Several members of the Defenders have dropped in as guest stars in Patsy Walker, A.K.A. Hellcat! The lighthearted series walks the line between romance comics and superhero comics, combining elements of Patsy Walker's past in a way previously joked about in What The--?!
Although Black Cat served as a surprising ally to a time-traveling team of Defenders (Volume 4), she returned to the role of unapologetic criminal in recent pages of Hellcat!
Given that Luke Cage had steel-hard skin and became crime-fighting partners with Danny Rand, the following letter from Power Man & Iron Fist #88 seemed inevitable.
Dear Denny,
A battle I would love to see is Power Man and Iron Fist against Magneto. Since Luke's skin must have indeed taken on the properties of steel and Danny's "iron fist" may have taken on the properties of iron, both would be susceptible to Magneto's mutant ability.
By the way, Power Man must be a good teacher. He taught Danny to drive in only two days.
John DiMaio
Mineola, NY 11501
Two issues later, the duo squared off against Unus the Untouchable, who had worked with the master of magnetism as a member of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. Unus first appeared in X-Men #8.
With a TV version of the Defenders just around the corner, I've been looking for comic books that mirror the upcoming series centering on Power Man, Iron Fist, Daredevil, and Jessica Jones.
Marvel Team-Up Annual #4 is the closest I've come. This issue featured Power Man, Iron Fist, and Daredevil, along with Spider-Man and Moon Knight. Their foe was Purple Man (later revealed as a nemesis of Jessica Jones in the comics and on her own TV show).
What if? X-Men Age of Apocalypse #1 brought solo adventurers and the surviving members of other super teams into a new version of the Defenders. When leading these heroes into battle against the forces of Apocalypse, Captain America (Steve Rogers) cried out, "Defenders Assemble!"—borrowing from the historic catch phrase for the Avengers.
Brother Voodoo (Jericho Drumm), a secondary character throughout most of his career, replaced Dr. Strange as the Sorcerer Supreme of this alternate reality. In retrospect, it's surprising that the mystical hero had never joined forces with the Defenders until this point.
The most ironic addition to the apocalyptic Defenders was Sauron (Karl Lykos), a long-time foe of the X-Men. A mutant with the power to transform into a vampiric pterosaur, Sauron deliberately lifted the name of an evil wizard from J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings.
The Defenders in this story also included Captain Britain (Brian Braddock), Colossus, Thing, Wolverine, and the otherwise villainous Molecule Man.
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