Make your own Marvel team, base it on whatever!

[Riv86672]

In the vein of DC’s Endless Winter and The Justice League (Viking), these are The Defenders (of The Earth)…:

DRAKA, KING OF ICE (The Frost King)
An Ice King bringing about a Neverending Winter replaces a Frost King bringing about an Endless Winter.

FREYJA (Hippolyta)
A mighty Asgardian Warrior and one day mother to a Thunder God gathers the team, replacing a mighty Amazon Warrior and one day mother to a Wonder Woman.

APOCALYPSE (Black Adam)
A badass Egyptian Ruler with Godlike powers grudgingly answers the call, replacing a badass Egyptian Ruler empowered by the Gods.

RED-WOLF (The Viking Prince)
A brave Warrior from an as yet undiscovered North America heeds the Great Spirit and journeys far, replacing a brave Warrior from the first white people to set foot in North America.

MAN-THING (Swamp Thing)
The first ever Man-Thing shambles out of the Savage Land to protect the ecosphere, replacing an ancient Swamp Thing representing The Parliment of Trees.

[Aarkus]

In the vein of DC’s Endless Winter and The Justice League (Viking), these are The Defenders (of The Earth)…:

DRAKA, KING OF ICE (The Frost King)
An Ice King bringing about a Neverending Winter replaces a Frost King bringing about an Endless Winter.

FREYJA (Hippolyta)
A mighty Asgardian Warrior and one day mother to a Thunder God gathers the team, replacing a mighty Amazon Warrior and one day mother to a Wonder Woman.

APOCALYPSE (Black Adam)
A badass Egyptian Ruler with Godlike powers grudgingly answers the call, replacing a badass Egyptian Ruler empowered by the Gods.

RED-WOLF (The Viking Prince)
A brave Warrior from an as yet undiscovered North America heeds the Great Spirit and journeys far, replacing a brave Warrior from the first white people to set foot in North America.

MAN-THING (Swamp Thing)
The first ever Man-Thing shambles out of the Savage Land to protect the ecosphere, replacing an ancient Swamp Thing representing The Parliment of Trees.

another fun one. I'm betting, if this is pre-krakoa Apocalypse we're talking about, that Man-Thing would despise him and want nothing more than to "touch" him lol

[marhawkman]

another fun one. I'm betting, if this is pre-krakoa Apocalypse we're talking about, that Man-Thing would despise him and want nothing more than to "touch" him lol

I recognize that pic. That's Apoccy from the Apocalypse vs Dracula mini. O-o' which is Apoccy in a heroic.... sort of... role.

[Celtic1967]

Thought I'd try to riff off a movie I watched recently. Came down to Razorback or US Archer to stand in for for the hard-boiled trucker, Jack Burton. She-Hulk is an easy fill-in for Gracie Law, the green-eyed lawyer. Shang-Chi subs in for Wang Chi, who is the much more capable hero in the movie. Wong and Jimmy Woo round out the squad of good guys, filling in for the magician Egg Shen and Wang's friend Eddie Lee. Lastly, the Mandarin is the overarching antagonist like Lo Pan. There was a time in the 80s/90s where Mandy kinda copied his costume, too.

[Aarkus]

Thought I'd try to riff off a movie I watched recently. Came down to Razorback or US Archer to stand in for for the hard-boiled trucker, Jack Burton. She-Hulk is an easy fill-in for Gracie Law, the green-eyed lawyer. Shang-Chi subs in for Wang Chi, who is the much more capable hero in the movie. Wong and Jimmy Woo round out the squad of good guys, filling in for the magician Egg Shen and Wang's friend Eddie Lee. Lastly, the Mandarin is the overarching antagonist like Lo Pan. There was a time in the 80s/90s where Mandy kinda copied his costume, too.

this is fun! everything about it - aside from Mandarin's unfortunate fu-manchu stache, lol. make him a little less stereotype-y and I'm all in on this.

it also reminds me of an Agent's of A.T.L.A.S. build I once did, with an almost identical line-up, except my Hulk was Amadeus and his friend White Tiger was in the Razorback spot. the first "arc" for the team was going to be taking out the Mandarin for good... and as a by-product, his son Temujin would end up taking his father's rings and other tech, and joining as the final (initial) member of the team. later on, the Uranian and Namora would have returned from the OG team, and Swordmaster in his role as the new Iron Fist would have been recruited, but ultimately turned them down when he saw Temujin focusing chi into his punches, leading him to ask "... and what do you need me for, exactly?"... oh, and, Wong was going to be around intermittently, splitting his duties between this team and his role at Kamar Taj

so, cool build, and, thanks for inadvertently reminding me of my own ancient idea! LOL

[Aarkus]

Tony Stark may finance and help run The Avengers, but there are some things that, because of their high profile, they simply cannot do, without causing serious ramifications in politics and global relations.

