Some super-teams are governed by things like charters and chairpersons, but,when your ranks include several of the most powerful individuals in the Marvel Universe, you don't really need leaders or even formal rules. The original line-up of the Defenders -- The Hulk, Namor, Doctor Strange and the Silver Surfer -- are just such a “non-team.”

The group first united back in the '70s and, over the years, they've reunited on a number of occasions. Those reunions were often fleeting, though, because of the mercurial temperaments and outcast nature of the founding Defenders.

This December, the original Defenders will suddenly find themselves thrust back into each other's orbits in The Best Defense, a series of one-shots that find the founders operating both on their own and as a team.

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Writer Al Ewing and artist Simone Di Meo focus on the Jade Giant in Immortal Hulk: The Best Defense. In Namor: The Best Defense, writer Chip Zdarsky and artist Carlos Magno put the spotlight on Atlantis’ brash king. Gerry Duggan tells a tale of Earth's Sorcerer Supreme in Doctor Strange: The Best Defense, which features art by Greg Smallwood. Jason Latour serves as both writer and artist on the Sentinel of the Spaceway's voyage in Silver Surfer: The Best Defense. And in The Defenders: The Best Defense, Ewing and his Immortal Hulk collaborator, Joe Bennett, get the titular band back together.

EXCLUSIVE: The Best Defense #5 cover art by Joe Bennett and Belardino Brabo

CBR spoke with all four writers about their individual one-shots, how the spirit of the “non-team” lead to their “non-collaboration” and the connective tissue that binds their tales together.

CBR: So, with the original Defenders you're not only dealing with a great line up of characters, but a super fun dynamic of the "non-team." I imagine those were both parts of the appeal of this project.

Al Ewing: Yeah -- I always liked that the Avengers had all these rules and regulations and a special charter and the Defenders just hung around in Doctor Strange’s house. That splash page in Avengers #2 where they’re trying to have a meeting to discuss minutes and orders of business and the Hulk is just standing there in his underpants and Thor begs him to put some clothes on and they all just openly hate him -- that’s probably the birth of the Defenders in some ways. The idea that some super-people just don’t fit. So this ended up as a story of four totally different people essentially colliding with each other in a way that briefly looks like a team, if you squint, but it’s not. They definitely don’t call a meeting at any time during this.

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The Best Defense is a series of single character-focused tales and climaxes with a book focusing on the whole team together, but from what I understand working on this event was very much a team effort. I'm getting a sense it was a labor of love, too. So, what was it like collaborating on this story?

Ewing: The idea I had when we all started was that we’d each bring the story we always wanted to do for whoever our single issue was about, and then we’d mash it all together into something bizarre. So, the non-team would create a kind of non-collaboration, and I was confident whatever fell out of that would be in the spirit of the Defenders. And, luckily, Jason had an idea that was so big and so mad that it burned like a miniature sun and that anchored things very quickly, and Gerry and Chip had their own ideas that fit really well with that, and it all ended up flowing together.

EXCLUSIVE: The Best Defense art by Carlos Magno

The final issue’s got a little bit of all of us in it, and it ended up being a really odd, strange ride that I think old fans and new readers will enjoy, with the kind of gigantic world-shaking thrills people have come to expect from Marvel and also with some very Defenders-y touches.

What can you tell us about sort of the flow and connective tissue of the overall story you're telling in The Best Defense? Will there be some recurring characters that appear in all of the books? And is this a story that can be enjoyed both as individual tales and a five-part epic?

Ewing: There’s one recurring character who’s a stabby ghost on a sort of spaceship, only not. He’s not really related to anything until he is.

And yes, it’s designed to work both ways -- the four solo books work individually as annuals of a sort for their characters. But if you read them all together -- you can read the first four in any order, I think, but I reckon the order we put them out in is probably the best one. It all comes together into this massive mosaic that’s bigger and weirder than all of them alone.

Al, you're working on Immortal Hulk: The Best Defense with artist Simone Di Meo. How connected will this one-shot be to the ongoing story you're telling in Immortal Hulk? Will readers who like what you're doing here be able to follow you back over to that book?

Ewing: Immortal Hulk readers have a guarantee of sorts from me that they never have to pick up a comic that’s not Immortal Hulk if they don’t want to, and that remains in effect. But I’m hoping they do want to, because this is really good stuff, and we do some things in it we don’t do in the main book. Continuity-wise, it slips in seamlessly between #8 and #9, so readers can move from #8 to #9 if they want, or join us on an odd little detour. And if people read the one-shot and like it, the first trade of Immortal Hulk will be there waiting for them by then, I think.

