Champions (Earth-616)

{{Team Template
 * Image                  = Champions Vol 3 1 Textless.jpg
 * ImageSize              = 250px
 * OfficialName           = Champions
 * Aliases                = Champs{{r|Avengers Vol 1 672}}


 * Status                 = Active
 * Identity               = Public
 * Universe               = Earth-616
 * BaseOfOperations       = Champions Mobile Bunker


 * TeamLeaders            = Ms. Marvel
 * CurrentMembers         = Bombshell, Brawn, Falcon, Ironheart, Locust, Ms. Marvel, Patriot, Pinpoint, Power Man, Sam Alexander, Snowguard, Viv, Wasp

Reinforcement Roster: Cloud 9, Honey Badger, Moon Girl, Prodigy, Red Dagger, Silk
 * FormerMembers          = Cyclops, Spider-Man
 * Allies                 = Alpha Flight, Dust, Maddy Cho, New Crystalium, Red Room, Sparky, Spider-Gwen, Swamp Queen Alliance, Underground
 * Enemies                = Blackheart, Fangs of the Serpent, Fly, Freelancers, Hydra, Kaldera, Master of Weirdworld, Mephisto, Modred, Pagliacci, Scorpia, Warbringer, Zzzax


 * Origin                 = A group of young heroes who banded together after the second superhuman Civil War disillusioned by their elders such as the Avengers
 * CustomLabel            = Slogan
 * Custom                 = "Go for Champions!"
 * PlaceOfFormation       = George Washington Bridge, New York City, New York
 * PlaceOfDefunction      =
 * Creators               = Mark Waid; Humberto Ramos
 * First                  = Champions Vol 2 1
 * Last                   =


 * Quotation              = We see it all around us more and more every day -- people with power punching down. Taking lives when they don't have to. Meeting unarmed perps, even unarmed kids, with lethal firepower. That's the world we're inheriting, where violence does all the talking. But we can be better than that. We have to start enforcing justice without unjust force. What happened here today was sickening. And stuff as bad -- worse -- happens every day in this world. The strong abuse the weak -- who have to worry more all the time about who they can trust and who they can't. You want that to change? Us, too. We're in a war for a better tomorrow. Join us. Help us to not take the easy road, and I promise we'll fight every fight they can throw at us. Help us win the hard way -- the right way -- not with hate, not with retribution, but with wisdom and hope. Help us become champions.
 * Speaker                = Ms. Marvel
 * QuoteSource            = Champions Vol 2 1


 * HistoryText            =

Origin
The Champions were formed following the departure of Ms. Marvel, Spider-Man and Nova from the Avengers, when the trio had become disillusioned by the behavior of their elders, specially in regards to the second superhuman Civil War. The young heroes desired to rectify the state of distrust by the people towards superheroes in general, and soon recruited other teenagers with similar ideals, the new Hulk, and Vivian ("Viv" for short), daughter of the Vision.

Early Missions
Their first joint mission consisted of saving a group of girls being trafficked by Pagliacci in nearby Maryland. Having succeeded and caught the attention of the bystanders, the young heroes revealed themselves to the public, with Ms. Marvel proclaiming their team's objective of fostering a better tomorrow through hope and wisdom rather than unjust force. Her speech from Baltimore became viral on the internet, and the team were soon dubbed the "Champions" in social media. One of the people encouraged by Ms. Marvel's words was the time-displaced Cyclops, who was admitted into the Champions' ranks after requesting to join them.

Courtesy of Amadeus' new vehicle, they next traveled to Lasibad, Sharzhad where they secretly helped a group of young women, led by Amal, rout a faction of militant fundamentalists seeking to oppress them; however, they were shot out of the sky when they attempted to leave. After landing in the water, the Champions started to head towards a piece of land that Viv saw, with Hulk and Cyclops moving the ship. They got to the area where Viv saw, but instead of land they saw an Atlantean craft and were taken by their forces. They worked together to defeat the Atlanteans and left. But somewhere else, they inspired another hero: Gwenpool.

