Hello, Fellow Questers!
Welcome to another episode of Tex’s Comics Quest! Today, we talk about one of the most powerful superheroes in the MU...Carol Danvers, AKA, Captain Marvel!!
Above, you will see Marvel Super-Heroes #13, printed in March of 1968. It features the first appearance of the current Captain Marvel, Carol Danvers, ex-Air Force ace pilot, and colonel. As a young Security Chief at The Cape, NASA’s Florida base, Carol Danvers met Dr. Walter Lawson - a scientist who was secretly Mar-Vell, a mighty Kree soldier who was on a mission to learn more about the human race. Mar-Vell had taken on the dead scientist’s identity, and under this guise, he had a turbulent relationship with Danvers - one of distrust, secrets, and conflicts of interests, as Danvers’ growing affection for Lawson struggled with her suspicion of his long disappearances, and secretive activities. Often, her adventures with Lawson or Mar-Vell would put her directly in harm’s way, which would lead to her gaining marvelous super-powers! On to the FUN FACTS!
FUN FACT 1: Carol Danvers comes from a military family - her father, Joe, served in the Navy, and her brother, Steve, was killed in combat in Vietnam.
FUN FACT 2: Carol Danvers was an Air Force pilot who graduated at the top of her class. She has been a test-pilot, and served in Special Ops with the likes of Nick Fury, Wolverine, and Black Widow. This led to her scoring her dream assignment as NASA’s youngest Security Chief ever at The Cape.
FUN FACT 3: Carol Danvers gained her powers in Captain Marvel vol 1, #18 (see my copy above) during a struggle between Yon-Rogg (Mar-Vell’s murderous commander who wanted Mar-Vell’s lover, Una, for himself), and Mar-Vell.
FUN FACT 4: Carol Danvers first appears as a superhero in Ms. Marvel vol 1, #1 (see my copy above), printed in January of 1977 - just a bit under a decade after her first appearance. Would you believe that this comic was a free gift from a comic-seller?
FUN FACT 5: Carol Danvers’ powers have ebbed, flowed, and evolved over the years. She has used several names with her different power sets: Ms. Marvel, Binary, and Warbird.
FUN FACT 6: Carol didn’t really gain her powers…She already had them - they were just latent. Why? Because eventually it was revealed that Carol Danvers’ mother was Kree champion, Mari-Ell.
FUN FACT 7: Carol Danvers has had plenty of highs and lows in the MU, but no low as bad a being raped by your own kid. I don’t know WHAT the writers were thinking: https://www.geekinsider.com/on-the-rape-of-ms-marvel/
FUN FACT 8: Eventually, Carol would become the MU’s Captain Marvel - a powerhouse of might and leadership; however, Carol wasn’t the first hero to call herself Captain Marvel after Mar-Vell’s demise. The first was Monica Rambeau (a devastatingly powerful ex-cop); then, Genis-Vell (the nearly unstoppable son of Mar-Vell; next, Phyla-Vell (universal anomaly and sister to Genis-Vell; then, Khn’nr (Skrull sleeper agent); then, Noh-Varr (Marvel Boy), and finally Carol Danvers took up the mantle in Avenging Spider-Man #9 in 2012, which, I do not own.
FUN FACT 9: It is no secret that Marvel and DC’s long-running rivalry sometimes leads them to, umm, borrow ideas from one another. Sometimes it’s all in fun, other times, it’s outright swiping. Captain Marvel shares several similarities with DC’s Supergirl. Coincidence? You decide. Captain Marvel’s name is Carol Danvers, and Supergirl (who was created nearly a decade earlier than Carol) went under the alias/secret identity of Linda Lee Danvers, and eventually Kara Danvers. Carol Danvers’ mother is named Mari-Ell, which seems like a riff on DC’s Krypton’s illustrious family, The House of El, from which both Superman (Kal-El), and Supergirl (Kara Zor-El) descend.
I have only been a moderate fan of her character in the MU (comics), her outing as the leader of the Ultimates made me a true-believer. Captain Marvel is AWESOME! And I LOVED her debut in the MCU, and her powerhouse showing in Avengers: Engame!! More Captain Marvel, please!
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