7.) THE BLACK PANTHER -- I can easily justify his inclusion (if needs be) by means of brute, dispassionate logic alone... but I'll "come clean," nevertheless. T'Challa is my second-favorite Marvel Comics character evereverEVER (behind only the ever-incredible Captain America); so he'd have made the "short list" in any event.

No Avenger can leave or enter a room more whisper-silently. Not one of them can match his incredible, indefatigable tracking abilities (either in the wilds of the African veldt OR the stone canyons of the urban metropolis). He can (and has, when driven by necessity) take command of the team as smoothly and effortlessly as any Avenger save Captain America... and yet remains, nonetheless, the consummate "team player."

Too (so long as we're still playing "logically," I mean) his presence within the august ranks lends the team an incredible cachet worldwide, given his unique, unduplicable status as the reigning monarch of the hyper-technological wonderland known as "Wakanda." Which is the sort of bonus "perk" you're probably not going to get out of (say) The Two-Gun Kid. I'm just sayin', really, is all.

Plus take another gander at the panel reproductions, above. (I scanned 'em nice and BIG, for all of you fellow Panther devotees out there.) He's cool, cool, COOL -- !

WHAT HE BRINGS TO THE PARTY A silent, unseen thunderbolt, who can (and does) level opponents left, right and center. (Not to mention a dollop of "diplomatic immunity." Just in case.)

8.) DOCTOR STRANGE -- This guy's invitation to the dance, I shouldn't really have to "justify" at all... either as a powerhouse, or a "team player."

As anyone who's ever read an issue of Marvel's now- defunct DEFENDERS title during its Steve Englehart/Steve Gerber "glory years" will happily and readily attest the solemn and incorruptible "Sorcerer Supreme" not only functions with admirable ease within a group setting... he positively thrives in one.

Too he would provide the (sometimes) neglected Scarlet Witch with both a confidant and a mentor; two things the lady has often lacked over the years, I'm sorry to say. And the differing "takes" of the two characters, re the nature and uses of "magick" -- Stephen Strange sought personal abasement (for past sins) and then personal growth [there's that ever-present AVENGERS "subtext" again] in sorcery; Wanda has always viewed it (chiefly) as just another weapon, for personal empowerment -- keeps each one from simply becoming the other's "shadow" (as it were) on the team.

A Sorcerer (Supreme)... and his apprentice.

Has a nice, timeless "ring" to it, doesn't it?

Besides I can't think of another mainstream super-hero team that's ever had two magic-users in its ranks before, simultaneously. And no one ever complains when a super-group has two muscle men or acrobats at the same time.

WHAT HE BRINGS TO THE PARTY One of Marvel Comics' most sage and venerable Silver Age characters, whose interactions with others in the more "traditional" super-hero community have always made for exciting and entertaining stories. Which is kinda sorta the whole point, really.

9.) SPIDER-MAN -- I'd like to advance the motion that Marvel Comics simply bite the damned bullet, and officially retire this whole, tired "Spider-Man is a habitual loner" crapola, already. Anyone out there wanna second it...?

Let's let the actual, published Marvel canon tell the tale the guy starred in something like -- what? -- one hundred and FIFTY issues of MARVEL TEAM-UP, or something like that? He's "guest-starred" in practically every Marvel comic ever printed, from HOWARD THE DUCK to MAN-THING to THE SILVER SURFER, for cryin' out loud! He knows everybloodybody in the Marvel universe! He's entertained more "company" than Martha freakin' Stewart -- !!!

He's Marvel's top "A"-list character... and he doesn't make the membership "grade," instead of hopeless losers Starfox, Sersi and GILGAMESH -- ?!?

Dial "1-800-I-DON'T-THINK-SO."

This one is a "no-brainer," people. Plain and simple.

WHAT HE BRINGS TO THE PARTY The same patented wise-cracking and frothy fun that's kept the character a Marvel Comics "staple" for nearly forty years, already.

Come on; he's SPIDER-MAN.

What conceivable reason could there possibly be for him not to be here...?

10.) THE ANGEL -- This is another one of those "characterization, first and foremost" entries. Those of you out there who turn ashen and all a-tremble at the very notion of tapping a member or two on any grounds other than those of Power, Power and MORE Power...

... turn back. Now. NONE of the three selections remaining can possibly make you happy campers.