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What's it like writing this more horror-focused version of the Hulk in this story? What can you tell us about Simone Di Meo's take on the character?

Ewing: Simone’s been fantastic. For his annual/special/whatever this is, he’s concentrating on Banner more than the Hulk -- solving a bizarre murder mystery in a small town -- and his Banner is excellent. We get to see Bruce using his fists, and sort of getting into his relationship with the Hulk in a way I don’t think has been done before, even in the main book. It was important to me that we do something different here, that you couldn’t get in the regular title. Not a new piece of plot, because that’s cheating regular Immortal Hulk readers who maybe don’t want to or can’t afford to join us here, but something new with tone and pacing and character, so the ones who do get something special. And Simone’s great with the surroundings, too. He really makes us feel all the emptiness and desolation of the deserted town Banner finds himself in.

Chip, Namor is a complex guy who's played many roles in the Marvel Universe. What's it like writing him? Which aspects of his character are you interested in focusing on in your one-shot?

Chip Zdarsky: Oh, I love Namor! There are several editors at Marvel who are probably sick of me pitching them Namor books!

EXCLUSIVE: The Best Defense art by Carlos Magno

He’s got such a complicated history, which is fun to delve into. He’s a king who has alternated over the years between being an ally to the surface world and being its enemy. I mean, he fought with the Allies in World War 2 and has attempted to start World War 3 several times. So, I’m interested in finding out more about what makes him tick, what makes him go one way or the other. Right now, with Jason writing him in Avengers, he’s in a position again of putting the surface world on notice. So, what’s next? Building your defenses. Forming alliances. Could the Defenders be that? I don’t know, I didn’t write that issue. Al?

[Laughs] You're working with artist Carlos Magno, whose recent work has focused on the iconic movie monster King Kong. What's it like collaborating with him on this story? What kind of tone and feel do you and Carlos want to convey with the book?

Zdarsky: Oh, Carlos is a find. The moment pages starting coming in for the book, we realized that this guy is going to be a big deal really soon. His angles are dynamic, his details are gorgeous and he makes Namor feel like a sexy force to be reckoned with. I love working with Carlos and I intend to never let him go.

Gerry, it's clear you're a huge Doctor Strange fan from your work with the character over in Infinity Wars and the other times you've written him. How does it feel to be writing the character in this series?

Silver Surfer concept art by Jason Latour

Gerry Duggan: I wrote Doctor Strange as a co-star into the first story I was hired to write for Marvel because I was never sure I’d get a second swing at the Sorcerer Supreme. He’s always been one of my all-time favorite characters, and he’s always in high demand amongst the creators. I’d have been driven mad if he hadn’t been in such wonderful hands during my tenure. That’s why this story is so special for me. It’s my chance to write Doctor Strange in a comic that has his logo on the cover. I’d be embarrassed to count up the number of Doctor Strange stories I’ve got jotted down on my desktop, but this single, special, oversized issue completely scratches that itch for me. I’m so grateful to collaborate with Greg Smallwood on this.

I'm very excited that you're working with Greg on this. I'm a huge fan of his work on Vampironica from Archie and the covers he does for Marvel, especially the ones for the recent Doctor Strange: Damnation event.

Duggan: I was fortunate to work with Greg on a Drax story in Guardians of the Galaxy, he’s one of those rare talents that can do every facet of the work brilliantly. His design, his storytelling, the acting of his face, his colors -- it’s all sublime. We’re telling one chapter in this Defenders event, but we’re also telling the last Doctor Strange story, and we began collaborating the week we learned of Steve Ditko’s passing. This event began as a celebration of an important part of Marvel’s history, and I think this particular chapter of Strange’s tale has picked up a little more magic dust because of the timing. Mr. Ditko may be gone, but his work is immortal.

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Jason, you wrote a great Silver Surfer tale for artist Agustin Alessio called Against the Tide which was published back in 2013 as part of Marvel's Infinity event. For this story you're returning to the character as both a writer and artist. What type of tone and feel are you hoping to convey in this story?

Jason Latour: Well, my work always shifts tones. So, while I'd say this is a pretty "serious" story, I couldn't tell something I felt was honest without incorporating or recognizing the elements that are fun and absurd. Here there's a lot of potential to do that more seamlessly, in part because of the setting being alien and unknown in a lot of ways, but also because I'm drawing the comic. So I'm basically composing the shots and controlling the visual pace and playing all the characters. I'm the Eddie Murphy of this weird Nutty Professor remake so to speak.

