"Inside baseball" of plot to Mystic Order Of Defenders #1 (Marvel)

Here's a rough synopsis with notes for the Braband/ Disharoon concept of Mystic Order Of Defenders.

Yesterday's post introduces Devil-Slayer's powers and mission, depicting the gangs, receiving deadly guns from an ATF U.S. official on a stormy Mexican night.

The cold open continues the narrative with Devil-Slayer. He’s teleporting in and senses he is not the only stalker of these hallways (soon identified as a sanitarium). He throws on a white doctor's coat, and makes a phone call to the police concerning a tip he got through his volunteer clinic, and suggests the location where he has just fought the gun-smugglers.


Possibly, we also introduce Vera Gemini’s twin, Marie, a recovering patient. Joe has the notion of a sighting causing Eric Simon Payne to doubt who he has under lock and key at his sanitarium, after all, that is, which twin, and we’ll ponder this for the next draft. An attack meant to terrorize the patients of Payne’s medical facility in the night could be very exciting, indeed. Still, like Payne as depicted here, I’ve yet to uncover the reason for said adversary, and identity (a new Gargoyle, created by Avarish, is one possibility; more on him later, along with an explanation of how Avarish operates).



Next, we depict Kyle Richmond, now in his thirties and much more involved with Richmond Enterprises presently, as he’s learned from experience that here his watchful eye will do good, as no corporation benefits from blind eyes turned to corruption, and the research has sparked a renewed interest in science for Kyle, admitted meathead as a student. The nostalgia of wishing to see his Defenders friends again is sparked by catching a few minutes of a new reality show, American Teen Dream, spotlighting the contestants standing before famous model Patsy Walker, herself.
So: Kyle’s salvaged life force centers his distinct nostalgia for the strange existence of the Defenders. How appropriate to begin the Mystic Order stories with Kyle; that is where this first arc ends, too, the thoughts of Kyle Richmond.

I am considering depicting 81-year-old Isaac Christian and his new life in, say, Tijuana---an opening or, most likely, the third scene---and the youngsters who come get him for help when they hear someone in the family’s going to try to kill an unwanted boyfriend, because he is such a cruel and bad seed and he has Melinda’s devotion, against the wishes of most everyone, despite his money. Isaac would do anything to keep a regrettable thing from happening here, so he retreats to his room, and shares his great secret with the curtained darkness.


I think with great concentration, Isaac can slowly exchange forms and become Gargoyle again. The Gargoyle form, of course, was originally created for him so he might serve as a supernatural pawn of a demon called Avarish who promised to save his town. The aged mayor, scion of a hundred fifty years of Christians in Christianboro, regretted his choice, and, trapped in this body, joined the Defenders upon their first battle.


Here, we discover the old man, who is apparently now human, can resume the Gargoyle form, through a deliberate, slow act of will. It’s a scary sequence, but very fun.
The scenes where Kyle and Patsy reminisce, I believe I can write, based on Defenders history, especially Hulk, Doc, and Val.

In the fourth scene, where he’s treating Patsy walker to a shared vacation with brief business visit, I believe he’s sharing with Patsy what his brain separation reality was like, how it’s come back to him of late, and how it’s made him really appreciate the things around him in this temporal existence. I do believe this set up will raise the reader’s expectations of a romance, but I don’t feel committed to that conclusion, at least, not in any straight line to that, if at all. Daiman’s still waiting off stage, and there’s some history there, about which I wonder...seems so very dark there in the middle, with Patsy’s suicide. Is that why I’m sorta leaving it to Joe to figure out?

I wonder if Beast should cameo in this first story? He is Patsy’s old friend from his Brand days. Patsy’s a cable television personality on a smash modeling competition program...well, I’m not sure if it’s best as a smash or a quick flash...but some vacation time is welcome, and Patsy and Kyle are both single at this point, I think.

I wonder how much of the past can be dealt with sans laborious exposition, but rather, in a conversation of personal nostalgia and insight?

Then, we show Joe’s scenario with Hulk, Dr. Strange and the Submariner)
where Kyle attempts to reform the non-team and ends up with a non-team, indeed. That’s about five acts, there.

A split scene: we pick up with the two Defenders introduced earlier, D-S in action, and Isaac in his human form. Now, we get an interlude of the Gargoyle transforming and going into action, and Eric Simon Payne busy with the sanitarium. This is where we get a bit of his history and his present mission.

In the seventh scene, Gargoyle creeps up on an occult meeting and finds Avarrish at his schemes again, taking advantage of the struggling township or neighborhood. A doppleganger, more powerful, attacks Gargoyle.

Meanwhile, Kyle’s visit to Richmond Mexico intersects with a security breach, so Nighthawk and Hellcat go into action, but one shadow cloak teleport later, poof goes the aGent of Fortune. But why was he there? He goes after mystical items. Is there one here? Is it belonging to a renegade demon in disguise, who’s infiltrated the company, as the disguised demons did before the first attempted Xenogenesis?




This would be the ninth scene, pouring straight out of the battle begun before the scene at Richmond. Gargoyle barely survives, and then nearly gets killed again, this time by Devil-Slayer. However, D-S reads him telepathically and concludes he’s there for another devil altogether, the one tied to the town. He believes this cult is possibly a sign of his old confederates under Vera Gemini, but it’s actually the work of the Six Fingered Hand, which Gargoyle determines in an interesting way. His form, after all, was originally one of their creations. Yikes, huh? They are both pretty monstrous heroes. Still, heroes, they are, and here we skip exposition in favor of sending Devil Slayer on the trail of Kyle and Patsy. His appearance leads to his mistaken identity, but this skirmish ends quickly, with Gargoyle’s appearance. This force of four is now on the trail of the larger organization of towns given over to Avarish.


The doppleganger Gargoyle fights the aGent of Fortune, who’s added a defense gadget stolen from Richmond E’s secret disguised demon? What else was he doing there? The earlier and only appearance of an Agent of Fortune, in Defenders 58-60, opened with a daring raid of the Sanctum Sanctorum.

I don’t think this is anywhere near that level right now, as I have a hard time seeing an advanced finished product being made in Mexico, and I’m aware of that. It’s rarely clear to me what his company does besides manufacture his wings and their cannons and that great mask of his, as demonstrated around Defenders #80. It’s disguised as technology, but it’s really a mystical weapon. Further, it comes out there’s indeed two factions, represented by these heavies, and shortly, more.

So, the new gargoyle and the aGent of Fortune square off. The middle of their fight is disrupted, itself, by the arrival of four Defenders. How this ends? Likely with the faux Gargoyle finished and the Agent getting away, but it’s possible Devil-Slayer will get the gadget and add it to his own shadow cloak.
Last scene. They teleport back to his sanitarium, and here they affirm their agreement to reform the Defenders and uncover this Secret Demon War. Were this a movie, hopefully we could tie this up in forty minutes, possibly minus much concentration of things that work very well in context of the comics, but might be dealt with in just a few minutes onscreen. Lots of action!
That’s a plot for the first issue.