In Marvel Feature #1 (December 1971), a certain quartet of the "outsider" characters in the Marvel Universe were brought together to form a new team called the Defenders. Those four heroes were Doctor Strange, Namor the Savage Sub-Mariner, the Silver Surfer, and the Incredible Hulk. The next year, they would get their own book, naturally called The Defenders. The Defenders were more of a "non-team" than the likes of the Fantastic Four or the Avengers, a group of outsiders who just happened to hang out together. The series would go on for many years, and like with many team books, the roster would undergo changes. Characters like Valkyrie and Nighthawk would become prominent members of the group.
With issue number 125, the book would be renamed The New Defenders. After the original four Defenders are forced to leave thanks to an alien prophecy, former X-Man Hank "Beast" McCoy would try and reform the team as a more "official" one, similar in vein to the Avengers. J.M. DeMatteis was writing the book at the time (he had been doing so since issue #92) but left the book after six issues of the New Defenders era. Peter Gillis would take over penning duties after him. New Defenders would be a moderately successful book during this time, and I personally think it's an underrated era. Sadly, the book would be cancelled with issue #152 due to Marvel needing space for the New Universe line.
Despite that, the Defenders would not stay gone, but that's a story for another time. For now, let's take a look at an adventure from the early New Defenders era. This is New Defenders #126!
The cover is a Mike Zeck and John Beatty piece.
"State of the Union"
Writer: J.M. DeMatteis
Penciler: Alan Kupperberg
Inker: Alan Kupperberg
Colorist: Paul Becton
Letterer: Janice Chiang
Editors: Carl Potts, Ann Nocenti
Editor-in-Chief: Jim Shooter
The story begins with our heroes at SHIELD headquarters, looking over a bunch of prisoners with Nick Fury.
This odd bunch of villains were working for a revived Secret Empire, after they were presumably smashed by Captain America in Captain America and the Falcon #175 (July 1974). One of the villains there, Buzz "Mad Dog" Baxter, had been employed by a company called the Brand Corporation. However, Brand's been shut down, so he went to the new Empire for work. Iceman points out that there were three other characters there: Harridan, Seraph...and Cloud. Remember that name. That name will be very important to the Defenders in the future.
Fury is unaware who those two are. That makes no sense to the Defenders as they turned the three over to a SHIELD squad after they fought at the home of the Vision two weeks earlier (as shown in Defenders #123). Fury realizes that the Empire has infiltrated SHIELD.
With the New Defenders leaving SHIELD HQ and heading home, we get some character moments here. Both Iceman (he would not be retconned to being a closeted gay man for a few decades) and Angel are shown to be, well...mooning over the arrogant bald telepath called Moondragon (heh heh heh)
Yeah, sorry. Couldn't resist. Angel is crushing a bit on Moondragon...even though he is currently dating Candy Southern. Beast is feeling some doubts about this new team. Bobby gets so lost in his thoughts that he hits a water tower and falls, needing to be saved by Valkyrie.
Meanwhile, we look in on the Smoky Mountains of Virginia. In the mountains lie a castle.
Huh. You'd expect this castle to have a thunderstorm brewing behind it.
But this isn't a transition into a medieval fantasy world, this castle contains a modern-day conspiracy. The Secret Empire are meeting there, and the leader orders them to get the captured Mad Dog and Mutant Force out from SHIELD custody. We don't see who this new Number One of the Empire is, but we do know that one of the books on his desk is The Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire.
But let us get away from this scene of death and horror, and come look in on something more wholesome: The New Defenders enjoying some dinner. It's a special occasion, as Hank McCoy, the Beast, has plans. He wants to draw up a charter for the new team and get to work establishing them as a proper superhero team, including a formal headquarters and even talk over who should lead. Valkyrie offers to lead the team. She believes she is perfect for the job as A) Odin chose her to lead the Valkyrior, and B) She had the most experience and time with the Defenders as a group, being associated with the original version of the group. Beast nominates himself to lead, which causes Val to burst into a laughing fit.
Meanwhile, Warren is, well...still mooning over Moondragon. he notes that even though she was forced on to the team by Odin, as well as being forced to wear a mystical headband that limits her psionic powers (as a way of forcing her to learn some humility), she still carries herself like she's in complete control over everything.