Sometime after their Atlantean encounter, Sam Alexander met up with Amadeus Cho to verify that Richard Rider was who he said he was and that he had actually returned from the dead. Amadeus confirmed this, and the other Champions arrived to meet the recently resurrected hero. They informed Rich of what had been happening, with discussion ranging from the recent Civil War, the Vision's family, Past Cyclops coming to the future, and Ms. Marvel's, Spider-Man's, and Nova's tenures as Avengers. Rich told them he was previously in the New Warriors, but then he started seeing them as corpses, and because of this, he left Cho's Meat Wagon, with Sam right behind him and Ms. Marvel wondering if it was because she'd made fun of the New Warriors.

Standing Against Hate
Sometime later in Daly County, the Champions assisted the Police Department with saving some citizens from a burning mosque, over the very vocal disapproval of Sheriff Studdard, the county's recently elected law enforcement official. He initially accused Scott of starting the fire, but the Champions defended Cyclops and started to list off numerous complaints leveled against the Sheriff on social media. When Viv uncovered the remnants of a bomb that came from the police station, Studdard branded them criminals. Meanwhile, Nova saw a figure off in the distance taking something and moved to intercept, discovering Gwenpool, who told Sam to leave the area. Suddenly, there was an explosion, which destroyed a nearby police cruiser, and was taken as a cue for the team and Gwenpool to flee the scene. Gwen later tried to defend her actions, and Viv agreed she was right, though it wasn't poison in the air, rather it was hate.

Later that night, the Champions stopped more hate crimes and decided their best action was to confront Deputy Sims regarding his failure to stand up to Sheriff Studdard. Sims promised the teens that Studdard would be prosecuted, but not until after things had cooled down due to his overwhelming popularity with their constituents. The team retreated to the roof, where they tried to concoct a plan, but none of them worked without them punching down against unpowered citizens, something they now refused to take part in. After Studdard dressed down Sims for having allowed the Champions to stay in Daly County, the Deputy changed his mind and addressed the voters concerning the reality that it was the Sheriff who had been facilitating the recent wave of xenophobic violence towards minorities. Annoyed that it wasn't secretly a plot by some well known villain after all, Gwenpool promptly left.

Monsters Unleashed
When the Champions learn of an incident involving Roxxon Oil and the Angeles National Forest, they gathered in California to investigate, but instead ran into a team of other super-powered people, the Freelancers, a group of mercenaries whose mission was to burn down the forest in order to frame the protesters and secure the site for construction of a pipeline. The two teams tried to reason with each other, but when one of the members, Cursed Cass, had in fact been instructed to set off a bomb, and a brawl between the two teams ensued. Cyclops notices that Hotness, who has pyrokinetic abilities, was missing, so Spider-Man and Nova went to find him.

They discovered Hotness in the woods but were almost immediately confronted by a massive Leviathon. Ms. Marvel asked if the monster was with the Freelancers, but they responded that it wasn't, so she and Viv rushed the civilians to a nearby bus in hopes of spiriting them away from the battle as the others dealt with the new threat. Unfortunately a second member of the Leviathon Tide blocked the road, forcing Kamala face it alone. Meanwhile, the Freelancers and the rest of the Champions killed the first monster and arrived to aid Ms. Marvel, who nearly died facing the second Leviathon, though Viv restarted her heart to revive her. A third monster was then detected heading for Los Angeles, and the Champions left to handle with it.

Inhumans vs. X-Men
After Mosaic temporarily possessed Cyclops, he and Forge convinced a group of NuHumans, including his teammate Ms. Marvel, to switch sides and aid the Mutants in their quest to remove the Terrigen Mist from the Earth's atmosphere. Misunderstanding this new alliance, and seeing Scott with the enemy, Emma Frost promptly attacked him, forcing Kamala to spring to his defense.

Freelancers
When the team realized that they have gone global with people using their logo for good things like beach-cleaning and recycling, self-defense classes, and helping build houses, they went to celebrate by playing paintball against each other, with Ms. Marvel, Viv, and Cyclops on one team and Nova, Spider-Man, and Hulk on another with their powers intact. Nova and his team won thanks to a technicality, but they and the rest of the Champions were quickly shot with paintballs by Viv's father: the Vision. Meanwhile, the Gemini Bank Corporation had hired the Freelancers, who tricked a couple of homeless men to say that it was the Champions who attacked them in Brentwood.

