A Day Unlike Any Other

"A Day Unlike Any Other" is the first episode of the first season of ABC's The Avengers, and the first episode of the series overall. The episode was directed by Joss Whedon and written by Joss Whedon, Jed Whedon & Maurissa Tancharoen. It first aired on September 25, 2014 and was viewed by 17.96 million U.S. viewers live. Adding in another 6.63 viewers over the next seven days, it was watched by a total of 24.59 million.

Synopsis
Nick Fury, Director of S.H.I.E.L.D., discovers that Loki, an alien terrorist, is leading army to Earth to take over. Fury recruits those in his "Avengers Project" to form a super-team.

Plot
On Asgard, Loki sits in his cell, facing the wall. However, a guard arrives and breaks Loki out of his cell. Loki, surprised at what is going on, goes with the guard, who reveals himself as one of the Skrulls, a shapeshifting alien. The Skrull takes him back to their mothership, where Loki is introduced to the rest of the Skrulls. He also receives a holographic message from an unseen figure saying he wants Loki to invade Earth to retrieve the Cosmic Cube. Loki agrees, though he is warned to leave Earth as soon as he finds the Cube.

On Earth, Tony Stark awakens in bed with a random woman. After cleaning himself up and getting ready, he discovers the woman is still sleeping. Stark calls in Edwin Jarvis, his butler, and asks him to escort the woman out once she wakes up. Stark leaves for work.

At the S.H.I.E.L.D. Headquarters, Steve Rogers sits in a training room. As he works on a punching bag, it flies off its hinges. Nick Fury enters to see the whole thing and compliments him on getting better. Rogers asks Fury if he has tracked down "her" yet, though Fury states they haven't. Rogers leaves.

At NYU, Dr. Bruce Banner teaches a class on science. One of his students, Betty Ross, asks for a tutoring session class, which Banner agrees to. After class, for their "tutoring session", Banner and Ross begin to make out and proceed to have sex.

At Pym Particles, Hank Pym and Janet van Dyne begin to perfect the "Wasp" suit, a super-suit that will allow van Dyne to shrink, fly, and shoot energy beams. Pym is revealed to already have an "Ant-Man" suit, which allows him to shrink.

At S.H.I.E.L.D., Deputy Director notifies Director Fury that a disturbance has been discovered near the building. Fury asks her to get "Romanoff and Barton" to investigate, but before she can respond, an explosion sends them to the ground. Loki flies in through the hole in the wall and demands the Cosmic Cube. Fury claims he has no idea what Loki is talking about, but the latter uses his sensing abilities to detect it in the basement. Fury calls in an order. In the basement, Loki finds the Cosmic Cube under mass protection. He manages to get through most of it, though an arrow is shot through his leg, by Clint Barton. As he tries to fight Barton, he is shot in the leg with a bullet by Natasha Romanoff, who promises to shoot him in the head next. Loki easily takes on the duo and breaks Barton's leg, causing Romanoff to call for help. Loki easily gets away with the Cosmic Cube, though Romanoff reveals she put a tracker on him. Fury and Hill arrive, and the former decides to initiate the Avengers Project.

At Stark Industries, Stark is told by his assistant, Pepper Potts, that he has a visitor. Stark is surprised by Fury, who he has met before. Fury asks him to join them at S.H.I.E.L.D. Stark quickly denies him, but Fury shows him footage of Lokie taking on Romanoff and Barton. This encourages Stark to help, but he asks Fury what he would do. Fury reveals he knows that Stark is the "Iron Man".

In the S.H.I.E.L.D. training room, Romanoff finds Rogers and reveals that Fury is initiating the Avengers. Rogers reveals that he only agreed to join Fury's project if they found "her". Romanoff promises him they are trying, but Rogers doesn't believe her. Romanoff shows him a week's worth of research devoted to finding Peggy Carter. Rogers walks with her back up to the Bridge.

