Initiative characters, teams

[Michael Watkins]

Wait, MAC took a codename someone else was already using?

she's 'Miss America Chavez.'

[Michael Watkins]

they should bring a lot of them back as villains (or villain teams). there was a lot of creativity there. no point in wasting it. better than just reusing the Wrecking Crew over and over.

[Sutekh]

I had high hopes that Poltergeist and Link would appear but it never happened.

Ha, I thought those old Beast & Dazzler mini-characters had been totally forgotten by everyone! Good see that isn't true!

As for the group, I agree that we could have seen more of Red Nine, who I'm not sure even had a speaking line in the entire run. Ditto Melee, who Taskmaster expressed interest in sparring with, but was never, AFAIK, seen again.

Hardball and Komodo had a good amount of storytime, although I'd definitely be up for more of them. Bengal as well.

Gorilla Girl was a favorite. I'd also like to see more of Telemetry, Scarlet Spider, Spinner (who may be dead, or not, if one of her random daily powers was regeneration and brought her back from her apparent death a day later... We never even got to see the full range of her powers!) and Reptil (who was, I believe, the only one to actually go on to something, with his role in the Avengers Academy series).

Less innately heroic, Sunstreak also seemed cool, and I'd be cool with seeing more of Baron von Blitzschlag or the Constrictor.

For pre-existing characters, I've always been a huge fan of Texas Twister, of the Rangers, and Living Lightning, Armadillo, Firebird, Red Wolf and Shooting Star also have some good potential (although, of them, Shooting Star needs the most work. I prefer her having actual flight powers, and not silly boots that allow her to ride on Twister's winds.). Some non-New York-City-based characters and teams would be a neat turn. (Midwestern and / or Southern heroes seem to be in short supply. Even when Marvel is willing to leave New York City, it's more likely to try a shot at a team based in Los Angeles or San Francisco or something. Teams operating out of Dallas or Atlanta would be an interesting twist.)

[Factor]

Marvel is terrible at keeping new characters around after their creator leaves a book or a title ends. It's a shame, because a lot of the Iniative heroes had potential. I wish Marvel brought them back as part of a large ensemble book.
I could see something like The Initiative working really well to revitalize the New Warriors franchise. Have the original NW ressurect The Initiative to help out newer heroes and create a large network of heroes who could help each other when needed.

[Digifiend]

That would definitely suit Justice, who was an instructor at both the Initiative and Avengers Academy.

[danielsan52]

Ha, I thought those old Beast & Dazzler mini-characters had been totally forgotten by everyone! Good see that isn't true!

As for the group, I agree that we could have seen more of Red Nine, who I'm not sure even had a speaking line in the entire run. Ditto Melee, who Taskmaster expressed interest in sparring with, but was never, AFAIK, seen again.

Hardball and Komodo had a good amount of storytime, although I'd definitely be up for more of them. Bengal as well.

Gorilla Girl was a favorite. I'd also like to see more of Telemetry, Scarlet Spider, Spinner (who may be dead, or not, if one of her random daily powers was regeneration and brought her back from her apparent death a day later... We never even got to see the full range of her powers!) and Reptil (who was, I believe, the only one to actually go on to something, with his role in the Avengers Academy series).

Less innately heroic, Sunstreak also seemed cool, and I'd be cool with seeing more of Baron von Blitzschlag or the Constrictor.

For pre-existing characters, I've always been a huge fan of Texas Twister, of the Rangers, and Living Lightning, Armadillo, Firebird, Red Wolf and Shooting Star also have some good potential (although, of them, Shooting Star needs the most work. I prefer her having actual flight powers, and not silly boots that allow her to ride on Twister's winds.). Some non-New York-City-based characters and teams would be a neat turn. (Midwestern and / or Southern heroes seem to be in short supply. Even when Marvel is willing to leave New York City, it's more likely to try a shot at a team based in Los Angeles or San Francisco or something. Teams operating out of Dallas or Atlanta would be an interesting twist.)

I agree with everything you've said here. Is Dan Slott still at Marvel? If so I'm surprised he hasn't used any of these characters.

I'm really interested in Vox and Prima Donna.

[mugiwara]

I agree with everything you've said here. Is Dan Slott still at Marvel? If so I'm surprised he hasn't used any of these characters.

He had all the opportunities to use any of them, especially Komodo, during his long ASM run, but he didn't.
He's propably too happy playing with Grandpa Lee's old toys and is not interested anymore in the toys he created himself.

[Master of Sound]

I really likes 3d-Man, Gauntlet and Bengal in this. They got very interesting characters. Unfortunately non of the appeared afterwards.

Also loved the recruits, like Hardball, Komodo, Cloud-Nine and Thor-Girl. They were all awesome characters. Sigh, I'm gonna cry.

[danielsan52]

I just tweeted Slott the following:
IMG_1550.JPG
IMG_1551.JPG
IMG_1548.JPG

Send him yours!

[Shinglepants]

I still miss this book. I thought the roster as a whole was pretty interesting but there are definitely a few I'd particularly like to see more of. Komodo and Hardball were probably my favourites and I'd definitely like to see them again. I'd like to see Armory and Gauntlet show up in whatever Slott was intending for them. Trauma seemed like a great character with a lot of potential.

[Anduinel]

Komodo, Butterball, and Mulholland Black.

[Sutekh]

Komodo, Butterball, and Mulholland Black.

Ooh, Butterball! I forgot him entirely! Invulnerability, by itself, is a fun power, since it doesn't make you unstoppable or super-strong or able to save a bunch of other folk. 'Diamond' Lillian Crawley, Omerta/Pauli Provenzano, even Laurel Kent, over at DC, all favorite characters for that reason.

Was Mulholland Black part of the Initiative? I remember that the Order was one of the teams, but I don't really remember them getting much play... (From a cool new powers standpoint, I also loved the one with the golems, Veda?)

With weekly exercise sessions with Leech, or just using SPINtech, Butterball/Boulder could easily lose that weight, if the writers wanted to slim him down a bit.

[danielsan52]

Had The Order continued, I wonder if they would have brought back the members who got fired. I was more interested in them.

[marhawkman]

I still like the idea of it and was hoping that Avengers Academy would have been less.... new? I mean they had dozens of options and they picked... none of the above? :/

[Sutekh]

I still like the idea of it and was hoping that Avengers Academy would have been less.... new? I mean they had dozens of options and they picked... none of the above? :/

Yeah, Reptil was the only one from the Initiative, and he was pretty well-adjusted (and seemed more innately heroic, along with Mettle, and not as ideal a fit for the team) and so didn't get quite as much teen drama as the others. Melee and Finesse probably could have been folded into a single character (although I much prefer Finesse as a polymath, mastering sciences, languages, art, computers, dance, etc. *as well as* fighting skills, as opposed to the one-trick pony, more like Melee, that she became once they introduced the Taskmaster angle).