Beast and Val's debate threatens to break out into a brawl. Val thinks Beast is too much of a clown to lead, Iceman stands up for Hank, etc. Gargoyle does try to play peacemaker, though. Warren is driven into a huff, and basically tells them "If this is what the New Defenders will be like, I'm out of here!" The angelic mutant flies off in a huff.
While he soars, he contemplates his life. He thinks about how the New Defenders are acting like a bunch of children, like they were still teenage X-Men...in Hank and Bobby's case, anyway. He also reflects on the time he spent in the Savage Land (as will be shown in the then-upcoming Marvel Fanfare), and how it allowed him to find a real sense of purpose with his life. He also thinks about how despite his love for Candy Southern, he can't help but find himself, well...mooning over Moondragon.
Yeah, sorry. Anyway, Warren nearly gets hit by a flying car.
 |
| “Man, the Cybertruck has more problems than I thought!” |
He sees other cars are sent flying, too. Naturally, he goes to check it out. Meanwhile, the other New Defenders are going after Warren, realizing how childish they were acting. The group spots what looks like half the NYPD racing down the street. And they find out what all the commotion was all about.
Yup, a giant is on the loose! This giant was once a man. A man named Edward Cobert. He was once the head scientist of the Olympus Project, whose goal was to create superhumans that would loyally serve the United States in response to independent superhumans like members of the Avengers and X-Men. However, Cobert and his team wanted to go one step further. They didn't want to just respond to superheroes and supervillains, they wanted to eliminate them completely. Hmm, I wonder if this could be a precursor to Orchis from the Hickman's X-Men...
Nahhh, Hickman ain't that clever. Anyway, Cobert volunteered for an experiment to create a superhuman. It worked...kind of. He became a powerful giant, but his mind didn't quite survive the empowerment. Despite his being simple-minded, this Leviathan of a man is able to walk through our heroes. He's even able to knock the Asgardian Valkyrie for a loop. With one punch.
Everyone tries to stop him on their own, but that didn't work. Gargoyle yells that everyone needs to get their heads out of their butts and work together. They are a team, it's time to act like one! They can't stop Cobert on their own, but by working together, they can. After all, if the Lilliputians can work together to imprison Gulliver, a group of disparate superheroes can stop Cobert. And work together they do. Beast and Angel distract him. This allows Iceman, Gargoyle, and Moondragon to blast him with a mix of cold, bio-energy, and brainpower. And the Valkyrie finishes it with a Mighty Punch. Cobert goes down like a redwood. TIMBERRRRRRRRRRR!
As SHIELD comes to slap special manacles on the giant, Fury compliments the New Defenders. They did pretty good. The story ends with Fury getting an alert: Mad Dog and the Mutant Force have escaped. Fury finds that quite an interesting coincidence...
I enjoyed this issue, but then again, I think the 80s New Defenders stuff is underrated in general. I do find it interesting that DeMatteis would revive the Secret Empire from Steve Englehart's Captain America run, but I guess you can't keep an evil conspiracy down, especially if someone else decides to pick up the pieces. The real fun of the issue is in the character stuff, Beast trying to turn this bunch of New Defenders into an actual superteam. The conflicts between the characters, Angel's finding a dedication to the team, Valkyrie's desire to lead, Moondragon's arrogance, Gargoyle's being the wise old man, it's classic Marvel character conflict. it's fun stuff.
One thing I liked about this era is the roster. It links much of the various "corners" of the Marvel Universe. Beast, Angel, and Iceman are veteran superheroes and represent the "mutant" corner, Valkyrie and Moondragon represent the "Asgardian/Cosmic" corner, and Gargoyle represents the "mystical/demonic" corner. I just think that it needed a street-level character to represent that corner. Too bad Hellcat left, she could have fit that. Or maybe Daredevil.
If you wish to read this for yourself, I highly recommend tracking down the 2011 trade paperback The New Defenders Vol. 1 or the 2018 trade paperback Defenders Epic Collection Vol. 8: The New Defenders. Thanks for reading this blog entry! if you liked ti, show it off! Take care of yourselves, and each other! Stay safe, stay healthy, stay home, wash your hands often,
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