At NYU, Banner is visited by Hill, who reveals that they are calling him in. Banner states he has not worked for S.H.I.E.L.D. in years. Hill tells him it is an emergency but Banner pleads with her not to force him. Hill promises she won't, but secretly slips something into his drink. As she walks away, Banner is knocked out by the drink and Hill grabs him.

At Pym Particles, Pym is in a board meeting, when the lights suddenly go off. When they turn back on, Pym notices Barton waiting for him outside the room. Pym pauses the meeting and talks with Barton, who convinces him of the alien invasion going on. Pym doesn't believe, but van Dyne reveals she is joining S.H.I.E.L.D. Pym tries to convince his wife not to, but Loki arrives and fights the three. Pym risks his identity by putting on the Ant-Man suit and fighting off Loki. Van Dyne uses the prototype Wasp suit and shoots Loki away, but it causes her to fly out the builidng as well. Pym learns security footage shows the two of them working as superheroes, which causes Pym to decide to leave.

In Asgard, Thor meets with his father, King Odin, and they discuss Loki's escape. It is revealed that Thor is Loki's brother and Odin sends Thor after him. Thor takes his magic hammer, Mjolnir, and leaves Asgard, crash landing in a desert in Arizona.

At S.H.I.E.L.D., Stark, Rogers, Banner, Pym, and van Dyne meet one another and Fury introduces them to the Avengers Project, which he has been planning for emergencies for years. Hill reveals that when Loki attacked Pym Particles, he lost his tracker, meaning they have no way of finding him, though she will notify them when they do. The team begin to discuss the situation with one another and Banner becomes fascinated with Roger's backstory, in which he took the Super-Soldier serum and it made him a super-human. Banner is revealed to have already been at work on the serum by reverse-engineering to make himself become a super-soldier.

Loki returns to the mothership with the Cube and presents it to the Skrulls. However, they reveal they want to go against their leader and invade Earth, as they have had no home planet in ages. Loki agrees to lead them, and they return to Earth. Thor discovers them in orbit and flies toward the ship. He finds Loki and they fight. Thor almost overpowers him, but the Skrulls take the appearance of Loki, causing Thor not to which is the real Loki. Thor escapes, but manages to get the Cosmic Cube, angering Loki.

On Earth, Hill reveals they have a signature for the Cosmic Cube coming into orbit. Fury orders everybody to be on watch. Elsewhere, Banner has finally finished the serum thanks to Rogers' additional information. Banner injects himself with it, though it turns him in a green beast. He begins to attack everything around him, forcing Stark, Rogers, van Dyne, and Romanoff to take him on. Pym, Barton, Hill, and Fury take a Quinjet where they find Thor with the Cosmic Cube. Landing back on Earth, they learn that the Cosmic Cube previously belonged to Asgard, and Thor is returning it. However, Fury claims it is S.H.I.E.L.D. property, which angers Thor, who fights them.

Stark and the others manage to incapicate Banner's beast form, but he escapes when they take their eyes off of him. Just then, they are alerted that someone has broken into the Raft, an underwater prison.

On the Raft, Loki and the Skrulls fight off the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents there. They get to the farthest cell, where they find Graviton, a powerful enemy of S.H.I.E.L.D.

Starring

 * Matt Bomer as Tony Stark
 * Justin Hartley as Steve Rogers
 * Matt Barr as Thor
 * Matthew Gray Gubler as Bruce Banner
 * Josh Holloway as Hank Pym
 * Evangeline Lilly as Janet van Dyne
 * Jenna Dewan Tatum as Natasha Romanoff
 * Jensen Ackles as Clint Barton
 * Morena Baccarin as Maria Hill
 * Damon Wayans as Nick Fury

Guest Starring

 * Matt Smith as Loki
 * Kat Dennings as Betty Ross
 * Bill Irwin as Edwin Jarvis
 * Lauren Cohen as Pepper Potts
 * Craig T. Nelson as Odin
 * Garret Dillahunt as Franklin Hall/Graviton