Every Missing Defenders Omnibus, Mapped | 13th Annual Tigereyes Most-Wanted Marvel Omnibus Poll

It’s the most wonderful time of the year for Marvel Omnibus fans – time for the Tigereyes Most Wanted Marvel Omnibus 13th Annual Secret Ballot! This post explains every Defenders omnibus that does NOT exist – all of which will appear as options on the 2025 poll.

For the next two weeks, I’ll be covering Marvel’s entire publishing history by mapping missing omnibus volumes to fill in every gap in your Marvel oversize shelf! That’s all leading to the kickoff of the Tigereyes Most Wanted Marvel Omnibus 13th Annual Secret Ballot on Near Mint Condition on April 28, 2025.

We only have two Defenders omnibuses so far – both from the classic line of Masterworks-based books. We got The Defenders Vol. 1 in 2021 and The Defenders Vol. 2 in 2023… but no Volume 3 announced for 2025!

You know what that means: it’s time to get to voting!

Or, if you don’t care about omnibuses, just use this post to learn about Marvel’s history and find some great comics to read!

This post covers the following speculated omnibus volumes:

• Bronze Age Defenders
  • Defenders Vol. 3 (1976 – 1980) [MMW 6-8]
  • Defenders Vol. 4 (1980 – 1983) [MMW 9-11]
  • Defenders: New Defenders (1983 – 1986)
• Defenders in the 90s
  • Defenders: Doctor Strange and the Secret Defenders (1993 – 1995)
• Post-2000 Defenders
  • Defenders by Busiek, DeMatteis, Casey, Fraction, et al (2001 – 2012) [includes Heralds & Vengeance]
  • Valkyrie, Fearless Defender of Asgard by Cullen Bunn (1994 – 2019) [Fearless, Fearless Defenders, Asgardians of the Galaxy]
  • Defenders by Al Ewing et al (2015 – 2022) [Mighty Defenders, Tarot, Best Defense, & Beyond]
• The Defenders of NYC
  • Marvel Knights: The Defenders of NYC (2000 – 2003 & 2018) [both Marvel Knights ongoings and Double Shots minis + 20th anniversary]
  • Jessica Jones & the Defenders of NYC by Bendis (2004 – 2018) [includes Pulse & Defenders (2017)]

Remember: These titles and mappings are a suggestion of how Marvel could assemble these books. They are meant to help you decide on your votes on the Tigereyes poll. Your vote on the poll is a vote in favor of Marvel creating a book with that title or covering that period, NOT an endorsement of a specific map. Maps are presented as a proof of concept and to help you build your personal reading list.

Want to check out all of the other voting options for the 2025 Tigereyes Poll? Check out my 2025 Tigereyes poll options overview page that explains the poll, how to vote, and every title that will appear – including links to all of the posts in this series.

Over-the-top comics posts like this one are made possible via the support of Patrons of Crushing Krisis. For less than the cost of a single comic issue a month you can fuel my in-depth comics coverage, plus gain access to dozens of exclusive collecting guides & reading orders – including all of the Crushing Comics Guide to Marvel Comics.

Defenders Omnibus Mapping: Bronze Age Defenders

With The Defenders Vol. 1 and The Defenders Vol. 2 already collected as a pair of somewhat petite books, we have some work to do to collect more than 110 remaining issues of the series! See Guide to Defenders for details of those existing omnis.

Defenders Vol. 3 (1976 – 1980) [MMW 6-8]
Defenders Vol. 4 (1980 – 1983) [MMW 9-11]

Let’s talk Masterworks mapping strategy for a moment.

The current pair of Defenders omnibuses collect Masterworks Volumes 1-5. However, that’s not entirely a bad thing! The Defenders Vol. 1 started with some prelude material that was never in the Masterworks line, which meant it only collected slightly into a third Masterwork. That meant The Defenders Vol. 2 collected most of Masterwork Vol. 3 and all of Volumes 4-5.

We’re currently on Masterwork Vol. 9. It should take Volumes 10-11 to get to issue #125, after which the title switches over to become “New Defenders.”

That means we’ll likely have The Defenders Vol. 3 collect MMW 6-8 and The Defenders Vol. 4 collect MMW 9-11.

