Tag: comics

Erase and rewind: a Miss Marvel moment


As part of a conversation with a dear friend, I shared Miss Marvel’s Wikipedia article with him in a Tweet. After many months of playing with her in the Miss Marvel vol. 2, #1 (March 2006). Art by Frank ChoMarvel Avengers Alliance Facebook app, I discover layer upon layer of sometimes controversial, yet fascinating material…

“The 200th issue of the Avengers[13] proved controversial when Ms. Marvel was kidnapped by a character named Marcus—the apparent son of Avengers foe Immortus—and taken to an alternate dimension, where she was brainwashed, seduced, and impregnated. She gives birth on Earth to a child that rapidly ages into another version of Marcus, who takes Ms. Marvel back to the alternate dimension with no opposition from the Avengers. Comic book historian Carol A. Strickland criticized the storyline in an essay titled “The Rape of Ms. Marvel.”[14] Citing Marcus’s line, “Finally, after relative weeks of such efforts—and admittedly, with a subtle boost from Immortus’ machines—you became mine,” Strickland posited that Ms. Marvel’s impregnation was simply rape by another name. As former writer of the solo title, Chris Claremont also commented on the inappropriateness of the storyline,[15] and effectively “undid” the story in Avengers Annual #10 (1981).[16]

In that story, Danvers is revealed to have returned to Earth—courtesy of Immortus’ technology after Marcus continued to age and die of old age—but is attacked by the mutant Rogue, who permanently absorbs the character’s abilities and memories.[16] Danvers’ memories are later restored by Professor X, and an angry confrontation with the Avengers concerning their apathy follows. Claremont continued to develop the character in the title Uncanny X-Men, as using espionage, Danvers enters the Pentagon and wiped old government files on the X-Men.[17] During an adventure in space with the mutant team the X-Men, Danvers is changed courtesy of experimentation by the alien race the Brood into a newly empowered character called “Binary”.[18] Drawing on the power of a cosmic phenomenon called a white hole, Danvers becomes capable of generating the power of a star. As Binary, the character has a number of encounters with the X-Men,[19] New Mutants,[20] the British team Excalibur[21] as well as a solo adventure.[22]

Claremont expanded on the incident with the character Rogue by having the Carol Danvers persona manifest itself within Rogue’s mind, sometimes overpowering Rogue’s personality. This happened to Rogue on several occasions, which caused an uneasy armistice between them.[23][24] Sometime later after Rogue was blown through the ancient supernatural gateway called the Siege Perilous, the Ms. Marvel persona was separated from her as an independent entity. However she was captured by the Shadow King, and sent to attack Rogue. As the two battled, they each discovered there was not enough lifeforce between them to allow them both to exist. Just as the Ms. Marvel persona was on the verge of killing Rogue, Magneto intervened and destroyed her, saving Rogue’s life.” [25]