", bringing together a team of Marvel's [[TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks Golden Age]] heroes to rescue a kidnapped [[DwightDEisenhower [[UsefulNotes/DwightDEisenhower President Eisenhower]].
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* PartsUnknown: Bob tries to obscure the fact that he's from Uranus by solely referring to it as "the seventh planet".
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* PartsUnknown: Bob tries to obscure the fact that he's from Uranus by solely referring to it as "the seventh planet".planet", mostly because [[AudienceSurrogate it makes Ken laugh.]]
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* CompellingVoice: Venus' ability.
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* EnthrallingSiren: Venus is a rare heroic example. Her power is so strong that Aphrodite gives up her position as the goddess of love after being convinced that Venus would be better for the job.
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--->'''Jeff Parker:''' I know some people think I try to cram them in everywhere, but that’s really more editors suggesting it, and me usually agreeing.
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Then in mid-2008 came the news that the Agents would be getting their own ongoing series, kicking off in February 2009. Cue much {{Squee}} from the Agents' fans -- and a certain amount of cynicism, noting [[ScrewedByTheNetwork what usually happens with new series]]. This fate was semi-averted: the series wrapped up with #11, had a two-issue crossover with the ComicBook/{{X-Men}}, was installed in ''IncredibleHercules'' as a backup, got relaunched, then [[http://www.comicsalliance.com/2010/07/13/jeff-parker-ken-hale-on-gorilla-man-the-end-of-agents-of-atlas/ got cancelled again]], but even quicker this time. There was also a three-issue miniseries for both Gorilla Man and the Uranian, and a one-shot for Namora.
to:
Then in mid-2008 came the news that the Agents would be getting their own ongoing series, kicking off in February 2009. Cue much {{Squee}} from the Agents' fans -- and a certain amount of cynicism, noting [[ScrewedByTheNetwork what usually happens with new series]]. This fate was semi-averted: the series wrapped up with #11, had a two-issue crossover with the ComicBook/{{X-Men}}, was installed in ''IncredibleHercules'' as a backup, got relaunched, then [[http://www.comicsalliance.com/2010/07/13/jeff-parker-ken-hale-on-gorilla-man-the-end-of-agents-of-atlas/ got cancelled again]], but even quicker this time.with Parker calling quits at issue #5. There was also a three-issue miniseries for both Gorilla Man and the Uranian, and a one-shot for Namora.
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* DemBones: Atlas fights mobile skeletons so much it borders on a RunningGag.
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Then in mid-2008 came the news that the Agents would be getting their own ongoing series, kicking off in February 2009. Cue much {{Squee}} from the Agents' fans -- and a certain amount of cynicism, noting [[ScrewedByTheNetwork what usually happens with new series]]. This fate was semi-averted: the series wrapped up with #11, had a two-issue crossover with the ComicBook/{{X-Men}}, was installed in ''IncredibleHercules'' as a backup, got relaunched, then [[http://www.comicsalliance.com/2010/07/13/jeff-parker-ken-hale-on-gorilla-man-the-end-of-agents-of-atlas/ got cancelled again]], but even quicker this time.
to:
Then in mid-2008 came the news that the Agents would be getting their own ongoing series, kicking off in February 2009. Cue much {{Squee}} from the Agents' fans -- and a certain amount of cynicism, noting [[ScrewedByTheNetwork what usually happens with new series]]. This fate was semi-averted: the series wrapped up with #11, had a two-issue crossover with the ComicBook/{{X-Men}}, was installed in ''IncredibleHercules'' as a backup, got relaunched, then [[http://www.comicsalliance.com/2010/07/13/jeff-parker-ken-hale-on-gorilla-man-the-end-of-agents-of-atlas/ got cancelled again]], but even quicker this time.
time. There was also a three-issue miniseries for both Gorilla Man and the Uranian, and a one-shot for Namora.
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* ATrueStoryInMyUniverse: The ''Uranian'' miniseries reveals that the original Marvel Boy tales are ''in-universe'' comics published by the comicbook company Atlas, fictionalizing Bob's adventures.
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* RetCon: The mini does this for most of the Agents, apart from Jimmy. It must be noted that Grayson's retcon does not fit in with facts about Marvel Boy known to be canonical. It's later explained in a followup mini.
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* RetCon: The mini does this for most Most of the Agents, apart from Jimmy. It must be noted that Grayson's retcon does not fit in with facts about Marvel Boy known to be canonical. It's later explained in a followup mini. Jimmy, have their histories hammered into shape for the series.
