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Great Lakes Avengers
The Great Lakes Avengers as seen on the cover ofWest Coast Avengers #46 (July 1989).
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First appearance	West Coast Avengers #46 (July 1989)
Created by	John Byrne
In-story information
Base(s)	GLA Headquarters inMilwaukee,Wisconsin
Member(s)	See below

TheGreat Lakes Avengers (also known asThe Lightning Rods,The Great Lakes X-Men,The Great Lakes Champions, andThe Great Lakes Initiative) are afictionalsuperhero team appearing inAmerican comic books published byMarvel Comics. The characters were introduced inWest Coast Avengers #46 (July 1989), and were created byJohn Byrne.

The team first appeared inWest Coast Avengers vol. 2 #46^[1] and then made appearances in issues #48–49 and #64, and a cameo appearance inAvengers West Coast Annual #6. The GLA also make an appearance in issue #309 ofAvengers and in the 1990Avengers Annual. This was followed by appearances in issues #15–17 and #25 ofThunderbolts and issues #10–11 and #61 ofDeadpool.

In 2005, the GLA were featured in a self-titled, four-issue mini-series (written byDan Slott) and the one-shot,GLX-Mas Special. This was followed in 2006 by a minor appearance inI ♥ Marvel: Masked Intentions,The Thing vol. 2, #8, andCable and Deadpool #30. In 2007, the team was featured in the one-shotDeadpool/GLI Summer Fun Spectacular. The team also made cameo appearances in issues #19 and #25 ofAvengers: The Initiative and a minor appearance in issue #3 ofAge of Heroes. In 2011, the team made an appearance in issue #6 ofFear Itself: The Home Front.

A new volume and ongoing series of the team debuted in 2016 from writer Zac Gorman and artist Will Robson.^[2] Seven issues were published for this series before ending.^[3] Since then, the team and its associated cast have had only minor appearances and cameos in other Marvel comics.

The team has changed its name on several occasions. The AvengerHawkeye first protests their use of the name "Avengers",^[4] and eventually the GLA are sent a cease-and-desist order by the Maria Stark Foundation.^[5] The team rename themselves the Lightning Rods after fellow super-team, theThunderbolts.^[6] While working forS.H.I.E.L.D., Mr. Immortal suggests a name-change toS.W.O.R.D.,^[7] although ultimately the team's name is changed to the Great Lakes X-Men when its members collectively realize that they are allmutants.^[5]

After another cease and desist fromMarvel Girl, the GLA rename themselves the Great Lakes Champions.^[8] Following the events ofAvengers: Civil War, the team operated as the Great Lakes Initiative in the state of Wisconsin.^[9] Some time later, the team reverts to the name Great Lakes Avengers.^[10]

Craig Hollis discovers that he is immortal after being shot by a group of thieves and left for dead, and he decides to fight crime asMr. Immortal. He realizes that operating alone may not be feasible. He places an advertisement for costumed adventurers in the local newspaper in his home town of Milwaukee, and assembles the Great Lakes Avengers, recruitingDinah Soar,Big Bertha,Flatman andDoorman.^[11] Immortal refuses one candidate, Gene Lorrene, aleather fetishist calling himselfLeather Boy. Turned down because he has no superpowers and is therefore ineligible, Lorrene takes the rejection personally.^[a]

The team is first seen in public by AvengersHawkeye andMockingbird, who watch the group as they foil a robbery attempt. Although annoyed by the team's naiveté and their use of the Avengers name without permission, Hawkeye and Mockingbird agree to act as the team's mentors.^[12] The Great Lakes Avengers assist the Avengers and West Coast Avengers from time to time, and once help them fightTerminus.^[13] After aiding the Thunderbolts against the villainGraviton,^[14] the GLA clash with the mercenaryDeadpool.^[15]

