Legion of Monsters

Last updated
Legion of Monsters
Publication information
Publisher Marvel Comics
First appearance Marvel Premiere #28
Created by Bill Mantlo
Frank Robbins
Steve Gan
In-story information
Base(s)Monster Metropolis
Member(s) Man-Thing
Manphibian
Morbius, the Living Vampire
N'Kantu, the Living Mummy
Werewolf by Night

Legion of Monsters is the name of different fictional superhero teams appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics.

Contents

Publication history

The Legion of Monsters first appeared in Marvel Comics chronology in Marvel Premiere #28 (February 1976) and was created by Bill Mantlo, Frank Robbins, and Steve Gan. [1]

Unrelated to the team, The Legion of Monsters was also used as a banner name for two magazines, The Legion of Monsters #1 (September 1975) and Marvel Preview #8 (September 1976), both of which featured multiple stories starring some of Marvel's monster characters.

Fictional team biography

Legion of Monsters (1976)

The first version of the Legion of Monsters was united by chance to investigate the appearance of a strange being called The Starseed. Although the being was benevolent, Morbius, the Living Vampire and the Werewolf by Night were overcome by their hungers and attacked it. The Ghost Rider intervened, as the Starseed was unable to overcome his fear of the Man-Thing and was burned by it. The dying Starseed attempted to cure the Legion of their monstrous forms but was too weak and died minutes later. Tired of fighting, and disappointed in their actions, the team split up, although they barely acknowledged even being a team in the first place. [2]

Legion of Monsters (2010)

A new version of the Legion of Monsters was formed by Morbius the Living Vampire, the Werewolf by Night, and the Man-Thing. They are joined by N'Kantu, the Living Mummy and the Manphibian. They came together to protect monsters from the Hunter of Monster Special Forces and send the monsters into the Morlock Tunnels to the Monster Metropolis. They first appeared when the Moloids that work for the Man-Thing find the decapitated parts of the Punisher (who was sliced up by Wolverine's son Daken) and Morbius reassembles him as FrankenCastle. [3] The Punisher joins up with the Legion of Monsters to help protect the Monster Metropolis from the Hunter of Monster Special Forces where FrankenCastle fights the Hunter of Monster Special Forces' leader, Robert Hellsgaard. [4]

The Werewolf by Night and N'Kantu the Living Mummy are shown attempting to arrest the Dimensional Man for feeding on the life force of fellow monsters, before being joined by Morbius the living vampire and Manphibian, who ultimately work together to capture him. Elsa Bloodstone is teleported to Monster Metropolis after chasing a monster that's been killing teenagers. When Morbius discovers that the monster is dead, Elsa is arrested and held in custody while he performs an autopsy on its body. It is later revealed that it was actually corrupted with evil energies that originated from within Morbius himself. [5]

The Legion of Monsters later help the Red Hulk overcome the panicked monsters at the time when the Red Hulk had journeyed to the Monster Metropolis. With the help of Doctor Strange, the Red Hulk and the Legion of Monsters discover that the spirit that has been bothering the Red Hulk is the insane evil side of Doc Samson (referred to as Dark Samson) which has not passed into the next life. Using a ghost entrapment device, the Red Hulk and the Legion of Monsters were able destroy the Dark Samson spirit by ripping the Dark Samson spirit in half. The Red Hulk and the Legion of Monsters did a toast to honor Doc Samson after that. [6]

Members

Legion of Monsters (1976)

Legion of Monsters (2010)

In other media

Collected editions

TitleMaterial collectedPublished dateISBN
Decades: Marvel in the 70s - Legion of MonstersLegion of Monsters (vol. 1) #1; Marvel Preview #8; Marvel Premiere #28; Marvel Spotlight #2, 5; Frankenstein #1; Tomb of Dracula #10; material from Savage Tales #1April 2019 978-1302916619
Legion Of MonstersLegion of Monsters: Werewolf by Night, Legion of Monsters: Morbius, Legion of Monsters: Man-Thing, Legion of Monsters: SatanaNovember 2007 978-0785127543
Legion of MonstersLegion of Monsters (vol. 2) #1-4April 2012 978-0785140573
Bloodstone & The Legion Of MonstersLegion of Monsters (vol. 2) #1-4 and Bloodstone #1-4, Astonishing Tales: Boom Boom and Elsa, Marvel Presents #1-2, Marvel Monsters: From the Files of Ulysses Bloodstone & The Monster Hunters; material from Marvel Assistant-Sized Spectacular #2, Girl Comics #2September 2017 978-1302908027

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References

  1. ↑ DeFalco, Tom; Sanderson, Peter; Brevoort, Tom; Teitelbaum, Michael; Wallace, Daniel; Darling, Andrew; Forbeck, Matt; Cowsill, Alan; Bray, Adam (2019). The Marvel Encyclopedia. DK Publishing. p. 212. ISBN   978-1-4654-7890-0.
  2. ↑ Marvel Premiere #28
  3. ↑ Punisher vol. 7 #12
  4. ↑ Punisher vol. 7 #13-16
  5. ↑ Legion of Monsters vol. 2 #1
  6. ↑ Hulk vol. 2 #52
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