The Champions
Marvel Comics had Spiderman, The Fantastic Four and The Avengers all based in New York. Crime must have moved away or the west coast got jealous. Either way; writer Tony Isabella and artists Don Heck and Gil Kane created a team that protected Los Angeles. I give you The Champions.
This team consisted of Hercules, Black Widow, The Angel, Iceman and The Ghost Rider. The book only lasted for 17 issues from 1975 to 1978. They had made several appearances in other magazines as Marvel tried pushing them, but they just never gained the notoriety that the big boys had in the “Big Apple”.
This team had some minor league bad guys star in this underrated book, but my favorite villain I seen them tackle was none other than the biggest and baddest lizard around, Godzilla.
I personally think they should have resurrected this team but we got the West Coast Avengers instead. If it was made in the late 70’s, it would have been a cult classic and it would finally get a remake 30 some years later. I would have Roger Corman direct the original and Christopher Nolan for the remake. (sorry, trudey)
This team had potential. Hercules was high on the "strongest" list back then. Black Widow is the agile fighting master spy. Iceman and Angel both come from an experienced X-Men team. Ghost Rider adds to the mystic and power element and late bloomer Darkstar brings flight and raw power. Pretty Impressive.
I enjoy making period based fancast just to be different, please read the article before you make a comment. Most of these picks are very talented actors from either time period.
Hercules: Prince of Power- James Brolin (1979)/ Joe Manganiello (2012)
Black Widow: Natasha Romanov-Bo Derek (1979)/ Kata Dobo (2012)
The Angel: Warren Worthington- Nick Nolte (1979)/ Charlie Hunnam (2012)
Iceman: Bobby Drake-Tom Berenger (1979)/ Chris Pine (2012)
Ghost Rider: Johnny Blaze-Michael Beck (1979)/ Aaron Paul (2012)
Darkstar: Laynia Petrovna-Jessica Lange (1979)/ Karelea Mazzola (2012)
Black Golaith: Bill Foster-Yaphet Kotto (1979)/ Rocky Carroll (2012) *Flix Mentallo*
Pluto: Greek God of the Underworld, Hades-Oliver Reed (1979)/ Jeffery Dean Morgan(2012)
Crimson Dynamo: Yuri Petrovich -George C. Scott (1979)/ Alexsandr Baluev (2012)
Rampage: Stuart Clark-Brad Dourif (1979)/ David Anders (2012)
Stranger: Cosmic Entity-Jon Voight (1979)/ Leonardo De Caprio (2012)
Swarm: Fritz Von Meyer -Robert Shaw (1979)/ Til Schweiger (2012)