Who has to be in?

For my own personal reading enjoyment;

X-Men- Cyclops

Avengers- Captain America

Defenders- Hellcat

I have somewhat less trouble imagining the Avengers without Cap, Iron Man or Thor, if only because there are so many Avengers and some of them have always been Avengers first and "solo characters" second, if at all (Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch, Hawkeye, Vision, the Wasp, Hank Pym, Black Knight, Wonder Man, Falcon...). 

Avengers:  The Vision.

Defenders:  Doctor Strange.

X-Men:  Cyclops.

Legion of Super-Heroes:  Wildfire.

Justice League:  Green Lantern (Hal or John).

Justice Society:  Doctor Fate.

Fantastic Four:  Mr. Fantastic.

Teen Titans:  Raven.

All others negotiable!

Back to the Avengers: definitely Spider-Man, Wolverine or any members of the FF have to be out.

 Avengers- Spider-man, Wolverine, the FF, Daredevil Luke Cage Iron Fist, Shang Chi . Lone wolf type characters aren't really Avengers material. 

JLA- Members should have a little heft or history in DC. So no Vixen, Vibe or Gypsy. 

X-Men- Mutants. Good Mutants. No Magneto, Juggernaut, White Queen, or other hardcore badguys, 

And if there are characters who SHOULD be in the teams, but aren't, that's okay too. If the Thing should be an ongoing member of the Defenders, that's all right.

Remember, the only rule is that you can't have the JSA without Hawkman. Otherwise - go for it!

As for my picks...

The Teen Titans should always have Robin on the team. Preferably Dick Grayson, but Tim Drake would do. Really, I'm willing to accept just about anyone that Batman has trained and isn't a psychopath is okay.

Avengers - call me a stodgy old far- I mean, traditionalist. But I need Cap and Iron Man. And if the Wasp is there, that makes me happy too.

The Defenders - in my mind, they're just not the Defenders without Dr. Strange. .He is a calm, mediating, wise and intelligent presence - one that was sorely needed when his teammates were Namor and the Hulk!

The Marvel Family - this one needs the team that was pretty much always the Marvel Family - Captain Marvel, Mary Marvel, and Captain Marvel Jr. 

The Fantastic Four has to be the original four. I've seen 'em go and seen 'em come back, but the base four are it for me. Plenty of guest stars, plenty of short term replacements are fine; you could even make an acceptable substitute team with none of the originals (e.g., Black Panther, Power Man, She-Hulk, and Storm*). But it ALWAYS has to come back to Ben, Johnny, Reed, and Sue for me.

*Yes, I know that's a non-white team; so what?

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My point is, regarding too many heroes having been Avengers, is that the original FF members have even been Avengers, albeit temporarily.

And I had both Human Torches there, not just Johnny.

Defenders: Dr. Strange, Namor, Hulk, Silver Surfer, Valkyrie (maybe the Jane Foster version?), and Nighthawk

X-Men: Professor X, Cyclops, Jean Grey, Nightcrawler, Colossus, Wolverine, Storm, Kitty, visits by Iceman, Banshee, and Beast

Fantastic Four: Reed, Sue, Johnny and Ben, visits by She-Hulk, Wyatt, and Crystal

Justice League: Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Green Lantern (John Stewart), Aquaman, Green Arrow, Black Canary, Cyborg, and Vixen

Teen Titans: I feel like Young Justice has largely supplanted this team as the primary "young heroes" of the DCU, as they have (a) Robin, Superboy, Wonder Girl, Impulse, Teen Lantern and others who represent major factions. Maybe this is why having two books, one for the Titans and one for YJ, hasn't worked out. If there was a 'back to basics' reset of the DCU, I'd want this team to feature Robin (Dick Grayson), Speedy, Kid Flash (Wally), Wonder Girl (Donna), Aqualad (Garth), Beast Boy, Raven, and Bumblebee, with Starfire to be added later.

Ok, I'll give it another try since I misunderstood the instructions when I last posted.

Titans has to have Dick Grayson and Donna Troy

The Defenders, to me, includes Nighthawk, Valkyrie and Hellcat

Th JSA needs Green Lantern (Alan Scott), Flash (Jay Garrick), Wildcat...... and Hawkman

X-Men should include Cyclops, Storm, Nightcrawler, Colossus and Kitty.

Also, since we were able to include who has to be out I'll choose Wolverine. Was never a fan so if he doesn't show up as member of any team (especially Avengers) I would be content.