Spoilers ahead for Defenders #1!
A new team of Defenders is being assembled by Doctor Strange, but it is coming with a high cost. In Defenders #1, on sale now in print and digital, Doctor Strange begins putting together a new incarnation of the classic Marvel team, and the process he undertakes to do so is provoking fate itself.
The Defenders are one of Marvel’s oldest, and oddest, teams. First billed as a “non-team,” the Defenders consisted of loners and mavericks, such as Hulk, Silver Surfer and Namor, brought together by Doctor Strange. The team has seen line-up changes, as well as a transition to a more conventional team structure; the most recent lineup consisted of Luke Cage, Daredevil, Jessica Jones and Iron Fist. Now, writer Al Ewing, artist Javier Rodriguez, inker Alvaro Lopez and letterer Joe Caramagna are taking the Defenders back to basics—by bringing together what might be the most powerful version of the team yet. However, this new team is off to a horrible start, and readers learn why in Defenders #1.
While meditating in the Sanctum Sanctorum one evening, Doctor Strange is confronted by the mysterious Masked Raider, possessor of the Eternity Mask. The Raider tells Doctor Strange that a scientist from the future, named Zota, has found a book of time magic left behind by the future mage Sise-Neg. He is planning to travel back in time to ensure his experiments with Korvac are successful. Doctor Strange, sensing the magnitude of the situation, decides it is time to assemble a new Defenders team. However, there is no time to do it properly, so Strange brings out the Tarot of the Secret Flame; he has used it in the past, but he was weaker then, and in his words, “the cards had less to feed on.” Now more powerful, use of the cards comes with greater risks. Strange explains that to “summon a hero is to divert a life—to diver fate. And fate will exact a price.” The cards then proceed to bring together a diverse, but powerful, group of heroes.
A key component in understanding and using magic is the toll it takes on the user. Magic is an extremely powerful force, and if not careful, can destroy a person, body and soul. Doctor Strange understands this, and he understands the power of the Tarot of the Secret Flame. Yet he still opts to use it—demonstrating how grave a threat Zota’s spell poses to creation. The main question now is: what price will Doctor Strange pay for using the Tarot? Will it impact the mission the new Defenders are about to undertake? Or could it possibly refer to the upcoming “Death of Doctor Strange” story? Whatever the case, rest assured someone will pay—but who will it be?
Doctor Strange’s new Defenders team has come together to save the universe, but assembling the new team has come at a high cost.