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* CoolCar: Jimmy Woo's red 1958 Edsel Pacer.
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* ContinuityLockout: Averted; everything we need to know about the characters' history is presented in the mini.
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* ContinuityLockout: Averted; everything we need to know about the characters' history is presented in the mini. The trade paperback nicely includes the first appearance of each character and WhatIf #9, though.
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* ArcWelding: The series reveals several elements from the characters' solo stories were part of the Atlas Foundation's plan. An Atlas agent told Ken Hale to go to Africa, and the Foundation commissioned the building of M-11.
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* AlternateRealityGame: The original series had one, with clues hidden in news sites leading to a text story set in 1958, "Menace From Space". [[note]]The serial is now available on Jeff Parker's blog in its entirety.[[/note]]
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Then in mid-2008 came the news that the Agents would be getting their own ongoing series, kicking off in February 2009. Cue much {{Squee}} from the Agents' fans -- and a certain amount of cynicism, noting [[ScrewedByTheNetwork what usually happens with new series]]. This fate was semi-averted: the series wrapped up with #11, had a two-issue crossover with the ComicBook/{{X-Men}}, was installed in ''IncredibleHercules'' as a backup, got relaunched, then [[http://www.comicsalliance.com/2010/07/13/jeff-parker-ken-hale-on-gorilla-man-the-end-of-agents-of-atlas/ got cancelled again]], but even quicker this time. Sigh.
to:
Then in mid-2008 came the news that the Agents would be getting their own ongoing series, kicking off in February 2009. Cue much {{Squee}} from the Agents' fans -- and a certain amount of cynicism, noting [[ScrewedByTheNetwork what usually happens with new series]]. This fate was semi-averted: the series wrapped up with #11, had a two-issue crossover with the ComicBook/{{X-Men}}, was installed in ''IncredibleHercules'' as a backup, got relaunched, then [[http://www.comicsalliance.com/2010/07/13/jeff-parker-ken-hale-on-gorilla-man-the-end-of-agents-of-atlas/ got cancelled again]], but even quicker this time. Sigh.
time.
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* KissingCousins: Namora and Namor. (According to Issue #6 they're [[NotBloodSiblings Not Blood Cousins]], thankfully.)
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* KissingCousins: Namora and Namor. (According to Issue #6 they're [[NotBloodSiblings Not Blood Cousins]], thankfully.though.)
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* AllLovingHero: Venus, who likes and cares about ''everybody'', as befits a goddess of love.
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* CharmPerson: Venus's central power; anyone who hears her voice will do anything to make her happy. Good thing she's TheMessiah type.
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* CharmPerson: Venus's central power; anyone who hears her voice will do anything to make her happy. Good thing she's TheMessiah the AllLovingHero type.
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* TheMessiah: Venus, who likes and cares about ''everybody'', as befits a goddess of love.
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* CaptainErsatz: The Yellow Claw is an Ersatz for Fu Manchu -- who later ended up becoming part of the MarvelUniverse himself. One of the cases where the original and the Ersatz share the same fictive space. Their similar claimed backgrounds are explained by "Genghis Khan has lots of descendants."
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* CaptainErsatz: The Yellow Claw is an Ersatz for Fu Manchu -- who later ended up becoming part of the MarvelUniverse himself. One of the cases where the original and the Ersatz share the same fictive space. They also share a universe with Iron Man villain The Mandarin. Their similar claimed backgrounds are explained by "Genghis Khan has lots of descendants."
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Then in mid-2008 came the news that the Agents would be getting their own ongoing series, kicking off in February 2009. Cue much {{Squee}} from the Agents' fans -- and a certain amount of cynicism, noting [[ScrewedByTheNetwork what usually happens with new series]]. This fate was semi-averted: the series wrapped up with #11, had a two-issue crossover with the [[XMen the X-Men]], was installed in ''IncredibleHercules'' as a backup, got relaunched, then [[http://www.comicsalliance.com/2010/07/13/jeff-parker-ken-hale-on-gorilla-man-the-end-of-agents-of-atlas/ got cancelled again]], but even quicker this time. Sigh.
to:
Then in mid-2008 came the news that the Agents would be getting their own ongoing series, kicking off in February 2009. Cue much {{Squee}} from the Agents' fans -- and a certain amount of cynicism, noting [[ScrewedByTheNetwork what usually happens with new series]]. This fate was semi-averted: the series wrapped up with #11, had a two-issue crossover with the [[XMen the X-Men]], ComicBook/{{X-Men}}, was installed in ''IncredibleHercules'' as a backup, got relaunched, then [[http://www.comicsalliance.com/2010/07/13/jeff-parker-ken-hale-on-gorilla-man-the-end-of-agents-of-atlas/ got cancelled again]], but even quicker this time. Sigh.
