The Defenders Origin Story
This Non-Team of Superheroes Are Making Headlines With The New Netflix Series, But Do You Know The Defenders Origin Story?
Ever since I heard the news of the 4 Netflix series joining together, the anticipation has been killing me. Then it dawned on me that I didn’t even know The Defenders origin story. I’m pretty into Marvel comics, and love to keep up. I figure if I don’t know much about this team of misfits, then odds are neither do most people. So I found the digital copy, and am gonna break it down for you.
The current lineup on the new series is Luke Cage, Iron Fist, Dare Devil, and Jessica Jones. While they are a good team of non-teammates, they are not the original crew. Far from it actually. Since the beginning this team has seen more players than an MLB baseball team.
The original Defenders #1 release in 1971. It consisted of The Incredible Hulk, Dr. Strange, and Namor. They were known as a non-team of heroes that all were known to follow their own agendas. Where the Avengers were a tight unit, the Defenders were usually a little less unified, and a different type of group then traditional comic readers were used to.
The Origin Story
We start our story with The Hulk wandering through the night, just out doing the regular big green monster stuff. When, Boom! The Hulk’s fishy friend Namor drops out of the sky falling right in front him. The Hulk doesn’t have many friends, so he is deeply concerned.
The 3 had previously met up several times in the past, so to help Namor, The Hulk travels to New York to
enlist the help of Dr. Strange. Strange of course senses the evil a brewing, and doesn’t take much convincing to help.
They arrive to find Namor still lying in the same spot lifelessly. Strange says that he is trapped in a mystical barrier unlike any he has ever encountered. This is when Necrodamus pops up looking like one of the little trolls from the Phantasm movies.
The story moves to a flashback of when The Hulk enlisted the help of Namor to fight The Undying Ones in another dimension. The battle was so intense they destroyed that universe, and were thrust into The Nameless Ones realm where the traitor sacrificed herself.
Necrodamus of course has to give away his agenda, and pretty much says hes there to take revenge for the Undying Ones. The battle closed them off from Earth, but they are still able to grant their minion boons. When the stars are in the proper alignment, Necrodamus intends to sacrifice Namor. So he leaves them with plenty of time to come up with a game plan.
While Hulk smashes away at the barrier, Strange tries to stop time. Not only does he fail to stop time, but he drains his own power and messes up a time spell from a previous battle. That’s a story for later though.
After Strange does some meditating to regain his power, he wraps Hulk and Namor in a protective ribbon. Namor fades into the ground like a dry sponge into the caverns beneath them. The two heroes pursuit to the sacrificial cave.
Upon entering they meet up with a big demon, and finally Hulk gets to smash something. Strange has to stop him from pounding so they can move along. When they enter the chamber they see The Nameless One hoovering over their friend, then he vanishes.
The Stars align and Necrodamus suddenly transforms into a big powerful guy who is still pretty ugly. Him and Hulk throw down. The star power makes him super powerful, and he stabs Hulk with his enchanted blade, causing Hulk to transform into Bruce Banner.
Meanwhile Strange uses some magic to sneak vapors into the barrier holding Namor. The Sub-Mariner wakes up and immediately springs to battle. The powerful Necrodamus nearly takes Namor out, but Bruce and Strange jump in with no powers and hold him off just long enough.
Necrodamus transforms back into his mini-troll form and teleports out of there. Bruce seems to be okay from the stab wound. They ask Namor how he was captured and dropped from the sky. He claims that he did not drop him, he was thrown from the heavens by the Silver Surfer.
