By Ben Morse
Every week, a secret cabal of Marvel staffers gathers to discuss the best of the best when it comes to the House of Ideas.
With the release of MARVEL 1985 #3 by Mark Millar and Tommy Lee Edwards this week, everybody at Marvel can't help partying like it's…well…like it's 1985!
And since the Secret Cabal knows a good thing when they see it, they proudly present the follow up to last week's sensational Take 10: We Love the '90s with Take 10: We Love the '80s! Thrill as the Cabal selects their 10 favorite characters that flourished during the decade that brought us hair metal, jean jackets and Marvel milestones from "Inferno" to Frank Miller's seminal run on DAREDEVIL and much more!
For each character, you also get a special spotlight comic courtesy of Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited.
As always, these picks reflect the personal choices of the Secret Cabal, not the official opinion of Marvel or Marvel.com, and can be considered subjective at best. Enjoy!
10. THE BLACK CAT
First Appearance: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #194 (1979)
Learn More…here
Why She Makes The List: "Some love MJ, some love Gwen, but to others, Felicia Hardy is the only woman for
Spider-Man. Unlike other women in Spidey's life, you never knew what Hardy, aka the
Black Cat, was going to do because she would—and did—do anything! Whenever she was on the cusp of going to the dark side, she'd pull herself back and just when you thought she'd reformed, Black Cat would do something utterly devilish. She also brought out an exciting side of Peter, allowing him to be himself and not hide anything from the woman in his life, as she could share in his life as Spider-Man
and as Peter." – Secret Cabal member OneManDynasty
Spotlight Comic: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #195—The awesome origin of the Black Cat!
9. TASKMASTER
First Appearance: AVENGERS #195 (1980)
Learn More…here
Why He Makes The List: "Ever wonder where those hordes and hordes of lackeys in the Marvel Universe come from? Yeah, that's Taskmaster's doing. This guy actually has the chutzpah to train entire schools full of scum and villainy the world over. Not only that, ol' Tasky has probably got one of the most inventive abilities in comics—photographic reflexes—taking moves from the best of them and using them for his own advantage.
Daredevil's acrobatics, Hawkeye's precision, Captain America's fighting abilities—you just can't touch this guy!" – Secret Cabal member HeartOfOak
Spotlight Comic: AVENGERS #196—Taskmaster takes on Earth's Mightiest Heroes, the
Avengers!
8. THE HELLFIRE CLUB
First Appearance: UNCANNY X-MEN #129 (1980)
Learn More…here
Why They Make The List: "The
Hellfire Club's introduction not only provided the
X-Men with some of their most memorable foes—and one future ally in the White Queen—but also introduced something very new to the X-mythos: class-based discrimination.
Magneto and The X-Men fought over ideology, but the Hellfire Club didn't care about any of those philosophical bouts, they just wanted to prosper. They considered themselves a better kind of mutant and felt they should have the real power. They never had any inhibitions about displaying their genetic superiority and possessed a confidence that was both inspiring and terrifying. Whereas the X-Men and Magneto fought for mutantkind, each with flaws in their methods, the Hellfire Club fought for themselves." – OneManDynasty
Spotlight Comic: UNCANNY X-MEN #134—The X-Men battle the Hellfire Club's Inner Circle, with the fate of
Phoenix on the line!
7. ELEKTRA
First Appearance: DAREDEVIL v1 #168 (1981)
Learn More…here
Why She Makes The List: "Half of one of Marvel's most epic romances,
Elektra redefined the role of female characters when she sprang forth from the imagination of Frank Miller. Matt Murdock's gentle college lover returned to the life of Daredevil as a vicious assassin, Elektra combined beauty and danger in a package that exceeded just about any femme fatale to come before. Her doomed love for Matt and the hint of tragedy behind her brutal efficiency contributed to making her an enigmatic and incredibly popular character—so popular that she would conquer death and become a Marvel icon years after her memorable debut." – Secret Cabal member Annihilator882
Spotlight Comic: DAREDEVIL: THE MAN WITHOUT FEAR #2—Journey back to the formative years of Matt Murdock and Elektra's love and witness the tragedy that changed her life forever!
6. DAZZLER
First Appearance: UNCANNY X-MEN #130 (1980)
Learn More…here
Why She Makes The List: "Only one paragraph to describe the awesomeness, the fabulousness, the
diva that is
Dazzler? Okay. In UNCANNY X-MEN #130, she debuts and turns down the X-Men. Stones right there. But it worked in her favor as she concentrated on her career, generating huge album sales, and she got her own movie. But then she was revealed to the public as a mutant. It was this forced outing that updated the X-Men metaphor for this generation from the Civil Rights movement of the early '60s to the Social Rights issues people still face today. Not willing to go quietly, this songbird became a beacon in the night, illuminating the world around her, fighting the hatred thrown at people just for being different. She became a fighter, an X-Man and an inspiration to many." – Secret Cabal member RunawayJ
Spotlight Comic: UNCANNY X-MEN #130—The dynamic debut of the Dazzler!
