Crossover Pitch: A Fusion

MARVEL COMICS PRESENTS

THE DEFENDERS:
A TRAGEDY IN FIVE ACTS

Written by Brian K. Vaughn (when you wish upon a star)
Pencils by Mike Deodato Jr.
Covers by Todd MacFarlane, Jack Kirby, Leonardo DaVinci and the cavemen who drew the famous cave drawings everybody's always talking about


Having already established the Defenders in my run on FF, this series will serve to (literally) shake up with Marvel Universe with a cautionary tale of complacency and the perils of public opinion.

The first issue will feature the Defenders announcing themselves to the world, with Namor being their leader, and will also feature Doom realizing that a natural disaster of insane proportions is imminent. He will be almost happy when he realizes that Reed Richards doesn't see it coming, for all his genius, he's somehow missed this. The issue will end with massive worldwide calamity as you describe.

The second issue I envision as a NY heroes centric, claustrophobic terrifying day in which none of them really get what's going on (Spidey and Reed at the forefront; the one trying to save as many people as possible, the other too upset that he missed this). The whole time everybody's worried about the rest of the world but all they want to do is save NY. The President orders everybody out of the city ASAP and the heroes try and stay to help people who can't buy their way out (echoes of Katrina). Oh, and the S.H.I.E.L.D. helicarrier crashed in Times Square. Tony Stark is in critical condition. The Mighty Avengers are fractured, the New Avengers can't even reach other. Near the end of this issue, Reed or someone comments on how the rest of the world must be even worse We then reveal that the third world has actually suffered the least of anybody thanks to Doom and the Defenders.

Issue 3 demonstrates the ineptitude of the Initiative as a whole to deal with a major crisis as well as the incredible success enjoyed by the Defenders. Near the end of the series, the President rejects the Defenders' offer to aid the American East Coast with recovery. Most major cities in Florida (including Miami) have been washed away, New Orleans and most of the Gulf is under water again. But America doesn't want the Defenders' help. We also learn that Namor is angry that Doom prevented him from at least saving Sue Richards.

Issue 4 the Defenders continue their spike in the polls of public opinion. To the shock of the Americans, allies such as Canada and England accept Namor's aid. Doom is trying to play Namor against Richards though. Doom sees Richards as the only thing standing in his way of conquering America and eliminating it as a distraction from his plans of a worldwide Utopia in his image. So Doom once again allows but does not construct cataclysmic events, this time a team of Defenders' aid workers helping recovery in Cuba, who are killed by the Florida Initiative Team for infringing on American Waters.

Issue 5 is a terrifying attack by Namor and the Defenders on a shattered New York City; they aim to take out the Avengers. Namor has the previously descried final scene with Sue and Reed Richards (that's still how I see this thing ending) and ultimately apparently commits suicide. Though this is not Doom's plan, it suits him well enough, as he becomes the leader of the, though somewhat less trusted after Namor's attack, still very popular Defenders.