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'''Note''': Atlas Comics was the name Marvel went by for most of the '50s. All of the characters in ''Agents of Atlas'' were created during the Atlas Comics period, before the FantasticFour ushered in the modern MarvelUniverse.
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'''Note''': Atlas Comics was the name Marvel went by for most of the '50s. All of the characters in ''Agents of Atlas'' were created during the Atlas Comics period, before the FantasticFour ComicBook/FantasticFour ushered in the modern MarvelUniverse.
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* DeliberateValuesDissonance: Yellow Claw notes that despite the fact that Jimmy stopped his plans many times over, captured a Nazi war criminal, and even ''rescued the President'', he was still buried in red tape, because the U.S. Government wasn't "ready for a hero of Chinese lineage".
** Yellow Claw states that his real title is ''Golden'' Claw, and that Yellow Claw is simply a slur created by the West.
** Yellow Claw states that his real title is ''Golden'' Claw, and that Yellow Claw is simply a slur created by the West.
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* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: Spider-Man covers Venus in his webs to stop her. Let me say that again, Spider-Man shoots his white, sticky substance all over the very attractive woman.
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Then in mid-2008 came the news that the Agents would be getting their own ongoing series, kicking off in February 2009. Cue much {{Squee}} from the Agents' fans -- and a certain amount of cynicism, noting [[TooGoodToLast what usually happens with new series]]. This fate was semi-averted: the series wrapped up with #11, had a two-issue crossover with the [[XMen the X-Men]], was installed in ''IncredibleHercules'' as a backup, got relaunched, then [[http://www.comicsalliance.com/2010/07/13/jeff-parker-ken-hale-on-gorilla-man-the-end-of-agents-of-atlas/ got cancelled again]], but even quicker this time. Sigh.
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Then in mid-2008 came the news that the Agents would be getting their own ongoing series, kicking off in February 2009. Cue much {{Squee}} from the Agents' fans -- and a certain amount of cynicism, noting [[TooGoodToLast [[ScrewedByTheNetwork what usually happens with new series]]. This fate was semi-averted: the series wrapped up with #11, had a two-issue crossover with the [[XMen the X-Men]], was installed in ''IncredibleHercules'' as a backup, got relaunched, then [[http://www.comicsalliance.com/2010/07/13/jeff-parker-ken-hale-on-gorilla-man-the-end-of-agents-of-atlas/ got cancelled again]], but even quicker this time. Sigh.
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* CaptainErsatz: The Yellow Claw is an Ersatz for Fu Manchu -- who later ended up becoming part of the MarvelUniverse himself. One of the cases where the original and the Ersatz share the same fictive space. Their similar claimed backgrounds are explained by "Ghengis Khan has lots of descendants."
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* CaptainErsatz: The Yellow Claw is an Ersatz for Fu Manchu -- who later ended up becoming part of the MarvelUniverse himself. One of the cases where the original and the Ersatz share the same fictive space. Their similar claimed backgrounds are explained by "Ghengis "Genghis Khan has lots of descendants."
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http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/546506_5392.jpg
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Back in the 1970s, {{Marvel}} did ''What If?'' #9, which asked "What If [[{{Comicbook/TheAvengers}} The Avengers]] Had Formed In The [[TheFifties 1950s]]?", bringing together a team of Marvel's [[TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks Golden Age]] heroes to rescue a kidnapped [[DwightDEisenhower President Eisenhower]].
to:
Back in the 1970s, {{Marvel}} did ''What If?'' ''ComicBook/WhatIf'' #9, which asked "What If [[{{Comicbook/TheAvengers}} The Avengers]] ComicBook/TheAvengers Had Formed In The [[TheFifties 1950s]]?", bringing together a team of Marvel's [[TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks Golden Age]] heroes to rescue a kidnapped [[DwightDEisenhower President Eisenhower]].
Eisenhower]].
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Immortality split into subtropes.
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* {{Immortality}}: Ken combines Undying and External. Venus has Perfect Immortality. M-11 has Regenerative.
