The Teen Brigade is either of two distinct fictional teams appearing in
American comic books published by
Marvel Comics
Marvel Comics is an American comic book publisher and the flagship property of Marvel Entertainment, a divsion of The Walt Disney Company since September 1, 2009. Evolving from Timely Comics in 1939, ''Magazine Management/Atlas Comics'' in 19 ...
. Both teams were recruited by
Rick Jones from young amateur radio enthusiasts in order to obtain and divulge strategic information about safety hazards, usually involving the
Hulk. These teams were attempting to aid the HUlk in using his super strength for good. They knew he, the Hulk, just desired to help citizens, and did not intend to harm them. The first group was founded in ''
The Incredible Hulk
The Hulk is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby, the character first appeared in the debut issue of '' The Incredible Hulk'' (May 1962). In his comic book ...
'' #6 (March 1963). Today, a lot of adolescents are unaware of the Teen Brigade teams. Unless they have access to original comic books, the only Hulk character they may be aware of is in more modern shows or movies.
Overview
The rationale for creating such teams was that with their help
Rick Jones could reach the
Hulk (and occasionally other people or events of interest) faster, possibly in time to help him avoid fights or other incidents that could bring the Hulk trouble.
The first Teen Brigade was formed by Rick in ''
The Incredible Hulk
The Hulk is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby, the character first appeared in the debut issue of '' The Incredible Hulk'' (May 1962). In his comic book ...
'' #6 (March 1963), and they helped build a weapon for the Hulk to defeat the
Metal Master
Chad Collyer (born December 12, 1974) is an American professional wrestler.
Professional wrestling career
Collyer attended Manchester College, where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree. He was an accomplished amateur wrestler, winning multip ...
. The group played a role in the origin of the
Avengers
Avenger, Avengers, The Avenger, or The Avengers may refer to:
Arts and entertainment In the Marvel Comics universe
* Avengers (comics), a team of superheroes
**Avengers (Marvel Cinematic Universe), a central team of protagonist superheroes of ...
in ''
The Avengers
Avenger, Avengers, The Avenger, or The Avengers may refer to:
Arts and entertainment In the Marvel Comics universe
* Avengers (comics), a team of superheroes
** Avengers (Marvel Cinematic Universe), a central team of protagonist superheroes o ...
'' #1, because it was the tampering of a radio transmission the Brigade intended to send to the
Fantastic Four
The Fantastic Four is a superhero team appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The team debuted in '' The Fantastic Four'' #1 ( cover dated Nov. 1961), helping usher in a new level of realism in the medium. It was the first ...
that brought the original Avengers (
Thor
Thor (; from non, Þórr ) is a prominent god in Germanic paganism. In Norse mythology, he is a hammer-wielding god associated with lightning, thunder, storms, sacred groves and trees, strength, the protection of humankind, hallowing ...
,
Iron Man
Iron Man is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character was co-created by writer and editor Stan Lee, developed by scripter Larry Lieber, and designed by artists Don Heck and Jack Kirby. The charact ...
,
Wasp
A wasp is any insect of the narrow-waisted suborder Apocrita of the order Hymenoptera which is neither a bee nor an ant; this excludes the broad-waisted sawflies (Symphyta), which look somewhat like wasps, but are in a separate suborder. Th ...
and
Ant-Man
Ant-Man is the name of several superheroes appearing in books published by Marvel Comics. Created by Stan Lee, Larry Lieber and Jack Kirby, Ant-Man's first appearance was in ''Tales to Astonish'' #27 (January 1962) but first appeared in costum ...
) together to fight the Hulk. The Avengers and the Fantastic Four were a part of keeping Hulk in check, as well as the Teen Brigade. In ''The Avengers'' #2 (November 1963), they called
Giant-Man (
Hank Pym
Dr. Henry Jonathan "Hank" Pym () is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by penciller Jack Kirby, editor-plotter Stan Lee and writer Larry Lieber, the character first appeared in ''Tales to ...
) to help defeat a
Space Phantom. They contacted the Avengers to notify them about the whereabouts of the rampaging Hulk in ''The Avengers'' #3 (January 1964). In ''The Avengers'' #4 (March 1964), the team helped Rick and
Captain America
Captain America is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by cartoonists Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, the character first appeared in '' Captain America Comics'' #1 ( cover dated March 1941) from T ...
track down a villain who turned the Avengers into stone. Captain America showed off his
acrobatics
Acrobatics () is the performance of human feats of balance, agility, and motor coordination. Acrobatic skills are used in performing arts, sporting events, and martial arts. Extensive use of acrobatic skills are most often performed in acr ...
abilities to the Teen Brigade in ''The Avengers'' #5 (May 1964).
They later freed the Avengers when they had been imprisoned inside Kang's ship by pretending they wanted to join Kang, then dropping an energy cylinder to distract the time-traveller.
The second Teen Brigade was assembled at a time when the Hulk was under the
Corruptor
The Corruptor (real name Jackson Day) is a fictional character, a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. He has fought Thor (Marvel Comics), Thor and Nova (Richard Rider). His sweat glands release a toxin, chemi ...
's control. In an eerie parallel to the Avengers' origin, the Corruptor's own equipment interfered with a transmission meant for the Avengers and instead reached a handful of south western superheroes, giving birth to the superteam known as the
Rangers
A Ranger is typically someone in a military/paramilitary or law enforcement role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called “ranging”. The term most often refers to:
* Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with protecting and ...
. The Corrupter controlled the minds of others by producing sweat glands that held power inside. It would be as if a manipulative person convinced someone to do something without external things being in question.
The Teen Brigade was mentioned as an inspiration by Captain America when he decided to create an online network in stories published in the early 1990s.
A third version of the Teen Brigade appear in the 2011 series ''Vengeance'' composed of
Barnell Bohusk
The X-Men are a team of mutant superheroes, published in American comic books by Marvel Comics. Over the decades, the X-Men have featured a rotating line up composed of many characters.
Notation:
* Characters in bold are members of the team a ...
,
Angel Salvadore
Angel Salvadore is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by Grant Morrison and Ethan Van Sciver, the character first appeared in '' New X-Men'' #118 (November 2001). She belongs to the sub ...
, the
In-Betweener
The In-Betweener is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics.
Publication history
The character first appeared in ''Warlock'' #10 (Dec. 1975) and was created by Jim Starlin.
Fictional character biograph ...
and two new heroes:
America Chavez
America Chavez is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by Joe Casey and Nick Dragotta, Chavez was the second character to use the moniker Miss America, after Madeline Joyce. Chavez first appeared in ' ...
and the Ultimate Nullifier. It seems like the Teen Brigade is attempting to make a comeback.
References
External links
*
Marvel Comics superhero teams
{{Marvel-Comics-stub