"I'm not exactly quitting,", Stark tells his teammates, "but I'll be splitting my time between here and the West Coast, while I oversee construction of a new Stark facility" (a headquarters for a new team, unknown to his teammates)

upon arrival, Tony contacts his close friend and trusted ally, Jim Rhodes, asking him to be the field leader and help him in recruiting this new team. fortunately, Stark has a deep rolodex, with contacts in many corners of the MU. the pair use this network to recruit a team of operatives with much lower profiles than a "top-tier" team, allowing them to slip under the radar when running missions that would attract unwanted attention to a public-facing team. thus begins Operation: Outside Forces, with the team itself later abbreiving this to the simpler Outside Force

War Machine (Black Lightning): Stark's right-hand-man and field leader for this operation. if ability-overlap is required, I'm sure we can outfit Rhodey with enough electricity-based options to make it work

Absorbing Man (Metamorpho): fresh off his stint with Gamma squad and back to his usual abilities, Creel has decided to continue using them to help others, rather than return to his prior criminal ways. he brings a staggering degree of elemental options to the table at full potential off his abilities. the majority of the public only knowing him as a villain works to everyone's advantage here

Guardian (Geo Force) initially conceived as a tool for mining rare minerals, the tech suit worn by Department H operative and Alpha Flight leader Mac Hudson, provides serious terraforming and gravity-manipulating abilities to the team. his role in Canadian government gives him certain diplomatic advantages in his "civilian" guise, making him a well-rounded and useful addition overall

Photon (Halo) loosely connected to Stark and Rhodes already, by way of their respective relationships with Carol Danvers; Monica is an easy "sell" and decides to join with very little persuasion required

Gamora (Katana) reaching out to their extra-terrestrial contacts, the Infinity Guard, Stark implores them to provide him with two recruits, neither of which have been to earth in a hot minute, rendering them unknown to the "Terran" general public. Gamora - who now protects the soul stone in lieu of their deceased former leader, Adam Warlock - has embedded the stone in her sword, allowing her to communicate with the souls of anyone she has slain with it. her fierce pragmatism and brutal precision will sometimes be exactly what's needed once the team begins conducting their operations

Moondragon (Looker) tasked once again as the keeper of the mind stone, earth-born/Titan-raised telepath Heather Douglas has since come to learn that the stone was originally fashioned from a scale that was was shed by the benefactor of her abilities, The Dragon of the Moon. this makes her the stone's ideal protector, as her own psychic "aura" is indistinguishable from that of the stone, effectively cloaking it from all forms of detection. not that she's on earth for any of that. simply put, she's been recruited to step in when all other forms of interrogation have failed... but her equally impressive telekinetic abilities make her an asset in mupltle ways

Crystal (Windfall) elemental whose degree of naïveté is sometimes advantageous to team, particularly iwhen it comes to tense stand-off situations. few words from this one can often get an opponent to drop their guard, effectively side-stepping almost any conflict

Daimon Helstrom (Sebastian Faust) one is the son of an evil sorcerer. one is the son of satan. close enough for me, and damn if that pentagram on his chest doesn't cause nearly everyone he targets to end up shitting themselves in abject fear. an effective tactic for times when the team needs to end a fight before it starts

Ursa Major (Wylde) since they turned him loose on the world, Russia's newest Red Guardian operative has made a lot of strides and overtures toward both a strategic alliance with the U.S. and Russia becoming a member of the UN. using the move as an olive-branch gesture, Red Guardian asks his colleague, Ursa Major, to partake in an "agent-exchange" program intended to bridge gaps between the two once-opposing cultures. Major agrees, and his superiors immediately offer him to Stark and Rhodes as a recruit for their new team

[Phoenixx9]

Tony Stark may finance and help run The Avengers, but there are some things that, because of their high profile, they simply cannot do, without causing serious ramifications in politics and global relations.

