Marvel Feature (1971) #1: The Defenders

Since the previous post inadvertently included Namor's departure from the Defenders, I think we'll look at the (non) team's initial meeting today.

Dr. Strange is really the star of this show, although Namor does make one significant contribution. It is by his suggestion that the members of this little club are chosen.

But first things first. Dr. Strange is sitting in front of the fireplace at home, He hears, and heeds, a beckoning call and traces it to a hospital where he finds a former foe named Yandroth.

But he doesn't.

All that Dr. Strange knows at this point, in order to track down this Omegatron machine that Yandroth built, is that Yandroth had a mailing address in Maine. So off to New England he goes and when he arrives, he comes across the sub-mariner. That was...fortuitous.

The good doctor explains the situation to Namor and it is at that point, based on recent interactions with the other characters, that the avenging son suggest The Hulk and Silver Surfer might be helpful.

Dr. Strange recruits accordingly and we have ourselves a team! A team that doesn't refer to itself as such but a team nonetheless!

Silver Surfer is actually not immediately available but the Hulk is so the threesome tracks down the building containing the Omegatron. The Hulk and Namor work their way into the trap-filled building with brute strength while Dr. Strange does so using his astral form.

After the sorcerer supreme reaches the Omegatron, the super-computer idiotically points out to Strange that being punched by The Hulk and/or Namor will trigger the nuclear apocalypse that Yandroth threatened earlier. So Strange uses the power of illusion to turn the two of them against one another so that they don't directly attack the Omegatron.

Ah, but even the vibrations of that titanic battle will provide the Omegatron the power that it needs! With mere seconds before Omegatron detonates the nukes, Strange casts a spell by which time slows down drastically for it. What would have been seconds now becomes centuries. Strange turns off his illusion spell that causes the two combatants to fight one another so they both cease and desist.

In other words...Getting The Hulk and Namor involved was not only borderline useless, since Strange stopped Omegatron on his own anyway, it arguably made things far worse. Namor, to his credit and unlike Dr. Strange, seems to get this.

So Namor not only brought most of the cast together, he also named the "grouping". I questioned the perception of Namor as a key member of this weird-ass team but even though he hasn't spent as much time on it as some other "members" and his initial stint was quite short, he had a fair bit of impact on its formation so that makes greater sense.

There is also a back up Dr. Strange story but it does not involve Namor and so I ignore it completely. The Defenders would star in the next two issues of Marvel Feature then get their own book a few months later.