Cap's Alternative Kooky Quartet

[Shellhead]

Plot Gods take us back to the time of Avengers #16, when Captain America recruits 3 former villains (Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch, and Hawkeye) to join him in the new Avengers line-up. Only this time, Cap picks three other villains of that time period. Each of them is just slightly persuaded to become a hero due to a heroic speech that Cap made on tv. What villains does he pick, and how does this alternative line-up affect Marvel history?

[Shellhead]

To help establish the time period, here are other Marvel comics published the same month: Amazing Spider-man #25, Fantastic Four #39, Journey Into Mystery #116, Strange Tales #133, Tales of Suspense #66, Tales to Astonish #68, and X-Men #11.

[Beadle]

Well, you could go and duplicate (as far as possible) the other members of the Kooky Quartet, with something like Whirlwind, Enchantress and (dammit, Boomerang appears about a year later)... oh, I dunno... Batroc? Kraven?

But I think you want to look at what you don’t have in the team anymore since Thor, Tony, Hank & Jan left.

Muscle - I don’t think you could use anyone like Absorbing Man, Juggernaut or Abomination at this stage, but Namor is a definite possibility, and Cap could at least vouch for him.
Super-Genius - Mad Thinker doesn’t bring enough in a fight, we would need to avoid Nazis and Commies (given the era), Wizard and Doom are too set on the FF, Osborn’s as mad as a box of frogs and irredeemably evil, but maybe you could turn a corner with Doc Ock?
Versatility - I’m still thinking Enchantress here. There’s Medusa, but I don’t think she’s powerful enough overall.

I mean if Cap thought keeping Pietro’s and Clint’s egos in check was problematic, imagine leading a team with Namor, Otto and Amora.

But it’d certainly be effective.

[K7P5V]

Interesting idea! Here are my choices:

Abner Jenkins, the Beetle





Princess Python





Molto, the Lava Man

[Riv86672]

Interesting idea! Here are my choices:

Abner Jenkins, the Beetle

Princess Python

Molto, the Lava Man

^^^thats really good!
Abner Jenkins is especially fun given his eventual characterization w. The Thunderbolts.

I went with...

Black Widow-She'd already caused trouble for Iron Man and Hawkeye. But it'd be just like Cap to recruit a Russian onto the team and defy all that sixties paranoia.

Wonder Man-He was presumed dead at the time, but would be resurrected earlier now instead of in Avengers 131-132.

The Hulk-Cap would approach Bruce Banner and offer him his spot back on the team, saying it wasnt fair that he was still being hunted down like a bad guy even after helping form The Avengers.

[Phoenixx9]

^^^thats really good!
Abner Jenkins is especially fun given his eventual characterization w. The Thunderbolts.

I went with...

Black Widow-She'd already caused trouble for Iron Man and Hawkeye. But it'd be just like Cap to recruit a Russian onto the team and defy all that sixties paranoia.

Wonder Man-He was presumed dead at the time, but would be resurrected earlier now instead of in Avengers 131-132.

The Hulk-Cap would approach Bruce Banner and offer him his spot back on the team, saying it wasnt fair that he was still being hunted down like a bad guy even after helping form The Avengers.

I like your Black Widow and Wonder Man idea (and pics!) but instead of Hulk, I susbstitute Whirlwind.

[Riv86672]

I like your Black Widow and Wonder Man idea (and pics!) but instead of Hulk, I susbstitute Whirlwind.

Oh that’s cool; that character’s way too sexual predator-y for me personally to see him doing a heel/face turn though!

[Phoenixx9]

Oh that’s cool; that character’s way too sexual predator-y for me personally to see him doing a heel/face turn though!

Oh, did not know about the predatory nature!

Just an early villain that Pietro fought during Reed and Sue's wedding and we actually get to see Whirlwind (still the human top) running at superspeed. Pietro's powers were useful, especially early on, and with additional powers such as whirly-bird flight, I thought Whirly might have been a good power choice.

[Shellhead]

Well, you could go and duplicate (as far as possible) the other members of the Kooky Quartet, with something like Whirlwind, Enchantress and (dammit, Boomerang appears about a year later)... oh, I dunno... Batroc? Kraven?

But I think you want to look at what you don’t have in the team anymore since Thor, Tony, Hank & Jan left.

Muscle - I don’t think you could use anyone like Absorbing Man, Juggernaut or Abomination at this stage, but Namor is a definite possibility, and Cap could at least vouch for him.
Super-Genius - Mad Thinker doesn’t bring enough in a fight, we would need to avoid Nazis and Commies (given the era), Wizard and Doom are too set on the FF, Osborn’s as mad as a box of frogs and irredeemably evil, but maybe you could turn a corner with Doc Ock?
Versatility - I’m still thinking Enchantress here. There’s Medusa, but I don’t think she’s powerful enough overall.

I mean if Cap thought keeping Pietro’s and Clint’s egos in check was problematic, imagine leading a team with Namor, Otto and Amora.

But it’d certainly be effective.

Cap did offer Namor a chance to join the Avengers in issue #16. Namor declined because he was busy being monarch, but that didn't stop Black Panther or Namor himself from joining in later issues. With the retcon creation of the Invaders, it seems more plausible now that Namor would want to work with Cap again.

Medusa does seem like a great possibility, since she had just recently appeared with the Frightful Four but we subsequently learn that she is an Inhuman and not a villain. She is pretty low-powered, but so was Scarlet Witch back then.

And since Cap's first mission for the original Kooky Quartet in issue #17 was to locate and recruit the Hulk, he could have made that a priority sooner and gotten him for this alternative line-up.

And that leaves Cap with a powerful but wildly unstable line-up. Hulk and Namor won't easily take his orders, and will soon be fighting each other. Medusa and Cap won't have the power to break those fights up. But if Cap can manage to inspire them to work together for a time, Namor and Hulk would make short work of some of the Avengers villains of that era: Swordsman, Power Man, Black Widow, Attuma, the Sons of the Serpent. The interesting battles would be with the heavyweights like Dr. Doom, Kang, and Mandarin.

[Riv86672]

Oh, did not know about the predatory nature!

Yeah, he posed as her chauffeur a long time in early Avengers issues and began to obsess over her. It got to the point where he was hiring prostitutes to dress up as Janet and then assaulting them.

[Phoenixx9]

Yeah, he posed as her chauffeur a long time in early Avengers issues and began to obsess over her. It got to the point where he was hiring prostitutes to dress up as Janet and then assaulting them.

Early Swordsman and Mastermind both seemed like they could have behaved that way as well.

[Riv86672]

Early Swordsman and Mastermind both seemed like they could have behaved that way as well.

Mastermind always seemed pretty sleazy to me. It was kinda touched on when he was messing w. Jean Grey for the Hellfire Club, though they didn’t go full Purple Man on the matter.

[Phoenixx9]

Mastermind always seemed pretty sleazy to me. It was kinda touched on when he was messing w. Jean Grey for the Hellfire Club, though they didn’t go full Purple Man on the matter.

Also Mesmero.

[Beadle]

Yeah, he posed as her chauffeur a long time in early Avengers issues and began to obsess over her. It got to the point where he was hiring prostitutes to dress up as Janet and then assaulting them.

Early Swordsman and Mastermind both seemed like they could have behaved that way as well.

Mastermind always seemed pretty sleazy to me. It was kinda touched on when he was messing w. Jean Grey for the Hellfire Club, though they didn’t go full Purple Man on the matter.

Also Mesmero.

And Mandrill.

[MichaelC]

I'd actually like to see something really wild like Loki, The Mandarin, and Baron Zemo.