Defenders & Dragons

Ads for the Basic and Expert versions of the Dungeons & Dragons game appeared regularly in comic books during the early 1980s. Many of my friends who collected comics at the time also played D&D.

It occurred to me that several of the Defenders would work reasonably well as characters within that game.

• Dr. Strange was surely a Magic-User, and a high-level one at that.
• Hellcat's exceptional Dexterity and climbing abilities fit the bill for a law-abiding Thief.
• With armor and sword, Valkyrie was a shoe-in for a Fighter with the maximum Strength score allowable for a player-character in the game. D&D stats for a pegasus would easily apply to Valkyrie's winged horse, Aragorn.
• Daimon Hellstrom's religious motivation and healing powers approximated those of a Cleric (even if a trident wasn't one of the weapons available to that character class).

Of all the Defenders, Gargoyle was the closest match to one of the monsters from D&D. A gargoyle in the game, of course, would lack the hero's energy powers.

The above Dungeons & Dragons ad was from 1982.

Cover Versions: Death

The cover of Contest of Champions #3 (August 1982) may have felt oddly familiar to fans of the Defenders. The image of heroes circling the skull of Death was strikingly similar to the cover of Defenders #107 (May 1982).

Yet the purple-cloaked, skeleton figure of Death who introduced herself in Contest of Champions had not appeared in Defenders #107. Rather, the skull and dark background on that Defenders cover merely set the tone for the haunting story that issue, which mourned the apparent deaths of Nighthawk and Valkyrie. (Both characters, incidentally, were alive during Contest of Champions and among the numerous heroes to appear in the three-part series.)

Covers of the first two issues of the Contest of Champions appear below.

Contest of Champions

In what arguably was the first limited series in comics, Grandmaster and the personified entity of Death mystically transported almost every hero on Earth for consideration in the three-issue Contest of Champions (June, July, August 1982).

Dr. Strange, Mr. Fantastic, Professor X, and other leading minds tried to discern why everyone had been summoned until Grandmaster and Death finally outlined the rules of the competition.

In four scavenger hunts situated on different parts of the Earth, three heroes from each side would compete against each other to locate a corner of a mystic globe. If Death's team won, she would add one-million years to the life of Earth's Sun. If Grandmaster's team won, he would stop using Earth's heroes in competitions.

Grandmaster chose:

• Captain America, Talisman, Darkstar, Captain Britain, Wolverine, Defensor, Sasquatch, She-Hulk, Daredevil, Peregrine, Thing, and Blitzkrieg.

Death selected:

• Iron Man, Vanguard, Shamrock, Iron Fist, Storm, Arabian Knight, Sabra, Invisible Girl, Angel, Black Panther, Sunfire, and Collective Man.

Official ground rules stated that participation was limited to humans (including mutants). That forbade androids, extraterrestrials, and gods from taking part in this particular competition.

I'd like to imagine that some additional ground rules also came into play.

Given that all 24 of the chosen heroes participated without question, Grandmaster and Death may have sensed which of the summoned heroes felt strongly enough to fight for one cause over the other (further narrowing which combatants were available to each side). This interpretation adds depth to the series by revealing the characters' values. It's telling that Daredevil, who had outsmarted the Grandmaster once (Giant-Size Defenders #3), now fought for Grandmaster's conditional pledge to stop coercing Earth's heroes into battle.

Another unspoken rule must have been that in the event of a tie, Death won. This explains why Death declared herself victorious at the end of the series even though Grandmaster's team won two of the four challenges.

Contest of Champions was reminiscent of an earlier challenge between Grandmaster and the time-traveler Kang, which pinned Nighthawk and other members of the Squadron Sinister against four of Earth's mightiest heroes: Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, and Goliath (Clint Barton).

Each of those one-on-one battles also took place on a different part of the Earth (Avengers #70).

Vampire Trouble

The guest appearance of Dracula in Defenders #95 was largely symbolic, drawing attention to aspects of different members of the team.

As a physician turned sorcerer, Dr. Strange found himself delivering some discouraging news. As a belated side effect of the serum that gave Nighthawk super powers combined with the mystic bonds that had restored him to life when he joined the Defenders (#14), Nighthawk now suffered paralysis during the day. Only after dark did he return to health.

Under the circumstances, it was easy to draw comparisons between Nighthawk's nocturnal inclinations and those of a vampire. Defenders #95 even described Nighthawk as swooping down like a man-sized bat as he flew over to greet his teammates. But the vampire parallels ended as soon as Count Dracula himself showed up that evening to do battle against the Defenders.

Although Gargoyle had only recently joined the team (#94), there were no doubts about his allegiance to the side of good. While other Defenders stood dumbstruck over Dracula's arrival, Gargoyle was the first to fight back.

The magic of Daimon Hellstrom revealed that Dracula was not acting of his own accord. Demonic forces had compelled him to hunt down the heroes. Casting out the evil spirits returned the legendary count to his usual blood-sucking self, while readying Hellstrom and the other Defenders for an inevitable final conflict against the netherworld (Defenders #99).

Defenders. Vol. 1. No. 95. May 1981. "The Vampire Strikes Back!" J.M. DeMatteis (writer), Don Perlin and Joe Sinnott (artists, assists by Giacoia & Milgrom), Diana Albers (letterer), George Roussos (colorist), Al Milgrom (editor), Jim Shooter (editor in chief).

Night and Day

Though largely unacknowledged throughout most of his adventuring career, Nighthawk's strength doubled at night yet returned to normal during the day. The back-up story in Marvel Team-Up #101 brought that limitation to the forefront.

While flying above New York just before dawn, Nighthawk needed to let off steam. This was not surprising given that the main story that issue revisited the tragic mistakes of his past (Defenders #32).

With mini-lasers newly added to his costume, Nighthawk fired at the side of a run-down building. Yet in doing so, the self-doubting hero only made matters worse.

Hearing a cry for help, Nighthawk saw that the wall he had damaged was now coming loose—and about to collapse on top of a girl. Nighthawk used his superhuman strength to hold up a wall just long enough for the the girl to crawl to safety—and just as the sun was beginning to rise. Nighthawk felt his strength slipping away as the wall crashed down on him.

But the hero soon emerged from the rubble relatively unharmed. His reinforced wings had shielded him from injury.

The above image of Nighthawk appeared in The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe.

Marvel Team-Up. Vol. 1. No. 101. January 1981.

"To Judge a Nighthawk!" J.M. DeMatteis (writer), Jerry Bingham (artist), Mike Esposito (inker), Diana Albers (letterer), Bob Sharen (colorist), Denny O'Neil (editor), Jim Shooter (ed-in-chief).

"Don't Let the Sun Come Up on Me!" Mike W. Barr (writer), Steve Ditko (artist), Jean Simek (letterer), Bob Sharen (colorist), Denny O'Neil (editor), Jim Shooter (editor-in-chief).