Defenders of the Deep

The latest run of the Avengers introduced a new team of underwater adversaries called the Defenders of the Deep. Sub-Mariner formed the super-group to enforce his longstanding demand that humans steer clear of the ocean (Avengers #9-10).

Most members of the Defenders of the Deep were established criminals, including Tiger Shark, Orka, King Crab, Manowar, Echidna, the Piranhas, and Bloodtide (a.k.a. Water Witch). The exception was the heroic Andromeda, whose Atlantean partisanship fueled her involvement with the group.

Aside from a fondness for the word Defenders, this configuration of denizens from the deep had no substantive ties to the original non-team of Defenders that Sub-Mariner helped found or the New Defenders that Andromeda later joined.

This image of the Defenders of the Deep comes from Avengers #9 (December 2018).