Marvel Superhero Teams
Marvel Comics is all about teams. Marvel's Silver Age began with the publication of a team comic, Fantastic Four #1.Since then, teams of Marvel superheroes, like the well-known Fantastic Four, the X-Men, the Avengers, along with a host of somewhat lesser-known superhero teams such as the Defenders, the Champions, the Thunderbolts, Alpha Flight, and others, defend the world from evil villains, nasty space aliens, and various supernatural baddies.
Below are summaries of several Marvel superhero teams brief descriptions with a listing of their best known members:
Alpha Flight-Canada's best known (only?) real super-team, featuring Sasquatch, Northstar, Snowbird, Guardian, and Puck. Wolverine has a history with this team. Northstar is best known, by the way, as one of the first openly gay superheroes in Marvel (or any) Comics.The Avengers--Earth's Mightiest Heroes, came together one day to face down a threat greater than any one hero could manage. The original team consisted of Iron Man, Thor, Ant-Man, the Wasp, and, incredibly, the Hulk. Captain America joined the team in issue # 4, and the rest is history...comicshistory, that is!
Champions-The Champions were made up of former members of other teams. Hercules and Black Widow from the Avengers, Angel and Iceman from the X-Men, and the Ghost Rider, (former member of Team Hell).
Defenders-Marvel put this team together as "non-team" of "outsiders" who do not normally play well with others. The Defenders originally consisted of the Hulk, Dr. Strange, and Namor, the Sub-Mariner. The Silver Surfer later joined the Defenders. The Defenders often battled mystic and supernatural threats. Valkyrie, Nighthawk, and Hellcat are other notable members who later associated with the Defenders. Some of the best moments in Defenders comics came with the continual bickering and battling between Hulk and Namor.
Fantastic Four -Marvel's legendary First Family: Mr. Fantastic, the Invisible Woman, the Thing, and the Human Torch defend the world, while still behaving like a slightly dysfunctional (that is, normal) family.
Heroes for Hire-Founded by Luke Cage (Power Man), and Daniel Rand (Iron Fist), Heroes for Hire was a bit different for a super-group in that they offered a full line of professional investigation and protection services for paying customers. As heroes, of course, they also did a lot of pro bono (free) work.
The Howling Commandoes- These World War Two soldiers were led by Captain America in the movie, but in reality (i.e. the comics), they were led by Sgt. Nick Fury, who, for several good movie continuity reasons, could not have commanded this group in the recent movie. As we know, Sgt. Fury became Colonel Fury in the modern age, and went on to lead S.H.I.E.L.D.
Invaders-Speaking of World War Two, the Invaders were a group of super-heroes ret-conned into existence in the 1960s by Marvel, based on a "real" 1940s superhero team called the All-Winners Squad. Both teams featured Captain America, the original Human Torch, and Namor, the Sub-Mariner, along with the sidekicks Bucky and Toro.
Runaways-Great concept: A bunch of teen-agers discover their boring old parents are really super-villains, run away from home, and discover the wonders and perils of being nascent superheroes while on the lam. Oh, and they can't get any respect from the adult heroes like Captain America and Iron Man.
Thunderbolts-One of the best story ideas of the 1990s, in this writer's humble opinion: While most of the world's real heroes are missing (long story), a new super-group, calling themselves the Thunderbolts, fortuitously appears to save innocent people from the big, bad super-villains who are now preying on them. The surprise ending to their first comic, shows the new "heroes" as some of the vilest and most troublesome villains in Marvel history, including Baron Zemo, Moonstone, Power Man (NOT the "Power Man" Luke Cage), the Beetle, Screaming Mimi, and the Fixer. In reality, the Thunderbolts were the latest iteration of Zemo's Masters of Evil, the arch super-villain who regularly made life difficult for the Avengers.
The X-Men--Originally billed as Marvel's strangest heroes, this team of mutants began as a group of five super-powered teens and grew to include dozens of well-known team members, including Cyclops, Marvel Girl, Angel, Iceman, Beast, Professor X, Wolverine, Colussus, Nightcrawler, Storm, and many more.
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