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Tonally, I keep joking that this is a Cormac McCarthy story adapted by Jack Kirby. "Cormac McKirby" if you will. Which is dramatically overselling my abilities -- sure, sure -- but don't think too much about that... on with this interview and the interesting things I'm saying. I also talk a lot behind closed doors about what Taika Waititi did with Thor: Ragnarok (Geez -- guys, ever heard of the Beatles? -- Well let me tell you about this album I'm making). Which is taking these big fun imaginative concepts and trying to breathe something personal into them. Which kind of explains what I'm drawn too with Surfer as a character. He has always had an internal struggle that rivals the scope of the universe he's exploring. He's a big tapestry within and without. And he actively wrestles with the choices he makes. These big, big, big decisions that he doesn't just brush off or get to ignore like the rest of us. For right or wrong he's out there making an impact and getting his hands dirty. And that's what I wanted to explore. Not to use him to preach, but to hopefully make all that feel like a relatable and human struggle.

Bruce Banner character studies by Simone Di Meo

The Silver Surfer has been through a lot the past couple of years with the events in his most recent ongoing series and returning to Galactus’ service at the end of Infinity Countdown. So, what's Norrin's state of mind when you pick up with him? And how big a role does Galactus play in the story you're telling?

Latour: Well, this story is in some ways about taking that internal struggle that's always present in Norrin and applying it to extreme heat and stress by way of a new problem.

The landscape we’re presenting for Surfer to operate in is a new idea -- one of the wilder things I've come up with for Marvel. I was so certain when I pitched it that everyone would just politely ignore me at best. Instead, the enthusiasm for it has been really rewarding and emboldening, and we’ve folded those ideas into the core of this entire miniseries. This is a problem bigger and badder than Galactus, something that doesn't seem to have morality or a mind with which to reason. And that something is "The Train" -- a powerful celestial body that is barreling through the universe seemingly only consuming in order to consume. There's no hunger or real need. It just expands ever forward with no regard or even acknowledgment of what lies in its path.

Galactus has made Surfer an offer. This Train and the planets it sucks into its wake are an easy food source for him -- as dead world's go, it's almost humane. Plus, left unchecked "The Train" will wreak unfathomable chaos. Galactus plans to work his way toward the Train's center and destroy it, building the power he needs by feasting as he goes, but recognizing that, in order to repeat their past history, he wants and needs to better manage his relationship with The Surfer. So, Galactus tasks his herald with judging and saving what life Surfer deems to be of ultimate value on these planets. If there is any at all. Surfer is stuck in the middle of two burning fuses -- racing to slow down this cosmic force of nature and stay one step ahead of Galactus and his hunger.

Pretty simple, right? It's kind of a space western. Surfer is wearing a Kirbyfied Man with No Name poncho now, so that means it's a space western. Those are the rules.

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[Laughs] Nice! Al, you bring everyone back together in Defenders: Best Defense. Going back to what we talked about earlier, I imagine part of the fun of this issue was the characters and dynamics. So, which Defenders are you especially enjoying writing in this one-shot?

Ewing: Namor is obviously a ton of fun -- he had a lot of very dry, quite arch humor that didn’t end up making the cut for space reasons, which is a sign that I was enjoying writing for him too much to think about practicality. Strange is our linchpin in a lot of ways, and the narrator for the final issue. He’s a man of hidden depths, dark secrets and moral compromises, which is always good. With the Surfer, I got to go cosmic briefly again. It was nice writing Galactus again, too. I like where Jason’s gone with him, but there was that moment I had to sort of let him go and bid him farewell, because my time with him is over, so it was slightly bittersweet too, in a nice way. I think I gave him a decent goodbye in the end. I know where he goes next is going to be amazing, and I’ll be right there in the front row with the popcorn.

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Doctor Strange art by Greg Smallwood

Finally, your Immortal Hulk collaborator Joe Bennett is drawing Defenders: Best Defense. Joe is an incredibly versatile artist, and regularly shows off how great he is at horror on Immortal Hulk. Will we see more of that from him here? What can you tell us about the tone and feel of this final chapter?

Ewing: There’ll be some horror elements, but the fun thing about this is that Joe’s going to be in a completely different wheelhouse for this. Or several different wheelhouses, because it’s action and adventure and cosmic stuff and satire and fantasy and, yeah, a bit of horror, too. All of which I’m sure he’ll pull off with aplomb. It’s our attempt to capture some of that Defenders magic, and Defenders was never one thing.