Beware the Over-Mind

Breaking his oath of noninterference, Uatu the Watcher warned the Fantastic Four of the impending threat of Over-Mind (Fantastic Four #113).

The Watcher later described how Grom, champion warrior among the extraterrestrial Eternals, underwent a scientific procedure long ago to gain the mind power of one billion people and become the evil Over-Mind (#115).

Soon after arriving on Earth, Over-Mind telepathically coerced Mr. Fantastic to turn against his teammates before they could formulate a plan to stop Over-Mind's wave of destruction.

Intent on conquering the world himself, Dr. Doom became an unlikely ally to the remaining members of the Fantastic Four. Yet even the psionic-refractor that Dr. Doom invented did little to halt Over-Mind.

A form of deus ex machina occurred with the arrival of the mysterious Stranger. A composite being from the planet Gigantus, whose ancient inhabitants were enemies of the Eternals, the Stranger had power enough to shrink down and imprison Over-Mind within a mote of dust (#116).

Archie Goodwin wrote Fantastic Four #113-116. John Buscema pencilled those issues.

Last Words

Captain Mar-vell turned down a chance to join the Defenders, but they didn't hold that against him (Defenders #62-63).

When the cosmic champion was on his deathbed with cancer, the non-team joined other heroes of Earth in paying their last respects to the Kree warrior in The Death of Captain Marvel graphic novel (1982).

While most everyone remained somber during Mar-vell's final hours, sidekick Rick Jones chastised other heroes for selfishly having invented their own super powers when they could have been searching for a cancer cure. Death in comic books had more significance then than it has today; heroes at that time did not readily return from the grave.

With no word balloons, we can only imagine what transpired between Hercules and Devil-Slayer in the moments leading up to this page from the Captain Marvel graphic novel.

Payroll

Nighthawk had paid Luke Cage for a period of time to work as a member of the Defenders. So when Nighthawk decided that he needed to hire additional recruits in The Last Defenders #3, he rather poetically approached Erik Josten, the reformed villain who began his costumed career using the alias Power Man.

After losing a fight with Luke Cage over use of the name (Power Man #21), Erik Josten changed his code name to Smuggler and then to Goliath before settling on the heroic identity of Atlas.

In addition to hiring Atlas, Nighthawk also recruited the mercenary Paladin and the anti-hero Junta.

Paladin previously turned down membership to the Defenders specifically because they didn't pay (Defenders #62-63). Appropriately enough, The Last Defenders #3 flashed back to a scene of numerous heroes who did join the non-team (without Paladin) one fateful day.

The Last Defenders. Vol. 1. No. 3. July 2008. "The Movement You Need." A Casey-Muniz-Smith-Comicraft-Fabela-Brennan-Wacker-Quesada-Buckley Production.