Comic Book / Captain Britain and the Mighty Defenders

Captain Britain and the Mighty Defenders is a 2015 Marvel Comics limited series written by Al Ewing with art by Alan Davis.

The series is part of the Secret Wars (2015) event, set at a time when reality has been remade and the only remaining planet is Battleworld, a patchwork of different realms held together by the will of Doctor Doom. One of these realms is Yinsen City, run by the Baron Ho Yinsen and guarded by the mighty Defenders. But while all seems well, the Baron is troubled by recurring nightmares of the sky turning red, and another Earth in the sky. And one day, the quiet equilibrium is shattered when a mysterious woman walks out of the wilderness, sword in hand...

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Captain Britain and the Mighty Defenders provides examples of:

• Affirmative-Action Legacy: Faiza Hussain as the new Captain Britain, coming from the timeline of Age of Ultron.
• Amnesiac Hero: Everyone, thanks to Doom wiping everyone's memories.
• Apologetic Attacker: The first thing Faiza says as an introduction? Apologizing for breaking Yinsen City's walls, "but I do come in peace, honest."
• As Lethal as It Needs to Be: Faiza Hussain's version of Excalibur goes blunt against living tissue because Faiza is an Actual Pacifist.
• Beyond the Impossible: The barrier around Yinsen City is supposed to be unbreakable, so the Defenders are alarmed when Faiza effortlessly smashes it in one blow.
• Big Brother Is Watching: As Yinsen learns, Doom is capable of listening in through his armor.
• Boom, Headshot!: Yinsen is killed by the Bosses this way.
• Brought Down to Badass: Partial example, when She-Hulk is stripped of her rank and powers as the Thor of Yinsen City. She's still She-Hulk, though.
• Call-Back:
  • The alternate universe Faiza Hussain/Captain Britain is the same one seen in Age of Ultron, according to Word of God. Additionally, Yinsen City comes from the alternate universe seen in Al Ewing's Iron Man: Fatal Frontier mini-series, while Mondo City comes from Jeff Parker's Dark Avengers series.
  • Likewise, the Prowler apparently somehow remembers his world's Spider-Man being killed by an Inheritor during Spider-Verse.
• Captain Ersatz: As with Dark Avengers before it, the Bosses of Mondo City are the Judges of Judge Dredd fame and not even trying to hide it. They now come with their own Judge Anderson with Boss Frost.
• "Could Have Avoided This!" Plot: The members of Yinsen City are upset when they learn that the leaders of Mondo City invaded them because they were running out of resources. Even after being invaded, suffering casualties, and being tortured, they still offer an alliance, only angry that this wasn't the way things were handled in the first place.
• Divide and Conquer: Doom does this up to Xanatos Gambit levels, where he pits Yinsen City against its warlike neighbor knowing that if they went to war, both would come out weakened and if they instead found a peaceful resolution (which they did), both sides would have their hands full maintaining such a difficult alliance.
• Five-Token Band: The titular Captain Britain & the Mighty Defenders consist of: Captain Britain (British Asian, specifically British Pakistani), Kid Rescue (Asian), White Tiger (Hispanic), Spider Hero (Black), and She-Hulk (Green, formerly Caucasian).
• I'll Pretend I Didn't Hear That: She-Hulk tells Yinsen this, since as a Thor it is her job to deal with heresy against Doom, and he's just said quite a bit to her.
• I've Heard of That — What Is It?: Thanks to Doom's brainwashing this happens repeatedly. Like Spider Hero commenting that if he "had a spider-sense it'd be tingling" which She-Hulk apparently understands and acknowledges going on about things for some panels until she just asks what a spider-sense is, and Spider Hero admits that he doesn't know, but feels he should. And again later with Captain Britain and She-Hulk about what a "Britain" is.