"I'm not exactly quitting,", Stark tells his teammates, "but I'll be splitting my time between here and the West Coast, while I oversee construction of a new Stark facility" (a headquarters for a new team, unknown to his teammates)

upon arrival, Tony contacts his close friend and trusted ally, Jim Rhodes, asking him to be the field leader and help him in recruiting this new team. fortunately, Stark has a deep rolodex, with contacts in many corners of the MU. the pair use this network to recruit a team of operatives with much lower profiles than a "top-tier" team, allowing them to slip under the radar when running missions that would attract unwanted attention to a public-facing team. thus begins Operation: Outside Forces, with the team itself later abbreiving this to the simpler Outside Force

War Machine (Black Lightning): Stark's right-hand-man and field leader for this operation. if ability-overlap is required, I'm sure we can outfit Rhodey with enough electricity-based options to make it work

Absorbing Man (Metamorpho): fresh off his stint with Gamma squad and back to his usual abilities, Creel has decided to continue using them to help others, rather than return to his prior criminal ways. he brings a staggering degree of elemental options to the table at full potential off his abilities. the majority of the public only knowing him as a villain works to everyone's advantage here

Guardian (Geo Force) initially conceived as a tool for mining rare minerals, the tech suit worn by Department H operative and Alpha Flight leader Mac Hudson, provides serious terraforming and gravity-manipulating abilities to the team. his role in Canadian government gives him certain diplomatic advantages in his "civilian" guise, making him a well-rounded and useful addition overall

Photon (Halo) loosely connected to Stark and Rhodes already, by way of their respective relationships with Carol Danvers; Monica is an easy "sell" and decides to join with very little persuasion required

Gamora (Katana) reaching out to their extra-terrestrial contacts, the Infinity Guard, Stark implores them to provide him with two recruits, neither of which have been to earth in a hot minute, rendering them unknown to the "Terran" general public. Gamora - who now protects the soul stone in lieu of their deceased former leader, Adam Warlock - has embedded the stone in her sword, allowing her to communicate with the souls of anyone she has slain with it. her fierce pragmatism and brutal precision will sometimes be exactly what's needed once the team begins conducting their operations

Moondragon (Looker) tasked once again as the keeper of the mind stone, earth-born/Titan-raised telepath Heather Douglas has since come to learn that the stone was originally fashioned from a scale that was was shed by the benefactor of her abilities, The Dragon of the Moon. this makes her the stone's ideal protector, as her own psychic "aura" is indistinguishable from that of the stone, effectively cloaking it from all forms of detection. not that she's on earth for any of that. simply put, she's been recruited to step in when all other forms of interrogation have failed... but her equally impressive telekinetic abilities make her an asset in mupltle ways

Crystal (Windfall) elemental whose degree of naïveté is sometimes advantageous to team, particularly iwhen it comes to tense stand-off situations. few words from this one can often get an opponent to drop their guard, effectively side-stepping almost any conflict

Daimon Helstrom (Sebastian Faust) one is the son of an evil sorcerer. one is the son of satan. close enough for me, and damn if that pentagram on his chest doesn't cause nearly everyone he targets to end up shitting themselves in abject fear. an effective tactic for times when the team needs to end a fight before it starts

Ursa Major (Wylde) since they turned him loose on the world, Russia's newest Red Guardian operative has made a lot of strides and overtures toward both a strategic alliance with the U.S. and Russia becoming a member of the UN. using the move as an olive-branch gesture, Red Guardian asks his colleague, Ursa Major, to partake in an "agent-exchange" program intended to bridge gaps between the two once-opposing cultures. Major agrees, and his superiors immediately offer him to Stark and Rhodes as a recruit for their new team

Very well thought out and I really like this team!

[Huntsman Spider]

Tony Stark may finance and help run The Avengers, but there are some things that, because of their high profile, they simply cannot do, without causing serious ramifications in politics and global relations.

"I'm not exactly quitting,", Stark tells his teammates, "but I'll be splitting my time between here and the West Coast, while I oversee construction of a new Stark facility" (a headquarters for a new team, unknown to his teammates)

upon arrival, Tony contacts his close friend and trusted ally, Jim Rhodes, asking him to be the field leader and help him in recruiting this new team. fortunately, Stark has a deep rolodex, with contacts in many corners of the MU. the pair use this network to recruit a team of operatives with much lower profiles than a "top-tier" team, allowing them to slip under the radar when running missions that would attract unwanted attention to a public-facing team. thus begins Operation: Outside Forces, with the team itself later abbreiving this to the simpler Outside Force

War Machine (Black Lightning): Stark's right-hand-man and field leader for this operation. if ability-overlap is required, I'm sure we can outfit Rhodey with enough electricity-based options to make it work