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* {{Immortality}}: Ken combines Undying and External. Venus has Perfect Immortality. M-11 has Regenerative.{{Immortality}}:
** TheAgeless / ImmortalityInducer: Ken.
** CompleteImmortality: Venus.
** FromASingleCell: M-11.
** TheAgeless / ImmortalityInducer: Ken.
** CompleteImmortality: Venus.
** FromASingleCell: M-11.
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http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/546506_5392.jpg
-->''The Spy. The Spaceman. The Siren. The Mermaid. The Robot. The Gorilla.''
Back in the 1970s, {{Marvel}} did ''What If?'' #9, which asked "What If [[{{Comicbook/TheAvengers}} The Avengers]] Had Formed In The [[TheFifties 1950s]]?", bringing together a team of Marvel's [[TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks Golden Age]] heroes to rescue a kidnapped [[DwightDEisenhower President Eisenhower]].
That was pretty much it for the next three decades, until editor Mark Paniccia stumbled across the "What If?" and decided to ask writer Jeff Parker what he'd do with the idea in the mainstream MarvelUniverse. The result was a six-issue miniseries called ''Agents of Atlas'', which came out in 2006.
The set-up: In 1958, FBI agent Jimmy Woo was tasked with recruiting a team of heroes to rescue President Eisenhower, who had been kidnapped by evil mastermind the Yellow Claw. Jimmy recruited Ken Hale, the immortal Gorilla Man; M-11, the enigmatic Human Robot; Venus, the goddess of love; and Bob Grayson, the superhero Marvel Boy. Following the success of their first mission, the so-called "G-Men" stayed together for the next six months -- before being abruptly shut down on orders from higher up. The team members disbanded, going their own ways.
Five decades later, Jimmy Woo, now a sub-director in SHIELD, led a mission to uncover the mysterious Atlas Foundation, but things went badly wrong; all of Jimmy's team-mates were killed, and Jimmy himself was left badly burned, and in a coma.
Jimmy's old team from the 1950s reunited to save Jimmy's life -- and to discover how far the Atlas Foundation's reach extended. In the process, they rejuvenated Jimmy, brought sea queen Namora back from the dead, and took on the Foundation's many agents, eventually confronting its secret masters.
Again, that pretty much seemed to be it for the Agents, although they made a couple of other appearances elsewhere in the MarvelUniverse.
Then in mid-2008 came the news that the Agents would be getting their own ongoing series, kicking off in February 2009. Cue much {{Squee}} from the Agents' fans -- and a certain amount of cynicism, noting [[TooGoodToLast what usually happens with new series]]. This fate was semi-averted: the series wrapped up with #11, had a two-issue crossover with the [[XMen the X-Men]], was installed in ''IncredibleHercules'' as a backup, got relaunched, then [[http://www.comicsalliance.com/2010/07/13/jeff-parker-ken-hale-on-gorilla-man-the-end-of-agents-of-atlas/ got cancelled again]], but even quicker this time. Sigh.
'''Note''': Atlas Comics was the name Marvel went by for most of the '50s. All of the characters in ''Agents of Atlas'' were created during the Atlas Comics period, before the FantasticFour ushered in the modern MarvelUniverse.
----
!!This comic provides examples of the following tropes:
* ActionGirl: Namora.
* AlternateUniverse: In one AU, Marvel Boy, Venus, M-11, Gorilla Man and 3-D Man became a team of 1950s Avengers; the timeline later got destroyed by Kang. The AU was based on the same issue of "What If?" that inspired the Agents.
* AncientConspiracy: The Atlas Foundation.
* ArrogantKungFuGuy: Temugin.
* BackFromTheDead: Namora.
* {{Badass}}: The whole team.
* BadassNormal: Jimmy Woo -- not least for forming and leading a team of supers in the first place. It says something about him that even ''five decades'' after the team originally disbanded, the Agents ''still'' jump at the chance to help him out again.
* BatmanGambit: The secret plan behind the events of the mini is one of these, as the main {{Chessmaster}} is conscious that failure is an option.
* BecauseDestinySaysSo: One thread running through the mini is that the Agents were a team 'destined' to exist. Jimmy selected his original 1950s team in a dream, and strange coincidences play an important part in the team's reunion in the modern day.
* CanonImmigrant: The team concept, which first popped up in an issue of "What If?".
* CaptainErsatz: The Yellow Claw is an Ersatz for Fu Manchu -- who later ended up becoming part of the MarvelUniverse himself. One of the cases where the original and the Ersatz share the same fictive space. Their similar claimed backgrounds are explained by "Ghengis Khan has lots of descendants."
* CharmPerson: Venus's central power; anyone who hears her voice will do anything to make her happy. Good thing she's TheMessiah type.
