Champions
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"The avenging Angel! The deadly Black Widow! Johnny Blaze, the Ghost Rider! Hercules, Prince of Power! The incomparable Iceman! Five fighters for justice, united to battle for the common man... because the world still needs heroes!" — Prologue from The Champions
The Champions was a short-lived 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 comic to be set on the U.S. West Coast, rather than in the publisher's usual locale, New York City.
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Publication history
David Anthony Kraft is credited with coming up with the name for the team. Isabella, Tony. "Cables of Champions," Champions #6, Marvel (June 1976).* Originally, writer Tony Isabella wanted the Champions to be a three-man group consisting of former X-Men Angel and Iceman, and the newly created superhero Black Goliath. However, when the decision was made to give Black Goliath his own book, he was removed from consideration for team membership. Then-Champions editor Len Wein insisted that the team contain at least five members, and Isabella added several established heroes: Russian spy Black Widow (who serves as the team’s leader), the Greek god Hercules and the supernatural avenger Ghost Rider. (Captain Marvel, and Power Man were all considered before settling on Ghost Rider.) Another Russian hero, Darkstar, after reluctantly participating in an attempt to kidnap the Black Widow, was added as a guest member in Champions #10. Black Goliath became a guest member in issue #11. Had the series continued, the team reportedly was to expand to include Black Goliath and Jack of Hearts.
The series was originally going to be called Giant-Size Champions, and what comprised issues #1-3 of The Champions was originally going to make up Giant-Size Champions #1. There were many delays in getting the comic published, including a three-month hiatus between issues #1 (Oct. 1975) and #2 (Jan. 1976).
The Champions series lasted only seventeen issues, despite art from future comics 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.
Incredible Hulk #106 (2007) 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. That team is now known as The Order.
References in other Marvel titles
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 SHIELD, 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."
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.
Collected editions
The Champions was reprinted as two trade paperbacks in 2006:
- Champions Classic vol. 1. (collecting The Champions #1-11, 2006, ISBN 0-7851-2097-1)
- Champions Classic vol. 2. (collecting The Champions #12-17, Iron Man Annual #4, Avengers #163, Super-Villain Team-Up #14 and Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #17-18, 2007, ISBN 0-7851-2098-X)
