Origin

The Rangers are a team of heroes based in the southwestern United States. The group was formed in manner much like the original Avengers team. When the Hulk came under the thrall of the Corruptor, Rick Jones was forced to call for help. The Corruptor wanted to also control Earths Mightiest Heroes along with the Hulk. Instead of the Avengers answering the call, Texas Twister, Shooting Star, Red Wolf, Phantom Rider, and Firebird responded individually. After defeating the Corruptor, the heroes considered staying together.

Creation

The Rangers first appeared in The Incredible Hulk issue 265 created by Bill Mantlo and Sal Buscema with "special thanks" to Mark Gruenwald.

Team Evolution

The original roster was brought together in almost the same fashion as the original Avenger: by chance when they individually answered a distress call to stop a rampaging Hulk, who was actually being controlled by a manipulative villain. They each came from a different region of the American Southwest:

• Red Wolf and Lobo from Phoenix, Arizona
• Firebird from Buenavista, New Mexico
• Texas Twister and Shooting Star working in Pasadena, California.
• Phantom Rider working in Death Valley, California.

They received new members as assigned by the 50-State Initiative:

• Armadillo, their first new recruit
• Living Lightning, new recruit who became a long-standing member
• Fifty-One, an Initiative cadet who ended up on the team right before the program shut down.

Major Story Arcs

First Reunion

The Rangers had not reunited since their fight against The Corruptor until Firebird called them to headquarters of the West Coast Avengers. She had originally come to the West Coast Avengers for help against Master Pandemonium and felt that she had overstayed her welcome. She had hoped The Rangers would come get her and start a team for good this time. Unfortunately, Shooting Star had been possessed by a demon. Believing Firebird had set a trap for him, the demon possessed the other mesmerized the other Rangers and led them in an attack on the Avengers. Texas Twister had known of Star's possession, benefiting from a fuastian deal that stopped his powers from fading away. He had been studying the occult for a war to free Star, ultimately trapping the demon in a statue.

Chaos in Calgary

When not going on adventures as superheroes, many of the members of the Rangers worked as rodeo performers. Twister, Star, and Phantom had gone to Calgary, Alberta to perform as part of celebration for Canada's 125th birthday. In attendance was a Nobel Prize winning physicist, Dr. Cargill. Unfortunately, the Frightful Four crashed the Rangers' performance to kidnap Cargill. The Rangers jumped into action, but they were outnumbered three to one. Luckily, Spider-Man was also in attendance, covering the event for the Daily Bugle. He took on Man-Bull, while the Rangers split up after the other three members. Rounding them up, Twister and Spidey combined their wind and webs to create a large enough net to capture all four villains.

The 50-State Initiative

After the passing of the Super-Hero Registration Act, superhumans and vigilantes were responsible for registering powers and identities with the government. Part of the registration act was the creation of the 50-State Initiative, where each state would get their own version of the Avengers. The Rangers were one of the earliest adopters and assigned to Texas, with the addition of Armadillo and Living Lighting. However, Armadillo left soon afterward.

During the Secret Invasion, Skrulls had been kidnapping and replacing heroes across the globe. Almost every state team unknowingly had a Skrull member, including the Rangers. A Skrull had been hiding as Red Wolf's loyal pet, Lobo. As most teams were aided by a member of the Skrull Kill Krew, the Rangers got help from 3-D Man. Once the fake Lobo was put down, 3-D Man led members of The Rangers to Camp Hammond to join members from across the Initiative to fight against the Skrull command.

Scarlet Spider

After a reported terrorist attack on a Roxxon building, The Rangers, with new psychic member Fifty-One, patrolled other Roxxon locations. They found Scarlet Spider sneaking around and confronted him. Believing he was a hero, they tried a gentle approach, but Scarlet Spider ran off with Zoe Walsh, daughter of the current CEO. Roxxon pressured the team into saving his "kidnapped" daughter.

They were reluctant of Roxxon's intentions, but The Rangers investigated anyway. They caught Kaine and Zoe sneaking into another Roxxon location. They tried confronting Kaine yet again, but Fifty-One went rogue. He destroyed the floor, revealing the burned bodies of indigenous people.

One of Roxxon's oil rigs discovered an ancient sentient energy source they named Mammon. Roxxon was trying to find a way to harness it as energy, but Mammon needed to possess a human body. Because he burned through them so fast, Roxxon was using indigenous people provided by a drug cartel. The Rangers teamed up with Kaine eventually trapping the being in oil.

The Rangers offered Kaine membership, but he rudely rejected it.