The Champions #1

History

Tony Isabella conceived the series as a lighter, character-focused road-trip book starring just Angel and Iceman, but editor Len Wein mandated a minimum five-member roster that also had to include a woman, a powerhouse, and at least one character already headlining a solo title — requirements that brought in Black Widow, Hercules, and Ghost Rider respectively. Black Goliath had been Isabella's original third pick but became unavailable once he debuted in his own series, and the slot cycled through candidates including Captain Marvel, Power Man, and Son of Satan before Ghost Rider was chosen. Writer-publisher David Anthony Kraft is credited with supplying the team's name, while the cover was pencilled by Gil Kane and inked by Dan Adkins; editor Marv Wolfman oversaw the issue. The title was originally slated as a Giant-Size format debut, but production difficulties — including a three-month gap between issues one and two — derailed that plan entirely.

Trivia · 8 facts

• First appearance of the Champions of Los Angeles as a team: Angel (Warren Worthington III), Iceman (Bobby Drake), Black Widow (Natasha Romanoff), Ghost Rider (Johnny Blaze/Zarathos), and Hercules — the first West Coast-based superhero team in Marvel history, predating the West Coast Avengers by a decade.
• Written by Tony Isabella, pencilled by Don Heck, inked by Mike Esposito, colored by Petra Goldberg, with a cover by Gil Kane and Dan Adkins; edited by Marv Wolfman.
• The story is set on the UCLA campus, where Angel and Iceman are enrolled as students, Black Widow is interviewing for a Russian-language teaching post, Hercules is there to arrange a mythology lecture via agent Richard Fenster, and Ghost Rider rides in by chance — all five heroes coincidentally present when Pluto's agents attack.
• Antagonists in this issue include Pluto, Ares, Hippolyta, and Cerberus, along with first-appearance Harpies and Amazons sent to force Hercules and the goddess Venus (posing as UCLA professor Dr. Victoria Starr) into a forced marriage scheme against Zeus.
• Angel publicly reveals his secret identity in this issue, abandoning his mask; he also debuts a new yellow-and-orange costume — designed by Len Wein and John Romita per the Champions #4 letters page — because Isabella felt having three heroes in dark blue (Angel, Black Widow, Ghost Rider) would be visually redundant.
• Richard Fenster, Hercules's lecture agent who appears in this issue, goes on to become the business manager of Champions, Inc., the corporate entity Angel uses to fund and administrate the team.
• The team name was coined by writer-publisher David Anthony Kraft; the issue was originally planned as a Giant-Size format debut, but production delays — including a three-month gap before issue #2 appeared — forced the format change to standard size.
• The entire series (17 issues, 1975–1978) plus related crossover appearances have been collected multiple times, most completely in Champions Classic: The Complete Collection (Marvel, 2018), which also reprints Iron Man Annual #4, Avengers #163, Super-Villain Team-Up #14, Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-Man #17–18, and Hulk Annual #7.

Cast · 13 characters

Full credits

Key issues in The Champions

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#7 1st appearance — Laynia Petrovna

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#14 1st appearance — Swarm

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#5 1st appearance — Rampage

Variants (1)