Absorbing Man (Metamorpho): fresh off his stint with Gamma squad and back to his usual abilities, Creel has decided to continue using them to help others, rather than return to his prior criminal ways. he brings a staggering degree of elemental options to the table at full potential off his abilities. the majority of the public only knowing him as a villain works to everyone's advantage here

Guardian (Geo Force) initially conceived as a tool for mining rare minerals, the tech suit worn by Department H operative and Alpha Flight leader Mac Hudson, provides serious terraforming and gravity-manipulating abilities to the team. his role in Canadian government gives him certain diplomatic advantages in his "civilian" guise, making him a well-rounded and useful addition overall

Photon (Halo) loosely connected to Stark and Rhodes already, by way of their respective relationships with Carol Danvers; Monica is an easy "sell" and decides to join with very little persuasion required

Gamora (Katana) reaching out to their extra-terrestrial contacts, the Infinity Guard, Stark implores them to provide him with two recruits, neither of which have been to earth in a hot minute, rendering them unknown to the "Terran" general public. Gamora - who now protects the soul stone in lieu of their deceased former leader, Adam Warlock - has embedded the stone in her sword, allowing her to communicate with the souls of anyone she has slain with it. her fierce pragmatism and brutal precision will sometimes be exactly what's needed once the team begins conducting their operations

Moondragon (Looker) tasked once again as the keeper of the mind stone, earth-born/Titan-raised telepath Heather Douglas has since come to learn that the stone was originally fashioned from a scale that was was shed by the benefactor of her abilities, The Dragon of the Moon. this makes her the stone's ideal protector, as her own psychic "aura" is indistinguishable from that of the stone, effectively cloaking it from all forms of detection. not that she's on earth for any of that. simply put, she's been recruited to step in when all other forms of interrogation have failed... but her equally impressive telekinetic abilities make her an asset in mupltle ways

Crystal (Windfall) elemental whose degree of naïveté is sometimes advantageous to team, particularly iwhen it comes to tense stand-off situations. few words from this one can often get an opponent to drop their guard, effectively side-stepping almost any conflict

Daimon Helstrom (Sebastian Faust) one is the son of an evil sorcerer. one is the son of satan. close enough for me, and damn if that pentagram on his chest doesn't cause nearly everyone he targets to end up shitting themselves in abject fear. an effective tactic for times when the team needs to end a fight before it starts

Ursa Major (Wylde) since they turned him loose on the world, Russia's newest Red Guardian operative has made a lot of strides and overtures toward both a strategic alliance with the U.S. and Russia becoming a member of the UN. using the move as an olive-branch gesture, Red Guardian asks his colleague, Ursa Major, to partake in an "agent-exchange" program intended to bridge gaps between the two once-opposing cultures. Major agrees, and his superiors immediately offer him to Stark and Rhodes as a recruit for their new team

Very well thought out and I really like this team!

Same here. Interesting take on a Marvel equivalent of the original Outsiders.

[Aarkus]

Same here. Interesting take on a Marvel equivalent of the original Outsiders.

thanks to you both!

[Aarkus]

expanding an idea I touched on in ^^^that Outsiders build^^^, here we're hybridizing the old Infinity Watch line-up with current day GoTG, snd that Annihilators team that existed for a hot minute.

Introducing: The Infinity Guard

Adam Warlock has died. no one can figure out why. but when his friends and colleagues assemble at his funeral, one thing is abundantly clear to them all: with him gone, someone needs to take his place as keeper of the Soul Stone, since, out of the six stones, this is the last one anyone wants falling into the wrong hands.
Gamora ends up grabbing it, with very little hesitation, embedding it in the hilt of her sword and taking it upon herself to recruit this new group of people to guard the remaining stones. She looks for people whose own abilities will render their stone redundant to them, in terms of what they can already do, to eliminate the risk of them being tempted to use the stones themselves. She ends up with:

GAMORA (Gamora of Titan, Soul Stone) Gamora - who now protects the soul stone in lieu of their deceased former leader, Adam Warlock - has embedded the stone in her sword, allowing her to communicate with the souls of anyone she has slain with it. her fierce pragmatism and brutal precision will make her ideal as both the stone's new keeper, and the leader of this particular team

MOONDRAGON (Heather Douglas, Mind Stone) tasked once again as the keeper of the mind stone, earth-born/Titan-raised telepath Heather Douglas has since come to learn that the stone was originally fashioned from a scale that was was shed by the benefactor of her abilities, The Dragon of the Moon. this makes her the stone's ideal protector, as her own psychic "aura" is indistinguishable from that of the stone, effectively cloaking it from all forms of detection. and since it turns out her own power comes directly from it, who else in the universe would be less tempted by the Mind Stone?

