Heroes For Rehire

You know, apart from Iron Fist and The Hand and how short it felt, the only thing I didn't like about The Defenders Netflix show was that it was called The Defenders. When I think of The Defenders I think of Doctor Strange, Namor The Sub-Mariner, and The Hulk! I get the name makes sense for that version of the team, but we comic book fans all know it should have been called...

And with Bendis leaving Marvel and his Defenders comic ending, now is the perfect time to bring The Heroes For Hire back in a big new way. So if Marvel wants a fresh idea for their fresh start allow me to present The Panel Biter's very first, Raffi's Roster, the series where I pitch a team, a plot, and an overall message behind some of comic book's best superhero teams.

The Roster

First, we get The Defenders and treat this like the next step from that. Bendis' Defenders felt like an exploration of Marvel's street level characters while also using characters featuring on Netflix, so that's our focus. Leading this team is Luke Cage, as he has led two Avengers teams, a Thunderbolts team, and is the founder of The Heroes For Hire. With him he brings his wife and badass private eye Jessica Jones, his best friend and master martial artist Danny Rand/Iron Fist, and the Man Without Fear himself Matt Murdock/Daredevil. Then we got Misty Knight and Colleen Wing, Patsy Walker/Hellcat, and one of the Night Nurses. All characters we've seen on TV. The one rookie and yet-to-be movie character on the team is Miles Morales/Spider-Man. And also Foggy Nelson. I'll explain soon. So that's ten members of the team. And just to make it convenient Matt and Miles tell their coworkers who they are.

The Plan

This team isn't just a throw-together team of Netflix characters, everyone has a purpose. Luke basically establishes this new Heroes For Hire as a means of income for his family. They have Rand Industries support, they have a trained doctor on hand, two lawyers, a former cop, a PI, a celebrity spokesperson, and Luke-who has done it all. So when people call the HfH they won't just be calling because of alien attacks. They need legal guidance or they need an investigator or they need some bodyguards or they need a doctor. The Heroes For Hire provide for everybody, their motto is "Everybody Needs a Hero". And the money the organization makes goes half to themselves and half to the community. That way for every criminal caught and for every life saved, the people of New York are giving back to the community, cleaning up parks, repairing old neighborhoods, and making New York more of a unity. That's what The Heroes For Hire are all about. They are also about giving people the chance to be heroes. The Heroes For Hire will hire civilians to help too. If you have kitchen experience they'll send you to feed the homeless. If you've done construction or heavy lifting they'll send you to help fix broken structures. If you have no talents whatsoever they'll pair you with other people who do so you can help and observe. They'll make you a janitor or a call-desk employee. They give jobs, they solve problems, the help their people. That is what Luke Cage has always done and what he'll want to keep doing. Matt and Foggy may be their as lawyers, but Daredevil is more of a night-watch participant. And Miles may be there to baby-sit for Luke and Jess, but by night he is their Spider-Man. Guest characters like Shang-Chi, Power Man II, and White Tiger could cameo too!

The Threat

Another idea from Bendis I always liked was The Illuminati. Definitely another team I'll have to pitch, but if a bunch of New York's vigilantes were teaming up in a way that would shift the economic and community statuses of New York, some of New York wealthiest and most dastardly would likely come together to destroy this new organization. So we would have an anti-Heroes For Hire. Lets call them The Lords of New York. And they'll include such crime bosses as Kingpin, Tombstone, Black Cat, Diamondback, Black Mariah, and Jigsaw. And the person who assembles them could be Miles' criminal uncle and newest Iron Spider, Aaron Davis. They could hire multiple criminals, form Sinister Six teams, frame Daredevil of murder and Foggy has to defend him in court. Planting bombs, hiring a small time crook to work for Heroes For Hire to destroy them from the inside. Get the organization into financial trouble so people have to be laid off. Just a group of rich, awful people who target all their money and power towards this humanitarian superhero team. Maybe  in the third of fourth arc The Punisher shows up and shoots the Lords up, kills a few of them, and we learn someone on The Heroes For Hire ratted out the spy and told The Punisher where the criminals were, so now the HfH look like they work with Frank Castle and the people loose faith in them. The Lords can hire fun villains like Taskmaster and Bullseye while they're at it.

The Point

The book would be about community, family, and working together. The whole reason I choose Miles instead of Peter is because I think Miles needs-not only-a team like this that's all about community, but he needs a role model like Luke Cage. A self-made man who did his time and redeemed himself, who spent his whole time being his own boss, making his own choices, and fixing his own mistakes. Peter Parker may have taught Miles how to be Spider-Man, but Luke Cage can teach Miles how to be a man. Superheroes should save the world. Not kill bad guys or bully people with more money then them or cause destruction, heroes should help people. Otherwise they aren't heroes, they're just people who aren't doing enough. I have been dying for a progressive Marvel team. A group of heroes who don't sit around an\d wait, a group of heroes who solve people's problems. And it would be totally within the characters of the mentioned Marvel superheroes to be part of something like this. These people are't just Heroes For Hire, they are Heroes For The People. So get David F. Walker to write it and get David Marquez to draw it.

Thanks for reading.