Heralded as the first limited series, Contest of Champions was also groundbreaking for its appendix of Marvel Super Heroes - 1982. Biographical entries appeared for heroes who had been active up to that point (with sections on inactive and deceased heroes). While recognizing that this material was decidedly concise, in hindsight I am surprised that the listings for Clea and Silver Surfer did not note their membership in the Defenders.
In contrast, however, I am not surprised by the other heroes who had appeared in issues of the Defenders yet weren't described as members. By and large, these characters did not regard themselves Defenders—even within the parameters of a non-team. For example, Thing and Mister Fantastic remained members of the Fantastic Four while assisting the Defenders. Even Hawkeye, who briefly considered himself one of the Defenders, did so largely to spite the Avengers.
With the exception of the Defenders for a Day (who will get their own post), here are the entries for those heroes who appeared in the original series through 1982 and weren't referenced as Defenders in Contest of Champions.
BLACK KNIGHT
(Dane Whitman, physicist) American descendant of Arthurian-age champion who wields the ebony blade of his ancestor, and rides a winged horse. Last seen in Twelfth Century Britain, but is known to be back in the present. Current whereabouts: Britain. Former member of the Avengers. First appearance: AVENGERS #48.
BLACK PANTHER
(T'Challa, tribal leader of Wakanda) Jungle-born African possessing great natural strength, agility, and heightened senses. Former member of the Avengers. Current whereabouts: Africa. First appearance: FANTASTIC FOUR #52.
CAPTAIN AMERICA
(Steve Rogers, artist) Recipient of the Super-Soldier formula endowing him with great strength, agility, and stamina. Carries a shield. Member of the Avengers. Current whereabouts: New York City. First appearance: AVENGERS #4.
CLEA
(No other name known) Sorceress from an alien dimension with minor mystic abilities. Current whereabouts: her home dimension. First appearance; STRANGE TALES #126.
DAREDEVIL
(Matt Murdock, lawyer) Blind American with heightened senses and incredible agility and fighting prowess. Uses billy club as a weapon. Current whereabouts: New York City. First appearance: DAREDEVIL #1.
HAWKEYE
(Clint Barton, security chief) American who has mastered the art of archery and uses various trick arrows. Occasional member of the Avengers. Current whereabouts: New York vicinity. First appearance: TALES OF SUSPENSE #57.
MISTER FANTASTIC
(Reed Richards, scientist/adventurer) American possessing cosmic ray-derived power of super-malleability. Able to stretch any part of his body to great lengths and mold his pliant flesh into numerous shapes. One of the great intellects of the world, he is the leader of the Fantastic Four. Husband of the Invisible Girl. Current whereabouts: New York City. First appearance: FANTASTIC FOUR #1.
MOONDRAGON
(Heather Douglas) American-born priestess of Titan, trained in the martial arts, telepathy, and psychokinesis. Daughter of Drax the Destroyer. Occasional member of the Avengers. Current whereabouts: vicinity of the Earth. First appearance (as Madame MacEvil): IRON MAN #54. First appearance (as Moondragon): DAREDEVIL #105.
MOON KNIGHT
(Marc Spector, mercenary; alias Jake Lockley, cab driver; Steven Grant, millionaire) American possessing great natural strength and agility and mastery of martial arts. Uses crescent-darts, a truncheon, and glider-cape. Current whereabouts: New York vicinity. First appearance: WEREWOLF BY NIGHT #32.
PROFESSOR X
(Charles Xavier, headmaster) American mutant with the psionic powers of telepathy and astral projection. Founder of the X-Men. Confined to a wheelchair. Current whereabouts: Salem Center, New York. First appearance: X-MEN #1.
SILVER SURFER
(Norrin Radd) Humanoid alien from Zenn-La with cosmic powers to rearrange molecules and shoot energy-blasts. Rides an idestructible flying surfboard. Former herald of Galactus. Current whereabouts: space. First appearance: FANTASTIC FOUR #48.
SPIDER-MAN
(Peter Parker, college student/freelance photographer) American possessing super-strength, super-reflexes, incredible agility, the ability to stick to virtually any surface, and a danger-detecting "spider-sense." Uses a chemical web-shooting device enabling him to swing from the rooftops entangle persons or things, and create simple objects such as shields and spheres. Current whereabouts: New York City. First appearance: AMAZING ADULT FANTASY #15.
THING
(Benjamin Grimm, adventurer) American possessing super-strength and a rock-like epidermis making him impervious to virtually all harm. Member of the Fantastic Four. Current whereabouts: New York City. First appearance: FANTASTIC FOUR #1.
WASP
(Janet Van Dyne, heiress) American with the ability to shrink to insect-size and fly by means of surgically-implanted membrane-wings. Shoots a bio-electric "wasp's sting." Member of the Avengers. Ex-wife of Henry Pym (Yellowjacket), who concocted her powers. Current whereabouts: New York City. First appearance: TALES TO ASTONISH #44.
WONDER MAN
(Simon Williams, ex-industialist, aspiring actor) American possessing enormous strength and near-invulnerability. The chemical processes of his metabolism have been replaced by some strange form of energy. Former member of the Avengers. Current whereabouts: Hollywood, California. First appearance: AVENGERS #8.
INACTIVE
GHOST RIDER
(Johnny Blaze, motorcycle stunt rider) American who through sorcery became the host-body for a blazing skeletal demon who is abile to create objects out of mystic flame, project soul-scalding Hellfire, and is super-strong and nearly impervious to harm. First appearance MARVEL SPOTLIGHT #5. Reason for retirement: Blaze is no longer able to control the demon and force him to use his powers for good.