The Champions encountered them again as they were forcibly evicting people from their homes in Minneapolis, and a confrontation ensued, which only lasted until Panic used her fear-inducing powers against Ms. Marvel to confront her with her worst fear; this only earned Panic a well-deserved beatdown, as the thing Ms. Marvel feared the most was losing everything the Champions had worked to build. Seeing themselves now on the losing side, the Freelancers called off the fight and agreed to come clean about their attack on the homeless people, but soon after Might revealed that the Champions logo had been trademarked as a brand name, as another move by the Freelancers' employers to discredit the team. Disheartened with the team now being viewed at large as sellouts, Ms. Marvel thought of quitting, and the team members were left adrift, but Nova recorded a video of himself burning Champions-branded merchandise and urging the people who truly believed in the Champions to do the same, recovering their spirit.

Secret Empire
When Hydra assumed control of the United States of America, the Champions responded to Iron Man's distress call to protect Washington, D.C. alongside numerous other heroes, all of whom were soundly defeated when Captain America wielded Mjolnir. Under advice from Spider-Man, the Champions retreated, ultimately regrouping at Olympus Group Secret HQ ATX001 after becoming separated from Ms. Marvel. They then raided an Inhumans interment camp known as Camp Echo-1 in New Mexico in an attempt to find their missing teammate, but to no avail.

Amadeus, Viv, and Miles eventually joined the Underground where they associated with Ironheart, Wasp, Falcon, and Patriot, as Kamala had gone into hiding, Scott was with the X-Men (Blue Team) in New Tian, and Sam was trapped beyond the Planetary Defense Shield in Earth Orbit.

After Hydra leveled Las Vegas, Black Widow set out to assassinate Captain America. Spider-Man joined her, having decided to stop running away from his supposed destiny to kill Captain America, as prophesied by the Inhuman precog Ulysses Cain. The remaining Champions, alongside Joaquín, Nadia and Riri, followed him to offer their support, thus joining Black Widow's Red Room. The teenagers were eventually captured by Hydra after Widow's assassination attempt failed and resulted in her death. Spider-Man almost killed Captain America, but Wasp convinced him not to, since they had learned Black Widow tried to kill Rogers herself prevent Miles from becoming a killer. The teenagers were subsequently arrested.

When a contingent of superheroes launched a desperate attack on Hydra, Hydra allies Taskmaster and Black Ant decided to switch sides in light of Hydra's eventual defeat, and freed the Red Room from their cell to be in the heroes' good graces. The Champions were reunited during the final battle, which saw the return of the real Captain America and fall of Hydra.

Worlds Collide
A short time following Hydra's fall, the Champions saw themselves forced into an uneasy alliance with the Avengers when the High Evolutionary attempted to cause the collision between the Earth and his Counter-Earth. During the adventure, Viv was captured by the High Evolutionary's forces, and transformed into a real human with no powers. Viv seemingly sacrificed herself to operate the device that controlled the Counter-Earth's rotational-frequency, causing the planet to harmlessly phase through the Earth instead. While Viv was actually trapped on another plane of existence, she was believed dead. In an attempt to cope with her death, Vision built a second Viv. However, Viv eventually found her way home, leading to the co-existence between Viv and her synthetic counterpart.

Taking into account Viv's feelings, the Champions refrained from welcoming Viv's twin into the team. They instead decided to recruit more manpower to compensate for their diminished ranks. They invited Ironheart, Patriot, Falcon, and burgeoning new hero Red Locust, whom Viv had encountered months earlier. Viv rejoined the Champions' rank after her twin sister went haywire and she was forced to kill her in self-defense. The Vision and Wasp managed to repair the body, and since they couldn't bring back her mind, Viv transferred his consciousness to the synthetic body as a way to both regain her powers and ensure her sister lived on through herself.

Soon after, due to a call to arms from his original team, the X-men, Cyclops is forced to take Ms. Marvel aside, and tell her he must leave the Champions. She reluctantly lets him go, and he leaves, telling her that her ideals, the ideals of the Champions, are good.

Northern Lights
After a near botched attempt between Spider-Man and Nova in catching Fly and Scorpia, the two were called in by Ms. Marvel. To their surprise, with help of new Champion recruits Ironheart and the new Wasp, the former having supplied the blueprints, the others had created the C.M.B.: the Champion Mobile Bunker. Each of the current Champions had a room in the bunker, with the exception of Spider-Man and Nova, due to Amadeus neglecting to add a bathroom to the plans.