QUASAR (Phyla-Vell, Space Stone) since the quantum bands already allow Phyla to create wormholes and move items thru physical space, Gamora's reasoning that the Space Stone would be of little use to her, is logically sound. Phyla is on-board anyway, since she's not really looking to spend any time away from her lover (Heather), which makes this a pretty easy choice overall

SILVER SURFER (Norrin Radd, Reality Stone) free of Galactus and beholden to no one else, Gamora reasons once again that the Surfer's own transmutation abilities already allow him to alter the state (i.e. the reality) of matter and energy in any way he can conceive of, once again making his stone of choice essentially redundant in his possession. the stone can probably still affect things on a wider scale than Radd's own abilities allow, but, because he already considers himself to be one of the most potentially dangerous beings in the universe, he acts with a restraint that makes him an ideal keeper for this particular force of nature

GLADIATOR (Kalark, Power Stone) another sound example of Gamora's reasoning. In this case, she's chosen someone who already holds enough power to stand up to some of the strongest beings in the universe. when his confidence wanes, so do his power levels. Fortunately, his confidence almost never wanes, which makes him a perfect keeper for the Power Stone.... less fortunately, for his teammates at least, it also means he rarely shuts the **** up about how awesome he is. even so, leaving the stone with someone who feels they are "above" even using it, seems like the most definitive way to make sure it stays out of the wrong hands. "Go ahead and try to take it from me" dissuades just about anyone who might attempt it, especially when it's this guy saying the words

KRUGARR (aka Listener, Time Stone) the choice here is simple: Krugarr possesses one of the three Eyes of Agamotto. in the past, one of the other other Eyes had acted as a containment vessel for the Time Stone itself, as all Masters of the Mystic Arts are well-acquainted with the inherent dangers that wide-scale time manipulation poses to the universe and reality itself. the owners of Agamotto's other two Eyes protect earth and the Dark Dimension - with Krugarr being their representative among the wider cosmos. and who else were they going to give this stone to anyway? Kang the Conqueror??? ... so yeah, this choice makes perfect sense.

EDIT: I'm realizing upon proof-reading that this would also make a pretty cool "Space Defenders" team... Krugarr/Strange, Gladiator/Namor, Surfer/Surfer (lol), Gamora/Valkyrie, Phyla/Hellcat and then just use a Defenders line-up that also had Moondragon on the team and there ya go. lol. Heather and Patsy were never a couple as far as I know, but, they did have a short arc together in which Patsy gained some telepathic abilities, and Heather bonded with her a bit while helping her learn how to use them. I forget if that was Defenders plot or if it happened when they were both Avengers, but either way, they were close enough friends that a full on couple isn't too far removed or exaggerated from their past ties.

[Aarkus]

Marvel's Doom Patrol with minimal explanation:

Ravonna Renslayer (The Chief) Ravonna's ability to pluck people from anywhere in time + an image of her sitting in her judge chair at the TVA gave me this idea.
(I also wouldn't mind if they started drawing her in comics as the MCU version, because Gugu Mbatha-Raw is one of the most beautiful women I've ever laid my eyes on)

X-51 (Robotman) correct me if I'm wrong but I'm fairly certain Aaron Stack longed for a human body a lot more than Vision. ever did

Karasu-Tegu (Negative Man) a mutant whose ability is an out-of-body, astrally projected bird avatar, which drops psychic attacks on opponents
(side note: this description of her powers always made me wonder if she's actually occasionally channelling - or, a potential future host for - The Phoenix)

Emma Frost (Mento) who else in the MU, except maybe Xavier himself, comes to mind when one says the words "arrogant telepath"?

Hank McCoy (Beast Boy) blue/green, beast motif... outside Hank, I feel like the closest thing Marvel has to Gar would be a generic Skrull. I also wanted to borrow the idea from X-men: First Class, in which Hank injects himself with Mystique's DNA... except, in this case, doing so would give him a mutation identical to Gar's, except, ya know, blue. if I ever actually got to write this, I would ask permission to make this a permanent change to Hank. sure as hell beats having him on his way to being just another "Dark Beast" variant

Gambit (Tempest) kinetic energy tossers (and I do mean "tossers" in more ways than one, as I'm not a big fan of either character)

Crystal (Celsius) Crys provides the hot/cold dynamic here in both her powers AND her personality

Legion (Crazy Jane) if I even needed to explain this, then you should probably just read up on these two

[Huntsman Spider]

thanks to you both!

