Captain Marvel & Ms. Marvel (Carol Danvers | Kamala Khan)
Supporting Characters (Kamala Khan's Supporting Cast) | Rogues Gallery (Kamala Khan's Rogues Gallery)
Captain Marvel
Mar-Vell
Alter Ego: Mar-Vell
Notable Aliases: Captain Mar-Vell, Dr. Walter Lawson, Marv, Marv-Ell, Protector of the Universe, Silvertop, Spaceman, Star-Man
First Appearance: Marvel Super-Heroes #12 (December, 1967)
As seen in the Captain Marvel article, that name has been applied to various characters in American Comic Book history. This article is about the (first) one created by Marvel Comics.
During the 1960s, writer Stan Lee noticed that the name's trademark from the Fawcett Comics character was available again, and decided that Marvel should own it (Marvel Comics, Captain Marvel... makes sense, right?). So he created a new superhero named that, one quite different from the previous ones. The new character first appeared in "Marvel Super-Heroes" #12 (December, 1967). Given the value of the name to DC and the utter obscurity of the Marvel version of the character (at least nowadays; he was big back in the 70's), you'd think Marvel would cash in and make a mint selling the name back to DC at an enormous profit... except for the fact that he's called "Captain Marvel" and they're called "Marvel Comics" and you just can't let that kind of synchronicity slip away from you.
Mar-Vell was an alien (from the Kree, a race that looks exactly like humans except that some of them are blue.) A decorated war hero with the actual rank of Captain, he came to Earth as part of an intelligence gathering mission, following the defeat of Ronan the Accuser (at the hands of the Fantastic Four). Ronan himself had gone to Earth to investigate the defeat of a Kree Sentry stationed on the planet in an old Kree observation post (also at the hands of the Fantastic Four). The seeming impossibility of these two defeats happening on the ''same'' world was so mind-boggling that the Kree decided to investigate in detail whether or not humanity could be useful... or if they were a big enough threat to warrant destruction.
Mar-Vell is sent to Earth while being monitored from orbit by the rest of his crew, which included his girlfriend Una and his superior, Colonel Yon-Rogg. Mar-Vell discovers he's the exact lookalike of an American rocket scientist, who has just been murdered, so he takes over his identity to further his mission.
However, it turns out that Yon-Rogg secretly hated Mar-Vell, mostly because he wanted Una for himself. So he tries to have Mar-Vell killed. This forces Marvel (who has Super-Strength due to coming from a planet with higher gravity) to fight openly while wearing his Kree uniform, which caused people to mistake him for a new superhero called "Captain Marvel". He also became a target of a larger power struggle within the Kree government.
The betrayal from his own people (and the eventual death of Una) leads Mar-Vell to adopt Earth (and the name Captain Marvel) as his own. He had a brief relationship with Carol Danvers, a NASA security agent, who later becomes a superhero herself (and eventually takes on the mantle of Captain Marvel). He gains new powers from an Earth scientist, and later, from The Supreme Intelligence, a supercomputer who is the Kree's true ruler. He also gained his more famous, red-and-blue costume from it.
For a period of time, Marvel found himself accidentally "merged" with teenage singer Rick Jones (the same kid who was involved in the Hulk's origin) so that only one of them could exist in the universe, with the other one stuck in the dimension called the Negative Zone until the one on Earth struck together his "nega-band" bracelets, causing them to switch places. (Writer Roy Thomas has admitted that this was done as a nod to the original Captain Marvel, who was a child who could turn into an adult superhero.) It was later revealed that this was The Plan of the Supreme Intelligence, who was really a Magnificent Bastard whose ultimate goal was to jumpstart the evolutionary potential of the Kree race via Rick Jones's genes. Eventually, Marvel finds a way to bring back Rick from the Zone and they resume their lives.
The "Captain Marvel" magazine lasted for 62 issues (May, 1968-May, 1979). Tragically, Marvel didn't live long after his series was cancelled. In a very rare case of a comic book character being Killed Off for Real, he died from a cancer he got from exposure to nerve gas during one of his adventures. His death was covered The Death of Captain Marvel (Marvel Graphic Novel #1, April 1982, written and illustrated by Jim Starlin), and Mar-Vell's death is universally considered one of the most touching, well-written and dignified in the history of comics.
