Legion of Monsters

Legion of Monsters
Legion of Monsters
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First appearance	Marvel Premiere #28
Created by	Bill Mantlo; Frank Robbins; Steve Gan
In-story information
Base(s)	Monster Metropolis
Member(s)	Man-Thing; Manphibian; Morbius, the Living Vampire; N'Kantu, the Living Mummy; Werewolf by Night

Legion of Monsters is the name of different fictional superhero teams appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics.

Publication history

The Legion of Monsters first appeared in Marvel Comics chronology in Marvel Premiere #28 (February 1976) and was created by Bill Mantlo, Frank Robbins, and Steve Gan.^[1]

Unrelated to the team, The Legion of Monsters was also used as a banner name for two magazines, The Legion of Monsters #1 (September 1975) and Marvel Preview #8 (September 1976), both of which featured multiple stories starring some of Marvel's monster characters.

Fictional team biography

Legion of Monsters (1976)

The first version of the Legion of Monsters was united by chance to investigate the appearance of a strange being called The Starseed. Although the being was benevolent, Morbius, the Living Vampire and the Werewolf by Night were overcome by their hungers and attacked it. The Ghost Rider intervened, as the Starseed was unable to overcome his fear of the Man-Thing and was burned by it. The dying Starseed attempted to cure the Legion of their monstrous forms but was too weak and died minutes later. Tired of fighting, and disappointed in their actions, the team split up, although they barely acknowledged even being a team in the first place.^[2]

Legion of Monsters (2010)

A new version of the Legion of Monsters was formed by Morbius the Living Vampire, the Werewolf by Night, and the Man-Thing. They are joined by N'Kantu, the Living Mummy and the Manphibian. They came together to protect monsters from the Hunter of Monster Special Forces and send the monsters into the Morlock Tunnels to the Monster Metropolis. They first appeared when the Moloids that work for the Man-Thing find the decapitated parts of the Punisher (who was sliced up by Wolverine's son Daken) and Morbius reassembles him as FrankenCastle.^[3] The Punisher joins up with the Legion of Monsters to help protect the Monster Metropolis from the Hunter of Monster Special Forces where FrankenCastle fights the Hunter of Monster Special Forces' leader, Robert Hellsgaard.^[4]

The Werewolf by Night and N'Kantu the Living Mummy are shown attempting to arrest the Dimensional Man for feeding on the life force of fellow monsters, before being joined by Morbius the living vampire and Manphibian, who ultimately work together to capture him. Elsa Bloodstone is teleported to Monster Metropolis after chasing a monster that's been killing teenagers. When Morbius discovers that the monster is dead, Elsa is arrested and held in custody while he performs an autopsy on its body. It is later revealed that it was actually corrupted with evil energies that originated from within Morbius himself.^[5]

The Legion of Monsters later help the Red Hulk overcome the panicked monsters at the time when the Red Hulk had journeyed to the Monster Metropolis. With the help of Doctor Strange, the Red Hulk and the Legion of Monsters discover that the spirit that has been bothering the Red Hulk is the insane evil side of Doc Samson (referred to as Dark Samson) which has not passed into the next life. Using a ghost entrapment device, the Red Hulk and the Legion of Monsters were able destroy the Dark Samson spirit by ripping the Dark Samson spirit in half. The Red Hulk and the Legion of Monsters did a toast to honor Doc Samson after that.^[6]

Members

Legion of Monsters (1976)

Legion of Monsters (2010)

Morbius, the Living Vampire - Leader
Werewolf by Night
Elsa Bloodstone
Frankenstein
FrankenCastle - A Frankenstein version of Punisher.
Manphibian
Man-Thing
N'Kantu, the Living Mummy
Satana
Shiklah
Simon Garth, the Zombie

In other media

The Legion of Monsters makes a cameo in Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds during Jill Valentine's character ending. The Legion of Monsters is seen ambushing Blade and Jill forcing the two to team up to fight them.
Three Legion of Monster members: Morbius, The Living Mummy, and Man-Thing appear in Lego Marvel Superheroes 2

Collected editions


Title	Material collected	Published date	ISBN
Decades: Marvel in the 70s - Legion of Monsters	Legion of Monsters (vol. 1) #1; Marvel Preview #8; Marvel Premiere #28; Marvel Spotlight #2, 5; Frankenstein #1; Tomb of Dracula #10; material from Savage Tales #1	April 2019	978-1302916619
Legion Of Monsters	Legion of Monsters: Werewolf by Night, Legion of Monsters: Morbius, Legion of Monsters: Man-Thing, Legion of Monsters: Satana	November 2007	978-0785127543
Legion of Monsters	Legion of Monsters (vol. 2) #1-4	April 2012	978-0785140573
Bloodstone & The Legion Of Monsters	Legion of Monsters (vol. 2) #1-4 and Bloodstone #1-4, Astonishing Tales: Boom Boom and Elsa, Marvel Presents #1-2, Marvel Monsters: From the Files of Ulysses Bloodstone & The Monster Hunters; material from Marvel Assistant-Sized Spectacular #2, Girl Comics #2	September 2017	978-1302908027

References

^ DeFalco, Tom; Sanderson, Peter; Brevoort, Tom; Teitelbaum, Michael; Wallace, Daniel; Darling, Andrew; Forbeck, Matt; Cowsill, Alan; Bray, Adam (2019). The Marvel Encyclopedia. DK Publishing. p. 212. ISBN 978-1-4654-7890-0.
^ Marvel Premiere #28
^ Punisher vol. 7 #12
^ Punisher vol. 7 #13-16
^ Legion of Monsters vol. 2 #1
^ Hulk vol. 2 #52