Doctor Strange[]

With the Defenders disbanded, Dr. Strange organized his own "Secret Defenders" project, recruiting whichever heroes he required for a given mission, with no ongoing members.

When Dr. Strange would foresee dangers, he would use tarot cards to determine who would be best suited to help him battle the coming evil. If necessary, Strange would also teleport the team to the location they were needed. At times there seems to be a subtle pattern among those who choose to serve, such as War Machine and Thunderstrike, Ant Man and Iceman, etc.

Doctor Druid[]

Strange later forced Doctor Druid to take over for him while he was dealing with Salome and the War of the Seven Spheres. Druid and Shadowoman were asked to protect the Moebius Stone from evil forces. The Stone ended up empowering Cadaver, and the three became a regular team of sorts, based out of Doctor Druid's Sanctum in Boston.

However, Druid grew tired of leading the group. Summoning the demon Slorioth, he faked his death and the team disbanded, although Cadaver, Shadowoman, and Joshua Pryce agreed to help each other if needed.