Despite his death having occurred over thirty years ago and him unusually staying dead (save for a brief return during Avengers vs. X-Men), he and his legacy still exert a powerful influence on the Marvel Universe today. His children Phyla-Vell, Genis-Vell, and Hulkling remain prominent supporting players.
And in an age when Jean Grey, Bucky Barnes, Gwen Stacy (sorta) and even Mar-Vell's enemy Thanos have all returned from the dead (and that's only sticking with examples within Marvel), Mar-Vell is still usually considered the last great symbol of death meaning something in comics. (Aside from Uncle Ben.) There have been a handful of stories where it seems like Mar-Vell has somehow returned to life, only for it to be revealed to be some kind of fake-out.
- Aborted Arc: Before it was decided that the mysterious Captain Marvel who had been glimpsed during Civil War was the "returned" Mar-Vell (see Back from the Dead below), it was intended to be the recently introduced character Gravity, who had somehow been given the costume and the role of Earth's protector. One can only assume it would have eventually been revealed just who gave Gravity the costume and the job.
- The Ace: Handsome, heroic, powerful, and possessing the willpower necessary to utilise Cosmic Awareness without being driven mad by the ability. In life and death, Mar-Vell won the respect of many of his universe's greatest heroes, some of its vilest villains, and a number of the sublime abstracts who lord above all.
- Arch-Enemy:
- To Thanos, before Adam Warlock stole that one from him, and his Cancerverse version retains this animosity.
- Before Thanos, the archenemy role was occupied by Colonel Yon-Rogg.
- Back from the Dead: Seems to during Civil War. But not really.
- Captain Superhero: A superhero named Captain Mar-Vell. He actually did hold a Kree military rank equivalent to captain before being exiled to Earth.
- Came Back Wrong
- Mar-Vell has been summoned as a zombie or otherwise undead minion a few times. On one occasion, he was summoned as part of the Legion of the Unliving (this iteration specifically made up of deceased Avengers). He completely demolished Monica Rambeau, his successor at the time. He did this both by delivering a Breaking Speech (which was especially effective because Monica struggled with the weight of his legacy) and by the fact he was much, much more experienced.
- Of course, the above situation was a bit of Loophole Abuse: Mar-Vell was made an Avenger posthumously.
- Dead Person Impersonation:
- For a time, Mar-Vell posed as a deceased scientist named Walter Lawson.
- And a Not Quite Dead Walter Lawson returned the favor in the 2019 series Marvel Team-Up.
- Death Is Cheap: Notably averted, as Mar-Vell is pretty much the only major Marvel superhero who died and has never been resurrected. This is because everyone seems to agree it would be distasteful to reverse a memorable, touching, and realistically (for superhero comics) depicted cancer death.
- Deadly Gas: Nitro's debut has him try to steal some only to be stopped by Mar-Vell — but the canister sprung a leak in the battle and while Mar-Vell did reseal it, the gas was also carcinogenic and resulted in the cancer that would kill Mar-Vell.
- Disappeared Dad: Captain Marvel never met any of his children: Hulkling was kept by the Skrulls, while Genis and Phyla were created using his DNA after his death.
- Evil Counterpart: A post-mortem one. In the Cancerverse Mar-Vell made a pact with a pantheon of Eldritch Abominations on his deathbed. Not only did he live, he obliterated death in that universe and turned the Avengers into Lovecraftian horrors under his command.
- Exact Words: In a case of a cover doing this, the cover to issue 34 of Mar-Vell's introduced Nitro and boasted he'd be "the man who killed Captain Marvel." It just didn't say when, as while Mar-Vell was still alive at the end of the issue, the events of it, more specifically, the exposure to the Deadly Gas Nitro was trying to steal, would indeed be the cause of the cancer that claimed Mar-Vell.
