This is "In The Spotlight So Clear," a feature where we spotlight times in comics where characters need to be cleared out of the way to make room for a new status quo. Like, for instance, you want to introduce a new Captain Superhero, you might want to first get rid of the previous Captain Superhero. Stuff like that.
Today, we look at how Angel, Beast and Iceman were freed up to join the then-newly formed X-Factor.
In 1985, one of the worst kept secrets was that Marvel was planning on reuniting the original five members of the X-Men in a brand new team called X-Factor. The only thing people were't sure about was how they were planning on bringing Jean Grey back to life, considering she had seemingly died way back in the Dark Phoenix Saga (okay, "way back" in this context was, like, five years earlier, but still). However, there was another problem with the news. You see, Angel, Beast and Iceman all happened to be members of an entirely different team called the Defenders!
It all started when Defenders writer J.M. DeMatteis had Wonder Man and Beast guest star in the pages of Defenders.
He then used the next issue to follow up a plot that DeMatteis had introduced in a fill-in issue of Avengers starring the Beast. The Beast ended up becoming a member of the Defenders (which were famous for being a de-centralized "unofficial" team. Essentially a bunch of heroes who just hung out at Doctor Strange's Sanctum Sanctorum and answered the call whenever something went wrong). Beast, though, believed that the team could be more of a REAL team and he took over as leader and eventually put together a more solid roster of heroes. He enlisted two of his former X-Men teammates, Angel and Iceman, who were both between superhero teams at the time and they formed basically a NEW Defenders...
DeMatteis was soon succeeded on the book by Peter B. Gillis. Don Perlin continued to be the artist on the book.
Eventually, Angel's girlfriend, Candy Southern, became an integral part of the team, even being elected the leader of the team despite not actually being a superhero! So the three mutant heroes were firmly part of the Defenders at this point.
So how do you get around that?
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In Defenders #152 (by Gillis, Perlin and inker Dell Barras), Moondragon was possessed by an evil entity known as "The Dragon"...
She used her powers to hold a knife to Candy's throat!
In the end, a mysterious being known as the Interloper used his powers to merge his life force with the other members of the Defenders to defeat Moondragon, even though they died in the process...
The mutant heroes were too far away to merge their life forces, as well, and they had to save Candy!
In the end, it seemed the good part of Moondragon spoke to some of the people whose lives were saved by the Defenders' sacrifice...
So now Angel, Beast and Iceman had no team anymore since all of their teammates were now dead! That's certainly a good reason not to try a new version of the Defenders, right? All of their teammates died!
Released the SAME MONTH as New Defenders #152, X-Factor #1 (by Bob Layton, Jackson Guice and Joe Rubinstein) opens with the three heroes hanging out with each other and so they were perfectly poised to form a new team when Jean Grey turned out to be alive!
Okay, so that's it for this installment of In the Spotlight So Clear! Feel free to suggest other examples to me at brianc@cbr.com!