It may be the easy way, but it's not the cowboy way

The Rangers

I don't know why it took me so long to get to this crew.  The Rangers have long been my go-to team for Marvel fan-fiction (even more than the Avengers).  There's a special charm to a team which combines superhero action with the do-good spirit of American westerns.  

With the Avengers, Fantastic Four and X-Men all basing out of New York, the American west is open game to villainy, and the Rangers are ready to step in to fill that gap. The 50 State Initiative would have us believe that this group could be limited to Texas, but their membership ranges through Arizona, Oklahoma, Nevada and New Mexico.  With my MMM disbanding of the Initiative, the Rangers are now free to range (ha!) all across the Southwest.

The lineup hasn't changed at all from their first appearance, consisting of:

Texas Twister
I hate this picture of him, but it's what I got.  It makes him look a little doofy, when in fact he's a former SHIELD super-agent and more than capable of leading this team.  True there's a measurable bit of showmanship spawning from his rodeo days (something he still pursues in his off time), but he takes his heroing responsibilities very seriously and has no trouble balancing the two traits.

Shooting Star

Longtime companion of Texas Twister, Star's sharpshooting skills, combined with her specially-rigged pistols are an invaluable asset in both his rodeo act and his super heroics. Her ability with the trick-shot comes in handy when shooting guns out of thugs hands (or fuses off of sticks of dynamite, or mind control chips off of victims spins, or...you get the idea), but her specially-designed revolvers are also capable of shooting stun bullets when she just needs to take a man down. On the team, she provides the loyal opposition to Twister's leadership, supporting him 100%, but in the most argumentative way possible. Seriously, they argue like an old married couple.







Phantom Rider
When evil arises, the spirit of Lincoln Slade merges with his descendant Hamilton to become the ghostly law enforcer, Phantom Rider.  I suspect Hamilton will need to learn some tricks to summoning him when evil is NOT present, though, or he's going to be absent during any scene that doesn't involve a villain, and that's pretty limiting.  As the Rider, he can best be described as ominous and single minded, but Hamilton is swaying him to be more of a team player than the loner he used to be.  As an archaeologist, Hamilton's contributions outside the mask shouldn't be downplayed, as I suspect the Rangers will be facing many challenges native to the Southwest and Hamilton's knowledge in that area is often the key to victory. 

Red Wolf

Having returned to his construction job by day, Red Wolf continues to serve as Ranger when called upon.  A peerless combatant, Wolf is also an unmatched tracker and hunter, valuable skills when their opponents can be spread anywhere across the Southwest.  Another not favorite picture here, though, as later appearances have geared him up too much in the stereotypical Indian war dress.  I much preferred his more streamlined initial dress and will scale him back to just the coup stick and tomahawk.  He should probably get another wolf companion too.  I miss Lobo.









Firebird
As a social worker in her day job, Firebird is a guiding force behind getting the team to provide more to the peoples of the Southwest than just catching bank robbers. From making appearances at children's hospitals to simply cleaning up after their battles, she's probably why the Rangers are as popular as they are. I also like the idea of a positive portrayal of a Christian character in the comics. There aren't enough of those, I think.











I'm a bit torn on location for the team to meet up.  I can't decide what's the most Western. My first thought is to have the team encounter a ghost town with a secret underpinning of technology (I'm thinking an early encounter with the villain Arcade) that they could commandeer. At the same time, the widespread nature of its membership says that a Wild, Wild West-style steam train HQ would be more practical.

Maybe I'll do both...