Because I love a good joke team as much as the next person!
A team of wannabe super heroes who do have powers and even some good training, but are not that well known, powerful and on top of it all, are even bigger dorks than the mainstays of this era. Knowing Billy and Teddy, that is saying something!
That said, this team has not one but two obscenely powerful players on it.
Emery Schaub is Butterball. He hasn't aged a day in the last 12 years and right now he thinks that's pretty cool. Invulnerable, but unable to change his body or even learn new skills. He can learn new information, thankfully, but he has no muscle memory anymore. He still somehow manages to draw fire from villains and several very stubborn ones have knocked themselves out fighting him. And by fighting, I mean, wailing on him while he tries his best to stand stoically before them, unmoved. He and his best friend James Santini started this team and were a team even before they went into the Great Lakes Region.
Eugene Patilio is Frogman. Son of a former villain of the same name, he uses a variant of the old suit that he made himself to . . . jump really far. That's it. He's the team's brains guy, inventing things (most of which are overpowered mundane devices) and has the positive attitude to chill with the nicest team there is.
Sofia Sandoval is Chat. Yes, there is a 616 version of what some have called "The Ultimate Spider-Girlfriend." And she's as old as Anya is. Sofia is a mutant with the power to speak to Animals and they listen to her because she asks very nicely. Think "Squirrel Girl" but amplified across the entire animal kingdom. They act as an information net so when there's trouble, the animals she's already talked to know that if they tell her of a real emergency, they'll be rewarded with food. Paranoia inducing? Not unless you realize that animals don't exactly understand humans speech that well, so the rats will only rat out criminals once a crime has started. By day, she works at a zoo. It's because of her kindness that she is team leader.
Joshua Foley is Balancer. The days of Elixer are behind him, and Josh has actually mastered Life and Death to a frightening degree. Most however know him as the guy who heals people on the team. They don't quite notice that he also raises the dead at these varios disasters and crimes. He says "Oh, I just made it to you in time to bring you back." But this is a lie. They also don't know that sometimes, some criminals just 'vanish' on his watch. Where they go the others don't know, but the truth is--he kills them. Completely.
James Santini is Batwing. A poor boy who was mutated through no fault of his own and stuck in this monster form when Spider-Man's 'cure' didn't work. Thanks in part to Emery's enthusiasm being very infectious, he became a rather good super hero. An expert flier with SHIELD training, he acts as the scout of the team and second in command.
Only one true 'avengers' team left, but I still have a few teams outlined! No X-Men yet. I'll need some time to get to them. Still, that's the plan!