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.
YELLOWJACKET
(Henry Pym, biochemist) American who invented serum enabling him to reduce to insect-size. Used bioelectric "stings." Former husband to Janet Van Dyne (Wasp). First appearance (as Dr. Pym): TALES TO ASTONISH #27. First appearance (as Ant-Man): TALES TO ASTONISH #35. First appearance (as Giant-Man): TALES TO ASTONISH #49. First appearance (as Goliath): AVENGERS #28. First appearance (as Yellowjacket): AVENGERS #59. Reason for retirement: began criminal career.
DECEASED
OMEGA THE UNKNOWN
(Real name unknown) A humanoid "organic robot" from an unspecified planet trained to be a perfect warrior. Possessed super-strength, enabling him to leap long distances, etc. Had empathic link with another organic robot, James-Michael Starling. First appearance OMEGA #1. Died from a gunshot wound in OMEGA #10.
| | Contest of Champions featured a list of Super Heroes of Other Worlds, Other Times included Prester John (pictured here in Defenders #11), as well as members of the Guardians of the Galaxy and Squadron Supreme.Another section listed Quasi Heroes, including Alpha the Ultimate Mutant, Howard the Duck, Man-Thing, Nick Fury, and Rick Jones. |
Following in the footsteps of a costumed assassin called Foolkiller (Man-Thing #3-4), a self-appointed successor adopted the Foolkiller persona and granted himself poetic license to murder anyone he deemed a fool. For his first target, the new Foolkiller assassinated the supervillain Blockbuster (Omega the Unknown #9).
Foolkiller next arrived at Nighthawk's ranch intent on murdering the serial killer Lunatik (Defenders #73), only to attack the Defenders for looking foolish in a recent televised documentary. Foolkiller escaped from the heroes but not without setting fire to their headquarters (#74-75). Foolkiller's idiosyncratic criteria for dispensing violence would fit with an interpretation of Chaotic Evil using the alignment system from Dungeons & Dragons.
| While reading Silver Surfer's meeting with the mysterious Omega Council in Defenders #11 (Vol. 4), I immediately thought of the deceased hero called Omega.
Only after the cancellation of the 10-issue series Omega the Unknown did the hero learn his origin. Omega and youthful "sidekick" James-Michael Starling were in fact biological constructs sent to Earth by metallic lifeforms on another planet that faced extinction. Omega and Starling both died in Defenders #76-77 (Vol. 1). The metallic extraterrestrials designed additional constructs to send to other worlds as well. My initial suspicions aside, however, these beings do not appear to have ties to the recently revealed Omega Council. |
| Well-known for his use of monikers, Hulk repeatedly referred to the hero Omega as "Curly-Hair" during a guest appearance in Omega the Unknown #2 (May 1976), a story referenced in Defenders #39. |
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A multi-part story that wrapped up loose ends for the hero Omega (whose series had been cancelled) reunited Hellcat with Moondragon and Wasp, heroes she had worked with in the Avengers.
Omega had never guest starred with the non-team before, but made a cameo appearance in Defenders #39.
More important than the main plot, however, was the worthwhile character study Defenders #76-77 provided of two women who had been only footnotes in Defenders history up to that point.
When husband Yellowjacket came out of retirement (Giant-Size Defenders #4), Wasp continued her leave of absence from crimefighting, at his request (and made only a non-powered cameo appearance that issue).
But in #76-77, free of patriarchal expectations, the Wasp acted with more confidence and intelligence than she had shown in almost two decades of comic book stories. Though a founding member of the Avengers, Wasp said she never had an opportunity to fly an Avengers' Quinjet until helping Valkyrie and Hellcat on that mission.
Telepathically sensing that Hellcat was in need of assistance, Moondragon returned to Earth to aid the Defenders (having made a one-panel cameo in #44). But the emotionally-complicated Moondragon chided Hellcat for scarcely developing her psionic abilities since leaving Titan, the moon of Saturn where she had trained.
Although Valkyrie had minimal interaction with Moondragon, Wasp warned the Asgardian warrior that Moondragon's arrogance was hard to take.
Claiming that the other heroes had botched the mission to save Omega, Moondragon ended the adventure demanding that the Defenders never summon her again. But as time would tell, this was only the beginning of Moondragon's involvement with the team. The self-proclaimed goddess eventually returned as a reluctant member of the New Defenders, with Valkyrie serving as her Odin-appointed parole officer.
The Omega plotline also brought back Ruby Thursday, still holding a grudge after fighting the Defenders several times before as a member of the Headmen.
Steven Grant wrote Defenders #76-77, and Herb Trimpe illustrated those issues.
Watch out! Clea's casting a spell that could destroy the Earth, and only Power Man, Red Guardian, and Nighthawk can stop her! So why is Dr. Strange interfering? And what startling discoveries await the Hulk?
Defenders #39 looked like an amazing issue. In actuality, though, the inside didn't have anything to do with the cover. Clea's spell was actually an illusionary fireball to distract the public so the Defenders could rescue Valkyrie from wrongful imprisonment without anyone noticing. All of the heroes were in the loop, so none of them had to fight one another.
Despite the inconsistencies, #39 remains one of my favorite Defenders covers. For what it's worth, by the way, Hulk appeared only in a three-panel flashback (to Omega the Unknown #2).
Defenders. Vol. 1. No. 39. September 1976. "Riot in Cellblock 12!" Steve Gerber (script) Sal Buscema (layouts), Klaus Janson (finished art), Hipp & Watanabe (letterers), Don Warfield (colorist), Archie Goodwin (editor).