GK’s Where Are They Now?: Defensor, Proving the Clothes Do Not Make The Man
So for this weeks “Where are they now” I thought I would give you a little bit of international flavor from the Marvel universe. I could have went Canadian, Japanese or even characters from here in the UK, But it is safe to assume you know all those usual suspects.
During the course of Marvels 1982 crossover event Contest of Champions one character who was introduced was Argentina’s main (and possibly only) Superhero Defensor.
Week 8: Defensor, Proving the clothes in fact do not make the man
Who were they?: Defensor was a character introduced by Marvel during The Contest of Champions, The Contest of Champions was a mini series that on paper sounds goods but in execution fell somewhat short of the mark. The basic synopsis to it was that The Grandmaster brings together a group of heroes for the titular contest pitting them against each other, This was 2 years before Secret Wars came out and had good intentions as it showed new international characters as opposed to those based in the New York-centric Marvel universe. However for the most part they were horribly stereotypical IE a German hero called Blitzkrieger and Defensor’s motif doesn’t buck that trend.
Defensor was one of these characters, With weapons equal to both Captain America and Black Panther. You see Defensor was an Argentinian working on a building site when he happens across a shield and armor composed of Vibranium.
Shortly after this he is drafted into The Grandmasters team in a contest of heroes against a team of Thanos’s squeeze Death’s heroes. With the prize being the resurrection of The Grandmaster’s brother The Collector.
The most noteworthy battle he takes part in is on the side of She Hulk and Captain Britain against Iron Man and other international heroes Arabian Knight and Sabre. Not suprisingly the non well known heroes prove to be pretty usless in the heated battle and it ends up Stark vs She Hulk with Arabian Knight bagging his team a fluke win by gaining the coveted globe that marks the winning team.
What have they done recently?: Defensor and many of the other international heroes that debuted in Contest of Champions failed to appear after the contest. If done correctly the Contest of Champions could have shifted the status quo and made Marvel’s world of heroes just that… a world. Instead it proved more to be a prototype for Secret Wars.
What can we expect next?: It is always possible that there will one day be an opportunity for global heroes to come together but the stereotypical motifs given to the heroes were a little too on the nose. For that reason it seems unlikely that Defensor will reappear as the Conquistador dressed latin-american is incredibly dated which is a shame considering the potential uses of his armor if only it was on a better developed character.
That wraps up this weeks where are they now, Contest of Champions
The writer of this piece was: 
Gary Kane aka (GK)
Article: Where are They Now (Prev: Under The Influence)
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