• Ideal Hero: Captain Britain (Faiza Hussein). She is completely driven to do the right thing, fearless in the face of danger and even torture, possesses a magic sword that always guides her toward the correct goal, avoids unnecessary violence and refuses to kill, can break herself out of captivity with little effort, and manages to turn enemies into allies by being the better person.
• Large and in Charge: Big Boss Hill is slightly taller than the usually average sized Maria Hill.
• Laser-Guided Karma: When the forces of Mondo City invade Yinsen City, Boss Magnicote kills Baron Yinsen. Once the dust is settled, he is deemed to have acted outside the law, and "reassigned" to the Deadlands.
• Mythology Gag: Boss Frost hits Faiza with the "focused totality" of her psychic powers, an old Author Catchphrase used by Chris Claremont when writing Psylocke of X-Men fame.
• Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot: The Bosses of Mondo City were already a mash-up of several Marvel heroes and Judges, but their leader, Big Boss Hill, is also a Thor on top of that.
• Past Experience Nightmare: Many if not all of the Defenders have flashback dreams about their worlds before the event (some even dream of the Incursion) despite Doom's brainwashing.
• Point of Divergence: Yinsen City is from an alternate timeline where Tony Stark performed a Heroic Sacrifice to allow Ho Yinsen to escape in the Iron Man armor, rather than vice versa. This trope itself is subtly Lampshaded.
  Tony Stark: I've done the math. Whatever happens, one of us will die here.
• Poke in the Third Eye: The Defenders manage to incapacitate Boss Frost by telling her they've got info on some rebels. Once she tries reading Ava's mind, Ava unleashes the Tiger God on her.
• Police Brutality: In Mondo City, a dead perp is a peaceful perp.
• Pretender Diss: The genesis of "Spider Hero"'s name. After his reality's Peter died, Hobie Brown tried taking up the mantle of Spider-Man, only for the Daily Bugle to dismiss him as a new "Spider Hero - Definitely not Spider-Man".
• Psychopathic Manchild: Mondo City's War Machine is a giant killing machine covered in all manner of guns, and the programmed mentality of a little kid.
  War Machine: LOOKIT MY GUNS!
• Screw the Rules, I Make Them!: Big Boss Hill gets Boss Cage to stand down from attacking Faiza by pointing out she is his boss.
• Sliding Scale of Idealism vs. Cynicism: Heavy on the idealism side. At the end, the idealistic side wins by having the nicer heroes talk the militaristic ones into a fragile peace. And this was accomplished with minimal casualties on the part of the nice guys.
• The Smurfette Principle: A rare Gender-Inverted Trope with the Defenders, which is made up of a female Captain Britain, female Kid Rescue, female White Tiger, She-Hulk, and Spider-Man aka Spider-Hero. After Baron Yinsen's death, he becomes the only male on the team.
• Speech Bubbles: While she's a Thor, She-Hulk speaks in the font style used for Asgardians. When she's depowered, she goes back to the same font as everyone else.
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: At the end, the survivors of Yinsen City form an alliance with the leadership of Mondo City, after the former conquered and killed many of their citizens (including their baron). Kid Rescue, the new baroness, is not happy to work with her father's killers, but she begrudgingly admits that this option is better than war.
• Throw the Dog a Bone: Spider Hero has to deal with the fact that back in his home reality he got no respect from anyone. At the end of the fight with Mondo City's enforcers, his fellow Defenders tell him he's just as good as Spider-Man.
• To Be Lawful or Good: The Defenders of Yinsen City face this decision thanks to the arrival of Captain Britain and their already existing doubts, when they decide to be good and reject Doom as god and his law... he takes it about as well as you would expect it.
• Underestimating Badassery: The Bosses of Mondo City imprison the Defenders and take away most of their equipment, but aren't used to dealing with Hulks. Jen is instantly able to break her titanium shackles the minute their back is turned.
• Wrecked Weapon: Excalibur versus Big Boss Hill's hammer ends with Excalibur slicing the hammer's head clean off.

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