X-Men Impostors

Before Blob joined numerous supervillains in pretending to be Defenders, he pulled off a similar stunt in X-Men #20 (reprinted in #71). During that earlier crime spree, Blob and fellow evil mutant Unus disguised themselves in costumes matching those of the original X-Men. The ruse exacerbated an undercurrent that followed the X-Men and would carry through to the New Defenders. To much of the general public, all mutants were a menace, with little distinction made between mutant heroes and mutant villains. X-Men #20 also provided an important piece of background about Professor X, telling how he had lost the use of his legs when facing an evil extraterrestrial called Lucifer.

As a sign of their achievements, the original X-Men began wearing individualized costumes in #39. The original costume style returned as a student uniform when Kitty Pryde joined the X-Men in #139; the New Mutants would would wear a variation of this original uniform as well.

Coming of Age

The end of Defenders #16 left five members of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants transformed into infants. Yet when the evil mutant Blob next faced the Defenders (#63), he was an adult again. What happened to the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants in the time in between?

Following his transformation into an infant, Magneto went in captivity at the mutant-research facility on Muir Island, off the coast of Scotland. When the villain Eric the Red used an energy ray to restore him to adulthood, the master of magnetism broke free (X-Men #104).

Held inside a neighboring cell, other members of the Brotherhood inadvertently returned to adulthood as well. But they did not rejoin Magneto. Instead, Blob, Lorelei, and Unus teamed up with Vanisher, who concocted a plot to keep them free (Champions #17).

Chased by a trio of mutant-hunting Sentinels (secretly controlled by Vanisher), the escaped members of the Brotherhood sought refuge in headquarters of the Champions. Since Angel and Iceman of the original X-Men were members of the Los Angeles super-team, Vanisher gambled that the Champions would sympathize with their fellow mutants and agree to harbor them.

The first part of the plan paid off beautifully, as Black Widow, Hercules, Ghost Rider, Angel, Iceman, and Darkstar trounced the Sentinel robots. But instead of taking in the evil mutants, the Champions captured the band of criminals.

Mastermind, a founding member of the Brotherhood who too became an infant in Defenders #16, did not regroup with his teammates in Champions #17. But the master of illusions must have returned to his true age with the others, as he would become the lynchpin in the Dark Phoenix saga in the pages of the X-Men.

Champions. Vol. 1. No. 17. January 1978. Bill Mantlo (writer), George Tuska (artist), John Byrne (embellisher), John Costanza (letterer), Phil Rachelson (colorist), Archie Goodwin (editor). This was the last issue of the Champions series.

Hellcat: A Mind of Her Own

Hellcat was an oxymoron. She wanted to be a superhero but didn't want to admit she had superpowers.

Patsy Walker began her adventuring career as an Avengers trainee, wearing a cat uniform she found while assisting them (Avengers #144). Although the original Cat did not gain powers from her costume, Hellcat attributed her newfound athletic prowess to the costume rather than to her own innate ability.

When an opportunity came to officially join the Avengers, Hellcat accepted another request instead. In an unexpected turn of events, the sometimes-heroic Moondragon informed Hellcat that she too had extensive psionic potential, which required training to cultivate (Avengers #151).

Hellcat accompanied Moondragon to Titan, the moon of Saturn where Moondragon herself had been raised. But when celestial matters required Moondragon's attention, Hellcat returned to Earth six-weeks later and put her psionic development on hold (Defenders #44). That only lasted for so long.

When she almost died from strangulation at the hands of the supervillain Blob, Hellcat's full psychokinetic powers finally unleashed … BEEEEEE ZZZZZOW … knocking unconscious all of the villains (and heroes) in the vicinity (Defenders #64). This was just one of the reasons that many Defenders for a Day didn't stay longer.

Hellcat: Moondragon never told me I'd be able to do anything like this! But, then, she never mentioned the mind-power migraine it might give me either.

Following that unprecedented display of power, Hellcat remained reluctant to hone her mental abilities. In later issues of the Defenders, the unusual hero named Over-Mind jumped in as a psychic mentor to Hellcat. Even with the extra training, she never seemed comfortable moving objects with her mind or projecting psychokinetic bolts.

