IT has been two years since the Avengers stopped alien forces in New York, preventing the Chitauri army from invading the planet. Now, they need backup to defend against the next attack. This is your opportunity to join the elite support network of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents that helps superheroes like Captain America, Iron Man and Thor protect Earth.

Prospective agents can sign up for training at “Marvel’s Avengers S.T.A.T.I.O.N.,” a scientific training center that opens on Friday at Discovery Times Square. Inside, the S.H.I.E.L.D. director, Nick Fury, will guide recruits through the process, starting with obtaining an ID badge.

Over the course of their training, recruits will use these badges at interactive labs that will allow them to explore the origins of the Avengers through “classified” documents and scientific experiments. They’ll learn, for instance, how Mjolnir, Thor’s hammer, conducts electricity and how to navigate the HUD interface inside Iron Man’s helmet. They can also study the supersoldier serum that created Captain America and test their strength and reflexes against his. In another lab, they can observe the effects of gamma radiation and how it turned Bruce Banner into the Hulk.

The recruitment station is the brainchild of Victory Hill Exhibitions, which worked with Marvel Entertainment, NASA and the National Academy of Sciences. “We’ve been able to work with some of the greatest writers in the world, as well as the best scientists,” said Nicholas Cooper, the creative director at Victory Hill. “Today’s science fiction is tomorrow’s science.”