The Defenders are a superhero group with rotating membership appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. They are usually presented as a "non-team" of individualistic outsiders who are known for following their own agendas. The team often battle mystic and supernatural threats.
Its original incarnation was led by Doctor Strange and included Hulk, Namor, and Silver Surfer. They first appeared as the Defenders in Marvel Feature #1 (Dec. 1971), before receiving their own title, The Defenders, in 1972.
The group had a rotating line-up from 1972 until 1986, with Dr. Strange and the Hulk being usually constant members along with a number of other mainstays such as Valkyrie, Nighthawk, Hellcat, Gargoyle, Beast, the Son of Satan and Luke Cage, and many temporary members. The publication was retitled The New Defenders near the end of the run, featuring none of the original members and only Valkyrie, Beast and the Gargoyle of the former long-term members. The concept was modified in the 1993–95 series Secret Defenders, in which Dr. Strange assembles different teams for each individual mission. The original team was reunited in a short-lived 2001 series by Kurt Busiek and Erik Larsen. In 2005 Marvel published a five-issue miniseries featuring the classic line-up by J. M. DeMatteis, Keith Giffen and Kevin Maguire. In December 2011 writer Matt Fraction and artist Terry Dodson launched a Defenders series with a mixture of classic and new members, which lasted for 12 issues.
A television miniseries, The Defenders, set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe premiered in 2017 on Netflix, with the team consisting of Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and Iron Fist.
Publication history The origin of the Defenders lies in two crossover story arcs by Roy Thomas prior to the official founding of the team. The first, in Doctor Strange #183 (November 1969), Sub-Mariner #22 (February 1970), and The Incredible Hulk #126 (April 1970), occurred due to the Dr. Strange series being canceled in the middle of a story arc, leaving Thomas no choice but to resolve the storyline in other series that he wrote. In the story, Dr. Strange teams with Namor and the Hulk to protect the Earth from invasion by Lovecraftian interplanar beings known as the Undying Ones and their leader, the Nameless One. Barbara Norriss, later the host of the Valkyrie, first appears in this story. In the second arc, featured in Sub-Mariner #34–35 (February–March 1971), Namor enlists the aid of the Silver Surfer and the Hulk to stop a potentially devastating weather control experiment, inadvertently freeing a small island nation from a dictator and facing the Avengers under the name of the "Titans Three".
The Defenders first appeared as a feature in Marvel Feature #1 (December 1971), where the founding members gather to battle the alien techno-wizard Yandroth and remain as a team afterward. Editor Stan Lee, wanting to write all of the Silver Surfer's stories personally, had asked other writers not to use the character, and suggested that Thomas use Doctor Strange instead. Thomas has also speculated that Lee came up with the team's name: "The 'Defenders' is far too passive a name for my taste. I prefer more aggressive-sounding names like the 'Avengers' or the 'Invaders,' so Stan probably came up with that one." Due to the popularity of their tryout in Marvel Feature, Marvel soon began publishing The Defenders with Steve Englehart writing and Sal Buscema penciling,Sanderson "1970s" in Gilbert (2008), p. 156: "The Defenders moved into their own bimonthly comic book with The Defenders #1, written by Steve Englehart and penciled by Sal Buscema." while Thomas moved into the editor's seat. Despite Lee's continuing edict on the use of the Silver Surfer, he approved Englehart's pitch to include the Silver Surfer in the story.
Valkyrie was introduced to the team in issue #4 (February 1973).Sanderson "1970s" in Gilbert (2008), p. 158: "[The] Enchantress of Asgard, endowed Barbara Norriss with the consciousness, physical appearance, and superhuman powers of Brunnhilde, leader of the Valkyries." Englehart wrote "The Avengers–Defenders War" crossover in The Avengers #116–118 (October–December 1973) and The Defenders #9–11 (October–December 1973),Sanderson "1970s" in Gilbert (2008), p. 160: "Loki and Dormammu manipulated two super-teams into the Avengers-Defenders war starting in The Avengers #116 and The Defenders #9 in October." leaving The Defenders afterwards because he "didn't want to keep doing two team books at the same time." Len Wein briefly wrote the seriesDeAngelo p. 6 and introduced such characters as Alpha the Ultimate MutantSanderson "1970s" in Gilbert (2008), p. 166: "Professor Charles Xavier teamed up with the Defenders to oppose Magneto, the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, and Magneto's creation, Alpha the Ultimate Mutant." and the Wrecking Crew.Sanderson "1970s" in Gilbert (2008), p. 167: "The Wrecker joined with fellow super-powered convicts to become the criminal Wrecking Crew." Wein also added Nighthawk to the cast because, in his words, doing so "gave me a character to play with who didn't have a whole lot of previous history ... [a] character I could do anything I wanted to without worrying about how it would affect any other titles that character might appear in."
