Defenders, The #69: Review

Mar 1979

Mary Jo Duffy, Herb Trimpe

Story Name:

The Anything Man

Review & Comments

Rating:

Defenders, The #69 Review by Jon Ryser (September 12, 2023)

Once again, the Defenders want us to think. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. When Bruce Banner doesn't remember what has happened (because he was the Hulk at the time) they tell him about Jeff Colt and how he was "cursed with power beyond his desire or his control." Bruce can really relate. He too suffers from a similar curse.

Comments by Peter Silvestro: Omegatron appeared in MARVEL FEATURE #1 which introduced the Defenders and returned in DEFENDERS #5; its next and final appearance is in LAST DEFENDERS #5-6. Only appearance of the Anything Man. Jim Shooter and (Mary) Jo Duffy collaborated on the plot. The letters page includes one by future comics legend Kurt Busiek.

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Synopsis / Summary / Plot

Defenders, The #69 Synopsis by Jon Ryser

Doctor Strange and Nighthawk go to Maine to investigate the falling of Strange's "Mystic Shields" that concealed the remains of the Omegatron (The Defenders destroyed it in issue #5.) They find that the machine has just been dormant all this time. Doctor Strange says that there must be someone it has found to serve as "a pawn in its deadly game of destruction."

Meet Jeff Colt and his girlfriend, Hilary. Jeff just returned from Maine where he was fundraising for his animal shelter. When the shelter gets robbed, Jeff runs in to stop the crooks (Phil, Merle, and Tony). They shoot him, but it has no effect on him. Figuring that he must be a superhero in plain clothes, they run away. In their getaway car, they decide to run down Hilary. Jeff finds that he is fast enough to catch them and strong enough to stop the car!

Doctor Strange assembles the Defenders. He has figured out that Jeff Colt must be the pawn of the Omegatron. That night Jeff decides to protect the local Marina from some robbers (Steve, Eddie, Marty, and un-named crook). He finds that he still has Super-Powers. Marty and the other crook try to get away in a boat, but Jeff swims after them.

The Defenders (Hulk, Nighthawk, Valkyrie, and Hellcat) find Jeff on a beach after he has defeated the robbers and their boat. Jeff believes they want him to join with them. He decides that they are "testing" him. He wants to show how powerful he is by defeating Hulk. Doctor Strange gave strict orders that Hulk should avoid battling Jeff at all cost. Jeff fights and defeats first Hellcat, then Nighthawk, and then Valkyrie. He announces that he is an "Anything Man!" He then tries to beat up Valkyrie's winged horse, Aragorn. Hulk can't stand for that and rushes in. Doctor Strange knows that if Hulk strikes even one blow against Anything Man, that energy will awaken Omegatron once again. Astrally, he intervenes and triggers the transformation of the Hulk into Bruce Banner. Nighthawk saves Bruce from a worse beating. He gets Anything Man to chase him to an isolated island where he lets Anything Man beat him up. This causes Anything Man to slowly use up and lose his powers. The Defenders will now strand him there on the island forever so that he can never regain his powers and thus awaken Omegatron, which would mean doom for the world.

Jeff cries that he would miss Hilary too much. Strange casts a spell and removes the Anything Man powers from Jeff forever. Now Jeff Colt is "an ordinary man-- a good man, even" and may return home.