"Warren Worthington III" -- a.k.a., the high-flying Angel -- was (for my money) the most naturally "super-heroic" member of the original Silver Age X-MEN. He was the only member of said team to have embarked, of his own will, on a (short-lived) solo crime-fighting career (as "The Avenging Angel"), before his induction into said team. He became the spiritual "figurehead" of the '70's super-team, THE CHAMPIONS, serving as their public "mouthpiece" and PR mastermind. And he served as the de facto leader of the last incarnation of Marvel's DEFENDERS team, in the bargain.

All of the foregoing would seem to clearly indicate a restless urge on the character's part to push himself outside and away from the straitjacket constraints of the Marvel Comics "mutants only" ghetto.

He's as charismatic and readily accessible a character as may be found anywhere within the borders of the MU... and is, demonstrably, an eager and ambitious "team player," to boot.

He'd make one bloody terrific team-leader-in-training, under the patient, watchful tutelage of Captain America.

Just call me "Mr. Long View."

WHAT HE BRINGS TO THE PARTY A healthy dollop of Clark Gable and Douglas Fairbanks, in a team traditionally given over to poker-faced John Agars.

11.) THE BANSHEE -- So long as I'm poaching in the X-MEN's game preserve, anyway... I might as well "bag" my legal limit, and rescue this intriguing character from the tar pits of slovenly "mutant comics" writing, as well.

"Sean Cassidy" (The Banshee) has a lot of nice, springboard- friendly "goodies" on his resume. He's a reformed super-villain (the Avengers traditionally get all sorts of storytelling mileage out of those), with all of the baggage and underworld (ex-) contacts that implies (his cousin -- "Black Tom" Cassidy -- is also a super-villain); an ex-INTERPOL agent (which strengthens the team's ties to the international crime-fighting community); and he's a landed member of the gentry in his native Ireland, and comes complete with his own sprite-haunted castle (!!).

Call me crazynuttykookoo, if you wanna... but a package like that one looks pretty darned attractive, if I'm a writer staring a multi-year haul on this title dead in the eyes.

Additionally the guy is a super-powered warhorse. (No less an authority on super-powered slugfests than Magneto, his own bad self, referred to the Banshee as "... the only one of the new X-Men worth fighting." So there.

Finally being a gentlemen of (semi-)advanced years... he'd be able to provide (if handled at all properly) the benefit of sage counsel to some of the younger "turks" on this team.

WHAT HE BRINGS TO THE PARTY An astonishingly well-rounded collection of potential storytelling benefits... and a devastating super- power not already possessed by any other Avenger, past or present.

12.) THE BLACK WIDOW -- Another femme fatale is needed here, I think... and they don't come any more alluringly feminine or astonishingly versatile and effective than my all-time favorite comics heroine "Madame Natasha Romanoff"... a.k.a., The Black Widow.

As a hand-to-hand combatant, the lady is virtually without peer in the Marvel universe. She's well-versed in the arts of espionage; sabotage; statescraft; and "black ops." She possesses a positive genius for the marshaling and commanding of troops (in THE CHAMPIONS, she routinely snapped orders at -- and was obeyed by -- an Olympian demi-god; a daemonically- possessed stunt cyclist; and a pair of young and impetuous former X-MEN. So you just know that one had to have been one hell of a tough gig.

(I mean... heck you try bossing Hercules around for a few days, and see what sort of body cast you end up in...!)

It's this last fillip, in fact, which promises the most intriguing possibilities, story-wise. Madame Romanoff does not not NOT take at all "well" to being given orders, without first making dead certain that everyone else in the room is aware of her opinions, as well. And telling her to "sit down and shut UP" guarantees you absolutely nothing, save an even larger serving of her outlook on matters, various and sundry.

Those of you who've already given the accompanying IF I RAN THE JUSTICE LEAGUE pages even a cursory once over will remember my firm belief in the adage that every super-team needs one "loose cannon"-type.

Say "howdy" to the nice lady, boys.

WHAT SHE BRINGS TO THE PARTY An immediate (and long-lasting) challenge to Captain America's otherwise unshakable authority, as Team Leader. Which means characterization and conflict. Both of which (in turn) make for the very bestest comic book super-team stories.

Okay. So.

Now that I've gone out and cheesed off every last Yellowjacket; Wasp; Beast; Wonder Man; Quicksilver; and (for all I know) She-Hulk fan out there, by leaving their own particular fave raves off of The Magic List of Twelve...

... well. In the immortal words of MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATRE 3000's "Joel Robinson" "... what do you think, sirs...?"

"If I Ran the Avengers..." PAGE ONE