The Defenders #25
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeDefenders #25 closes Steve Gerber's four-part 'Sons of the Serpent' arc (issues #22–25), a Bronze Age storyline that used a white-supremacist hate group as a vehicle for pointed social commentary on race, inequality, and class in 1970s America — the kind of thematic ambition that helped define Gerber's Defenders as one of the most critically regarded runs of the decade. The issue's single greatest claim on comic-book history, however, is the debut of the Elf with a Gun: a small, seemingly random figure who appears in one page of an otherwise superhero-action comic and murders a couple in a California trailer park for no explained reason, never interacting with the Defenders themselves. That deliberate absurdism — Gerber later described the character as a metaphor for the chaotic, inexplicable nature of existence — planted a slow-burn subplot that would haunt the title across more than a dozen subsequent issues and became one of the most discussed expressions of avant-garde storytelling in mainstream Marvel history. The issue also illustrates Gerber's recurring technique of grounding superhero narratives in the lived texture of ordinary people, while Sal Buscema's double-page spread of the Defenders battling the Serpents stands as one of the artist's most acclaimed set pieces from the run.
In "The Serpent Sheds Its Skin," the Defenders confront a growing threat as Power Man and the Son of Satan break free to track down the mastermind behind the Sons of the Serpent. With tension mounting, the team faces a chilling revelation when the Elf with a gun strikes down Tom and Linda Pritchett. Written by Steve Gerber and brought to life by Sal Buscema’s dynamic art, with Jack Abel’s inks and Petra G.’s colors, this 1975 issue delivers a gripping, character-driven mystery. The cover, a striking collaboration by Gil Kane, John Romita, and Frank Giacoia, captures the moment’s ominous intensity.
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The issue was scripted by Steve Gerber and drawn by Sal Buscema (pencils) with inks by Jack Abel, colors by Petra Goldberg (Scotese), and lettering by Ray Holloway, with Len Wein serving as editor. The cover was pencilled by Gil Kane with alterations — specifically the faces of Hulk, Power Man (Luke Cage), Doctor Strange, and Daimon Hellstrom — by John Romita Sr., with inks variously attributed to Frank Giacoia (the Grand Comics Database notes possible Al Milgrom involvement, per researcher Nick Caputo). The issue carried a cover date of July 1975 and a cover price of 25 cents; its actual release date was April 1975. It was collected decades later in The Defenders Omnibus Vol. 2 (2023) and is part of the material covered in Marvel Masterworks: The Defenders Vol. 4.
Trivia · 8 facts
- First appearance of the Elf with a Gun (later named Melf), created by Steve Gerber and Sal Buscema — a character who would recur through Defenders #46 and whose unexplained murders became one of the Bronze Age's most discussed absurdist subplots.
- Gerber himself described the Elf with a Gun as a metaphor for 'the chaotic and inexplicable nature of existence,' a 'beast in the jungle' that may or may not ever arrive.
- Concludes the four-part 'Sons of the Serpent' arc (Defenders #22–25), one of Gerber's most explicit engagements with race relations and domestic extremism in 1970s America.
- The issue's villain twist reveals that J.C. Pennyworth — Kyle Richmond/Nighthawk's Black financial aide — has been using the Richmonds' fortune to fund the white-supremacist Sons of the Serpent organization, delivering a morally provocative and at the time deeply contested resolution.
- Interior art by Sal Buscema (pencils) and Jack Abel (inks); cover pencils by Gil Kane with face alterations by John Romita Sr. and inks attributed to Frank Giacoia (with possible Al Milgrom involvement per researcher Nick Caputo, GCD).
- Len Wein served as editor; the issue was written by Steve Gerber and colored by Petra Goldberg (Scotese).
- The Elf with a Gun received a formal entry in the All-New Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A–Z #4 (2006), and a tribute analog appeared in DC Comics' Countdown to Mystery #8 in honor of the late Steve Gerber.
- Reprinted in The Defenders Omnibus Vol. 2 (Marvel, 2023) and covered within the Marvel Masterworks: The Defenders Vol. 4 collection (Defenders #22–30 plus Giant-Size Defenders #5).
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↩ Reprints [Marvel Hostess Ads] #2 (1975)
Reprinted in Rampage #24 (1978), Hulk #9 (1978), De Verdedigers #13 (1981), Essential Defenders #2 (2006), Marvel Masterworks: The Defenders #4 (2014), The Defenders Omnibus #2 (2023), Defenders Epic Collection #2 (2024)
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