Planning ahead, the Champions reveal they are now plugged into worldwide news feeds in the Bunker's Command Center, and the team discovers that one of the Wasp's G.I.R.L. issued recording beacons, built to track global warming, had strangely gone offline, and she suggested that the team check it out. The decision is unanimous, and the Champions set out.

Riri, however, felt out of place, being on a team. This leads her to have a sort of heart to heart with Viv, who explained her lack of feelings in general. However, Viv manages to convince Riri that the entire team is weird, and there is nothing wrong with that.

The team traveled to location on Nunavut, Northern Canada, where they found something unbelievable: machines were repairing the ice. They tried to go closer, but were soon approached by small, bug-like machines. Viv notices that they are scanning the Bunker, so she and Ironheart fly out to investigate. Despite the Champion's desire to settle the matter peacefully, the machines scan Ironheart's armor, and mistake her for Iron Man. The machines declared her a high threat target, and prepare to attack.

The Champions struggle immensely, with Nova eradicating many of them with a massive blast. However, with the boy exhausted after the blast, one of the survivors blasted him through his chest.

Nova, in shock, and delirious after having just been shot, woozily attempted to fly for a hospital. He soon lost consciousness, and fell into the water. Viv herself was forced to leave the others to rescue him. The Champions, furious and out of sync, destroyed more of the bots, before they are found by the owner and creator of the attacking machines: Master of the World. The Master demanded to know what happened, before noticing Nova's injuries, and volunteering his services in fixing him.

Viv, who knows they have no choice, agrees when the Master allows her to watch as the machines fix her friend. The other Champions furiously demand information on the Master's goals. He then reveals that he was repairing the ice to halt global warming. He then invites the Champions inside to see his work. After seeing his work, and gaining Eshu's assurance that this isn't a world takeover plot, the Champions agree to leave the issue alone for the time being.

However, the Champions find that the locals are not happy with the situation, and a boy in the crowd informed the Champions of a friend of his going missing the previous night, and she never returned. The Master attempts to reason with the people, before being hit with a snowball. Momentarily furious, he calmed himself to keep pleasantries with the team. However, the Champions were made further suspicious. Ironheart and Spider-Man speak on the Master's similarities to Doctor Doom's mannerism, and Spidey decides to sneak around the compound in stealth mode.

Not long afterwards, however, while the Champions are on their way to check on Nova, Alpha Flight arrives. The Master takes advantage of the situation- dubbing the Champions his new "friends".

The Master attempts to suggest that everyone calm down, as the teams argue, but he is ignored. The Alpha Flight team is set on arresting the Master, while the Champions refuse to arrest him until they can clear up the situation. Tension runs high, and Talisman attempt to simply put the Champions to sleep, but she is knocked down by Ironheart, starting a massive brawl between the two teams, much to the Master's delight.

Meanwhile, Spider-Man searched through base, avoiding security, before he come across a horrific scene: Power being drained from a glowing girl, shackled and unconscious. Miles frees her, before she begins to glow brightly, setting off Miles' Spider-Sense.

Outside, the fight is paused as everyone feels tremors of the magic energies, before a massive beast bursts from the ground, with Spider-Man on it's back. The teams agree to a truce, and attempt to subdue the creature, which Miles confirms is female, and that she is freaking out, but was not a bad person. The teams work together, and Talisman dissipates the mystic energy to help, reverting the creature into a teenage girl. While being questioned about what happened to her, the girl, Amka, reveals that the Master had stripped Sila, the spirit of the land, and everyone present prepared to fight the evil man. In his escape, the Master self-destructed the scaffolds, deciding that the world didn't deserve his genius.

The Champions and Alpha Flight make amends, and then debate over who's team Amka will join, before they decide to let her choose. Amka came to grips with her new abilities, and chose to be a hero, and joined the Champions, with the love and support of her mother.

Infinity Countdown
Later, Nova, Ironheart, Viv, Ms. Marvel, Wasp, and Amka, now code-named Snowguard, gained knowledge of an assault on the Nova Corps. Discovering it was the Chitauri, led by Warbringer, Nova's old foe, they took the Bunker into space, where they find that the Warbringer's goal was to attack Thanos- or rather, Thanos' Chitauri army, to erase the shame of them serving the Mad Titan. Thanos allowed him to do as he will, forcing the Champions to protect his army. Nova eventually realized that Thanos' army never moved, not even to defend themselves, and the team knocked out Warbringer, leaving his Chitauri army without a leader, subsequently stopping the massacre.

