Marvel's Non-Team: Defenders Appreciation 2019

[Reviresco]

This person made these for his FB reacts.



https://twitter.com/Mamthew/status/1167224453857710081

[Nomads1]

This person made these for his FB reacts.



https://twitter.com/Mamthew/status/1167224453857710081

In my humble opinion, by far the perfect Defenders line-up. I'd just add the Son of Satan to round it up to 10.

[Sutekh]

While I love the 'big four' powerhouse lineup of Namor, the Hulk, Dr. Strange and the Silver Surfer, I also like the idea of a less 'omega' lineup where Valkyrie is the heavy hitter, and the team is rounded out with Nighthawk, Hellcat (perhaps with the Devil-Slayer's cape, which she had for a time, IIRC), Hellstrom, the Gargoyle, etc. Maybe the Beast, Angel or Iceman, as well, or the Atlantean, Andromeda.

[Factor]

I want a new weird Defenders book like Fraction's. I feel like Zdarsky could really nail something like that.

[Phoenixx9]

This person made these for his FB reacts.



https://twitter.com/Mamthew/status/1167224453857710081

Very nice!

[Hypestyle]

the team has to be brought back in some form.

it can be half "traditional" members plus modern folks like Luke Cage and Iron Fist.

[Factor]

the team has to be brought back in some form.

it can be half "traditional" members plus modern folks like Luke Cage and Iron Fist.

I don't know about Luke and Iron Fist. I kind of want them to try a new version of Ostrander's H4H.
As for Defenders, I think a line-up consisting of:

Doctor Strange (the leader)
Elsa Bloodstone (as the badass warrior replacing Valkyrie)
Hellcat (another quintessential Defender)
Namor (exploring his return to sanity)
Nightshade (the team's scientific genius)
Nighthawk (Kyle as the more "down-to-Earth" character)
Gargoyle (why not)
+ guest-appearances by Hulk and Silver Surfer.

I could also see Black Knight and Sersi here too, but the team would be too big.

[Sutekh]

I don't know about Luke and Iron Fist. I kind of want them to try a new version of Ostrander's H4H.
As for Defenders, I think a line-up consisting of:

Doctor Strange (the leader)
Elsa Bloodstone (as the badass warrior replacing Valkyrie)
Hellcat (another quintessential Defender)
Namor (exploring his return to sanity)
Nightshade (the team's scientific genius)
Nighthawk (Kyle as the more "down-to-Earth" character)
Gargoyle (why not)
+ guest-appearances by Hulk and Silver Surfer.

I could also see Black Knight and Sersi here too, but the team would be too big.

Both Black Knight and Sersi fit the Defenders vibe pretty well, so good calls there! Sersi is definitely a woman powerhouse, well suited to hang with the likes of Dr. Strange or Namor (or the Silver Surfer or Hulk). Not many female characters could manage that. Moondragon. Carol Danvers. Frankie Raye/Supernova. All kind of 'too cosmic' to be hanging out with an Earth-based non-team like the Defenders much, these days, IMO. Sersi is comfortably NYC based, by comparison.

I've always felt that Nighthawk and Hellcat were underutilized. In a team that can't always hang out in the Sanctum Sanctorum for whatever reason (you'd think the Sorcerer Supreme would be pickier about who gets to loiter there...) and who don't want to crash in some undersea pad provided for by Namor (like Searebro), Nighthawk's money, and the HQ it buys, could be meaningful, and make him feel more like a major player, even on a team with some much more powerful members.

Tilda / Nightshade as team scientist would be awesome. I love that character. Did Lunella ever turn Cap into a werewolf? I think not! Tilda was making waves before girl geniuses were a trend!

Gargoyle and Elsa are also cool additions. I like how she's pretty grounded and he's almost exactly the sort of 'monster' that she fights.

Granted, I kind of want Dr. Strange not to be the leader. It's never really been the case in Marvel, for some inexplicable reason, but I've always felt that the Sorcerer Supreme should be too busy *being the Sorcerer Supreme* to be a regular on a superhero team, let alone deal with leading one. What he should have, again, IMO, is a network spanning the globe of lesser sorcerers and witches and supernatural sorts covering different beats and keeping an eye on local affairs (like someone like Jimaine Szardos permanently stationed near Wundagore Mt. making sure Chthon stays nappy). Elsa, Gargoyle, Clea, Jennifer Kale, Magik/Ilyanna, Voodoo, Wiccan, Wanda, the reformed Salem's Seven, Jack Russel, Blade, Madame Web, Hellstrom, etc., etc. could all be in his 'Sorcerer Supreme rolodex' and contact him (or be contacted by him) from time to time with updates and supernatural threat reports.

[616MarvelYear is LeapYear]

Secret Defenders #18 Aug 1994
"A Tiny Little War" starring Dr. Druid, Shadowoman and Cadaver.
Doctor Druid calls together the unlikely team of Archangel, Iceman,

Giant Man and...Iron Fist?! If you think that's strange, look out for the insect evil of the all-new Swarm!

Also features more on the origin of Cadaver.

Written by Tom Brevoort and Mike Kanterovich, Art by Bill Wylie, Don Hudson and Tony DeZuniga.

