THIS WORLD IS CRAZED FOR SUPERHEROES! FOR PART 1 OF BALLADEER’S BLOG’S EXAMINATION OF MARVEL’S SUPERHEROINE MANTIS CLICK HERE
THE DEFENDERS Volume 1, Number 10 (November 1973) Breakthrough!
Last time around as the war between the Avengers and the Defenders continued, Captain America and the Sub-Mariner battled each other in Osaka, Japan, for their fragment of the Evil Eye of Avalon. Comparing notes the pair began to realize that the two super-teams were being manipulated into fighting each other.
BREAKTHROUGH!
Synopsis: BATTLE SIX: THOR VERSUS THE HULK – Because of the Marvel Cinematic Universe audiences today automatically associate the Hulk with the Avengers. Back in 1973 that was not the case. Even though the Hulk WAS one of the original Avengers he quit the team at the end of the SECOND ISSUE, in 1963.
The green guy made a few guest appearances in the Avengers, like in their 100th issue Anniversary Special but in the early 1970s the Hulk was known as a core member of the Defenders. That held true until at least the late 1980s or longer.
Getting back to the story, the final fragment of the Evil Eye is in Los Angeles, where the Hulk has dug it up with help from the spell cast by Dr Strange. Greenskin is causing the expected city-wide panic but before he can leave with the Eye fragment Thor arrives.
The thunder god, still under the mistaken idea that the Defenders want to reassemble the Evil Eye for malevolent purposes, tries to beg the Hulk to give him the fragment. Foolishly he appeals to him as a former Avenger, which just makes the Hulk mad and the fight is on.
The battling super-foes inflict kaiju-sized damage on Los Angeles but as the hours go by the more it becomes apparent that Thor and the Hulk are so evenly matched the struggle could go on indefinitely. The only thing that breaks up the contest is the sudden arrival of the combined forces of the rest of the Defenders and the Avengers. Continue reading
NIGHTSHADE 
AIR MAN 
BLUE LADY 
THE HOOD
TORNADO TOM
CAT-MAN 
Jingle Bombs was the real title of this holiday tale which pitted superhero Luke Cage aka Hero for Hire aka Power Man against the one-off supervillain called Marley. Like a Guest Villain from the Adam West Batman show Marley uses a campy Christmas Carol motif for his nefarious plan … yet, oddly the story is kind of quaint. 
MISTER NOBODY 
MISS VICTORY 
In Pop Culture these days it’s Marvel Comics’ world and the rest of us are just innocent bystanders whose homes and places of business get destroyed. 
Years later an unnamed black woman that the pair saved from a mugging got retconned into being Misty Knight, adding even more significance to the issue. 
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