The Defenders may be best known to MCU fans from the Netflix Marvel series from a few years ago, but the team has a long history in Marvel Comics and has had many different iterations with lots of different members, including major figures from both the Avengers and the X-Men.
Across the various incarnations of the Defenders, from the '70s to the present, there have been lots of strange and unique friendships that developed. Given the unusual nature of the team, which was initially intended to be a kind of non-team with a loose association of heroes, some of the relationships got very interesting.
Incredible Hulk And Doctor Strange
Doctor Strange organized the team, with the founding members being the Hulk and Namor the Sub-Mariner. All of them were unlikely teammates, but Strange and Hulk made unlikely friends. Strange is at times very arrogant and headstrong, which clashes pretty hard with the singular-minded Hulk.
Despite this, the two became friends. Strange often tried to help Bruce Banner overcome his rage and angry tendencies as the Hulk, which at the time were far beyond his control. This even led to Strange consigning Hulk to an alternate dimension once when he became too unruly.
Doctor Strange & Daimon Hellstrom
Doctor Strange is one of the most powerful Marvel magicians. He fights against all kinds of mystical threats from alternate dimensions. This would seem to make him antagonistic toward Damion Hellstrom, known at the time as the Son Of Satan. But the two became friends.
Despite his less than wholesome origins, Hellstrom became a hero and joined the Defenders. He fought alongside Doctor Strange and the team against numerous mystical threats, like the Sons Of Satannish. Along the way, he earned Strange's respect and admiration.
Silver Surfer & Incredible Hulk
The Silver Surfer, the most famous of the Heralds of the powerful cosmic supervillain Galactus, is a model of serenity. The Incredible Hulk is not. It doesn't make sense the two would be friends, but in their time together on the team, they found some common ground.
As two beings who often weren't in control of themselves, the two discovered some connective tissue. This was despite the Hulk's unpredictable nature, which would eventually drive him off the team, as it did the Avengers in its early days.
Spider-Man & Wolverine
The Defenders were in effect a team composed of heroes otherwise unclaimed by the bigger profile Marvel teams. Later versions included some of the biggest names in the business like Spider-Man and Wolverine. Their unlikely friendship actually began on another team, the Avengers.
Spidey and Wolverine were both a part of the Secret Defenders era of the team from the early '90s. Wolverine and Spidey originally mixed like oil and water, with the gruff, older Logan butting heads with the younger, less serious Peter Parker. They eventually became very close.
Namor & Incredible Hulk
Namor is famous for his often surly nature, making it seem like he wouldn't have many friends, but he does. Among them is the Incredible Hulk. They identified with each other as outsiders. Hulk as a creature and Namor as a half-human, half-Atlantean mutant.
They even teamed up together against the Avengers not long after the team formed, and the two have maintained a close relationship ever since. Namor's tendency to side with other outsiders has led to other strange friendships on his part, as well.
Valkyrie & Doctor Strange
Brunnhilde was the leader of the Valkyries, the personal guard of King Odin of Asgard. She joined the Defenders not long after the team formed and was later a co-founder of the Fearless Defenders version years later. She became friends with Doctor Strange after helping the team defeat the sorceress Casiolena.
The two were friends and colleagues during their long tenure on the team, despite Strange's egotistical nature and Valkyrie's assertiveness. He even was instrumental in bringing her back to life after she was killed in the final issue of the first volume of the series.
Hellcat & Damion Hellstrom
Hellcat should be familiar to fans as one of the best supporting characters from the Netflix series, Jessica Jones. She was a Defender in the comic and became friends with Damion Hellstrom during their tenure together. They would eventually become husband and wife.
Patsy Walker and Damion are an unlikely pair, given their very different backgrounds. Patsy started off as a research assistant for the Beast, Hank McCoy. But she's no stranger to the mystical arts, having been witness to the evil of Nicholas Scratch, Agatha Harkness's son, in her hometown.
Darkhawk & Spider-Man
Another strange friendship on the Secret Defenders version of the team involved Spider-Man and Darkhawk. This was the armored '90s version of Darkhawk, Chris Powell. Powell is a vigilante and a little on the wrong side of Spidey's version of heroism, but they quickly found common ground.
Both are young men from New York City dedicated to fighting crime, even if they sometimes have different methods in going about it. They also have different abilities and Powell was bonded to a mystical amulet that gave him control of a superpowerful android body.
Spider-Man & Doctor Strange
Doctor Strange brought Spider-Man into the Secret Defenders, but while they have a longstanding mutual respect, they have virtually nothing in common. Strange is self-assured in a way Peter Parker can only dream of, but the two did become friends over the course of their adventures.
Strange became a routine point of reference for Spider-Man, whose adventures brought him up against mystical threats as often as they did regular ones. Strange also became something of a mentor to Parker, as he may do in the upcoming Spider-Man: No Way Home.
Namor & Doctor Doom
Doctor Doom is behind many terrible deeds in the Marvel Universe, but he counts himself among the friends of Namor. Like Doom, Namor is the head of a fictional Marvel country, Atlantis, and is considered by many to a villain. The two very often find themselves on the same side.
Namor considers Doom an ally and friend, with both seeking the best for their people. His friendship with Doom makes Namor a complicated player in the web of heroes and villains in Marvel Comics, and could also in the MCU when both finally appear.