5. HOBGOBLIN
First Appearance: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #238 (1983)
Learn More…here
Why He Makes The List: "After Stan Lee, Steve Ditko and friends populated Spider-Man's rogues gallery with dozens of memorable faces in the years following the character's debut, the Web Slinger suffered a bit of a drought in the bad guy department for some time, but the
Hobgoblin represented a change to all that when he glided onto the scene in 1983. Combining elements of the classic Green Goblin with a new air of mystery and aggressive attitude, Hobby became the pivot for many a classic Spidey story during his unrelenting quest to conquer the New York underworld. Hobgoblin became the first of a new breed of more dangerous villains who made it clear to Peter Parker that he was not a kid anymore." –Annihilator882
Spotlight Comic: AMAZING SPIDER-GIRL #6—Spider-Man's daughter duels with the horrible Hobgoblin!
4. CLOAK & DAGGER
First Appearance: SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN v1 #64 (1982)
Learn More…here
Why They Make The List: "Okay, they are just cool, darn it. These two faced overwhelming odds and they did it together, yin and yang, light and dark. They are one of the best duos in the Marvel Universe. They even fought in 'Maximum
Carnage!' Sure it's a staple of today that 'everyone has their own Cloak &
Dagger pitch in,' and it seems that they may be outdated, but when done right—see: RUNAWAYS—
Cloak & Dagger prove they are awesome, even today." – RunawayJ
Spotlight Comic: RUNAWAYS v2 #9—Cloak recruits the
Runaways to save the life of Dagger!
3. SHE-HULK
First Appearance: SAVAGE SHE-HULK #1 (1980)
Learn More…here
Why She Makes The List: "When she first appeared as the 'Savage' She-
Hulk, the Hulk's cousin Jennifer Walters was a kinda cool, but ultimately pale, imitation of her rampaging relative. However, when John Byrne and other creative luminaries got hold of Shulkie later in the '80s and decided to replace her rage with an insatiable whimsy for life and adventure. One of Marvel's most outgoing and enjoyable characters of the era, She-Hulk instantly became a fan favorite and, in between stints with the Avengers, replaced the Thing for a memorable spell during Byrne's run writing and drawing the
Fantastic Four. To this day,
She-Hulk's boisterous sense of humor and unapologetic flirtatiousness and zest has kept her at the forefront of Marvel's pantheon." – Annihilator882
Spotlight Comic: FANTASTIC FOUR #268—She-Hulk and the rest of the FF stare down the legacy of
Dr. Doom!
2. THE NEW MUTANTS
First Appearance: MARVEL GRAPHIC NOVEL #4 (1982)
Learn More…here
Why They Make The List: "They were 'my' X-Men. As I was getting into comics, the 'Dark Phoenix Saga' had happened, the post-Phoenix team was well formed and there were 20 years of continuity tied up in them. I read them, but I always felt like I was trying to catch up. Then they 'died' and
Professor X had to form a new team—the
New Mutants. They were in school, like me. They didn't know if they would ever live up to those that came before them, and they were the outcasts. But they formed a tight bond, a family almost that hadn't been seen since the days of Xavier's first five students. They went on to be their own X-Men team in
X-Force, and many have graduated, but nothing beats the first 50 issues when they were all together." – RunawayJ
Spotlight Comic: NEW MUTANTS v1 #21—The New Mutants meet
Warlock—in the midst of their slumber party!
1. KITTY PRYDE
First Appearance: UNCANNY X-MEN #129 (1980)
Learn More…here
Why She Makes The List: "Not the first time she has conquered Take 10,
Kitty Pryde continues to prove that she is one of the most important characters in the Marvel U. In the '60s and '70s, Peter Parker was the everyman, the person you could relate to. The X-Men, on the other hand, were 'All-New, All-Different,' and really creepy, to be honest. Enter: Kitty Pryde. She gave us a relatable character, a fresh pair of eyes and a character to grow up with. Whether telling a fairy tale, fighting aliens alone on a Christmas Eve, having her heart broken by her first love or rising up to become someone truly astonishing, Kitty is the best character to come out of the 1980s not due to power or costume or gimmick, but because she is the most well-rounded. And she is deeply missed." – RunawayJ
Spotlight Comic: UNCANNY X-MEN #139—Kitty Pryde's first day with the X-Men features thrills, twists and plenty of danger!
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