Perhaps the most puzzling aspect of the ship is it's insignia. For inscribed in English on the hull are the words "Captain America." 
- —WXYZ reporter
Appearing in "Savage Time!"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- Guardians of the Galaxy
- Vance Astro (Main story and flashback)
- Charlie-27 (Main story and flashback)
- Martinex (Main story and flashback)
- Yondu (Main story and flashback)
- Jack Norriss
- Vance Astrovik (Earth-616)
- Aragorn
- WXYZ television crew
Antagonists:
- Brotherhood of Badoon (Only in flashback)
- Monster of Badoon (Only in flashback)
- Martian Masters (Only in flashback)
Other Characters:
- National Guard soldiers and General
- Killraven's Freemen (Only in flashback)
- Carmilla Frost (Only in flashback)
- Grok (Only in flashback)
- Killraven (Only in flashback)
- Old Skull (Only in flashback)
- M'Shulla (Only in flashback)
- President of the People's Republic of China (Earth-691) (Only in flashback)
- President of the Soviet Union (Earth-691) (Only in flashback)
- President of the United States of America (Earth-691) (Only in flashback)
- Serfs (Only in flashback)
- Techno-Barons (Only in flashback)
- Kwaal (Only in flashback)
- United Federation of Earth (Only in flashback)
- Centaurians (Only in flashback)
- Jovians (Only in flashback)
- Mercurians (Only in flashback)
- Pluvians (Only in flashback)
- Captain America (Only in flashback)
- Sharon Carter (Only in flashback)
- Thing (Only in flashback)
Races and Species:
- Humans (Main story and flashback)
- Mutants (Main story and flashback)
- Jovians (Main story and flashback)
- Pluvians (Main story and flashback)
- Centaurians (Main story and flashback)
- Mercurians (Only in flashback) (First appearance)
- Badoon (Only in flashback)
Locations:
- Centauri-IV (Only in flashback)
- Earth
- Bahamas (Mentioned)
- Canada (Only in flashback)
- China (Only in flashback)
- England (Mentioned)
- Moon (Only in flashback)
- United States (Main story and flashback)
- New Jersey
- New York
- Nassau/Suffolk
- Saugerties (crash site from previous story)
- USSR (Only in flashback)
- Jupiter (Only in flashback)
- Mercury (Only in flashback)
- Pluto (Only in flashback)
Items:
- Captain America's Shield (Only in flashback)
- Cloak of Levitation
- Dragonfang
- Eye of Agamotto
- Yondu's Yaka Arrows
Vehicles:
- Starship Captain America (Main story and flashback)
- Odysseus I (Only in flashback)
- Alien Tripods
Synopsis for "Savage Time!"
As Jack Norriss tries to rekindle his romance with Valkyrie, the Earth is wracked by disasters caused by the temporal displacement caused by the Guardians' presence in the modern era. When a news report reveals that the Guardians' crashed starship has been found by the National Guard and news crews and that Vance Astro's younger self is in the ship with their crewmate Martinex, Doctor Strange casts a spell that teleports them and the starship to the grounds of the riding academy that is the headquarters of the Defenders.
While Martinex and Charlie-27 work on making their starship spaceworthy again, Major Astro (keeping his identity a secret from his younger self) tells young Vance, Nighthawk and Doctor Strange the history of "his" planet, including the major events that led to the Guardians' future: An invasion by Martians, followed by the overthrow of the Martians by Killraven and his Freemen, followed by a universal alliance, Vance Astro's revival in the 31st Century, and the later invasion by the Badoon which saw their rulership over the Earth.
Once the major has finished his tale, Doctor Strange casts a spell that erases young Vance's memories of what he's been told and sends him home. With the repairs completed, the Defenders agree to help the Guardians battle the Badoon rulers of Earth in the 31st century. Once they are all aboard, Strange casts another spell, one that transports them across space and time, placing them in orbit around the conquered Earth of the year 3015 A.D.
Notes
- Letters (story pages): Saladino (uncredited) page 1, Mantlo pages 2-18.
- The story in this issue begins less than a few hours after the end of Giant-Size Defenders #5.
- Doctor Strange theorizes that the reason why weather around the world has gone crazy is because Major Astro is present in the same time-era in which he exists as a child and that this has thoroughly disrupted the time-stream. This theory is inconsistent with other time travel stories set in the Marvel Universe and will be disproven in Marvel Two-In-One #69 when it is discovered that the weather disruptions are actually caused by psychic feedback between the identical mutant brains of the two versions of Vance Astro.
- The Guardians' home-era is stated as being the year 3015 A.D.
- Vance recollects major events in the history of Earth-691, from 1982 to 3015.
- The infant Centaurian in the flashback does not have a tahlei.
- Flashbacks to this story appeared in Paradise X #1.
Trivia
- The events on the cover are not actually depicted within the story itself.
- The appearance of cyborgs during the Bionics Wars of the 1990s led to the belief that Deathlok was from Earth-691, but this idea was dismissed and put to rest in The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Alternate Universes 2005. Deathlok is from Earth-7484.
- This is the first mention of a Killraven in the Guardians' timeline. It was not made official that the KR from Amazing Adventures (Vol. 2) was the same individual until The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Alternate Universes 2005.
- A flashback here is the only appearance to date of a female Pluvian. It is also the first appearance of a female Centaurian. Significantly, it is also the first appearance of Mercurians, predating Nikki's introduction in Marvel Presents #4 a year later.
- The blurb at the end of the story is the first reference to Starhawk in print. Interestingly, it includes a definite article, "The Starhawk".
- This issue contains a letters page, Defenders Dialogue. Letters are published from Jo Duffy, Mark Murphy and Dan McCarron.