* TheChessmaster: [[spoiler:Yellow Claw and M-11]], who collaborate on its BatmanGambit.
* ComicBookTime: An unusual case, this: most of the Agents have been active in-universe at least since TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks, but since most of them don't age as a human would, they still look much the same (allowing for updates, revisions, and so on). Jimmy is something of an exception: up until the mini, he aged pretty much in real time, then got rejuvenated back to his twenties.
* ContinuityLockout: Averted; everything we need to know about the characters' history is presented in the mini.
* {{Covers Always Lie}} Issue 3 of the regular series features the Agents fighting Captain America on the cover. Cap does show up, but not until the very last panel. The fight happens in the next issue.
** Lampshaded two issues later, where the cover shows the Agents fighting The Avengers. Just as the teams are about to clash, {{Spider-Man}} stops them both, suspecting that the Agents may actually be good guys. It looks like the cover has lied again, and the two teams are going to just talk it out. Nope. One misplaced laser blast later, the two teams are duking it out.
* CursedWithAwesome: The catch to Ken's immortality? It made him an immortal ''gorilla''. He'd ''like'' to be human again, but it's been at least fifty years, and he's pretty much adjusted to life as a talking gorilla. (He can still be killed through violence, though.)
* CyberCyclops: M-11.
* DeathRay: M-11 is equipped with one of these, which he fires from his eye. He ''was'' built to be a 1950s killer robot, after all.
* DragonLady: Jade Claw.
* EverythingsBetterWithMonkeys: Ken, who's an immortal talking gorilla.
* FiveManBand
** TheHero: Jimmy
** TheLancer: Ken
** TheSmartGuy: Bob
** TheBigGuy: M-11
** TheChick: Venus
** SixthRanger: Namora
* FlyingBrick: Namora.
* FlyingSaucer: Bob has one of these, which the team uses to get around.
* FountainOfYouth: Present-day Jimmy is left horribly burned, with no higher brain function, after his first Atlas investigation goes wrong. Bob restores him using his last recording of Jimmy's physical pattern. However, Bob's last meeting with Jimmy was about five decades ago -- so Jimmy gets reset, physically and mentally, to how he was in 1959.
* TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks
* {{Immortality}}: Ken combines Undying and External. Venus has Perfect Immortality. M-11 has Regenerative.
* ImportedAlienPhlebotinum: Bob's Uranian technology, including his flying saucer and MindControl headband.
* InnocentFanserviceGirl: Venus.
* KissingCousins: Namora and Namor. (According to Issue #6 they're [[NotBloodSiblings Not Blood Cousins]], thankfully.)
* LetsYouAndHimFight: Inevitable, given that [[spoiler:they're pretending to be villains]]. Astonishingly one was stopped by ''Namor'':
--> '''Namor''': [[HypocriticalHumor I will resolve this dispute]]!
* MeaningfulName / PunnyName: The Yellow Claw's true name is [[spoiler:Master Plan]].
* TheMessiah: Venus, who likes and cares about ''everybody'', as befits a goddess of love.
* TheMole: [[spoiler:Turns out M-11 was a mole for the Yellow Claw... [[SubvertedTrope but he still remains loyal to Jimmy and the team]]]].
* MoleInCharge: The entire premise.
* MythologyGag: The title ''Agents of Atlas'' is a nod to Atlas Comics, Marvel's predecessor, as a homage to the team's [[TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks Golden Age]] origins.
** A related mythology gag comes later, when Namora dates [[PublicDomainCharacter Hercules]], who jokes that the Agents are named after "a guy dumb enough to be tricked ''by me''."
* NinjaPirateZombieRobot: See the top of the page. And that's just the ''heroes''.
* PartsUnknown: Bob tries to obscure the fact that he's from Uranus by solely referring to it as "the seventh planet".
* PickYourHumanHalf: Double-subversion with M-11. Initially subverted in that he looks and acts like a typical robot... which gets subverted in turn when we find out why he's called the ''Human'' Robot.
* TheQuietOne: M-11.
* RetCon: The mini does this for most of the Agents, apart from Jimmy. It must be noted that Grayson's retcon does not fit in with facts about Marvel Boy known to be canonical. It's later explained in a followup mini.
* RetGone: Originally, ''Avengers Forever'' was supposed to be tied into the 616 timeline, thus explaining Wasp's surprise when they find the 50s Avengers in their past, as to her memory, they'd existed as different heroes, never as an Avengers team. This was explained by Immortus showing up to wipe said portion of the timeline from existence in order to keep a Skrull posing as Nixon from accidentally kickstarting human aggression against offworld races.
