The Rangers are a
superhero team published by
Marvel Comics. The team first appeared in
The Incredible Hulk #265
(November 1981) and was created by
Bill
Mantlo and
Sal Buscema.
History
The Rangers began basically by accident.
Rick Jones was being held captive by the
villainous
Corruptor, who had the
Hulk under his influence. Rick sent a
shortwave radio message to attempt to contact the
Avengers. The message never reached the
Avengers, but instead five individuals intercepted the message and
responded: Shooting Star and Texas Twister, Firebird, the Phantom
Rider (Hamilton Slade, then called Night Rider), and the
contemporary Red Wolf.
Although the five Southwestern adventurers were unable to stop the
Hulk's rampage, they did enable him to defeat the Corruptor. At the
battle's end, Texas Twister suggested that the five of them get
together whenever a threat to the Southwest crops up. They agreed
and took the collective name of the Rangers.However, because of the
geographical separation among the members, they rarely acted as a
team. Additionally, Shooting Star was revealed to be possessed by a
demon at the next meeting of the team and the demon had acted
against the team meeting.
Shooting Star's identity was at some point taken over by an unnamed
demon in the employ of Master Pandemonium, who believed Firebird to
be one of the possessors of his fragmented soul. To keep the
Rangers from meeting regularly and perhaps posing a threat to him
before he had completed his study of Firebird, Pandemonium
dispatched the demon to take Shooting Star's place. Firebird
nevertheless believed the demon to be hiding among the Avengers'
West Coast branch and with her guidance the Rangers confronted the
heroes, only to flush the demon in Shooting Star out of hiding. The
demon claimed that Shooting Star was a human guise it had taken
long before, that there never was a Victoria Star. The Avengers
imprisoned the demon at their Compound and began an investigation
of Master Pandemonium, but the Texas Twister, demonstrating a
curious lack of concern, did not accompany them.
Soon, however, Texas Twister returned to the Avengers Compound at a
time when Hawkeye was alone, demanding to see the captive demon.
Twister declared his love for the demon, which turned back into
Shooting Star. Texas Twister went on to explain that the demon had
come to him months ago when Twister's powers seemed to be fading,
making him afraid that he'd lose Shooting Star if their rodeo act
broke up on account of his lost powers. The demon offered to
augment the Twister's powers in exchange for his soul, and the
Twister agreed, but after his powers were restored he begged to be
spared, so the demon possessed Shooting Star instead, casting a
spell that prevented Twister from telling anyone about this.
Twister studied the occult until he found a means to expel the
demon from Star.
The demon then possessed Twister himself and battled Hawkeye and
Shooting Star. Ultimately, Star threatened to kill the demon rather
than allow the possession to continue, and the demon reluctantly
imprisoned itself in a statue. Texas Twister and Shooting Star were
reunited.
Initiative
The
Rangers next appear as a team towards the end of the Civil War, in which it seems they
have been reformed as the state superteam for Texas
. The
original five members have been joined by
Armadillo, a reformed
supervillain, as well as
Living Lightning, a former Avenger.The
Rangers next assist in protecting the President from
HYDRA's attack. There are injuries but no
fatalities.
Team
members hail from Arizona
, Texas, and
New
Mexico
.
The Rangers are seen battling a
Skrull that
had been impersonating Red Wolf's wolf Lobo, during the Skrull
invasion.
Membership
FOUNDERS
POST-CIVIL WAR RECRUITS
- Armadillo -
Antonio Rodriguez, a mutate given
super strength and durability by Karl
Malus (Was removed from team for sexually harassing teammate
Shooting Star)
- Living
Lightning - Miguel Santos, an electrical
manipulator.
References
Wikis
Map
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