Elf with a Gun

Exactly what the name suggests: a small elf who appears without explanation, armed with a gun, randomly shooting people in scenes unconnected to the main plot. Steve Gerber introduced this surreal non-sequitur character as a deliberately absurdist running gag amid The Defenders' superhero adventures.

Few Bronze Age creations are as gloriously, defiantly absurd as Elf with a Gun — a Marvel oddity conjured by the irreverent Steve Gerber and Sal Buscema in The Defenders #25 (1975), who has somehow lingered in the Marvel Universe all the way through 2024. Exactly what the name promises and nothing less, this pint-sized enigma shares pages with heavy-hitters like the Hulk, Valkyrie, and Nighthawk, turning up in the margins of superhero mayhem with a kind of surreal, inexplicable persistence. Celebrated enough to earn an entry in the All-New Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z, Elf with a Gun is the kind of character that reminds you why the Bronze Age was such a wonderfully weird time to be reading comics — a walking (and apparently armed) non sequitur that collectors and Defenders devotees have never quite been able to explain away, and wouldn't want to.