Champions (comics)

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For other uses, see Champion (disambiguation).

Creative team
Champions
Cover art to Champions Classic TPB. Art by Gil Kane.
Publisher	Marvel Comics
Schedule	Monthly
Format	Ongoing
Publication date	October 1975 - January 1978
Number of issues	17
Main character(s)	Black Widow Hercules Angel Iceman Ghost Rider Darkstar
Writer(s)	Tony Isabella Bill Mantlo
Penciller(s)	Don Heck
Creator(s)	Tony Isabella Don Heck

The Champions was a short-lived fictional comic book superhero team in the Marvel Comics universe. Published in the 1975-1978 series The Champions, the team, formally "The Champions of Los Angeles", was Marvel's first to be set on the U.S. West Coast, rather than in the publisher's usual locale, New York City.

1 Publication/fictional history
2 Collections
3 Other "Champions" teams
4 References
5 External links

[edit] Publication/fictional history

Originally, writer Tony Isabella wanted the Champions to be a two-man group consisting of former X-Men, Angel and Iceman, but editor Len Wein insisted the team contain at least five members and Isabella added several previously-established heroes: Russian spy Black Widow (who serves as the team’s leader), the Greek god Hercules and the supernatural avenger Ghost Rider. Another Russian hero, Darkstar, joins in Champions #10 after participating in an attempt to kidnap the Black Widow. Had the series continued, the team reportedly was to expand to include Black Goliath and Jack of Hearts.

The Champions series lasted only seventeen issues, despite art from future superstar John Byrne. The group appears also in Super Villain Team-Up #14, Ghost Rider (vol. 2) #17, Godzilla (vol.1) #3, Iron Man Annual #4, Avengers (vol. 1) #163 and Hulk Annual #7 (1978). The story of its dissolution was told in flashback in two early issues of Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-Man (#17-18) which pitted Spidey, Angel, and Iceman against Champions villain Rampage. The group briefly reunited in 1998’s X-Force/Champions Annual '98, teaming-up with Marvel's then-current West Coast team. They have not appeared again since in present continuity.

In the years following their title's cancellation, the team became the butt of a series of jokes in various Marvel titles, with characters referencing the team as a low point of various members' superhero careers (or of superherodom generally) for the amusement of the comics audience who remembered the comic as a short-lived failure. In Uncanny X-Men #332 (1996), Iceman calls the team an embarrassment and remarks, “Do you know how hard it is to find supervillains in Los Angeles?”, while in Defenders #135 (Sep. 1984) Angel describes the Champions as "a nightmare -- we just didn't know what we were doing". The Champions are also cited as an embarrassment in New Avengers #4 (2005) when, after hearing Captain America mention that he holds a Champion license with S.H.I.E.L.D., granting him the authority to assemble teams of heroes as he sees fit, Spider-Man jokes that there is no way he would consider joining the Champions. In Marvel Team-Up (vol. 3) #12, Spider-Man refers to the hastily assembled superteam as "the Avengers, or the Champions, or whatever we are", to which Ms. Marvel quickly replies "We are not the Champions."

Giant-Size Hulk #1 (2006) includes a flashback to an earlier time in which the Champions fight the Hulk, a battle that almost costs the life of Jennifer Walters (who later becomes the heroine She-Hulk), who the Hulk was trying to transport to a hospital. Learning of their mistake, the Champions express remorse, but the Hulk wants nothing of it. Hercules later expresses a need for a time in which they can make amends, and believes that the Hulk's current war against the Illuminati is the best opportunity they shall have.

After the events of the 2006 Civil War miniseries, a government-sponsored program was started by Tony Stark, Reed Richards, and Hank Pym as part of the Initiative to redistribute America's superhuman protection. A new series was due to feature a new group of Champions as the state team of California before it was revealed that the trademark was owned by Heroic Publishing^[1]. That team is now known as The Order.

[edit] Collections

The Champions was not reprinted as a collection until 2006.

Champions Classic vol. 1. (collecting The Champions #1-11, 1975-1977, paperback, ISBN 0-7851-2097-1): "Okay, a god, a demon, a spy and two mutants walk into... resulting in some of the strangest scenarios of the '70s! It's gods vs. heroes in the City of Angels! With mad scientists, Russian super-spies, and guest stars from Marvel's western and horror eras! Plus: the secrets of the Black Widow! Featuring Hawkeye!"

Champions Classic vol. 2. (collecting The Champions #12-17 along with other comics featuring the team, including the team's two-part coda in Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-Man.)

[edit] Other "Champions" teams

Nova once teamed up with Powerhouse and a few other heroes to form the Champions of Xandar.
Heroic Publishing has another, different superteam, currently known as The League of Champions.
Champions (role-playing game) includes a similarly-named team.
Recently, the Great Lakes Avengers have taken the moniker of Great Lakes Champions (despite protests from Hercules) after Flatman won the first Superheroes Poker Tournament (as seen in The Thing #8), as their original name (as well as Great Lakes X-Men and Great Lakes Defenders) being refused to them by those groups' members.