Ball of Doom!

When we last took a look at the scene of carnage near a demolished building under construction in New York City, the dynamic Defenders were in a pitched battle with the ones responsible for the destruction--none other than the Wrecking Crew, in their Marvel debut. The Crew's ultimate goal, however, was to locate a certain device believed to be at the site; and during a lull in the fighting, Thunderball recovers the object's empty casing, only to react in stark terror at the realization that, due to the nature of this particular device, someone else now holds the power to kill them all!

On the bright side, at least no one has to worry about characters like the Wrecking Crew having a gamma bomb at their disposal. You might as well toss one to the Masters of Evil while you're at it. But now we have to ask ourselves: Who, or what, has a weapon of mass destruction in their grasp??



Yet first, credit where credit is due--surpassing Bruce Banner, the nuclear physicist and Crew member known as Thunderball has scored a remarkable achievement with the creation of a miniaturized gamma bomb, one that far surpasses the power of the original. That's not exactly news that would comfort any of the Defenders, much less the denizens of New York; but we discover that the bomb itself has ties to Richmond Enterprises (owned by Nighthawk in his civilian identity), a company that took a "business is business" approach to dealing with Thunderball regardless of the possible consequences.

From what we've seen of them thus far, treachery from the Wrecking Crew doesn't exactly come as a surprise, even with the danger of the greater threat looming. But with the Crew now off to reclaim the bomb, that danger has only multiplied, leaving the Defenders as the only hope to avert it.

It's a virtually seamless transition from the previous issue, thanks to scripter Chris Claremont who's pinch-hitting here following the departure of Len Wein from the title--wrapping up Wein's story before passing the baton to Steve Gerber, who begins a long run on The Defenders as its regular writer with the following issue. Claremont is seven months away from once more taking the handoff and scripting from a Wein plot, only this time it would be as he begins to settle in on the new X-Men title, where his style is remarkably dissimilar from this one story where he simply scripts and isn't molding and shaping the characters to the extent he would with the X-Men.

An additional pleasant surprise here is another stop on the title by inker Klaus Janson, whose work is always welcome on The Defenders and particularly on artist Sal Buscema's pencils which only benefit from what Janson brings to the table.  Also, writer Bill Mantlo dons a different hat and fills in as the story's colorist (and does a splendid job, at that). As in the days of Tales Of Suspense and other feature books from the mid-1960s, it's a treat to run across instances that pool unexpected combinations of Marvel talent.

As for the Defenders--even as the Crew tracks the gamma bomb, Dr. Strange is tracking them, by tracing the mystic energy from the Wrecker's crowbar. The trail leads them to a Harlem boys club, where the Crew is certain their prize has been taken--though given their poor social skills when it comes to dealing with those who defy them, there is a danger the kids will come to harm when the Crew's impatience reaches the breaking point. Fortunately, the Defenders are more receptive--though unknown to any of them, they're closer than they realize to what they seek.

With the Hulk leading the charge, and the level of destruction that quickly builds, the situation escalates dangerously out of control as most of the Defenders follow his lead and attack the Crew on sight, unmindful of where they are and who is most at risk from the fighting. Fortunately, both sides agree that the fighting cannot continue within the confines of the building, though for completely different reasons.

(As often as the Hulk says "puny human," it's refreshing how much more deadly he becomes when he drops the "puny." For instance, if I found myself in the unfortunate position of fending off the Hulk, the sight of him snarling his way past my best efforts to stop him while simply saying "Hulk cannot be killed, human." would likely have me thinking I was about to meet my maker.)

Both Cage and Nighthawk are able to successfully deal with Bulldozer and Piledriver, respectively, though Cage's method makes absolutely no sense to me from a Newtonian perspective--at least in the way it's presented by Buscema and Claremont, the very gentlemen who are responsible for veering us toward another experience in

The scene plays out as follows:

With Piledriver attacking from Cage's left, Cage's strategem of using the villain's momentum against him would apply if Cage were to, say, grab Piledriver's fist and slam it into the ground (and Piledriver along with it)--though when we're talking about a guy called Piledriver, whose name is indicative of what he uses his fists for, how would that injure the man?

Instead, Cage grabs Piledriver's left wrist with (presumably) his right hand; yet in order for Cage to make the move we're seeing, he would have to sacrifice both the leverage and momentum he's counting on Piledriver to give him, because the follow-through he's making simply isn't possible from a mechanics standpoint without deadening whatever momentum he was hoping to use from Piledriver's thrust. Cage could still make his swing to the right, but it would be a difficult angle to complete, and he'd get absolutely no help from leverage--in fact, to pull it off he'd probably have to swivel to the left with Piledriver's body before letting loose with the toss. At any rate, if Piledriver connects to the wall with his fist, how exactly is he being taken out? Or look at it another way:  If he walked up to that wall and punched it, would he have knocked himself unconscious?

Thankfully for the kids, however, the Defenders just about have this fight wrapped up, with Strange's battle with the Wrecker proving to his ruthless opponent that the power of the gods he felt was his to use at will was never a birthright--it was only usurped.

(Strange taking a casual stroll through Harlem at some point and being subsequently mobbed by his new fans is really something you'd think would have occurred to Doctor Strange writer Roger Stern during his run on the title. What a delightful scene it would have made.)

But with the Crew finally down for the count, there's still an important and deadly loose end to tie up: the missing gamma bomb, which might yet detonate and destroy the city. Where could it be? And who has it? When Strange discovers the answer, its retrieval leads to one of the best panels in the story.

Strange, to his credit, keeps his cool as he thinks through his options--though with no clue as to when the bomb will detonate, he realizes something must be done quickly. (Odd that it never occurs to him to be rid of it in the same manner that he disposed of the crowbar--it's certainly within his means to transport it into space.) With Thunderball out cold, there's still one physicist within reach--and a quick session of gazing into the Eye of Agamotto relaxes the Hulk sufficiently to hopefully have his alter-ego provide their salvation.

As he works, Banner is naturally also having difficulty keeping calm in the face of such pressure--but he fights the change to the Hulk long enough to prevail and conclude this story. It's a fine parting of the ways for Wein, who went on to become assistant editor of Marvel as well as scripting Fantastic Four (for what only worked out to be barely three issues before Roy Thomas again took the reins).

The Defenders #19 Script: Chris Claremont Pencils: Sal Buscema Inks: Klaus Janson Letterer: Artie Simek