Determining who was or wasn't a Defender is more art than science, as many heroes were ambivalent about their involvement with the group.
Essential Defenders Vol. 3 reprints an entry from an early edition of The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe that lists the more-or-less core members. This list excludes some of the on-again, off-again Avengers who briefly called themselves Defenders, along and some recurring allies and heroes who joined after #125.
It's ironic that hero-for-hire Power Man (who's on the cover of this Essential volume) didn't make it on the list. Although Clea does appear below, she was instrumental on several missions before actively joining the Defenders.
Doctor Strange
(Stephen Strange, mystic)
Founding member
Sub-Mariner
(Prince Namor of Atlantis)
Founding member
Hulk
(Bruce Banner, physicist)
Founding member
Silver Surfer
(Herald of Galactus)
First active in Defenders #2
Valkyrie
(Brunnhilda, Norse goddess)
First active in Defenders #4
Nighthawk
(Kyle Richmond, financier)
First active in Defenders #15
Son of Satan
(Daimon Hellstrom, demonologist)
First active in Giant-Size Defenders #2
Red Guardian
(Tania Belinsky, neurosurgeon)
First active in Defenders #36
Clea
(Alien sorceress)
First active in Defenders #39
Hellcat
(Patsy Walker, housewife)
First active in Defenders #44
Devil-Slayer
(Eric Simon Payne, cultist)
First active in Defenders #57
Gargoyle
(Isaac Christians)
First active in Defenders #94
Beast
(Henry McCoy, biochemist)
First active in Defenders #104
Overmind
(Alien possessed by telepaths)
First active in Defenders #115
Angel
(Warren Worthington III, businessman)
First active in Defenders #125
Iceman
(Robert Drake, student)
First active in Defenders #125
Moondragon
(Heather Douglas, priestess)
First active in Defenders #125
Saturday, February 27, 2010
The Defenders, Essentially
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1 comment:
They really dropped the ball with Luke; Kyle expressedly hired him to be on the team! Someone's blog made the absolutely right observation that Red Guardian and Luke Cage alone could've made a great book, as their background made them compelling foils (was it Plok, on A Trout in the Milk? He wrote extensively about the "Gerberverse") Still, I suppose the power set between Tania and Patsy was just too similar, and Cage after all DID have his own title.
Had the fortune of conversing with Roger (LOBO, Yu-Gi-OH) Slifer; if you ever do or did a blog on the Red Rajah issue dedicated to Rush, I'll dish...
J.M. was maybe my favorite Marvel writer early on, but your blog is still my sole source on his Defenders stories. On the other hand, the volume you depict was my Christmas present; my introduction to Steve Gerber really SPOILED me, but I got into the rest later.
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