At this point, the remaining founding Avengers (Iron Man, Thor, Giant-Man and the Wasp) decided to take a leave of absence from the stress of super-crime-fighting. I was thus left to lead a new team comprised of Hawkeye, the Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver. "Cap's Kooky Quartet" was at first regarded as less able than the previous lineup, but soon proved their worth by overcoming several threats including a resurgent Kang, as well as Doctor Doom. While the hotheaded Quicksilver and Hawkeye were at first headstrong loose cannons, my leadership was able to mold them into valuable team members.
When I took my first leave of absence from the team, it was the Black Panther who stepped in to take his place on the roster. Though when I discovered that one of T'Challa's motives was to "spy" on the Avengers (as part of his duties as King of Wakanda was to observe foreigners), relations between us became strained and stayed that way for some time. Eventually, they restored the bonds of alliance and friendship, symbolized by me giving T'Challa the enhanced copy of my World War II triangular shield I had used while my round one was broken.