After a period of inactivity, the team learns that the West Coast Avengers have been disbanded and that Hawkeye has been killed.^[16] The team subsequently battleMaelstrom, who is building a doomsday device. During this encounter, Dinah Soar is killed. New membersSquirrel Girl (who has a pet squirrelMonkey Joe) andGrasshopper are then recruited. Although Maelstrom is defeated via Mr. Immortal's trickery, Doorman, Grasshopper and Monkey Joe are all killed. Immortal is also killed several times, though he always recovers. Mr. Immortal learns that, as an immortal, he is consideredHomo sapiens supreme. Despite defeating Maelstrom and saving the universe, the Great Lakes Avengers' victory goes unnoticed. After receiving a subpoena from the Avengers and discovering that they are all mutants, the team decides to rename themselves the Great Lakes X-Men.^[5]

Squirrel Girl acquires a new partner, a female squirrel calledTippy-Toe. Following his resurrection, Doorman is empowered byOblivion and becomes an "angel of death" charged with conveying the souls of the dead to the afterlife.^[17] After Flatman wins a superhero poker tournament andMarvel Girl demands that they drop the "X-Men" name, the team assumes the name Great Lakes Champions.^[18]

With the beginning of theCivil War storyline, the GLC decide to comply with the Superhuman Registration Act, in fact waiting in line to register the day the Act is announced. The team is renamed as the Great Lakes Initiative, becoming officially sanctioned by theFifty State Initiative as the team for the state of Wisconsin.^[19]

The team and Deadpool stopA.I.M. from using an "inebriation ray" that inducesdrunkenness in superheroes. Deadpool is granted reserve membership on the team, but is forcibly evicted from GLI headquarters after proving to be too much of an annoyance.^[20]

The team also appears during theSecret Invasion storyline confronting aSkrull disguised as Grasshopper, with help fromGravity and Catwalk.^[21] WhenNorman Osborn assumes control of the Initiative, he transfers Gravity to a leadership role in the GLI, much to the superhero's dismay.^[22]

After a fight withFin Fang Foom, Squirrel Girl elects to leave the team and return to New York,^[23] because she feels that the other team members (who simply stayed in their headquarters, playing cards, during the fight) have come to rely upon her too much, and that her continued presence will prevent them from reaching their full potential as heroes and as a team.^[10]

During theFear Itself storyline, the team has reverted to the name Great Lakes Avengers and they encounterAsbestos Man, who had been taking advantage of the fear and chaos that is happening. After standing around him for hours, Mr. Immortal talks him into giving up in return for being remembered by the others.^[24]

It is revealed that the team had disbanded and gone their separate ways. Flatman receives a visit fromConnie Ferrari, a lawyer representing the real Avengers, who informs him that the GLA has been reinstated as a permanent addition to the Avengers. Flatman reunites with Big Bertha and Doorman, though Mr. Immortal does not show up and Squirrel Girl apparently ignores Flatman's call. The team moves to a new headquarters, a factory owned by Tony Stark inDetroit,Michigan. The team visits a local bar, where a fight breaks out after the owner, Nain Rogue, insults the team. Upon getting arrested after a fight, Doorman escapes, leaving Flatman and Bertha to deal with a young girl named Goodness Silva, who can transform into a werewolf-like form and is attacking the cops inside the station. Ferrari gets the team released over the accusations of councilman Dick Snerd, who is actually Nain Rouge. She also helps the team recruit Goodness Silva, who takes the name of Good Boy. After Snerd shuts the team down, Immortal returns and goes on patrol with Flatman, while Bertha, Doorman and Good Boy go to Nain Rogue's bar to find clues. At the bar, Bertha and Good Boy find Snerd drunk and discern his secret identity. Doorman is brought to the Darkforce dimension, where Oblivion angrily questions his absence, while Immortal and Flatman resolve their issues. Bertha and Good Boy take Nain Rogue hostage, where he reveals some of his background story. While Immortal, Bertha, and Flatman attend to a visiting Ferrari, Good Boy nearly kills Nain over an insult. After Ferrari tells the team to lie low for a couple of days, Bertha goes to a modeling gig for a weight-loss product created by Dr. Nod — a trap set to get a sample of her mutant DNA and use it to improve his product with Bertha's powers. Meanwhile, Good Boy's brother, Lucky, visits her at GLA HQ and tells her they need to leave town due to what she did to Nain Rogue. Bertha fights back against Nod and his squad, but Nod ingests much of the supplements, becoming a huge monster, and injures her. Bertha sends a text to the rest of the team, including Good Boy, and takes some of the supplements herself to fight Nod. During the battle, Nod takes more of the supplements, becoming much bigger and monstrous. On Immortal's suggestion, Doorman and Immortal enter Nod's body, where Immortal kills him by punching his heart. After their victory, the team is visited at their headquarters by Deadpool of theAvengers Unity Division who tells them that they have been fired and can no longer use the Avengers name, since their legal claim did not hold up in court. While he claims that people simply "didn't like them", he does comfort them by proclaiming that they could try to be in the spotlight again in a few years.^[25]

