Did I ever mention how awesome Carol Danvers is?

[ablackraptor]

Have I? Because I really should have by now. Carol's a character I sometimes forget, largely because I'm one of those kids that came in from watching Marvel's cartoons/playing their video games so I only tend to remember those characters, and frankly, Carol's really underused outside of comics. Its a little shameful that if you're not an Avengers comic reader, the most people tend to know about her is 'that one superhero that Rogue stole powers from' (hell, I've seen more than one X-Men fanfic about 're-imagining' the franchise (like the Ultimate Universe, but with less Mark Millar) or similar stories that depicts her as a villain (Worse, once she was a Nazi for crying out loud!), so that Rogue doesn't look like an A-Hole for utterly destroying her). Because of this, I almost completely missed her recent ongoing due to a combination of being too busy with other comics or being flat broke and unable to afford more than three comics a month (tis was a dark time for I). I also somehow keep forgetting about Avengers Assemble; I think its because the opening issues reeked of movie tie-in so I wasn't interested, but I keep forgetting to mention it or buy it.
That changed with the recent 'Enemy Within' Crossover, and I decided to post some scans from the fourth instalment of this Carolitious crossover.

Background and story so far: Carol's discovered a lesion that's growing on the part of her brain that controls her Kree abilities. The lesion grows worse when she uses her powers, especially flight, so she's been grounded by her doctor. As Carol grows weaker, an 'enemy from their past' seeks revenge against Carol. Who? Why Yon-Rogg of course. Who is he? I frankly don't know (curse my youthful ignorance making me not know about villains from several decades ago!), but he's a Kree guy who was caught in the explosion that granted Carol her powers, and wants to finally get vengeance on her for it. He kidnapped her friend Rose and stole a piece of the Psyche-Magnitron, the device that caused her powers, that she had, then induced a Brood invasion to distract Carol, SWORD, and the Avengers so he could try and contact the Kree, only to get ignored. Now, he's merged with the device to become THE Magnitron, activated a ton of Kree sentries hidden on earth, and sent them to pull something from someplace to finally destroy Carol and the rest of Humanity.

After this, Yon-Rogg makes SWORD's captured Brood disappear, along with some dinosaurs they had.

And so our comic ends with Carol getting ready to kick his ass, despite the fact he's basically now a walking Kree God and she's basically on death's door. Bu, that's Carol, she's that awesome.
Admittedly, this isn't so much a crossover as a normal Avengers story that's focusing on Carol more than normal, but whatever, its still good, and I'd recommend anyone who's not reading it to pick up the back issues or get the trade when it comes out.

Once this story ends, I'm getting the trades of both these books. My bank account will hate me for it, but damn do I need it.

Comments

[stubbleupdate]

Lesion, not legion

[ablackraptor]

Thanks, small typo on my part.

[skjam]

Yon-Rogg was more or less Mar-Vell's boss on the mission to spy on Earth by posing as a superhero. He had a thing for Mar-Vell's then-love interest Una (a nurse on the spy ship) and was trying the old Uriah trick. When that didn't work, Yon-Rogg became ever more open about trying to kill Mar-Vell and anyone he was close to, culminating in the Psyche-Magnitron incident.

[ablackraptor]

Thanks. That does sound familiar so it may just be I couldn't remember his name, but thanks.

[skjam]

Yon-Rogg was also virulently racist and speciesist, allowing for Mar-Vell to be a persecuted minority despite looking "white."

[icon_uk]

Impressive (Though I think you mean "lesion" rather than "legion". Having Legion on your brain would be things like still missing the animated series, or being able to name every member of every incarnation of the Legion)

[ablackraptor]

Lol, having a legion in your head sounds like it could be fun, if painful to fit them all in. Thanks for pointing it out; I've already fixed it now, but thanks.

[silverhammerman]

I really like the recent push Marvel's been making with Carol Danvers, it's about time they had a prominent female character who wasn't tied to a team or a male hero. I mean, yeah, Carol was originally tied up with Mar-Vell, but at this point I think you could easily do a version of the character that skips over his involvement without changing too much.

I hope this lasts too, and Carol doesn't fade into the background once DeConnick is done writing her. That seems to be what's happened to Luke Cage since Bendis left and it's a pity.

[ablackraptor]

It is pretty cool. Marvel's recently been pretty kind to their lady characters, what with bringing back Wasp and (a younger version of) Jean Grey, giving Kate Bishop a push by making her a main/supporting character on three different books now, having two teams built up of female characters and another that's a least 50% female, and of course, seriously pushing Carol here.
Now that I think about it, it would be possible to explain away her powers for an adaptation as being some kind of super soldier attempt using alien DNA, without needing to involve Mah-Vell. It wouldn't change her character too much and would be easier to explain than 'caught in an explosion with a Kree alien in her vicinity!'

It is sad what happened to Luke; I'm definitely going to be looking at Mighty Avengers when it comes out to see what's going on there with him; I miss him and Jess.

[salinea]

What's Kate Bishop on asides from Hawkeye and Young Avengers?

[ablackraptor]

From what I've heard, her Ultimate counterpart is now Miles Morales girlfriend. I don't know the full details since I gave up on the ultimate Universe around the time Hawkeye started using guns and Nightcrawler became a creepy kidnapping homophobe, but yeah, she's now in three books.

[mola_ram]

I dunno about that.
Carol is by far the one who has managed to shoulder and carry on the Captain Mar-vell legacy the best, even better than Genis and Phyla IMO.

While I wouldn't want her to go off and have cosmic adventures per see, I'd love to see her stand her ground against some of the more powerful members of Mar-vells' rogue gallery.
Captain America believes in her to carry on Captain marvels legacy, and I think it would be a real boost to see her earn the grudging respect of the likes of Ronan the Accuser and Thanos.

[stubbleupdate]

Luke Cage led a Thunderbolts team and will lead a Mighty Avengers team. He is hardly being shunted off into limbo with the likes of 3D Man and Prodigy.

[silverhammerman]

True, that does assuage my fears somewhat. However I would argue that being on the Thunderbolts isn't the same as being on the Avengers, one was a low profile team book deemed inconsequential enough to turn into Dark Avengers, and the other is Marvel's premiere superhero team, with a blockbuster movie under its belt.

Plus, while Mighty Avengers does sound cool it's still some way off, and there were something like 6 months to a year (Not sure on the timeline) where Luke Cage was just off the frontline, though I do believe there was a reason in the story for why that was.

[jaybee3]

Big fan of Carol Danvers too. For some reason, I think my re-thinking of the character came during the time period when Moonstone was Ms. Marvel during Dark Reign and had taken over her book. I came to the realization that if Carol had a decent writer (and let's face it a lot of her stories aren't that memorable except for that time you know when Marvel thought it would be a good idea to have her go away with the inter-dimensional rapist she herself gave birth to) she would be an awesome A-lister. And now she does.