The Life of Captain Marvel #4

[lordultimus]

Comments

"That's not what you've got, that's what you do with them that makes you a hero."

[deh_tommy]

The book acts like her powers being "her own, no one else's" is some inspirational revelation to take comfort in, but lots of heroes have powers that weren't there own.

•Peter Parker, Miles Morales and Cindy Moon got bitten by a spider.
•Daredevil and Jessica Jones got doused in chemicals.
•Captain Britain was rescued by Merlyn.
•The Fantastic Four were caught in a cosmic expedition gone wrong.
•Hulk took the brunt of a Gamma bomb.
•Silver Surfer was bestowed the Power Cosmic by Galactus.
•Monica Rambeau was exposed to energy from a superweapon.
•She-Hulk received a blood transfusion from her cousin.
•Scott Lang, Stature and Eric O'Grady stole an Ant-Man suit.
•Jessica Drew got hit by a laser beam in the womb.

There's nothing any more or less noble nor is there really anything any better or worse than her having powers the whole time as opposed to getting them in an accident.

Re: "That's not what you've got, that's what you do with them that makes you a hero."

[laughing_tree]

You don't think Silver Surfer would be pleased as punch to learn his powers actually didn't come from Galactus? That Scott Lang or Eric O'Grady wouldn't love to live in a world where they were the ones who invented the Pym particle?

And nobody said anything about nobility.

Re: "That's not what you've got, that's what you do with them that makes you a hero."

[katefan]

In the case of the Silver Surfer, though, the fact that his powers originate from such a destructive force gives the character pathos in that he uses them to in some small way to counter the entropy Galactus represents. Or represented; I don't know if big G is still the lifebringer or whatever. And Lang and O'Grady creating the Pym particle would fundamentally alter their characters. These things are fundamental to their characters, changing them would unmake them.

Which to be fair I don't see happening with Carol's origin being tweaked. Whatever you do with her, she still feels like a second tier character who can't sell comics.

Re: "That's not what you've got, that's what you do with them that makes you a hero."

[laughing_tree]

Oh, yeah, I'm not saying it'd make those three better characters. But as you say, it's different for Carol because the tenuous connection to Mar-Vell's never been especially important, at least not in a long while. It's more a bit of trivia these days than anything else.

I was mainly addressing deh_tommy's point about whether or not a character would take inspiration from their powers coming from themselves.

Re: "That's not what you've got, that's what you do with them that makes you a hero."

[laughing_tree]

Also, why do so many people treat every major change to a character as some kind of imagined competition between characters? I swear, if they'd gotten rid of Black Panther's cape today, there'd be readers going, "Oh yeah? You think capes suck or something, writer guy? Well, I'll have you know that Thor's worn a cape for decades and he's gotten along just fine!"

Writers and artists make changes on case-by-case basis, according to the specific situation of the character they're working on it. They're not making grand statements about How Superheroes Must Be.

Re: "BIONICLE presents 6 new Inika heroes (each set sold separately)"

[deh_tommy]

I never claimed nor did I intend to insinuate anything you described, I'm just confused as to why this was needed. If, as you say, that helps to make her less dependent on or derivative of "some man", than that doesn't really work because she's still calling herself Captain Marvel. Not Warbird, not Binary, Captain Marvel. Heck, one can't help but draw comparisons, since (a)she is now Kree like him, (b)the very name of the book references one of the most iconic Captain Marvel stories told.

Why did this have to happen at all? If anything, this just makes things even more confusing.

Re: "BIONICLE presents 6 new Inika heroes (each set sold separately)"

[laughing_tree]

Well, wasn't your response to this retcon to point out characters who've gotten along just fine with derivative powers? How is that far off from my cape comparison? Sorry, genuinely, if I'm misinterpreting you, but I'm not getting the big distinction.

> If, as you say, that helps to make her less dependent on or derivative of "some man", than that doesn't really work because she's still calling herself Captain Marvel.

Sure, it doesn't make her completely not derivative but it does make her *less* derivative. It's not a binary situation, pun not intended.

And she was already half-Kree before this. The only thing that's changed is the reason for that. Now she's half-Kree the regular way someone becomes half-something, as opposed to getting Kree DNA mixed with her own from the blast of a sci-fi gizmo.