Personally, I think Marvel could’ve just crammed one more Masterwork in per book to eliminate the need for Vol. 4 entirely. Defenders isn’t exactly the hottest seller, and it took a fair amount of publisher hubris to assume this omnibus line could survive four volumes and New Defenders when instead it could be done in four total volumes.

Anyway, I suspect that ship has sailed. There are well over 110 remaining issues of this series to collect, and I doubt Marvel is going to start super-sizing the line now to get through that in just two volumes. We’re stuck with the map we’re stuck with.

A vote for these two volumes is a vote to collect the two of the three remaining classic Defenders omnibus volumes.

Volume 3 would collect Defenders (1972) #42-91 and material from Foom (1973) #19, Marvel Treasury Edition (1974) #16, and Tales to Astonish (1979) #13.

Volume 4 would collect Defenders (1972) #92-125, along with Marvel Team-Up (1972) #101, Captain America (1968) #268, and Avengers (1963) Annual 11.

If Volume 4 wasn’t a MMW-based classic omnibus, it could also jump ahead include “The Return of The Defenders” 1992 annual crossover (Incredible Hulk (1968) Annual 18, Namor the Sub-Mariner (1990) Annual 2, Silver Surfer (1988) Annual 5, and Doctor Strange Sorcerer Supreme (1988) Annual 2), because that features the original Defenders lineup and will make less sense collected at the end of the subsequent New Defenders volume.

Defenders: New Defenders (1983 – 1986)

Defenders becomes the “New Defenders” with issue #125 featuring an all-new line-up, even if the indicia does not reflect this change until issue #140. That line-up is a half X-Men – it includes Beast, Angel, and Iceman along with Moondragon, Gargoyle, Cloud, and team mainstay Valkyrie.

Heck, maybe we could market this as “X-Men and the Defenders” or “Prelude to X-Factor: The Original X-Men.”

I’m joking. Mostly.

The interesting thing about this book is we don’t necessarily have to wait for Masterworks to reach this material in order for Marvel to print it. We’ve seem them leap ahead in other lines like Captain America to use Epic Collections material to fuel their omnibus contents. Since this run is already entirely covered by Epic Collections, it’s fair game.

It’s also much bigger than the prior two omnibuses – likely to total very close to 1,000 pages. I think that’s intentional… there’s no way Marvel wants to split up this run. In fact, I’d press them to add a handful of additional issues as outlined below.

A vote for this book is a vote to collect a relatively standalone run of an all-new, all-different Defenders team that was anchored by the trio of the original five X-Men who weren’t a couple.

This would collect the final run of “New Defenders” issues from Defenders (1972) #126-152, Iceman (1984) #1-4, Beauty and the Beast (1984) #1-4, and Gargoyle (1985) #1-4, which is exactly how they have been collected in a pair of Epic Collections.

As an epilogue, it would add Strange Tales (1987) #5-6 and Doctor Strange, Sorcerer Supreme (1988) #3-4, which is significant for the non-X-Factor team members of this team and resolves their stories.

It could also add some Cloud and Gargoyle stories from Solo Avengers (1987) and, optionally, The Return of The Defenders” 1992 annual crossover (Incredible Hulk (1968) Annual 18, Namor the Sub-Mariner (1990) Annual 2, Silver Surfer (1988) Annual 5, and Doctor Strange Sorcerer Supreme (1988) Annual 2).

Defenders Omnibus Mapping: Defenders in the 90s

Defenders: Doctor Strange and the Secret Defenders (1993 – 1995)

Secret Defenders (1993) started as a second Doctor Strange title (alongside Doctor Strange Sorcerer Supreme (1988)), but it wound up being a sort of B-List Team-Up book that mostly drafted characters who weren’t anchoring their own series at the time.

There are a pair of existing Secret Defenders paperbacks collecting the full 25 issues of this series that are both less than 275 pages long – see Guide to Defenders for details. That means if we don’t add anything we’d have a slim omnibus that’s just over 500 pages.

A vote for this book is a vote to combine a pair of existing Secret Defenders paperbacks into one omnibus to cover this material in oversize format for the first time. Doctor Strange only leads the team for the first half of the series.

