Defenders Trek

With his pointed ears and hybrid heritage, Sub-Mariner was compared to Mr. Spock more than once. But the Prince of Atlantis was not the only Defender with a doppleganger aboard the Enterprise. Moondragon was a shoo-in for Ilia, the bald navigator from Star Trek: The Motion Picture. An ad for the film appeared on the back cover of Defenders #74 and other Marvel Comics with a cover date of August 1979. Moondragon guest starred in #76-77 and later joined the New Defenders.

The Defender: William Shatner

In New Defenders #128 (Feb. 1984), Beast lamented that his VHS tapes of the 79 episodes of Star Trek were ruined. I wonder if Beast was also a fan of The Defenders television series that ran 1961-1965 on CBS. Before William Shatner became Captain Kirk, the actor appeared five times on the courtroom drama. Far from being typecast, Shatner played a different role in each of those Defenders episodes:

"Killer Instinct" "The Invisible Badge" "The Cruel Hook" "The Uncivil War" "Whipping Boy"

Shatner previously starred as a young defense attorney in a television play titled The Defender, which aired in two parts on CBS in 1957.

On the Edge of Forever

When Dr. Strange cast a cloaking spell to disguise both himself and Sub-Mariner as ordinary people in Defenders #4 (Volume 3), he took wardrobe advice from Star Trek. The spell logically dressed Sub-Mariner in a stocking cap to cover his pointed ears, much like the hat Mr. Spock wore in The City of the Edge of Forever to cover his similarly pointed ears. Dr. Strange, meanwhile, wore a red, flannel shirt reminiscent of the shirt Capt. Kirk wore that same episode.

Note the reverse symmetry regarding the other color choices: While Kirk's jacket was brown and Spock's hat was blue, Sub-Mariner wore a brown hat and Dr Strange had a blue jacket.