Essential Defenders #5
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeThis volume collects issues from the mid-1970s run of The Defenders, featuring the team's eclectic roster including Doctor Strange, the Hulk, Valkyrie, Hellcat, and the Silver Surfer. Storylines pit the non-team against threats like the alien Nebulon and the mystical Undying Ones, with guest appearances by Bruce Banner and Norrin Radd. It's part of Marvel's black-and-white Essentials line, offering a cost-effective way to read classic Bronze Age tales.
In "To Judge a Nighthawk!," Captain America answers a psychic distress call from a woman he once saved, leading him into the high-stakes web of August Masters, a man whose plan to weaponize the world’s top psychics threatens to ignite global conflict. With the Defenders already captured, Cap joins their fight, orchestrating a daring rescue before choosing to stay behind to prevent mass casualties—opting to surrender rather than let the complex’s self-destruct sequence claim innocent lives. Written by J. M. DeMatteis and brought to life by Mike Zeck’s dynamic art and John Beatty’s sharp inks, this issue blends psychological tension with heroic sacrifice, all framed by Al Milgrom’s striking cover.
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Cap gets a psychic distress signal from a woman he rescued from Morgan Hardy and enters the complex of August Masters who plans on using the powers of the world's foremost psychics to start World War III. Finding the Defenders already captured, Cap helps in their rescue and stays behind to cover their escape. Rather than watch everyone in the complex die from Masters' self destruct mechanism, Cap and the Defenders allow themselves to be taken prisoner once again.
Plot details indexed by the Grand Comics Database (CC BY-SA).
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