This would collect Secret Defenders (1993) #1-25. It could add Doctor Strange Sorcerer Supreme (1988) #50 and Fantastic Four (1961) #374. Team leader Doctor Druid is next in Druid (1995) #1-4, which is in Hellstorm by Warren Ellis but could also be repeated here.

Defenders Omnibus Mapping: Post-2000 Defenders

Defenders by Busiek, DeMatteis, Casey, Fraction, et al (2001 – 2012) [includes Heralds & Vengeance]

Kurt Busiek revived the Defenders at the start of the 2000s in The Defenders (2001), which reassembled the original line-up. Since the idea of the original line-up was that the heroes were almost too powerful to be on a team together, Busiek leaned into that and had them break bad in a third arc, which was retitled to The Order (2002). Later, a “lost” script from that run was published as The Defenders: From the Marvel Vault (2011) #1.

Next, Keith Giffen, J.M. DeMatteis & Kevin Maguire tried to replicate their sardonic magic from Justice League International on Defenders (2005) #1-5, only for it to fall a bit flat. Then, Joe Casey rebooted the team with a line-up more reflective of the middle of their classic run on The Last Defenders (2008), which he returned to in the background of the impossible-to-describe Vengeance (2011).

However, before Vengeance, Kathryn Immonen’s Heralds (2010) had a very Defenders-y cast and it might not be collected elsewhere unless Valkyrie improbably scores her own omnibus.

Finally, Cullen Bunn’s Fear Itself: The Deep (2011) was a Defenders book in every way except the name, and it worked as a backdoor pilot for Matt Fraction & Cullen Bunn’s reality-bending take on The Defenders (2011).

Suddenly, we have 56 issues worth of Defenders all in one book! I think some people would quibble about the inclusion of Vengeance (they’re wrong) and Heralds (where else will it go?!), but otherwise this is a book that begins and ends with a classic-inspired line-up anchored by Doctor Strange.

A vote for this book is a vote for a book collecting a surprisingly large amount of Defenders material from 2001 to 2012, including the work of several notable writers.

This would collect Busiek’s The Defenders (2001) #1-12, The Order (2002) #1-6 [AKA #13-18], The Defenders: From the Marvel Vault (2011) #1, Giffen & Dematteis’s Defenders (2005) #1-5, Joe Casey’s The Last Defenders (2008) #1-5, Immonen’s Heralds (2010) #1-5, Casey’s Vengeance (2011) #1-6, Bunn’s Fear Itself: The Deep (2011) #1-4, and Fraction’s The Defenders (2011) #1-12 (along with material from Fear Itself (2010) #7 and Marvel Point One (2011) #.1).

It could optionally include Hellcat (2000) #1-3, although that would also be in a Hellcat omnibus.

Valkyrie, Fearless Defender of Asgard by Cullen Bunn (1994 – 2019) [Fearless, Fearless Defenders, Asgardians of the Galaxy]

Brunnhilde, the original Valkyrie, debuted in the pages of Defenders (1972) #4 in 1973. For her full history and every appearance explained, see my Guide to Valkyrie!

There’s really no point to doing a “The Early Years” omnibus for Valkyrie – it would just be issues of Defenders! However, Valkyrie has a pair of 90s solo stories and a brief burst of significant issues in 2009-2010 that would act as an anchor in this book to introduce her character.

However, the real point of this title would be to collect a trio of series by Cullen Bunn, who crackled Valkyrie into wider popularity and a starring role in the 20000s across three series – Fear Itself: The Fearless (2011), Fearless Defenders (2013), and Asgardians of the Galaxy (2018).

All three of these series might not see collection elsewhere. Fear Itself (2010) is a sprawling event that would have trouble containing this epilogue in an event omnibus. Fearless Defenders (2013) would really only have another home in a Misty Knight omnibus. And, while you’re about to see us repeat Asgardians of the Galaxy (2018) in the next proposed omnibus, it’s very much the conclusion of Bunn’s Valkyrie saga and primarily belongs here.

A vote for this book is a vote to collect all of Brunnhilde the Valkyrie’s significant post-Bronze Age material into a single omnibus, including three series that might not otherwise be collected in omnibus.

