Even More Marvel Super Heroes - 1982

To round out coverage of the Marvel Superheroes - 1982 biographies from Contest of Champions, this post reproduces the profiles of those heroes known in hindsight as Defenders for a Day. Keep in mind that, by the time of publication, Black Goliath had become the second Giant-Man, and Marvel Man had changed his name to Quasar. Also, while the profile for Tagak mentions the leopard Opar, and the profile for Falcon mentions the bird Redwing, neither of these animals accompanied the heroes as Defenders for a Day.

For good measure, I've included the profiles for Captain Marvel, Ms. Marvel, and Paladin (who, arguably weren't Defenders for a Day). Profiles for Ms. Marvel and Son of Satan link to related posts where they also appear.

CAPTAIN ULTRA
(Real name unrevealed) Would-be hero possessing flight, strength, and other powers but has a vulnerability to fire. Nationality unknown. Current whereabouts: unknown. First appearance: FANTASTIC FOUR #177.

FALCON
(Sam Wilson, social worker) American who uses an anti-gravitic suit with wings to fly, and has a nigh-telepathic link with his falcon Redwing. Former member of the Avengers. Current whereabouts: New York City. First appearance: CAPTAIN AMERICA #117.

HAVOK
(Alex Summers, archaeology student) American mutant whose body generates cosmic energy that can be siphoned off into explosions. Brother to Cyclops. Occasional member of the X-Men. Current whereabouts: Rio Diablo, New Mexico. First appearance: X-MEN #58.

HERCULES
(Uses no regular alias) Olympian born man-god possessing super-strength. Son of Zeus. Former member of the Avengers. Current whereabouts: Hollywood, California. First appearance: THOR ANNUAL #1.

IRON FIST
(Daniel Rand, investigator/bodyguard) American-born trained in the martial arts in the dimension city of K'un-Lun, master of the "iron fist" technique. Current whereabouts: New York City. First appearance: MARVEL PREMIERE #15.

JACK OF HEARTS
(Jack Hart, student) American endowed with strange energy, enabling him to fly and shoot energy rays, and computer-analyze machinery at a glance. Current whereabouts: Earth. First appearance: DEADLY HANDS OF KING-FU #22.

PALADIN
(Real name unknown) American mercenary possessing great agility and fighting prowess. Wears a bullet-proof vest and carries a gun. Current whereabouts: New York environs. First appearance: DAREDEVIL #150.

POLARIS
(Lorna Dane) American mutant with the ability to control magnetism. Current whereabouts: Rio Diablo, New Mexico. First appearance: X-MEN #49.

QUASAR
(Wendell Vaughn, security chief) American wielding a pair of power-bands from Uranus, capable of tapping any power source and transforming that energy into solid objects or force-beams. Also enables him to fly. First appearance (as Marvel Man): CAPTAIN AMERICA #217. First appearance (as Quasar): HULK #234.

SON OF SATAN
(Daimon Hellstrom, occult expert) American whose father is an arch-demon. Possesses supernatural strength and wields a trident and rides a chariot driven by fiery horses. Occasional member of the Defenders. Current whereabouts: New York City. First appearance: MARVEL SPOTLIGHT #12.

STINGRAY
(Dr. Walter Newell, oceanographer) American who uses special deep-sea suit, enabling him to breathe underwater, withstand the ocean's pressure, swim with great speed, and glide through the air for short distances. Also uses an electrical sting-blast. Current whereabouts: Hydrobase, Atlantic. First appearance: SUB-MARINER #19.

TAGAK THE LEOPARD LORD
(No other name known) Extra-dimensional humanoid with great athletic ability and fighting prowess. Though blind, he is able to see by telepathic link to his pet leopard, Opar. Current whereabouts: his home dimension. First appearance: DAREDEVIL #72.

TORPEDO
(Brock Jones, ex-football player, ex-insurance agent, high school coach) American who wears strength-enhancing suit enabling him to fly at great speeds. Current whereabouts: Clairton, Virginia. First appearance: DAREDEVIL #126.