[Gaastra]

Alex ross really needs to do a "every member" of the defenders poster! As far as I know we don't even have one. Then again people are confused on who was a member as with the "no team" theme so some say anyone who helped the team is a member. Others say only those who joined full time are members. Even marvel messes this up at times in their handbooks and webpages as they had howard the duck not listed as a member in one thing then lists him as a member in another! (howard did join the defenders in giant size howard the duck by the way)

Some sites list man-thing, vision and wasp and members and others don't. It's confusing.

[McFarlane's Green Hulk]

I tried to commit to Secret Defenders back in the day, but after a quick glance at issue #1, went "no way!".
I should make an attempt on the MU app, see if 25 years has made a difference.

[Reviresco]

I've always felt that Nighthawk and Hellcat were underutilized. In a team that can't always hang out in the Sanctum Sanctorum for whatever reason (you'd think the Sorcerer Supreme would be pickier about who gets to loiter there...) and who don't want to crash in some undersea pad provided for by Namor (like Searebro), Nighthawk's money, and the HQ it buys, could be meaningful, and make him feel more like a major player, even on a team with some much more powerful members.

Didn't Nighthawk buy a Defenders HQ? It was a farm or something, IIRC. But it never went anywhere, IIRC, cause it wasn't really an organized team.

I always thought of Nighthawk as a core member of the Defenders, even if he may not have felt that way.

Granted, I kind of want Dr. Strange not to be the leader. It's never really been the case in Marvel, for some inexplicable reason, but I've always felt that the Sorcerer Supreme should be too busy *being the Sorcerer Supreme* to be a regular on a superhero team, let alone deal with leading one. What he should have, again, IMO, is a network spanning the globe of lesser sorcerers and witches and supernatural sorts covering different beats and keeping an eye on local affairs (like someone like Jimaine Szardos permanently stationed near Wundagore Mt. making sure Chthon stays nappy). Elsa, Gargoyle, Clea, Jennifer Kale, Magik/Ilyanna, Voodoo, Wiccan, Wanda, the reformed Salem's Seven, Jack Russel, Blade, Madame Web, Hellstrom, etc., etc. could all be in his 'Sorcerer Supreme rolodex' and contact him (or be contacted by him) from time to time with updates and supernatural threat reports.

But the Defenders wasn't a regular superhero team. At least that's what the set up was. Usually it was Dr. Strange getting the team together to face a particular threat. Later on, it may have had more hanging out together, but it's still not what I think of when I think of Defenders.

Of course, Marvel hasn't had much success with that set up of late. Perhaps something different should be tried.

[616MarvelYear is LeapYear]

Defenders #15 September 1974
"Panic Beneath the Earth!" Guest-starring Professor Xavier
As Nighthawk settles into the ranks of the Defenders with a new costume,

Valkyrie once more expresses her desire to leave the team to sort out her identity crisis.

However, things are cut short when they are contacted by Professor Xavier,
who is seeking aid to stop Magneto's most recent plot.

Traveling with Xavier to Magneto's hidden lair, the group ends up fighting his Brotherhood of Evil Mutants and are captured.
Breaking free, and fighting the Brotherhood again,

they are too late to stop Magneto from awakening his most recent creation: Alpha, the Ultimate Mutant.
Flashback cameos by Captain America, Thor and the Vision to recap Magneto's defeat in Avengers #111.
NOTE: This story occurred during the 5-year period when the X-men series was in reprint.
During this time Magneto battled Marvel's other superhero teams including the Fantastic Four, Inhumans and Avengers.


Script by Len Wein. Art by Sal Buscema (layouts) and Klaus Janson (finishes).

[Phoenixx9]

Defenders #15 September 1974
"Panic Beneath the Earth!" Guest-starring Professor Xavier
As Nighthawk settles into the ranks of the Defenders with a new costume,

Valkyrie once more expresses her desire to leave the team to sort out her identity crisis.

However, things are cut short when they are contacted by Professor Xavier,
who is seeking aid to stop Magneto's most recent plot.

Traveling with Xavier to Magneto's hidden lair, the group ends up fighting his Brotherhood of Evil Mutants and are captured.
Breaking free, and fighting the Brotherhood again,

they are too late to stop Magneto from awakening his most recent creation: Alpha, the Ultimate Mutant.
Flashback cameos by Captain America, Thor and the Vision to recap Magneto's defeat in Avengers #111.
NOTE: This story occurred during the 5-year period when the X-men series was in reprint.
During this time Magneto battled Marvel's other superhero teams including the Fantastic Four, Inhumans and Avengers.


Script by Len Wein. Art by Sal Buscema (layouts) and Klaus Janson (finishes).

A great 2-parter! I wanted to see Val crack open Unus' forcefield with Dragonfang, but no such luck.

[Digifiend]

Stupid Photobucket. The image in the first post needs to be replaced.

Anyway, there's another reason I'm bumping this thread...

TAROT #1 (of 4)
Written by ALAN DAVIS
Art and Cover by PAUL RENAUD
An all-new epic adventure teaming the classic Earth’s Mightiest Heroes with Marvel’s premiere Non-Team by Alan Davis and Paul Renaud!
A strange and impossible lost memory from his days in World War II draws Namor the Sub-Mariner to his one-time compatriot Captain America—but the two heroes and their respective allies find themselves pulled into a labyrinth of pain, destruction and madness courtesy of the Infernal Ichor of Ish’lzog!

That's right, guys, the classic Defenders are back!