Thanos then annexed Warbringer's army into his own, and thanked the Champions for the show. Furious, Ironheart ignored the others, and charged at him- before being caught by the throat, and her armor is swiftly destroyed. Thanos left her be, and the team take Warbringer back to the Nova Corps. However, Commander Scott Adsit took Sam's helmet, as he was not officially recognized as a Nova, and teleport the team back to Earth, much to Sam's horror.

Big Changes
Amadeus, after a undiclosed period revealed that he had a new form after his recent Hulk Out., and had now renamed himself "Brawn". Riri, after her run in with Thanos, revealed her Mk 3 Armor, with a new design and color scheme. However, now depowered, Sam Alexander couldn't feel anything but rage at everything, especially the new changes to his friends, and stormed off to his room in the bunker.

Meanwhile, Viv checked in with her father, Nadia, and Dr. Toni Ho, to see how her father was recovering after his run-in with the Hulk. Vision inquired about Snowguard, who, while Vision was nonoperational, Viv allowed into her house, and helped her apply for school with her. Vision kindly allowed Amka to stay with them, rewarding his daughter for her maturity.

Soon, the Champions arrive to pick up their teammates, and Vision allows Viv to bring Sparky with her. However upon leaving, Vision and Ho reveal that Vision was most likely dying, and might not have much time. However, despite knowing he can be rebuilt, he recognized that life is precious because it is finite. So he then chooses to die if he will, to allow Viv to truly understand growing up, change, and humanities beauty.

The Champions head for a village in Mbali to fix issues with the water, to get back on track with helping people. Ms. Marvel speaks to Sam, cheering him up a bit, but understanding how much he has lost. However, an Ultron-bot lurks in the ship, watching them...

The Champions soon arrive in Mbali, and quickly befriend the locals. They check on the sick villagers, but before they can begin, the people offer them food to repay the Champions for their time. To show respect, the team accepted. Snowguard followed Viv outside, and they discussed Viv's disengaged emotional core, forcing Viv to confront that she shut her core off because of her trauma regarding her mother, brother, and recently, her sister, and her incapability of dealing with it.

Amka, though at first willing to listen to Viv vent, detects magic, and morphs into a wolf to check it out. Viv followed her through a marsh near the village, before finding a massive plant. Viv touched it to gain a sample, before the plant burned her. Incapable of phasing through it, the plant reveals itself as the Man-Thing. He wrapped vines around Viv, burning her, knocking her out. Snowguard, fearing the worst, lost control, and became a large, werewolf-like creature with deer horns, before attacking the Man-Thing.

Amka matches the Man-Thing for a moment, but begins to fall under his strength. The other Champions saved her, narrowly, beating the Man-Thing, leaving a disheartened Sam sidelined. Meanwhile, it is revealed that The Master of the World was tracking the Champions, and with them in Africa, and detecting a great energy source from the area. A greater output than even Sila.

Back with the team, the Champions tend to an unconscious Viv, as she has an internal struggle to deal with her choices, her trauma, her fear. But during this time, the trapped Man-Thing detects the powerful, now unblocked emotions from Viv, and breaks free, and busts past Brawn and Ironheart viciously. Viv and the Man-Thing make their way outside, where the Man-Thing offered, wordlessly, a passage to the next world, literally creating a massive portal. Viv sought to take it, but her friends would not allow it, stopping her from going with the Man-Thing. In an effort to help, Sam launches himself, using the portal's pull, ramming into the Man-Thing, forcing it to release Viv. Nadia tries to save him by shrinking him, but she, Sam, and the Man-Thing are sucked into the portal, which disappears after a huge blast.

Champions of the Weirdworld
The Champs contacted the friends and family of their teammates and they retrieve Spider-Man to help with getting them back. The magic users they know could not be reached, leaving Snowguard to reach out Sila, who warns her that there may be a cost, before giving Amka the Siege Parallel.

The team collectively agree to go after Sam and Nadia, even after hearing the risks, and Snowguard opens a portal. Viv instructs Sparky to wait for a while, then to alert her father of the conversation if they weren't back before long.