Steve Gerber first worked on the characters in Giant-Size Defenders #3 (January 1975) and became the writer of the main title with issue #20 the following month.DeAngelo p. 7 He wrote the series until issue #41 (November 1976).Steve Gerber's run on The Defenders at the Grand Comics Database Part of Gerber's oeuvre was reviving forgotten characters; he brought back three pre-Marvel characters, now organized as the Headmen,Sanderson "1970s" in Gilbert (2008), p. 169: "Writer Steve Gerber teamed up three villains from old Marvel science fiction stories...as the Headmen, a group of would-be criminal masterminds" as well as the Guardians of the Galaxy.Sanderson "1970s" in Gilbert (2008), p. 170: "In this story line by writer Steve Gerber and artist Sal Buscema, the Defenders had traveled to an alternate future, in which they aided the Guardians of the Galaxy against Earth's conquerors, the alien Brotherhood of the Badoon." The Defenders met Gerber's Howard the Duck in Marvel Treasury Edition #12 (1976).Marvel Treasury Edition #12 (1976) at the Grand Comics Database
Due to Marvel's shuffling of editors-in-chief, a brief run by Gerry Conway abruptly ended in mid-production on issue #45. David Anthony Kraft and Roger Slifer volunteered to write the series, but issue #45 had no written plot, having been drawn by Giffen following a story conference with Conway. Kraft and Slifer were unable to contact either Conway or Giffen, and so had to puzzle out Conway's plot from the unscripted artwork.
David Anthony Kraft's run as writerDavid Anthony Kraft's run on The Defenders at the Grand Comics Database included "The Scorpio Saga" (issues #46, 48–50) and the "Xenogenesis: Day of the Demons" storyline (issues #58–60).DeAngelo p. 9-11 The "Defenders for a Day" storyline in issues #62–64 saw dozens of new applicants attempting to join the Defenders, as well as a number of villains attempting to present themselves as Defenders members in order to confuse the authorities and the public as they commit robberies. Kraft and artist Ed Hannigan explained some of the Valkyrie's backstory in The Defenders #66–68 (December 1978 – February 1979). At Kraft's request, Hannigan helped write issue #67 but found that he could not handle both writing and artwork at once, and so transitioned to being just the series's writer with the following issue.
Steven Grant wrote a conclusion to Steve Gerber's Omega the Unknown series in two issues of The Defenders,DeAngelo p. 11 at the end of which most of the original series' characters were killed. While Gerber seemed unhappy with Grant's conclusion, it nevertheless tied up the loose ends of the comic series, and is considered "canon" by Marvel.Sanderson "1970s" in Gilbert (2008), p. 190: "Writer Steven Grant devised this wrap-up of the Omega story line, killing off the other protagonist, James-Michael Starling. The mysterious connection between Omega and Starling was never elaborated upon."
Writer J. M. DeMatteis took over the series with issue #92. He and Mark Gruenwald co-wrote The Defenders #107–109 (May–July 1982), which resolved remaining plot points from the Valkyrie story by Kraft and Hannigan published three years earlier.DeAngelo p. 13
The New Defenders As of issue #125, The Defenders was retitled to The New Defenders as the original four members (Doctor Strange, Silver Surfer, Hulk, and Namor) are forced to leave the team,DeAngelo p. 14 in response to an alien prophecy that states that these four, operating as a group, would be responsible for destroying the world. In the same issue, Beast reforms the team as an official superhero team complete with government clearance.
DeMatteis stayed on for only six issues of The New Defenders before turning it over to writer Peter Gillis, whose run was marked by shorter, more personal stories. Gillis recounted, "I had been working for a while at Marvel, and was constantly pumping for more work, and specifically a series of my own. So when I heard DeMatteis was leaving Defenders, I was in [editor] Carl Potts' office like a shot, and I got the gig."
Though the series remained a modest hit through the Gillis/Perlin run, it was cancelled to make room in Marvel's production schedule for the New Universe line. The final issue was The New Defenders #152.DeAngelo p. 16 In the final issue, several members (Gargoyle, Moondragon, and Valkyrie), plus allies (Andromeda, Manslaughter, Interloper) are seemingly killed in battle, while the remaining mutant members leave the team to join X-Factor. Gillis claimed that killing off the other members of the group was a directive from the editorial staff to free up the surviving members for usage in X-Factor, pointing out that he shortly after revived several of these seemingly-deceased members in issues of Solo Avengers, Strange Tales vol. 2 #5–7, and issues #3–4 of the relaunched Doctor Strange, Sorcerer Supreme series.
The Return of the Defenders In 1990, the original trio reunited in The Incredible Hulk #370–371, in which it was revealed that the prophecy was a hoax. The originals then rejoined with the Silver Surfer in a story entitled The Return of the Defenders running in The Incredible Hulk Annual #18, Namor the Sub-Mariner Annual #2, Silver Surfer Annual #5, and Dr. Strange, Sorcerer Supreme Annual #2.
Secret Defenders In 1993, Marvel sought to revive the "Defenders" brand as "The Secret Defenders". The new team first appeared, unofficially, in Dr. Strange #50 and later Fantastic Four #374, before being officially introduced in Secret Defenders #1.Manning, Matthew K. "1990s" in Gilbert (2008), p. 262: "Writer Roy Thomas and penciller Andre Coates created this new series that ran until 1995." The series' premise originally was that Doctor Strange would organize various teams of heroes for certain missions, with him as the leader. Members included Wolverine, Darkhawk, Spider-Woman, Spider-Man, Hulk, Nomad, Ghost Rider, and others. This lasted for the first several months of the title, before Doctor Strange was removed from the book, due to the character being reassigned to the "Midnight Sons" line at Marvel. After an arc where Thanos organized a team of "Secret Defenders" for a mission, leadership of the Secret Defenders passed to Doctor Druid and the series itself abandoned the revolving-door roster in favor of Druid and the Cognoscenti. The series was canceled with Secret Defenders #25.
Reunion and The Order