Mystic Order of Defenders: Deathlok, and the dystopian OsCorp (7-9)

Did not realize this when the plot began to come to me, but Deathlok and Devil-Slayer have a history---from Devil-Slayer's first Marvel appearance!!


What are we doing? We're resurrecting a title of B and C list characters and developing them in (hopefully ) compelling storylines. The philosophy, banter, and other specifics have yet to emerge, because first, there's the brainstorm, to set the stage. See if you recognize some classic Marvel story lines, or if all of this is alien to you, heck, feel free to ask! It's a sheer creative exercise, whose value can't quite yet be determined, but it's more fun than griping about comics not being the way they used to be! You never know, we may have Marvel's next movie idea, LOL!

So, I gave him a line up, he gave me his suggestions, then he gave us a story to kick off this new version of the characters, reaching back for the villains and heroes he enjoyed as a new reader.


So, Braband offered me a great tableau for creating new minions for the Six Fingered Hand---one that graces the outskirts of the X-world, at that!!! We might even reach back for some devolved mutants who appeared over the years but were lost amidst the line-wide changes that led to so many depowered mutants.

Yeah, huge hand for your efforts, Joe! (A Six Fingered Hand!)

 I would love for #3 and 4 to involve a trip to Hell and maybe include a mad casino where the Defenders must gamble for their souls.   But I"ve already tossed up an issue #2 plot...and after hearing J.M.'s dark take on Patsy's mom (back in 1980), Hellcat may have a couple of "Kid Fears" I didn't count upon!!!   But it's immensely fun.  it's like mail order chess, but more unique.  Again, feel free to change anything.  I let someone cut off all my hair yesterday, what do I worry for you offering your own take on these characters?  AFter all, you came up with a great set piece and foes.

  So listen, I came up with an issue of Avengers/ Defenders mix ups in #5, finishing up in 6.  (I'm going to keep my potential match-ups to myself until we hash out the best ones!)

But things don't stop there; the Beast from an alternative time line takes, say Devil Slayer, Nighthawk, Sif, and Gargoyle into cyborg Deathlok's timeline, where New York's populated by cannibals. IN #7 of our offshoot of the Mystic Order of the Defenders, they meet Deathlok just before he finally faces Ryker, the cyborg who's trying to control everything from the stronghold of his prison (see Astonishing Adventures #35 and Marvel Team-Up #46) .


But, in #7, they discover Oscorp remains an enemy of Ryker's.  In fact, there's a sinister Spider-Man on the loose!  And, very possibly, a Black Cat who turns out to Gwen Stacy, a thief who rebelled against her police captain father.  Meanwhile, Oscorp attorney Matt Murdock takes on a secret identity to break and enter: the Prowler, using gear made by Hobie Brown, the window washer.  (The Prowler's a pretty obscure but neat looking Spidey villain from ASM 79 and 93?)  Spencer Smythe's Spider-Slayer bites the dust fighting this sinister Spider-Man, who is unmasked as...well, who else?  Only two possible answers are begging to be revealed here, and they both end in Osborn, don't they?


  Then, at the end of the issue, you have a Peter Parker who finds the old Green Goblin weapons developed by Osborn's old partner Mendell Strom.  he joins the Defenders as the Hobgoblin.   So Hobgoblin, Deathlok, Gargoyle, Nighthawk (or SOS, if he's not on a subplot w/ Patsy), Sif and Beast.  Maybe a nice cannibal Kingpin?  Anyway, they find Machine Man's deactivated parts.  I'm thinking of 7-9 as a twisted dystopian timeline ---"the past"---with alternative secret identities for some familiar faves.


i have a plan for 10-14, too, which eventually leads Hellcat, Luke Cage, Nighthawk, S.O.S., Gargoyle to the Middle East to follow the green guardian (more later), since I think they each would have a unique reaction to life in the emerging Middle EAst.

 But I still can't wait to go back to the first storyline---which I figure would take most of six issues, I think we agree---where the demonized mutants of the Six Fingered Hand battle the mystic cult of the Agents of Fortune, under Vera Gemini, with the Defenders in the middle!