The Defenders #150
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeThe Defenders #150 delivers one of the most emotionally satisfying payoffs in the New Defenders era: Cloud's full origin as a sentient nebula is finally revealed, and the character departs the team in a bittersweet farewell to Iceman, closing a long-running identity mystery that writer Peter Gillis had been building since the New Defenders relaunch. The issue also features an early — and pivotal — appearance of the being who would become known as Kubik, the first sentient Cosmic Cube, here acting as a cosmic guide and taking on the form of Captain America; this appearance anchors Kubik's later significance across Avengers and Fantastic Four mythology. As a milestone anniversary number in a run stretching back to 1972, it gave the creative team a chance to deliver a self-contained cosmic adventure in the spirit of the series' more experimental storytelling, using the cast of former X-Men and Asgardian heroes Gillis had inherited to explore themes of fear, compassion, and transformation.
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We Buy Collections ▸History
By the time issue #150 was produced in 1985, the series had been retitled The New Defenders with issue #125, where the original founding members — Doctor Strange, Silver Surfer, Hulk, and Namor — were written out, and Beast reorganized the team as a more structured superhero unit. J.M. DeMatteis handed the writing reins to Peter Gillis after only six issues of the relaunched format, and Gillis pursued shorter, more character-focused stories for the remainder of the run. Penciler Don Perlin, who had been the title's visual backbone for nearly half its entire publication history, remained on art duties; the issue was edited by Carl Potts under editor-in-chief Jim Shooter, and the painted cover was provided by Frank Cirocco. Perlin later recounted that Potts informed him and Gillis of the book's cancellation over lunch — the series would conclude just two issues later with #152.
Trivia · 8 facts
- First appearance of Star-Thief (Ilse Pterigil), an alien princess of the planet Dreolln whose comatose mind was subconsciously siphoning stars from the universe via tapped Cosmic Cube energy.
- Features an early appearance of the sentient being later named Kubik — the first A.I.M.-created Cosmic Cube to achieve full sentience — here shown in 'planet form' and taking on the likeness of Captain America to accompany the Defenders; this appearance is cited in Kubik's Marvel Database entry.
- Cloud's true origin is fully revealed for the first time: she is a nebula a few hundred million years from becoming a star, not a human, resolving a mystery seeded across multiple prior issues.
- Cloud departs the Defenders at the issue's conclusion, choosing to resume her place in the cosmos and confessing her love for Iceman before leaving.
- Captain America's appearance in this issue is not the real Steve Rogers but rather a form adopted by the sentient Cosmic Cube, who had patterned an image of Cap from memories; Manslaughter also creates additional holographic hero simulations using the Defenders HQ security system.
- Written by Peter Gillis with pencils by Don Perlin; inked by Alan Kupperberg and Randy Emberlin; cover painted by Frank Cirocco; edited by Carl Potts under editor-in-chief Jim Shooter.
- The issue was later reprinted in Pet Avengers Classic (2009) — owing to the role of Sassafras, Candy Southern's dog — and in Defenders Epic Collection Vol. 9: The End of All Songs (2019), the first collection to gather the final dozen issues of the run.
- The series was published under the 'New Defenders' banner (beginning with issue #125) and ran until its cancellation with issue #152; #150 sits just two issues before the end of the entire 1972–1986 run.
Cast · 17 characters
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Reprints
Reprinted in Pet Avengers Classic #[nn] (2009), Defenders Epic Collection #9 (2019)
Key issues in The Defenders
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