Defenders Discussions Continue

I'm rescuing some more pertinent comments on the Defenders from a message board that's getting a little too removed from the main page. Mike, let's keep brainstorming; this is getting good:

Sean:

I like the beats you're pulling out of this, but Debbie's got a point: the Helicarrier going down has been done a lot. Dan Slott's even been making fun of that in recent (real) issues of She-Hulk.

Also, with the global spin you're putting on the Defenders as a group (which I really like) can we do something similar with the visual beats? Intact Baxter Bldg amidst chaos/rubble is good, but are there international equivalents we can touch? What about Hercules trying to hold up the Parthenon? It's getting late and I'm drawing a blank on other ideas but the same general ideas/direction on a global scale.

May 16, 2007 8:58 PM

Philip:

I hear you loud and clear.

Helicarrier crash is outer than Elton John.

Hercules is a great beat, I'll mimic it world wide: Magneto holding the Great Wall of China together by metal bracings, Doom standing in the middle of a large group of terrified South American children triumphantly holding a force field emitter above his head that protects them from fallen rubble as a crowd looks on cheering, Namor and several members of the Atlantean guard astride sea creatures carrying stranded kids, reuniting families in a tsunami swept Indonesia, T'Challa and the Wakandan guard welcoming refugees into Wakanda

These images aren't necessarily as striking; they're supposed to be about the emotional impact of the characters. Baxter Builder standing pristinely in a force field while the city around it crumbles is by comparison a pretty damning image.

Michael:

It comes even heavier. When the Baxter Building and the Stark Tower are the only things standing amidst all the rubble and chaos, that's two towers.

It will be an inverted 9/11.

As for the Great Wall of China: How about the Mole Man? He's a monarch as well, and I doubt that all of his Moloids were killed in Mighty Avengers #3. Can you imagine millions of Mole people standing all along the Chinese Wall, trying to keep it vertical? I think that could be a better image than Magneto holding it in place with girders. I think Magneto should hold something already made of metal. The Eiffel Tower?

Also, could Blob get his powers back? Think of the image when the immovable Blob is supporting the structure of Brussel's Atomium in an Atlas kind of image.

Alternatively, Juggernaut could do the same. Both are allied with Magneto, whose brotherhood (Mystique, Blob, Sabretooth, Toad, Juggernaut and, *gasp*, Gambit and Rogue (who believe that the X-Men should oppose Stark and Richards, thus ending up on the Defenders' side. And Doom even finds a way to cure Rogue, something Xavier never managed to do)) will be involved in this, of course. They are his X-Men, after all.

Clarification: With "cure", I mean get rid of Ms Marvel's powers and memories, as well as control of her powers.

Philip Schaeffer said...

Oh Mike,

I get all tingly when you start including mutants in the crossover.

This is feeling pretty global meaning both world wide and line wide. Patrick, where do you see Spidey fitting in?

Yeah, definitely, all those images of former villains holding things together, Magneto keeping the Eifel Tower, this is all perfect.

I'd rather not use Juggernaut linked with Magneto because he's in New Excalibur (but I'll do it), and I'm not a huge Blob fan...

But could I have Colossus? Forsaking America and joining the world community at large, perhaps holding up the Atomium or something more Russian?

And I love the Mole Man being a part of this. It's a bit out of his character to want to help the world at large, but he'd be an interesting addition to the Defenders.