You're welcome. Might as well finally throw my hat into the ring again.

Shadow Slingers

Think of them as basically a collection of anti-heroes sourced from Spider-Man's corner of the Marvel Universe, coming together with their own take on Spidey's longstanding philosophy, that "with great power, there must also come great responsibility." Specifically, "If you have the power to stop evil, you have the responsibility to stop evil dead and cold." The list goes as follows . . .

Puma/Thomas Fireheart --- The leader, or at least the one who assembles the Shadow Slingers, those who operate in the shadows to execute Spider-Man's creed that great power must also come with great responsibility, only his idea of what that great responsibility entails is somewhat more expansive compared to Peter Parker's. Specifically, he's not settling for going after common criminals, thugs, and supervillains on the streets. No, he's aiming for all the organized, corporatized, and even institutionalized centers of power from which evil stretches and expands, almost utterly unchecked even by the best efforts of the superhero community at large, and he knows he needs more than just himself if he wants to take them down for good.

Cardiac/Dr. Elias Wirtham --- A medical doctor who's surgically augmented himself with vibranium-based technology, Cardiac knows full well what unchecked corporate greed and avarice can do to a society, much less the people in that society, having learned a long time ago that powerful and wealthy heads of powerful and wealthy corporations will exploit and twist the law to serve the cause of expanding their power and wealth, regardless of who suffers or how many suffer to line their pockets. In the hopes of serving as a counterforce, Cardiac works as a vigilante targeting those same corrupt corporate executives, with Puma offering him the chance, not to mention the resources, to step up his game.

Cloak and Dagger/Tyrone "Ty" Johnson and Tandy Bowen --- A package deal, darkness and light, a couple of vigilantes who survived experiments performed on them as teenagers by a scientist working for the Brand Corporation, a subsidiary of the infamously corrupt energy corporation Roxxon, and gained power over the elemental forces of darkness (Cloak) and light (Dagger) as a result. Seeking out drug dealers and others who preyed on the streets' innocent and powerless, they have found themselves entangled with Spider-Man and other "street-level" heroes, until eventually, they crossed paths with Puma, who's offered them a chance to go bigger and better in dealing with the crime and corruption poisoning the streets of their city.

Black Cat/Felicia Hardy --- A thief par excellence, her travails and adventures with Spider-Man have betrayed a more altruistic side to her personality in spite of never entirely giving up thievery. In Puma's case, though, a thief of her talents and disposition is exactly who he could use on his team, so she's the first he visits on his recruiting drive for the Shadow Slingers. Of course, she happens to also be in it for the thrill, the thrill of embarrassing deserving scumbags who think themselves completely untouchable by the law and conventional heroes by robbing them blind.

Tarantula/Maria Vasquez --- The Black Cat's former teammate in the Heroes for Hire assembled by Misty Knight during the superhero Civil War kicked off by the disaster in Stamford that precipitated the passing of the Superhero Registration Act, Maria Vasquez is still something of a bloodthirsty vigilante wildcard, although that bloodthirst is something Puma could use on his team, at least if aimed at the most deserving, and there are plenty deserving to end up on the wrong end of her blades. . . .

[Phoenixx9]

expanding an idea I touched on in ^^^that Outsiders build^^^, here we're hybridizing the old Infinity Watch line-up with current day GoTG, snd that Annihilators team that existed for a hot minute.

Introducing: The Infinity Guard

Adam Warlock has died. no one can figure out why. but when his friends and colleagues assemble at his funeral, one thing is abundantly clear to them all: with him gone, someone needs to take his place as keeper of the Soul Stone, since, out of the six stones, this is the last one anyone wants falling into the wrong hands.
Gamora ends up grabbing it, with very little hesitation, embedding it in the hilt of her sword and taking it upon herself to recruit this new group of people to guard the remaining stones. She looks for people whose own abilities will render their stone redundant to them, in terms of what they can already do, to eliminate the risk of them being tempted to use the stones themselves. She ends up with:

GAMORA (Gamora of Titan, Soul Stone) Gamora - who now protects the soul stone in lieu of their deceased former leader, Adam Warlock - has embedded the stone in her sword, allowing her to communicate with the souls of anyone she has slain with it. her fierce pragmatism and brutal precision will make her ideal as both the stone's new keeper, and the leader of this particular team

MOONDRAGON (Heather Douglas, Mind Stone) tasked once again as the keeper of the mind stone, earth-born/Titan-raised telepath Heather Douglas has since come to learn that the stone was originally fashioned from a scale that was was shed by the benefactor of her abilities, The Dragon of the Moon. this makes her the stone's ideal protector, as her own psychic "aura" is indistinguishable from that of the stone, effectively cloaking it from all forms of detection. and since it turns out her own power comes directly from it, who else in the universe would be less tempted by the Mind Stone?

