Teen Brigade

The Teen Brigade is either of two distinct fictional teams in the Marvel Comics Universe. Both teams were recruited by Rick Jones from young amateur radio enthusiasts in order to obtain and divulge strategic information about safety hazards, most notably those involving the Incredible Hulk.

Overview

The rationale for creating such teams was that with their help Rick could reach the Hulk (and occasionally other people or events of interest) faster, possibly in time to help him avoid fights or other incidents that could bring the Hulk trouble.

There were two incarnations of the Teen Brigade, set apart from each other by a good number of years.

The first Teen Brigade played a role in the origin of the Avengers, because it was the tampering of a radio transmission the Brigade intended to send to the Fantastic Four that brought the original Avengers (Thor, Iron Man, Wasp and Ant-Man) together to fight the Hulk. They later freed the Avengers when they had been imprisoned inside Kang's ship by pretending they wanted to join Kang, then dropping an energy cylinder to distract the time-traveller.

The second Teen Brigade was assembled at a time when the Hulk was under the Corruptor's control. In an eerie parallel to the Avengers' origin, the Corruptor's own equipment interfered with a transmission meant to the Avengers and instead reached a handful of south western superheroes, giving birth to the superteam known as the Rangers.

The Teen Brigade was mentioned as an inspiration by Captain America when he decided to create an online network in stories published in the early 1990s.

A third version of the Teen Brigade appear in the 2011 series Vengeance composed of Barnell Bohusk, Angel Salvadore, the In-Betweener and two new heroes: Miss America (America Chavez) and the Ultimate Nullifier.

External links

• Teen Brigade at The Appendix to the Handbook of the Marvel Universe.