The Defenders #126

Name: The Defenders #126
Brand: Marvel
Availability: InStock

Dec 1983 · Marvel · 0.60 USD; 0.25 GBP; 0.75 CAD

☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join free

“State of the Union!”

★ 1st appearance — Gargantua

About this Issue

The Defenders #126 is the first standard-length issue to carry the newly relaunched New Defenders roster into independent action, making it the true operational debut of a team built around three founding X-Men — Beast, Angel, and Iceman — alongside Valkyrie, Gargoyle, and Moondragon. The issue introduces Leviathan (Edward Cobert), a S.H.I.E.L.D. experimental super-human and a recurring antagonist of the New Defenders era, and also plants the seeds of Moondragon's long-running subplot of covertly manipulating the male members of the team — a narrative thread that would pay off significantly in later issues and eventually connect to her later characterization as a canonically queer character. As the second chapter of J.M. DeMatteis's New Defenders era, it establishes the group's defining internal tension: unlike every previous Defenders incarnation, which proudly rejected hierarchy, this team is shown actively debating who should lead, signaling a deliberate creative shift away from the 'non-team' ethos that had defined the title for over a decade.

writer J. M. DeMatteis · artist, inker Alan Kupperberg · colorist Paul Becton · letterer Janice Chiang · cover Mike Zeck, John Beatty

ComicBooks.com Value

Our Model is In Beta

Raw (Fine) $0

Flagged key issue — estimate limited by sparse sales.

Our model’s value — refined as new sales data arrives · CGC census counts shown where available

This exact issue on ebay

Raw — VF/NM ▾ $2.4–$2.7 2 listings

VF/NM $2.4 VF/NM $2.7

Raw — VF $11.5 1 listing

Raw — FN ▾ $2.4–$6.9 2 listings

FN · Newsstand $2.4 FN $6.9

Raw — VG $3.5 1 listing

Raw / ungraded ▾ $2.75–$12.99 11 listings

Newsstand $2.75 Raw / ungraded $6.29 Raw / ungraded $7 Raw / ungraded $7.25 Newsstand $7.89 Raw / ungraded $7.99 Raw / ungraded $8.95 Raw / ungraded $9.99 Raw / ungraded $9.99 Raw / ungraded $10.97 Raw / ungraded $12.99

Verified matches for The Defenders #126 · eBay asking prices, seen 21 days ago

More listings for this title

VF/NM $2.25 Newsstand $2.49 FN $2.64 VG+ $2.75 VF $2.99 VF · Newsstand $2.99 VF · Newsstand $2.99 VERY FINE $3.99

Related listings we couldn't confirm as this exact issue · 41 total · seen 21 days ago

Sell my copy

Have this issue — or a whole collection? Get a fair offer from us, skip the marketplace fees and the hassle.

We Buy Collections ▸

Fast, fair offers · we handle grading & shipping

History

Writer J.M. DeMatteis had been steering the Defenders since issue #92 and, feeling creative burnout with the existing format, persuaded his editors to completely restructure the title beginning with issue #125. The hook was capitalizing on the enormous commercial heat of the X-Men franchise in 1983 by recruiting three of the original five X-Men — Beast (already a Defender), Angel, and Iceman — into a book that, while not an X-title, would explore mutant-adjacent themes through its cast. Issue #126 was penciled and inked by Alan Kupperberg, who served as the fill-in artist for this arc of the run; the regular editorial team under editor Carl Potts and assistant editor Ann Nocenti oversaw the issue under editor-in-chief Jim Shooter. The cover was by Michael Zeck and John Beatty. DeMatteis remained on the title for only six issues of the New Defenders era before handing the book to Peter B. Gillis.

Trivia · 8 facts

First appearance of Leviathan (Edward Cobert), a giant, childlike super-human created by S.H.I.E.L.D.'s clandestine Level L program to develop government-loyal enhanced individuals.
Written by J.M. DeMatteis, penciled and inked by Alan Kupperberg, colored by Paul Becton, lettered by Janice Chiang; cover art by Michael Zeck (pencils) and John Beatty (inks).
Edited by Carl Potts with Ann Nocenti as assistant editor; published under editor-in-chief Jim Shooter. On-sale date: September 13, 1983; cover date: December 1983.
The issue is the second chapter of the New Defenders era (following the double-sized #125), and the first to feature the new lineup — Beast, Angel, Iceman, Valkyrie, Gargoyle, and Moondragon — in a standard-length self-contained adventure.
Establishes the key subplot of both Angel (Warren Worthington III) and Iceman (Bobby Drake) experiencing unexplained romantic attraction to Moondragon — later revealed in issue #140 to be the result of Moondragon covertly using her psionic powers to manipulate the team into removing her Odin-imposed power-dampening headband.
Confirms the Secret Empire has successfully infiltrated S.H.I.E.L.D., a plot point with lasting consequences for the book's overarching Professor Power arc running through issues #126–130.
The internal leadership dispute between Beast and Valkyrie — the central character conflict of this issue — is thematically significant as the first explicit acknowledgment that the New Defenders, unlike prior incarnations, intend to function as a structured team with an elected leader rather than a loose 'non-team.'
The issue has been reprinted in Marvel's Essential Defenders Vol. 7 (2013, black-and-white) and in the color Defenders Epic Collection Vol. 8: The New Defenders (2018), which collects issues #126–137 alongside the Iceman (1984) and Beauty and the Beast (1984) limited series.