During the "Reckoning War" storyline, the Great Lakes Avengers are attacked by Cormorant, who steals the legs of Grasshopper's armor to reassemble his own armor.^[26]

Assisted the team by training them, but it is not clear if they joined.

The following have fought the Great Lakes Avengers:

• A.I.M. -^[27]
• Ani-Men - This incarnation consists of humanoid animals consisting of Giraffe-Man, Great Horned Owl-Man, Pig-Man, and Rabbit-Woman. The GLA nearly fought this group until the Avengers appeared and fought the Ani-Men instead.^[11]
• Batroc's Brigade - A group that is led byBatroc the Leaper.^[27]
• Cormorant - A slave fighter for the Reckoning.^[26]
• Doctor Nod - A scientist who planned to create the ultimate beauty product using genetic material from Big Bertha.^[28]
• Dr. Tannenbaum - A Yuletide Terrorist who was bent on destroying Christmas.^[17]
• Firebrand - The sixth Firebrand who was hired by Nain Rogue.^[29]
• Leather Boy - As mentioned above, Leather Boy tried to apply for membership to the Great Lakes Avengers and was rejected because he had no powers. Leather Boy later attempted several revenge plots on the group.^[30]
• Maelstrom - ADeviant/Inhuman hybrid.^[11]
• Nain Rogue - Dick Snerd is a councilman wearing a monstrous mask who targeted the slums of Detroit.^[31]
• Pitchfork - A villain with a cylinder-shaped head and pitchforks for hands who was hired by Nain Rogue.^[29]
• Shriek - She was once hired by Nain Rogue.^[29]

The GLA appear in theJLA/Avengers miniseries, where they assisted in the defeat ofKrona.^[32]

• A live action half-hour televisionsitcom series starring a team based on an amalgamation of the Great Lakes Avengers and theNew Warriors,named after the latter, was in development byMarvel Television andABC Studios as part of theMarvel Cinematic Universe. In July 2017, theNew Warriors cast was officially announced to beMilana Vayntrub asDoreen Green / Squirrel Girl,Derek Theler asCraig Hollis / Mister Immortal,Jeremy Tardy asDwayne Taylor / Night Thrasher,Calum Worthy asRobbie Baldwin / Speedball,Matthew Moy asZach Smith / Microbe,Kate Comer asDeborah Fields / Debrii, andKeith David as Ernest Vigman.^[33][34] The show received a direct-to-series order with ten episodes to debut onFreeform in 2018, co-produced by ABC Signature,^[35] and apilot episode was produced. On November 1, 2017, however, it was announced that series would no longer air on Freeform^[36] and after an unsuccessful search for other network partners, the series was shelved.
• The Great Lakes Avengers are referenced in a self-titled song released by Kirby Krackle on their albumE For Everyone in 2010.^[37]

In August 2009,Time listed the Great Lakes Avengers among the "Top 10 Oddest Marvel Characters".^[38]

• Great Lakes Avengers at Marvel.com
• Great Lakes Avengers

• Avengers (comics)
• Marvel Comics superhero teams
• 2005 comics debuts
• Characters created by John Byrne (comics)
• Fictional characters from Wisconsin

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