QUASAR (Phyla-Vell, Space Stone) since the quantum bands already allow Phyla to create wormholes and move items thru physical space, Gamora's reasoning that the Space Stone would be of little use to her, is logically sound. Phyla is on-board anyway, since she's not really looking to spend any time away from her lover (Heather), which makes this a pretty easy choice overall

SILVER SURFER (Norrin Radd, Reality Stone) free of Galactus and beholden to no one else, Gamora reasons once again that the Surfer's own transmutation abilities already allow him to alter the state (i.e. the reality) of matter and energy in any way he can conceive of, once again making his stone of choice essentially redundant in his possession. the stone can probably still affect things on a wider scale than Radd's own abilities allow, but, because he already considers himself to be one of the most potentially dangerous beings in the universe, he acts with a restraint that makes him an ideal keeper for this particular force of nature

GLADIATOR (Kalark, Power Stone) another sound example of Gamora's reasoning. In this case, she's chosen someone who already holds enough power to stand up to some of the strongest beings in the universe. when his confidence wanes, so do his power levels. Fortunately, his confidence almost never wanes, which makes him a perfect keeper for the Power Stone.... less fortunately, for his teammates at least, it also means he rarely shuts the **** up about how awesome he is. even so, leaving the stone with someone who feels they are "above" even using it, seems like the most definitive way to make sure it stays out of the wrong hands. "Go ahead and try to take it from me" dissuades just about anyone who might attempt it, especially when it's this guy saying the words

KRUGARR (aka Listener, Time Stone) the choice here is simple: Krugarr possesses one of the three Eyes of Agamotto. in the past, one of the other other Eyes had acted as a containment vessel for the Time Stone itself, as all Masters of the Mystic Arts are well-acquainted with the inherent dangers that wide-scale time manipulation poses to the universe and reality itself. the owners of Agamotto's other two Eyes protect earth and the Dark Dimension - with Krugarr being their representative among the wider cosmos. and who else were they going to give this stone to anyway? Kang the Conqueror??? ... so yeah, this choice makes perfect sense.

EDIT: I'm realizing upon proof-reading that this would also make a pretty cool "Space Defenders" team... Krugarr/Strange, Gladiator/Namor, Surfer/Surfer (lol), Gamora/Valkyrie, Phyla/Hellcat and then just use a Defenders line-up that also had Moondragon on the team and there ya go. lol. Heather and Patsy were never a couple as far as I know, but, they did have a short arc together in which Patsy gained some telepathic abilities, and Heather bonded with her a bit while helping her learn how to use them. I forget if that was Defenders plot or if it happened when they were both Avengers, but either way, they were close enough friends that a full on couple isn't too far removed or exaggerated from their past ties.

Another good team with good ideas and much thought put into it. I like these powerful characters combined with the Stones to further enhance them! They really are a cosmic team.

Yeah, the Heather/Patsy thing was off-comic and then mentioned/shown in the Defenders. Patsy really did not use them for 20 issues or so, until just before Heather showed up. Then Moondragon withdrew the minor mental powers she lent Patsy.

[Phoenixx9]

expanding an idea I touched on in ^^^that Outsiders build^^^, here we're hybridizing the old Infinity Watch line-up with current day GoTG, snd that Annihilators team that existed for a hot minute.

Introducing: The Infinity Guard

Adam Warlock has died. no one can figure out why. but when his friends and colleagues assemble at his funeral, one thing is abundantly clear to them all: with him gone, someone needs to take his place as keeper of the Soul Stone, since, out of the six stones, this is the last one anyone wants falling into the wrong hands.
Gamora ends up grabbing it, with very little hesitation, embedding it in the hilt of her sword and taking it upon herself to recruit this new group of people to guard the remaining stones. She looks for people whose own abilities will render their stone redundant to them, in terms of what they can already do, to eliminate the risk of them being tempted to use the stones themselves. She ends up with:

GAMORA (Gamora of Titan, Soul Stone) Gamora - who now protects the soul stone in lieu of their deceased former leader, Adam Warlock - has embedded the stone in her sword, allowing her to communicate with the souls of anyone she has slain with it. her fierce pragmatism and brutal precision will make her ideal as both the stone's new keeper, and the leader of this particular team

MOONDRAGON (Heather Douglas, Mind Stone) tasked once again as the keeper of the mind stone, earth-born/Titan-raised telepath Heather Douglas has since come to learn that the stone was originally fashioned from a scale that was was shed by the benefactor of her abilities, The Dragon of the Moon. this makes her the stone's ideal protector, as her own psychic "aura" is indistinguishable from that of the stone, effectively cloaking it from all forms of detection. and since it turns out her own power comes directly from it, who else in the universe would be less tempted by the Mind Stone?

QUASAR (Phyla-Vell, Space Stone) since the quantum bands already allow Phyla to create wormholes and move items thru physical space, Gamora's reasoning that the Space Stone would be of little use to her, is logically sound. Phyla is on-board anyway, since she's not really looking to spend any time away from her lover (Heather), which makes this a pretty easy choice overall

SILVER SURFER (Norrin Radd, Reality Stone) free of Galactus and beholden to no one else, Gamora reasons once again that the Surfer's own transmutation abilities already allow him to alter the state (i.e. the reality) of matter and energy in any way he can conceive of, once again making his stone of choice essentially redundant in his possession. the stone can probably still affect things on a wider scale than Radd's own abilities allow, but, because he already considers himself to be one of the most potentially dangerous beings in the universe, he acts with a restraint that makes him an ideal keeper for this particular force of nature

GLADIATOR (Kalark, Power Stone) another sound example of Gamora's reasoning. In this case, she's chosen someone who already holds enough power to stand up to some of the strongest beings in the universe. when his confidence wanes, so do his power levels. Fortunately, his confidence almost never wanes, which makes him a perfect keeper for the Power Stone.... less fortunately, for his teammates at least, it also means he rarely shuts the **** up about how awesome he is. even so, leaving the stone with someone who feels they are "above" even using it, seems like the most definitive way to make sure it stays out of the wrong hands. "Go ahead and try to take it from me" dissuades just about anyone who might attempt it, especially when it's this guy saying the words

KRUGARR (aka Listener, Time Stone) the choice here is simple: Krugarr possesses one of the three Eyes of Agamotto. in the past, one of the other other Eyes had acted as a containment vessel for the Time Stone itself, as all Masters of the Mystic Arts are well-acquainted with the inherent dangers that wide-scale time manipulation poses to the universe and reality itself. the owners of Agamotto's other two Eyes protect earth and the Dark Dimension - with Krugarr being their representative among the wider cosmos. and who else were they going to give this stone to anyway? Kang the Conqueror??? ... so yeah, this choice makes perfect sense.

EDIT: I'm realizing upon proof-reading that this would also make a pretty cool "Space Defenders" team... Krugarr/Strange, Gladiator/Namor, Surfer/Surfer (lol), Gamora/Valkyrie, Phyla/Hellcat and then just use a Defenders line-up that also had Moondragon on the team and there ya go. lol. Heather and Patsy were never a couple as far as I know, but, they did have a short arc together in which Patsy gained some telepathic abilities, and Heather bonded with her a bit while helping her learn how to use them. I forget if that was Defenders plot or if it happened when they were both Avengers, but either way, they were close enough friends that a full on couple isn't too far removed or exaggerated from their past ties.

Another good team with good ideas and much thought put into it. I like these powerful characters combined with the Stones to further enhance them! They really are a cosmic team.

Yeah, the Heather/Patsy thing was off-comic and then mentioned/shown in the Defenders. Patsy really did not use them for 20 issues or so, until just before Heather showed up. Then Moondragon withdrew the minor mental powers she lent Patsy.

[Brian Adkins]

Have always found the Infinity Stones an interesting concept. One that I have rarely - if ever - seen it reach its full potential for storytelling.

If you were making a team whom would you trust with each one is an obvious question but one that should be immediately answered.

For example- would you trust say,the Hulk with the Power Stone? Or someone who has never had power before? Would the latter be too tempting for said person and turn them into a bully or despot? And so on.

Sorry if others touched on this,I didn't have time to read it all.

And if the goal was simply to make a team that would sell the most books, why not use more popular characters? Ex:Spider-Man? I remember Wolverine had one for a brief while quite a few years ago. But I don't remember how it ended. Didn't one get destroyed when Captain America tried using it?