Incidentally, I think Hellcat's exceptional acrobatic skills make most sense when viewed, at least in part, as an manifestation of her mind-over-matter abilities.

The Pretender-Defenders

Frog-Man may have been the only hero ever to get turned down by the Defenders. The problem was he showed up too late.

While Beast was on the lecture circuit, discussing the ins and outs of superheroics (Defenders #131), he and teammates Iceman and Angel faced the barely-super crook named Walrus.

The teenage hero known as Frog-Man joined the experienced trio during the fight and asked to become a Defender. For a time, that was about all it took to join. But the group's membership had largely solidified in #125, and the three New Defenders rejected the struggling young hero without even consulting the rest of the team.

At the end of the battle, Frog-Man's father (the reformed villain known as Leap-Frog) showed up to scold him for taking the frog-suit without permission.

Here's the kicker (which was not acknowledged in that issue): Leap-Frog was one of the numerous criminals who once pretended to be Defenders, hoping that their claims to heroism would protect them from arrest while committing crimes.

Several of the villainous Defenders for a Day had fought the Defenders before: Libra and Sagittarius (of the Zodiac), Plantman, Porcupine, and the Blob (fully recovered after he and other members of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants reverted to infancy in Defenders #16).

Other villains posing as Defenders that day were Batroc the Leaper, Beetle, Boomerang, Electro, Joe the Gorilla, Looter, Melter, Pecos, Shocker, Toad, and Whirlwind (#63-64), until a group of real Defenders stopped them.

The scene of supervillains comes from Defenders #63. The above image of Frog-Man first appeared in The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe.

The Ultimate Mutant

With the original X-Men on assignment (Marvel Team-Up #23), Professor Xavier turned to the Defenders for help. The result was one of the most important tales in mutant history (Defenders #15-16). The Defenders accompanied Professor X to the technologically equipped caves that Magneto and his latest incarnation of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants were using as a base. The battle that transpired emphasized the strengths and weaknesses of each character.

• After learning that Mastermind's monsters weren't real, Dr. Strange still responded defensively to the convincing illusions, creating mystic mirror-images of himself to avoid getting hit.
• When punching alone didn't harm the Blob, Hulk was smart enough to uproot his grounded foe.
• Valkyrie's mystical blade could not penetrate the force field surrounding Unus the Untouchable, but she easily knocked Unus backward when he let down his guard.
• Nighthawk and Professor X were immobilized by the siren song of Lorelei, a woman Magneto had technologically mutated. But Xavier had enough willpower to reach over and activate Nighthawk's new jetpack, propelling Nighthawk into Lorelei.

The heroes might have won, were it not for Magneto's latest creation, Alpha the Ultimate Mutant. The brutish being withstood all attacks, then teleported the evil mutants away. Since Magneto had already sealed off the exits, Hulk tunneled a new way out. The escaped heroes soon found Magneto and company threatening the United Nations.

Naïvely obeying Magneto's commands, Alpha levitated the U.N. building into the sky while Magneto proclaimed that it was his mutant birthright to rule humanity. When the heroes approached, Alpha used his vast power to freeze the Hulk in place, spin Nighthawk in a whirlwind until he blacked out, and turn Valkyrie's legs to putty. As Dr. Strange readied to cast a spell, Professor X intervened. Instead of fighting, Xaviar challenged Alpha to use his growing intellect to discern if Magneto was truthful or deceptive.

After contemplating the situation, Alpha set the U.N. building back in place and announced that he would leave Earth while his abilities continued to evolve. Before flying into space, Alpha punished the evil mutants by turning them into infants. The villains eventually recovered, but the event became a turning point in X-Men continuity. Magneto's rebirth accounted for his increased stamina and progressively sympathetic disposition in later years, and even came up during his landmark trial in Uncanny X-Men #200.

In Defenders #15, Professor Xavier harnessed mental energy from the Defenders to break through an electrical barrier in Magneto's lair. This panel noted Hulk's reduced intellect while asserting his desire to work with the team. Lein Wein wrote #15-16. Sal Buscema and Klaus Janson illustrated the two-part tale.