* RobotNames: According to WordOfGod, the M in M-11 is short for Menacer. It's also a MythologyGag, as the Human Robot's first appearance was in ''Menace'' #11.
* RuleOfCool: Practically ''runs'' on the stuff.
* TheSpock: Bob.
* SuperHero
* SuperTeam
* TomatoInTheMirror: [[spoiler:Venus, who discovers she's actually an amnesiac Siren, which leads her into a HeroicBSOD. Note there IS a Venus goddess in the Marvel Universe. How much of the 50s Venus series depends on which Venus remains to be defined]].
** [[spoiler:A later issue shows that the goddess goes by Aphrodite instead, as she refers to Agents Venus as a "mortal bitch" "passing herself off with my Roman name."]] And now [[spoiler:Venus ''is'' the goddess, as Aphrodite vacated the position when she realized that she'd become too jaded over the centuries to properly handle the concept of love, and handed over her status to Venus before vanishing to go sort herself out]].
* TouchedByVorlons: Bob, who was modified by the Uranians.
* {{Trickster Mentor}}: [[spoiler:Yellow Claw, who spends fifty years pretending to be an over-the-top supervillain just to teach Jimmy the leadership skills he needs to run the Atlas Empire. Appropriately, his real name translates to Master Plan]].
* TrueCompanions: The Agents.
* WolverinePublicity: The Agents of Atlas show up in at least a guest spot in nearly every title Jeff Parker has written since the original mini; they've quickly become go-to characters for cameos and/or guest roles.
* YellowPeril: The Yellow Claw was pretty much this in his original stories -- balanced against the fact that Jimmy Woo, a Chinese-American, was the hero opposing him. Gets {{Lampshaded}} and subverted in the miniseries; it turns out Yellow Claw was invoking this trope ''on purpose'' because [[spoiler:he wanted to groom Jimmy into a hero by turning himself into a flashy period-appropriate supervillain to oppose him]].
* YouKillItYouBoughtIt: The Gorilla Man curse/blessing.
* {{Zeerust}}: M-11, and Bob's Uranian tech, both of which were futuristic for the 1950s. Jeff Parker took advantage of the decades since their creation to update their capabilities -- but their styles still remain the same.
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-->''The Spy. The Spaceman. The Siren. The Mermaid. The Robot. The Gorilla.''
Back in the 1970s, {{Marvel}} did ''What If?'' #9, which asked "What If [[{{Comicbook/TheAvengers}} The Avengers]] Had Formed In The [[TheFifties 1950s]]?", bringing together a team of Marvel's [[TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks Golden Age]] heroes to rescue a kidnapped [[DwightDEisenhower President Eisenhower]].
That was pretty much it for the next three decades, until editor Mark Paniccia stumbled across the "What If?" and decided to ask writer Jeff Parker what he'd do with the idea in the mainstream MarvelUniverse. The result was a six-issue miniseries called ''Agents of Atlas'', which came out in 2006.
The set-up: In 1958, FBI agent Jimmy Woo was tasked with recruiting a team of heroes to rescue President Eisenhower, who had been kidnapped by evil mastermind the Yellow Claw. Jimmy recruited Ken Hale, the immortal Gorilla Man; M-11, the enigmatic Human Robot; Venus, the goddess of love; and Bob Grayson, the superhero Marvel Boy. Following the success of their first mission, the so-called "G-Men" stayed together for the next six months -- before being abruptly shut down on orders from higher up. The team members disbanded, going their own ways.
Five decades later, Jimmy Woo, now a sub-director in SHIELD, led a mission to uncover the mysterious Atlas Foundation, but things went badly wrong; all of Jimmy's team-mates were killed, and Jimmy himself was left badly burned, and in a coma.
Jimmy's old team from the 1950s reunited to save Jimmy's life -- and to discover how far the Atlas Foundation's reach extended. In the process, they rejuvenated Jimmy, brought sea queen Namora back from the dead, and took on the Foundation's many agents, eventually confronting its secret masters.
Again, that pretty much seemed to be it for the Agents, although they made a couple of other appearances elsewhere in the MarvelUniverse.
