Hating Iron Man and being friends with Hawkeye are two vastly different concepts, yes. And in recent years, the latter has become much harder to conceive of.

You know- now that I think about it- the Defenders were some powerhouses. Hulk, Doc Strange, Namor, and The Silver Surfer, those are some ridiculous power sets.

I thought this post had to do with when Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and PLO chairman Yasser Arafat shook hands after signing an accord granting limited Palestinian autonomy on September 13th, 1993. You should really keep that in mind the next time you use “9/13″ and “If Only…” in sequence.

Don’t forget Hawkeye, the Greatest of Them All.

It’s amazing how many people have been Defenders, yet you never think about it. Everyone’s mind always comes back to Hulk, Namor, Strange, and Surfer…and oh yeah, Nighthawk and Valkyrie.

“Buddie”?

Good one Ron

i never knew hawkeye was a member of the defenders . and at least he figured out the defenders will look after their own considering the oringal members hulk Namor silver surfer and Dr. strange can not ever get along and were only a team due to a curse just shows the defenders had an open door policy for memembers

I was friends with Hawkeye once. He took off after we had an argument about who was gonna be lead singer when we played “Rock Band”.

As I recall, Hawkeye wasn’t officially a Defender, he was just tagging along while they tried to cure the Black Knight from being turned to stone.

Then again, the Defenders never really had an official roster (as one of them would remind us at least once an issue), so maybe that’s enough to count.

This has always been one of my favorite Defenders covers, if such a thing can be said to exist.

Michael, they were the non-team. I always figured the Defenders consisted of whoever was hanging out at Doctor Strange’s place that day.

Other Defenders include The Thing, Luke Cage, Yellowjacket, and Moon Knight. Really, if you show up one day and fight some random demon, you’re a Defender.

Is there a joke here I’m not getting? Is there something strange about the idea of Hawkeye having friends?

The people that always spring to my mind when I think of the Defenders are the Beast, Moondragon, Valkyrie, Gargoyle, and Hellcat, although Nighthawk and Doctor Strange also fit my idea of the team. I guess a lot depends on when you read the series.
The people I NEVER want to see in the Defenders, though, are Namor, Hulk, and the Surfer. None of those guys should ever be on a team; they just don’t fit. I don’t understand why people always want to stick them together. The Surfer wasn’t even part of the team for more than a few issues, and Namor wasn’t in nearly as long as many other members. The writers tried for years to keep the Hulk on the team, but it always seemed forced, especially as he was in his angry-dumb-child phase for most of that time, and it never made any sense that he would keep hanging around with the others when they weren’t fighting someone. (I also never understood how he could hang around for a few days of quiet without turning back into Banner like he did in his own book. Or how he stayed with the Defenders at the same time he spent a few years wandering around the world in his own series. It seems they only included him because he was so popular at the time, and they needed someone to boost sales.)

Ron…

I wasn’t aware that Rabin and Arafat were comic book fans.

You should really keep that in mind the next time you visit a website about comic books.

Thanks Mo…Ron

Watch out Mad Monkey, there’s something going right over your head.

“Michael, they were the non-team. I always figured the Defenders consisted of whoever was hanging out at Doctor Strange’s place that day.”

Kind of like the New Avengers and Bucky’s house today.

“wasn’t aware that Rabin and Arafat were comic book fans.”

Arafat LOVED Little Lulu.

incidentally Sadam Hussein never missed an issue of Johnny the Homicidal Maniac… weird dude.

Hulk likes Magician, Bird-Nose, and Sword-Girl. When they aren’t bossing him around, they’re his friends. Not like puny Banner–Hulk hates puny Banner.

I think it’s just that “Hawkeye’s got acquaintances” wouldn’t have fit in the available space.

Mad Monkey and Ninjazilla, you both completely missed the joke. Read this comment thread and then come back here and if you still want to call me a moron, go for it.

http://goodcomics.comicbookresources.com/2009/09/10/910-if-only%e2%80%a6/#comments

What a great cover! I would buy that on a new comic today instead of the junk that is out on the market today.

I thought the “lie” was that the rest of the Defenders didn’t really interact with that fight at all, it was just Hawkeye vs Iron Man. Hawkeye claim’s a ‘win’ by getting IM distracted enough to not stop him running into the woods with the Maguffin…

It was an odd thing. Hawkeye quits the Avengers and joins the Defenders at the beginning of the story and then rejoins the Avengers at the end. Was the whole thing done to even out the number of members on each team like in a kindergarten soccer game when one team has a lot of no-shows?