Although Marvel continues to botch Spider-Man, the company has done a surprisingly good job revitalizing its second- and third-stringers.
Case in point: Ms. Marvel, a heroine from the Keeper’s beloved Bronze Age who has suffered nearly every indignity a comic-book character can endure.
Introduced back in 1968 as a possible love interest to Captain Mar-Vell (there’s only one Big Red Cheese…), Carol Danvers was originally an Air Force Pilot who traded in her wings for the cloak-and-dagger lifestyle of a CIA agent. She was strong, independent and could save herself from danger if need be.
Years later, in typical comic-book fashion, Carol’s atoms were mixed up with Mar-Vell’s and she gained fantastic powers: super-strength, enhanced durability, flight and a “seventh sense” for danger (she was too cool for six senses).
She also gained a split-personality, which is all well and good if you’re Jason Blood or Bruce Banner but is of little aid when you’re supposed to be Marvel Comics’ answer to Wonder Woman.
As was the case with many “bold, new” creations in the ’70s cut from the “senses-shattering tradition of Spider-Man,” Ms. Marvel’s title was canceled after about 20 issues. By that time, she had reconciled with her warrior persona and, thanks to the book’s lack of success, dodged writer Chris Claremont’s plan to turn her character into a villain via the brainwashing abilities of the evil Mastermind.
(Undaunted, Claremont famously - or infamously if you prefer - transplanted the storyline to Jean Grey…)
Ms. Marvel next appeared as a member of The Avengers, where it appeared she would enjoy a long and notable run. But, predating similar fates shared by Power Girl and Deanna Troi, she fell victim to the “mystical pregnancy.” The resulting tale was so bizarre that the Keeper can only reprint a summary provided by Wikipedia:
The pregnancy progressed at freakish speed and within weeks she gave birth to a son. The son quickly grew to adulthood. Her son, Marcus, revealed he had come from Limbo, a dimension outside of time and had fallen in love with Carol. He had kidnapped Carol during a previous mission and used mind control devices to force her to fall in love with him.
He seduced and impregnated her, then transferred his essence into her womb - essentially becoming his own son. After he made this revelation to Carol and her fellow Avengers, she somewhat inexplicably agreed to be his partner and left the team with him for this other dimension. It was later revealed that she was still under Marcus’s influence at that point.
After she left with him, his accelerated aging continued until he withered away to a husk, at which point she used his technology to return to Earth.
Ummm, yeah. Great story there, guys…
Things only got worse for Carol as she attempted to begin a new life in San Francisco, but was instead ambushed by the then-villainous mutant known as Rogue. In the ensuing battle, Rogue permanently stripped Carol of her powers and memories. Although Professor X restored a semblance of those memories, she no longer felt any emotional connection to the people and events of her past life.
(Although she remembered enough to tell off her Avengers “allies” for abandoning her to Marcus.)
Carol then spent some time with the X-Men until the entire team was swept into space for a classic battle with The Brood (Marvel’s answer to Ridley Scott’s “Alien”). At that point, the Danvers luck again came into play as she was subjected to painful medical experiments.
Despite being reduced to little more than a guinea pig, there was an upside. She received cosmos-shaking powers, a snappy new costume and a hip, one-word pre-Image codename - Binary.
Shortly thereafter, Carol broke off contact with the X-Men after they welcomed a remorseful Rogue to their ranks. (Subsequent battles between Rogue and the essence of Ms. Marvel’s original memories are complicated enough to warrant their own post, if the Fortress Keeper can ever figure out exactly what happened. Damn you Chris Claremont!)
Joining the Starjammers in deep space, Carol spent the next several years in semi-obscurity before re-emerging as a prominent figure in the Busiek/Perez iteration of The Avengers.
By this point, Carol had lost much of her power (again) and was limited to flight, super-strength, durability and generic energy blasts. Carol re-adopted her Ms. Marvel costume but coined a new, post-Image codename: Warbird. She also became a raging alcoholic, a development that perhaps wasn’t too surprising considering the character’s tortured history.
Once again her tenure with the Avengers was short-lived, but this time the team did not turn their backs on the heroine. Tony Stark, a recovering alcoholic himself, particularly went out of his way to aid Carol.
After curbing her drinking, Ms. Marvel returned to the Avengers but departed again to work with SHIELD and the Department of Homeland Security (!). Carol also made a few appearances in Thunderbolts and Brian Bendis’ justly acclaimed Alias series, and seemed set to settle in the role of permanent second-stringer.
Until - and there’s always an “until” in reference to Ms. Marvel - the heroine played a major role in Marvel’s mostly incomprehensible House of M mini-series. A quick appearance in the wretched New Avengers then led to her first solo series since the 1970s.
Much to the Keeper’s delight, the first issue showcased a newly confident heroine intent on living up to her potential. After a quick scuffle with the Stilt-Man, the story takes the reader through a tour of Carol’s current life - which includes a candid conversation with close friend Jessica “Spider-Woman” Drew, a hilarious cameo by Captain America, a dig at Hollywood publicists and a significant menace from her past.
The Keeper hopes that this time, Carol Danvers will truly take a place among the top tier of Marvel’s heroes. The company needs a female heavy-hitter, and the character deserves some kind of break.
Don’t you think she’s been through enough already?
