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.

Defenders (1972) #13

While Namor doesn't appear prominently on the cover of this book, I bought it anyway because I recall that it was one of the first comics I read as a kid. That was several years after its publication, mind you, because the version I read was a black and white reprint, translated into French. Nonetheless, I really got into the Squadron Sinister (great name!) as a result of that and, of course, the Sub-Mariner.

What my 40-year old memory failed to recall is that Namor doesn't appear until well into the story. It begins with Nighthawk literally blowing the doors open at Doctor Strange's mansion in order to get the attention of the Defenders.

Ha ha ha ha ha! I love these dramatic leaps of logic of the time. I'm going to try that with my neighbor. Blow the doors off her house and tell her I've saved 15% on my car insurance. I'm sure she'll be impressed with my intensity. And my savings.

In fairness to Nighthawk, his situation is a big more dramatic. After the obligatory scrap against the team (Strange, Valkyrie and Hulk, at this point), he explains that some cosmic tool named Nebulon has freed the Squadron Sinister and will use them to destroy the planet. Shit!

So basically accelerated climate change.

Doc Strange figures this is right up Namor's alley and teleports him in against his will. That goes over with Namor like a turd in punch bowl but since he can't resist blonde chicks, Valkyrie talks some sense into him.

Agreeing that global destruction is bad, the Avenging Son joins in.

The Defenders reach the glacier on which the Squadron sinister have begun their melting villainy and split up to tackle them. Namor ends up against Whizzer (worst name ever). And he does quite well.

Then when Whizzer tries to truck him...

Nebulon, however, traps the whole team in a force field and we have ourselves a cliffhanger.

Pretty fun stuff from Len Wein and Sal Buscema. This would be among the first times that Namor wore the blue pants outfit, too, based on conversation when he is forced onto the team. \
\
I don't believe Namor stick around much beyond the next issue, but Nighthawk would become a regular from this point on.