Great Lakes Avengers (Earth-616)

History

Great Lakes Avengers

Seeing a distinct lack of superhero action in the Midwest region of the United States, Mister Immortal organized GLA as a sister team to both the Avengers West Coast and Avengers. The only problem was that he failed to tell either of the other teams about this, and so, after their first mission Hawkeye wanted to know who these "impostor" Avengers were, and set out with his wife, Mockingbird, to find out. After determining they were just a group of (if somewhat oddball) heroes, Hawkeye and Mockingbird took it upon themselves to train the team.

The Great Lakes Avengers were called in to help Captain America and She-Hulk save the Scarlet Witch and the Vision. After Mr. Immortal intervened to help out, Captain America allowed them to use their team name. The Great Lakes Avengers trained with the East Coast team at times and were called in to help Captain America and the Human Torch on a mission.

The GLA stayed mostly out of the spotlight, although they did help their sister teams on a few occasions, such as when "That Which Endures" took control of some of the Avengers members.

Lightning Rods

After the Avengers were seemingly killed during Onslaught, the Thunderbolts took over heroing responsibilities in New York. Attempting to "cash in" on the popularity of the Thunderbolts, Mister Immortal re-branded the team as the Lightning Rods. They fought with/against Deadpool, and later fought against the Thunderbolts when it was discovered they were secretly the Masters of Evil.

Misassembled

GLA stayed completely under the radar until new recruits joined the team - Squirrel Girl and her pet squirrel Monkey Joe, as well as the Grasshopper, who set a new record dying in orbit after misjudging his armor's capabilities only 5.8 seconds after joining. In the wake of the real Avengers disbanding, the GLA were faced with stopping Maelstrom accelerating the end of the universe in the hope of discovering its great secrets (Dinah Soar died in the attempt). Threatened with legal action by the Maria Stark Foundation if the team continued to use the Avengers name, and discovering they were all mutants, the GLA renamed itself the GLX, Great Lakes X-Men. After Squirrel Girl made a fuss to be certain that Monkey Joe was an official member of the team, he was killed, apparently by Dr. Doom, who had come seeking revenge. In actuality, this was a rejected member of the GLA named Leather Boy in a variation of Dr. Doom's costume. Squirrel Girl found a new squirrel companion, the only one of her "squirrel army" who had survived Maelstrom's wrath, whom she named Tippy-Toe. Doorman became an "angel of death" and conveyed the dead to the afterlife^[3].

Great Lakes Defenders? Great Lakes Champions?

The team attended the Thing's superhero poker tournament^[4]. Upon hearing they were using the X-Men's name, Marvel Girl (Rachel Summers) used her telepathy on Mister Immortal, who ventured the "Great Lakes Defenders", before being similarly rebuffed by Doctor Strange. When they all reached the final table, with Flatman beating the Thing, they plumped for Great Lakes Champions, despite Hercules' protests.

Later, the team and Deadpool stopped A.I.M. from using an "inebriation ray" that could induce the effects of drunkenness on all superheroes. Deadpool was granted reserve membership on the team, but he was forcibly evicted from their headquarters after proving too much of an annoyance.

Later during the Skrull invasion, Great Lakes Avengers' newest member Grasshopper was discovered to be a Skrull, and was killed by its team immediately.

Paraphernalia

Equipment

When first formed, the team heavily depended on Big Bertha's modeling income to provide funding for their headquarters (the team also used Bertha's private jet). The team also possessed a Quin-Jetta, with the GLA logo on its sides (later destroyed in the battle with Maelstrom). After receiving government funding, the team receive a state-of-the-art headquarters with several new items such as Squirrel Girl's Squirrel-A-Gig and Big Bertha's Bumper Buggy.