INACTIVE

GIANT-MAN II
(Bill Foster, physicist) Black American who could mentally stimulate growth in height and mass up to about twenty-five feet. First appearance (as Bill Foster): AVENGERS #32. First appearance (as Black Goliath): POWER MAN #24. First appearance (as Giant-Man): MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #55. Reason for retirement: radiation poisoning weakened body.

MS. MARVEL
(Carol Danvers, ex-security agent, freelance writer) American who possessed ability to fly, super-strength, heightened reflexes, and a precognitive Seventh Sense. Former member of the Avengers. First appearance: MS. MARVEL #1. Reason for retirement: loss of powers.

NOVA
(Richard Ryder, student) American who possessed super-strength and the ability to fly. First appearance: NOVA #1. Reason for retirement: loss of powers.

PROWLER
(Hobie Brown, window washer) Black American who used various gimmicks to fight crime. First appearance: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #78. Reason for retirement: voluntarily gave up costumed identity to devote time to civilian life.

WHITE TIGER
(Hector Ayala, student) Puerto Rican who used mystic amulets to grant heightened strength, speed, agility, and fighting ability. First appearance: DEADLY HANDS OF KING-FU #22. Reason fore retirement: loss of amulets granting power.

DECEASED

CAPTAIN MARVEL
(Mar-vell, captain in Kree militia) Alien humanoid of the Kree Empire who had superhuman strength and fighting skills, photonic powers enabling him to fly, and a zen-like "cosmic awareness" which enabled him to perceive things extrasensorily. First appearance: MARVEL SUPER-HEROES #12. Died from cancer in THE DEATH OF CAPTAIN MARVEL graphic novel.

This panel from Contest of Champions #1 spotlights the three founding members of the Defenders: Hulk, Sub-Mariner, and Dr. Strange. The background features Human Torch, Thing, and Quasar (formerly Marvel Man).

The Daring Defenders

During the 1970s, early adventures of the Defenders ran as reprints in Rampage, a weekly series published with a large-size format in the United Kingdom.

Rampage #5 (November 15, 1977), for instance, reprinted Defenders #4 along with an early issue of Nova.

Modifications to the original Defenders story were limited to changing the words armor and favor to the British spellings of armour and favour. Footnotes from Defenders #4 were updated in Rampage #5 to cite U.K. reprints rather than the U.S. comics where the stories first appeared. The original interior art reprinted in black-and-white.

Rampage covers ran in full-color with new text that regularly billed the non-team as the daring Defenders, whereas promotional material in the United States described the heroes as the dynamic Defenders. Although dynamic might describe the eclectic nature of the team, daring certainly sounds more heroic.

Going Nova

Fearless Defenders #12 marked an abrupt end to the series as Frankie Raye, a former herald of Galactus, became the eighth (or ninth) member of the team. Along with Valkyrie (now physically and mentally linked to archaeologist Annabelle Riggs), the other Defenders in the series were Misty Knight, Dani Moonstar, Hippolyta, Clea, Elsa Bloodstone, and novice crimefighter Ren Kimura.

Introduced in the pages of the Fantastic Four, Frankie Raye initially had powers in keeping with the Human Torch.

As a herald of Galactus, she took the name Nova and gained cosmic powers on par with the Silver Surfer.

Frankie Raye should not be confused with Richard Rider (a.k.a. The Man Called Nova) from prior incarnations of the Defenders

Alpha Flight and the Defenders

Sure, they might have been introduced in a battle with the X-Men, but the members of Alpha Flight soon had more in common with the Defenders. After losing their ties to the Canadian government in X-Men #140, Alpha Flight worked largely as a non-team throughout most of their original series, with a different combination of heroes taking part in each adventure.

As a physician turned medicine man, Michael Twoyoungmen had a career path that paralleled that of Stephen Strange. Though Shaman's magic concentrated largely around nature, his medicine pouch also gave him the ability to transport the team to other dimensions—a hallmark power of Dr. Strange.