This would collect some non-Bunn establishing Valkyrie material from Marvel Comics Presents (1988) #168 (4th story), Valkyrie (1997) #1, Valkyrie (2010) #1, She-Hulk: Cosmic Collision (2009) #1, Heralds (2010) #1-5, and Secret Avengers (2010) #14.

Then, it would collect Bunn’s run from Fear Itself: The Fearless (2011) #0-12, Fearless Defenders (2013) #1-12, and Asgardians of the Galaxy (2018) #1-10.

Defenders by Al Ewing et al (2015 – 2022) [Mighty Defenders, Tarot, Best Defense, & Beyond]

A vote for this book is a vote to collect a slim slice of Al Ewing Defenders material, backed up by a series of one-shots from all-star writers and a retcon series.

This would collect Captain Britain and the Mighty Defenders (2015) #1-2, “Best Defense” (2018) one-shots (Immortal Hulk, Namor, Doctor Strange, Silver Surfer, and Defenders #1), Tarot (2019) #1-4 (an Avenger/Defenders retcon series), Defenders (2021) #1-5, and Defenders: Beyond (2022) #1-5.

Defenders Omnibus Mapping: The Defenders of NYC

Thanks to MCU synergy, now “The Defenders” refers to a totally different team in the eyes of more people than are likely familiar with the classic comics version!

That team is effectively “The Defenders of NYC,” a street-level team anchored by Daredevil. The version we saw on Netflix in 2017 was certainly influenced by the early-2000s Marvel Knights comics, which had a similar tone and assembled a similar unnamed team of street defenders.

Marvel Knights: The Defenders of NYC (2000 – 2003 & 2018) [both Marvel Knights ongoings and Double Shots minis + 20th anniversary]

Marvel Knights was an imprint that told in-continuity stories with a slightly indie, slightly mature flair that were focused on standing alone while still existing within canon.

As part of that imprint, in 2000 it launched a flagship title called “Marvel Knights” that was effectively a “NYC street-level heroes team-up” with a core cast of Daredevil, Black Widow, Punisher, & Dagger – but appearances by many more characters. That extended to brief second series in 2002 and spawned a pair of “Double Shot” team-up anthology mini-series that paired Marvel Knights characters with other heroes.

We’ve had a paperback complete collection of the initial 15-issue series billed as “Defenders of the Street,” but no collection of the other 14 issues. That’s a worth omnibus on its own, but it also makes sense to add Marvel Knights 20th (2018), which is a specific tribute to these titles. And, we could optionally also add Elektra: Glimpse & Echo (2002).

A vote for this book is a vote to collect all of the Marvel Knights team titles into a single book, some of which would be collected for the first time!

This book would collect Marvel Knights (2000) #1-15, Marvel Knights (2002) #1-6, Marvel Double Shot (2002) #1-4, & Marvel Knights Double Shot (2003) #1-4. It would also contain Marvel Knights 20th (2018) #1-6 as bonus material.

It could make sense to add Elektra: Glimpse & Echo (2002) #1-4, even though that would also be in an Elektra book or an Echo book.

Jessica Jones & the Defenders of NYC by Bendis (2004 – 2018) [includes Pulse & Defenders (2017)]

This is primarily a Jessica Jones omnibus, but it includes a run where she is a member of a “Defenders” street-level team mirroring the cast of the Netflix MCU show.

This book focuses on every time Brian Bendis wrote Jessica Jones after the conclusion of Alias (2001). He did that in three series: The Pulse (2004), a Jessica Jones (2016) ongoing, and a short-lived Defenders (2017) title. See Guide to Jessica Jones for more details.

A vote for this book is a vote to collect all of Bendis’s post-Alias Jessica Jones into a single omnibus!

This would collect three distinct series by Bendis, plus some connective material.

First, The Pulse (2004), starring Jessica Jones from The Pulse (2004) #1-14 and New Avengers (2005) Annual 1.

Then, connective material featuring Jones written by Bendis from New Avengers (2005) #22, 38, 47-49, 58-60, & Annual 3, plus Marvel Assistant-Sized Spectacular (2009) #2 (2nd story).

Finally, the pair of Jessica Jones (2016) #1-18 and Defenders (2017) #1-10, which were Bendis’s parting shot on the character.