Upon landing in the new dimension, Ironheart finds herself decked out in an knight's armor that was similar to her own outfit. She was soon attacked by rat creatures, before being saved by Miles- who had no memory of himself or the team, only his life in Weirdworld, as the Shadow-Spider, and Riri as Lady Ironheart, a legendary warrior.

Meanwhile, Brawn, now a orc know as Brawnhammer, is a slave for the King, and works in the forge as a blacksmith, making great weapons. However, the mines were attacked by the resistance: Snowguard, now a brutal fighting, shapeshifting elf known as Snowgore, and the Man-Things attacked, taking afterwards Brawnhammer to meet her friend and comrade, the Mystic Marvel (Ms. Marvel). However, they don't notice a small spy, who swiftly flies off, and informs Mordred of their actions.

At the same location, a Crystallium Warrior named Stalax battles a masked opponent, and after a well-fought sword vs. axe battle, another voice advises the masked warrior after Stalax takes his sword away. This results in the masked warrior using energy to convert Stalax into a crystal broadsword, and the masked warrior is reavealed to be Sam Alexander, who was taken in as The Master of the Weirdworld's son.

A flashback reveals that Eshu followed the Champions to Weirdworld, but after a battle with a massive beast, found himself trapped, and his armor swiftly running out of energy. He retrieve a crystal he could tell could act as a conductor, and tacked down Nova on foot, finding Sam and Nadia, in poor shape, Sam burning up with a fever. Nadia recognizes Eshu somewhat, while Eshu notes that he fully recognizes Nadia's voice.

Suddenly, Sam wakes up, his eyes glowing, and the crystal in Eshu's arms becomes active, greatly recharging his armor. He decides to help them, seeing a potential prospect.

Meanwhile, Riri tries to convince Miles of the Champions and their other lives, but Miles writes it off as trauma, and bad dreams. Riri realizes that she remembers her life because of her traumatic experience fighting Thanos. She was then shocked by the fact that Ms. Marvel and Snowguard were war criminals, and in a effort to protect them, forced Miles to bring her to bring her to the Resistance Leader: The Swamp Queen, who welcomes Brawnhammer into the fold, before reviving a friend: Viv Vision, now the Vivid Vessel, a mechanical being that con foresee multiple futures.

The Vessel informs the ressistance of Sam and Eshu's new bond, and Sam's fierce loyalty to his "father". The two made plans to attack the Crystallium people, to gain near limitless power with Sam's ability to manipulate the energy. However, she then reveals that Eshu sent a strike force to destroy the Resistance first, with Mordred at the helm. The Swamp Queen and Mordred fight, and Brawnhammer comes across the Wicked Wasp- Nadia. He almost kills her, but the Vivid Vessel recognizes the girl has mental confusion.

The Champions and the Man-Thing escape, thanks to an intervention of Riri and the Shadow-Spider, and Riri bring the team together with a heartfelt speech. They then decide to take on the Master, with Mystic Marvel sizing up a bird-formed Snowgore into a huge transport. But none notice that the Wicked Wasp hitched a ride.

Sam, now the Nova Knight, acts to enforce Eshu's will, reveling in his new power. He battles against the Crystallium warriors, easily besting them, before the other Champions arrive to do battle with The Master's army. Nova and the Wasp battle them, before Ironheart calls out to him. Recognizing her, Sam furiously attacks her, his anger from his past following him.

However, when Brawnhammer attacks Eshu, Nova explodes his power outward, prompting Vivid Vessel to merge with Ironheart, allowing her to give their friends their true live back. They then help Sam understand that he doesn't need power to be a good person. Sam reverts to normal, and not long after, with the assurance that the Crystallium he felled could be restored, the Champions returned to their home. Viv reveals that she has been developing feelings for Riri, and kisses her, which confuses a surprised girl.

Elsewhere on the bunker, the Ultron-bot finds Sparky, and, after it identifires the dog as a synthezoid, it assimilates him.

Beat the Devil
After having expanded their roster, the Champions take on multiple missions at once.


 * Equipment              = Each member's personal equipment.
 * Transportation         = C.M.B.;  formerly Cho's Meat Wagon, a jet, and a truck.
 * Weapons                = Each member's personal weapons.

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 * Notes                  =
 * Trivia                 =
 * Links                  =