Then in mid-2008 came the news that the Agents would be getting their own ongoing series, kicking off in February 2009. Cue much {{Squee}} from the Agents' fans -- and a certain amount of cynicism, noting [[TooGoodToLast what usually happens with new series]]. This fate was semi-averted: the series wrapped up with #11, had a two-issue crossover with the [[XMen the X-Men]], was installed in ''IncredibleHercules'' as a backup, got relaunched, then [[http://www.comicsalliance.com/2010/07/13/jeff-parker-ken-hale-on-gorilla-man-the-end-of-agents-of-atlas/ got cancelled again]], but even quicker this time. Sigh.
'''Note''': Atlas Comics was the name Marvel went by for most of the '50s. All of the characters in ''Agents of Atlas'' were created during the Atlas Comics period, before the FantasticFour ushered in the modern MarvelUniverse.
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!!This comic provides examples of the following tropes:
* ActionGirl: Namora.
* AlternateUniverse: In one AU, Marvel Boy, Venus, M-11, Gorilla Man and 3-D Man became a team of 1950s Avengers; the timeline later got destroyed by Kang. The AU was based on the same issue of "What If?" that inspired the Agents.
* AncientConspiracy: The Atlas Foundation.
* ArrogantKungFuGuy: Temugin.
* BackFromTheDead: Namora.
* {{Badass}}: The whole team.
* BadassNormal: Jimmy Woo -- not least for forming and leading a team of supers in the first place. It says something about him that even ''five decades'' after the team originally disbanded, the Agents ''still'' jump at the chance to help him out again.
* BatmanGambit: The secret plan behind the events of the mini is one of these, as the main {{Chessmaster}} is conscious that failure is an option.
* BecauseDestinySaysSo: One thread running through the mini is that the Agents were a team 'destined' to exist. Jimmy selected his original 1950s team in a dream, and strange coincidences play an important part in the team's reunion in the modern day.
* CanonImmigrant: The team concept, which first popped up in an issue of "What If?".
* CaptainErsatz: The Yellow Claw is an Ersatz for Fu Manchu -- who later ended up becoming part of the MarvelUniverse himself. One of the cases where the original and the Ersatz share the same fictive space. Their similar claimed backgrounds are explained by "Ghengis Khan has lots of descendants."
* CharmPerson: Venus's central power; anyone who hears her voice will do anything to make her happy. Good thing she's TheMessiah type.
* TheChessmaster: [[spoiler:Yellow Claw and M-11]], who collaborate on its BatmanGambit.
* ComicBookTime: An unusual case, this: most of the Agents have been active in-universe at least since TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks, but since most of them don't age as a human would, they still look much the same (allowing for updates, revisions, and so on). Jimmy is something of an exception: up until the mini, he aged pretty much in real time, then got rejuvenated back to his twenties.
* ContinuityLockout: Averted; everything we need to know about the characters' history is presented in the mini.
* {{Covers Always Lie}} Issue 3 of the regular series features the Agents fighting Captain America on the cover. Cap does show up, but not until the very last panel. The fight happens in the next issue.
** Lampshaded two issues later, where the cover shows the Agents fighting The Avengers. Just as the teams are about to clash, {{Spider-Man}} stops them both, suspecting that the Agents may actually be good guys. It looks like the cover has lied again, and the two teams are going to just talk it out. Nope. One misplaced laser blast later, the two teams are duking it out.
* CursedWithAwesome: The catch to Ken's immortality? It made him an immortal ''gorilla''. He'd ''like'' to be human again, but it's been at least fifty years, and he's pretty much adjusted to life as a talking gorilla. (He can still be killed through violence, though.)
* CyberCyclops: M-11.
* DeathRay: M-11 is equipped with one of these, which he fires from his eye. He ''was'' built to be a 1950s killer robot, after all.
* DragonLady: Jade Claw.
* EverythingsBetterWithMonkeys: Ken, who's an immortal talking gorilla.
* FiveManBand
** TheHero: Jimmy
** TheLancer: Ken
** TheSmartGuy: Bob
** TheBigGuy: M-11
** TheChick: Venus
** SixthRanger: Namora
* FlyingBrick: Namora.
* FlyingSaucer: Bob has one of these, which the team uses to get around.
* FountainOfYouth: Present-day Jimmy is left horribly burned, with no higher brain function, after his first Atlas investigation goes wrong. Bob restores him using his last recording of Jimmy's physical pattern. However, Bob's last meeting with Jimmy was about five decades ago -- so Jimmy gets reset, physically and mentally, to how he was in 1959.
* TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks
* {{Immortality}}: Ken combines Undying and External. Venus has Perfect Immortality. M-11 has Regenerative.