A back story in Alpha Flight #11 told how Bruce Banner's transformation into the Hulk inspired Walter Langkowski to experiment with gamma rays, leading to his own transformation into Sasquatch. At a point when Sasquatch began to succumb to Hulk-like rage, Shaman bound him with vegetation (Alpha Flight #12), reminiscent of the Crimson Bands that Dr. Strange used at times to immobilize the Hulk.

Of all the heroes in Alpha Flight, Northstar was arguably the least content, yet Dr. Strange once enlisted his help on a mission with the Secret Defenders. The Canadian mutant accompanied Hulk and Nova in Secret Defenders #11.

The above illustrations by John Byrne come from X-Men #120 and Alpha Flight #12.

Defenders for a Day

The day after a TV documentary promoted the Defenders' loose membership policy, more than a dozen heroes arrived at Nighthawk's ranch ready to join the team. Instead of welcoming the prospective members, Nighthawk was enraged.

It's no wonder that the new members' first line of business was to get someone else in charge. Putting it to a vote, they elected Hercules as their leader, but only after Captain Mar-vell said he didn't want the job (Defenders #62).

In a highly strategic move, Valkyrie proposed that the crowd of heroes would work best if they divided into three smaller teams. Nighthawk and Hercules concurred.

Picking his team first, the Son of Zeus chose Black Goliath, Captain Ultra, Havok, Hellcat, Iron Fist, and White Tiger.

Valkyrie then selected Falcon, Jack of Hearts, Prowler, Stingray, and Torpedo. This set a precedent for Valkyrie's later stance (in #121, #126) that the Defenders did not need an official leader, unless of course it was her.

That left Nighthawk leading Marvel Man (Quasar), Nova, Polaris, Tagak, and Daimon Hellstrom ("Son of Satan"), who questioned Nighthawk's leadership skills from the get-go

Although all of the heroes who joined in issue #62 left by the end of #65, Hellstrom later became a regular member of the team. As an aside, there were no signs that Hellstrom and future-spouse Hellcat even noticed one another when he was a Defender for a Day.

As for Captain Mar-vell, the Kree warrior decided he didn't want to join the Defenders at all.

Ms. Marvel, who guest starred in #57, basically returned here to brag that she was now booked up as an Avenger.

And Paladin, who also arrived at the ranch that day, declined to join the team because he worked only for pay.

The Hulk, meanwhile, lept away after many of the one-shot Defenders tried to capture him.

Defenders. Vol. 1. No. 63. September 1978. "Deadlier by the Dozen!" David Kraft (story), Sal Buscema and Jim Mooney (artwork), J. Costanza (letters), R. Slifer (colors), Jim Shooter (editor-in-chief).

The Day the Defenders Stood Still

Although it read like a farce, Defenders for a Day became a defining moment in the team's history. This is the first of several posts discussing the foreshadowing and impact of that fateful day.

Nighthawk, Valkyrie, Hellcat, and Hulk were the core members of the group in Defenders #62. But when a well-intentioned TV documentary explained that the team lacked an official roster, numerous heroes arrived at the Richmond Riding Academy to announce their membership.

However, half of the superheroes featured on the cover of #62 didn't show up in the story. For starters, Spider-Woman and Human Torch were not Defenders for a Day. Neither was Angel, although he later joined in #125.

Power Man, a former Defender, did not return for this issue either. But his business partner, Iron Fist, was a Defender for a Day without him. A flashback in Last Defenders #3 (2008) pictured Luke Cage's future wife (Jessica Jones) among the Defenders for a Day. This was one of several attempts to situate her heroic alias into the history of the Marvel Universe.

As for the rest, Captain Mar-Vell, Falcon, Jack of Hearts, Nova, and Hercules were Defenders for a Day, along with many heroes not pictured on the cover of Defenders #62.

Iron Man finally arrived in #63. But instead becoming one of the Defenders, he alerted them that swarms of villains also had declared their membership!

Defenders. Vol. 1. No. 62. August 1978. "Membership Madness!" David Kraft (dashing dialogue), Sal Buscema and Jim Mooney (pandemonius pictures), J. Costanza (lively letters), B. Sharen (cozy colors), Bob Hall (enthusiastic editing), Jim Shooter (editor-in-chief).