The Defenders (1972) #14, "And Who Shall Inherit The Earth?"

Today we're looking at another second-part-of-two in the form of The Defenders #14. The previous issue was reviewed back in February.

I didn't expect much from this but it turned out to have one slightly significant moment at the end. Let's check it out.

When we left the Defenders at the end of #13, they had been defeated by Nebulon and trapped in a force field bubble. Nebulon prepares to deliver the killing blow but Hyperion stops him.

Come on, man...You KNOW that never works out...

We get several pages of Hyperion's back story and find out how he came to meet Nebulon and to sell out the earth to him. After this tale, the Defenders are flung into space in their little bubble.

The Defenders are pounding away at this bubble. unable to escape, until Nighthawk suggests they all concentrate their power into hitting one specific spot.

The man is clearly a genius, because the plan works marvelously. The bubble pops and the Defenders return to do battle with the Squadron Sinister.

As the team arrives and are spotted by the villains, Nebulon creates some sort of ice giant to help his side. After the creature swats away the Hulk, our hero finally makes his mark.

The team eventually defeats the ice giant and takes the fight straight to Nebulon as the Squadron Supreme busies itself with melting the polar ice in order to drown the planet. And again, the Prince gets his licks in.

Somebody really likes that "sprak" sound effect!

Nighthawk, again showing some brains, turns the canon that the Squadron Sinister is using to melt the ice against Nebulon. The energy absorption causes Nebulon to explode as a result and it appears that the Squadron is destroyed in the blast as well.

The battle won in large part due to his input, Nighthawk asks to join the group and while Doc Strange tries to explain that they're not a team per se, the Avenging Son jumps in.

Guess he told him.

Well, this is helpful in terms of knowing what material to get. I honestly thought that Namor had been with the Defenders for a longer period, being that he's considered a staple of the group. In fact, if we can judge by covers alone, Nebulon actually returns to the book (around issue #33 or so) well before Namor does (in issue #52). That's a much bigger gap than I would have anticipated.