* ImportedAlienPhlebotinum: Bob's Uranian technology, including his flying saucer and MindControl headband.
* InnocentFanserviceGirl: Venus.
* KissingCousins: Namora and Namor. (According to Issue #6 they're [[NotBloodSiblings Not Blood Cousins]], thankfully.)
* LetsYouAndHimFight: Inevitable, given that [[spoiler:they're pretending to be villains]]. Astonishingly one was stopped by ''Namor'':
--> '''Namor''': [[HypocriticalHumor I will resolve this dispute]]!
* MeaningfulName / PunnyName: The Yellow Claw's true name is [[spoiler:Master Plan]].
* TheMessiah: Venus, who likes and cares about ''everybody'', as befits a goddess of love.
* TheMole: [[spoiler:Turns out M-11 was a mole for the Yellow Claw... [[SubvertedTrope but he still remains loyal to Jimmy and the team]]]].
* MoleInCharge: The entire premise.
* MythologyGag: The title ''Agents of Atlas'' is a nod to Atlas Comics, Marvel's predecessor, as a homage to the team's [[TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks Golden Age]] origins.
** A related mythology gag comes later, when Namora dates [[PublicDomainCharacter Hercules]], who jokes that the Agents are named after "a guy dumb enough to be tricked ''by me''."
* NinjaPirateZombieRobot: See the top of the page. And that's just the ''heroes''.
* PartsUnknown: Bob tries to obscure the fact that he's from Uranus by solely referring to it as "the seventh planet".
* PickYourHumanHalf: Double-subversion with M-11. Initially subverted in that he looks and acts like a typical robot... which gets subverted in turn when we find out why he's called the ''Human'' Robot.
* TheQuietOne: M-11.
* RetCon: The mini does this for most of the Agents, apart from Jimmy. It must be noted that Grayson's retcon does not fit in with facts about Marvel Boy known to be canonical. It's later explained in a followup mini.
* RetGone: Originally, ''Avengers Forever'' was supposed to be tied into the 616 timeline, thus explaining Wasp's surprise when they find the 50s Avengers in their past, as to her memory, they'd existed as different heroes, never as an Avengers team. This was explained by Immortus showing up to wipe said portion of the timeline from existence in order to keep a Skrull posing as Nixon from accidentally kickstarting human aggression against offworld races.
* RobotNames: According to WordOfGod, the M in M-11 is short for Menacer. It's also a MythologyGag, as the Human Robot's first appearance was in ''Menace'' #11.
* RuleOfCool: Practically ''runs'' on the stuff.
* TheSpock: Bob.
* SuperHero
* SuperTeam
* TomatoInTheMirror: [[spoiler:Venus, who discovers she's actually an amnesiac Siren, which leads her into a HeroicBSOD. Note there IS a Venus goddess in the Marvel Universe. How much of the 50s Venus series depends on which Venus remains to be defined]].
** [[spoiler:A later issue shows that the goddess goes by Aphrodite instead, as she refers to Agents Venus as a "mortal bitch" "passing herself off with my Roman name."]] And now [[spoiler:Venus ''is'' the goddess, as Aphrodite vacated the position when she realized that she'd become too jaded over the centuries to properly handle the concept of love, and handed over her status to Venus before vanishing to go sort herself out]].
* TouchedByVorlons: Bob, who was modified by the Uranians.
* {{Trickster Mentor}}: [[spoiler:Yellow Claw, who spends fifty years pretending to be an over-the-top supervillain just to teach Jimmy the leadership skills he needs to run the Atlas Empire. Appropriately, his real name translates to Master Plan]].
* TrueCompanions: The Agents.
* WolverinePublicity: The Agents of Atlas show up in at least a guest spot in nearly every title Jeff Parker has written since the original mini; they've quickly become go-to characters for cameos and/or guest roles.
* YellowPeril: The Yellow Claw was pretty much this in his original stories -- balanced against the fact that Jimmy Woo, a Chinese-American, was the hero opposing him. Gets {{Lampshaded}} and subverted in the miniseries; it turns out Yellow Claw was invoking this trope ''on purpose'' because [[spoiler:he wanted to groom Jimmy into a hero by turning himself into a flashy period-appropriate supervillain to oppose him]].
* YouKillItYouBoughtIt: The Gorilla Man curse/blessing.
* {{Zeerust}}: M-11, and Bob's Uranian tech, both of which were futuristic for the 1950s. Jeff Parker took advantage of the decades since their creation to update their capabilities -- but their styles still remain the same.
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