I know there are many detractors from the JM DeMatteis run, but overall I thought it was above average. Not great, but above average. This is where it ends, and it ends with the team being completely reconstituted and the new comic getting a new logo and the title “New Defenders.” It speaks volumes that there was no new #1. There was no need for that kind of gimmick back in the 1980s, when completist collectors ensured that high number issues would still be purchased.
The Miracle Man character steals Son of Satan’s darksoul powers and the team fights him to help their buddy get it back. At the same time, Elf with a Gun starts shooting team members.
It’s extremely convoluted.
During the stories, The Beast starts thinking about changing the team and having formal membership—remember, the Defenders are really a “non-team” of folks who just hang out together a lot. He gets a bunch of people to consider signing on, and they all have their test at the wedding of Son of Satan and Hellcat (yes, that happens, too) when they all have to fight the villains who crash the wedding.
Because it’s a Marvel wedding. They always get crashed. Just click the tag about weddings below if you don’t believe me.
All this eventually ties back to Elf trying to “save” the timeline by killing the Defenders, which eventually leads to a pronouncement by the “time tribunal” that the old team must break up.
The Tribunal says that the four A-list members (Strange, Hulk, Namor & the Surfer) must never again join together as a team. And it kind of ruins the weird, crazy randomness of Elf with a Gun.
The Secret Empire is tied to the whole thing in a way I didn’t follow, but we do get the first appearances of Seraph and Cloud, as they invade Vision and Scarlet Witch’s house.
And from the ashes of the original team comes…
The New Defenders.
This will be the new team, which will be written by Peter Gillis in the future. They didn’t live too long, but they lasted a couple years. And had some nice character moments.
Give me a non-break. The DeMatteis/Perlin ‘New Defenders’ were the most putrid run of any Marvel Comics series ever published. At least until the 1990’s rolled in.
There’s a crooked pot for every lid. I liked it.