It took awhile before the Justice Leaguers decided to share their secret identities with all of the members as part of the deal. That doesn't mean none of them knew at least one person's identity, as Mr. Silver Age explains in this month's CBG column:
-- MSA
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Roy Thomas established that Superman #76 did indeed happen on Earth-One in World's Finest #281 (S'81) when he used an episode of the Superman radio show as how the Earth-Two Superman, Batman and Robin learnt each other's secret identity. On E-2, they had first met (briefly) in All Star Comics #8.
We've spoke about the secrets of the SA JLA and Justice League of America #19 which Commander Benson (naturally) discussed some very interesting facts!
I remember those discussions. In the first one you listed, you noted "besides the whole secret identity thing," which I was glad to see, as I didn't want to get into the column that I'd written but that hadn't appeared yet.
Using Jean Loring as the attorney was a nice touch (although not hard for Julie to "borrow" the character, through kind permission of himself), but she must be the all-time worst plea negotiator.
-- MSA
Having just polished off ESSENTIAL AVENGERS # 5, which features stories from the early 1970s, it's amazing to see that none of the Avengers seems to know each other's secret IDs. At one point, Iron Man and Thor wink to each other that they've figured out each others' identities, but later on Dr. Strange uses his secret stash of amnesium or whatever mystic voodoo he had on hand to wipe out everybody's knowledge of secret identities, until the time that they mutually agreed to share said info. No word on whether Dr. Strange's memory zap affected Thor and Iron Man, who presumably had already agreed to that. These are the times when having access to the letter pages would be helpful since I have to believe fans were talking about this kind of stuff back then.
So when exactly DID the Avengers start formally swapping secrets?
I'm not sure of when Iron Man and Thor learned each other's IDs, but I do know that for years this was a secret shared between the two of them alone and they didn't even take Cap into their confidence.
I think the original team all kept their identities secret from each other (except for Jan and Hank of course). This was well before the world knew Bruce Banner was the Hulk, and I remember reading at least once in an early Avengers story that someone on the team said Tony Stark himself would make a good Avenger, unaware that he was already. Cap openly shared his ID with the rest of the team, even the Kooky Quartet all knew from the outset that it was Steve Rogers under the cowl. Wanda and Pietro didn't keep theirs a secret at all, and Hawkeye didn't seem to, although it took a while before we learned his name was Clint Barton.
When Goliath (formerly Giant-Man) returned in issue 28, he told the rest of the team who he was, although I don't think it was ever a secret that Janet Van Dyne was the Wasp. They all knew the Black Panther was T'Challa.
But back to the Big 3 - in Avengers 216, Cap, Thor, Iron Man, the Silver Surfer and Tigra were all prisoners of the Molecule Man. MM had gotten rid of Thor's hammer and IM's armor, so now their secret IDs were there for Cap to see - of course, he knew Stark, and had met Blake before, so there was no "who are you anyway?" moment. As I recall, Cap was hurt that they had known each other's IDs, but hadn't let him in on it before, but Cap being Cap, he got over it fair quickly.
Shortly after that, during the Roger Stern era, the team had closer ties than ever to the federal government, and I think all Avengers were required to reveal their IDs to the government - but that was never much of a big deal within the storylines itself or a controversy in the letters page, it just was what it was. Still, there was some level of secrecy; I think when Monica Rambeau joined as a Avenger-in-training in #227, everyone knew her ID (at least the Wasp did, as team chair) but it would be some time before she learned the IDs of the others.
So other than Tony and "Don Blake" having their little secret, and new members not being privy to all of the longtimers' secrets right away, it was pretty loosey-goosey.
For the longest time, most of the Avengers knew each other's real names EXCEPT for Thor and Iron Man who knew each others ala Superman and Batman. Not even Captain America knew who the Thunder God and the Golden Avenger were. He only thought of IM working for Tony Stark and that Goldilocks had some sort of time limit/vulnerabilty.
Sadly that notion has been retconned out, and I feel is a major mistake, especially with Iron Man. It was interesting to see the team regard Iron Man and Stark as two seperate people.
Goliath and the Wasp's real names were revealed to the Avengers in #28. Hawkeye's was revealed in #64 though he never really had a civilian life after joining. The Black Panther, Black Knight and Black Widow never hid their identities and Quicksilver, the Scarlet Witch, Hercules and the Vision never had secret identities.
My knowledge of Avengers history isn't all that complete, but here's what I can add.
-I think the Avengers learned about Clint's background with the Swordsman in the first Swordsman story, in Avengers ##19-20.
-Thor revealed his other identity to Hercules in Thor #224 (1974). It was during a period when Hercules was a regular supporting character in Thor's title.
- In Avengers ##201-202 (1980) it was a plot point that only Thor knew Iron Man was Stark.
-Jan briefly dated Stark after breaking up with Hank and before she learned Stark was Iron Man. This was c.1982 but I haven't read the relevant issues.
-When Rhodey replaced Stark as Iron Man I think the Avengers found out through Captain America, who guested in Iron Man #172 (1983). I don't know if they learned who the new Iron Man was. The Iron Man in the West Coast Avengers mini was Rhodey, and the one in the ongoing was Tony. I have an idea the WCA knew Iron Man was Tony in the ongoing but I can't think of a sequence that proves it.
-Thor lost his Don Blake identity in Thor #340 (on sale 1983). In #337 Thor was surprised to learn Nick Fury knew.
In Avengers #122, Thor lost his hammer while they were trapped in orbit with Zodiac. In sixty seconds, he dove under cover and changed back to Don Blake. Iron Man knew why but the other Avengers there (Wanda, the Vision and Black Panther) never saw Blake but must have suspected that Thor had an alter ego. Zodiac certainly did, or at least knew Thor was then vulnerable!
As I recall, there's a pretty good scene where the vision joins the team when all the current Avengers "drop their masks".
In fact, recently, we discussed how similar Steve Rogers, Clint Barton and Hank Pym all looked. So much so, that in the margin, an editor had told the colorist to shade everyone's hair differently, so they could be told apart. I remember thinking that Hank's hair looked awfully orange at the time, and then much later figured out WHY.
So, just judging from the dialog at that point, at least Hank, Steve, Clint, Jan, T'Challa and the Vision all know who each other are. Iron Man and THor are not present, as as discussed above, their special case is dealt with later on.
Does anyone else recall the deal with Cornelus Van Lunt and Taurus of Zodiac? I think t hat must have been the worst kept secret ID ever... Have we ever had a complete listing or accounting of who the original Zodiac 12 members were?
Any listing has to mention or include Jake Fury/Nick Fury as Scorpio...and eventually, Libra as father of Mantis... but that's about as far as my memory goes...except I recall one member with funky horns or headress that stretched like Mr. Fantastic or manipulated like Medusa's hair. (Maybe we should make that discussion a separate thread.)