- Fake Identity Baggage: When Mar-Vell first arrived on Earth as part of his investigation mission note , he discovered a crashed plane and the dead body of rocket scientist Walter Lawson. When Mar-Vell noticed his own resemblance to the deceased man and the fact he was en route to a military base that was one of the targets of their mission, Mar-Vell assumed Lawson's identity. He was able to use his own advanced knowledge of technology to aid in his deception (noting that compared to Kree technology, the tech Lawson was working on barely rated as advanced for Kree children). However, what Mar-Vell couldn't have known was that Walter Lawson was also involved with some very shady people, and was naturally caught off-guard when they came calling to demand "Lawson" complete his contract.
- Fantastic Racism: Most Kree are blue-skinned, but some like Mar-Vell have pink skin (i.e., like that of northern Europeans) and are treated as inferior by the blue-skinned Kree. The extent to which this applies to Mar-Vell (and his status as a hero or a traitor to the Kree) depends on the writer.
- Glad-to-Be-Alive Sex: How the One-Night-Stand Pregnancy between Mar-Vell and Skrull crown princess Annelle (the result being the young hero Hulkling) came about.
- The Good Captain: Mar has always been unusually altruistic for a Kree military officer.
- Gondor Calls for Aid: One of the interesting things about Mar-Vell is that when he knew something big was going down, he'd rush to warn teams like the Avengers so as to mount a unified front.
- The Hero Dies: Mar-Vell's life ends in the self-titled The Death of Captain Marvel one-shot.
- Hero Killer: Nitro's debut also is also the incident that'd cause Mar-Vell's death. Nitro would brag about it for the rest of his life, but admit it was an "alleyoop" when pressed on the details.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Mar-Vell's nega bands, which granted him many of his powers, also included a healing factor that kept the cancer that would eventually kill him in check. Unfortunately, the cancer eventually mutated to the point where the nega bands could no longer stop it, and made Mar-Vell reliant on them to the point he would die in a matter of hours without them. Worse, the mutated cancer was now linked to the nega bands, meaning that a cure would not only have to overcome the cancer itself but the bands as well. Unfortunately that led to Mar-Vell's death.
- Hope Bringer
- In-universe, Mar-Vell has this reputation. On one occasion, when the Silver Surfer was trapped in Death's realm Mar-Vell appeared to help him escape. The Surfer later learned that wasn't Mar-Vell at all: it was a manifestation of his desire for some sort of symbol of hope.
- During the war with the Cancerverse, the revelation that the Big Bad was an alternate version of Mar-Vell was met with a great deal of disbelief by many of the heroes.
- Hyper-Awareness: His Cosmic Awareness. This more than anything else ended up becoming Mar-Vell's signature super power. Everyone of his successors have this, including Monica Rambeau, who has nothing to do with The Kree or Eon and was only called "Captain Marvel" by onlookers who deemed her worthy of the title, and if any calling themselves "Captain Marvel" doesn't have some form of cosmic awareness then they're a fake! Even characters just familiar with Mar-Vell like Silver Surfer ended up developing their own forms of it.
- Killed Off for Real: One of the comic book examples that actually stays, unlike most characters outside of Uncle Ben Parker.
- Life Will Kill You: While the cause was mildly fantastic, his death from cancer was played realistically and affectingly, which may be related to his never having been resurrected.
- Love Hurts: Mar-Vell lost his first love Una due to his own recklessness, and while he and Carol Danvers had a mutual attraction they were never really able to hash things out between them. He eventually found a new love in the Titan Elysius, to the point he semi-retired to the moon of Titan to be with her and they discussed having children. The cancer would put an end to those plans.
- Mid-Season Upgrade: Mar-Vell receiving the Cosmic Awareness from Eon during the battle against Thanos. Before that, he received his more well-known blue and red uniform (previously having worn his Kree military uniform) from the Kree Supreme Intelligence as a reward for his help in thwarting a coup.
- My Greatest Failure: Mar-Vell never really forgave himself for Una's death, even when he found new loves. Part of this is because during the battle that eventually claimed her life she was badly wounded in the crossfire between the Kree under Colonel Yon-Rogg and a force of alien enemies Yon-Rogg lured in to kill Mar-Vell for him. An enraged Mar-Vell directly attacked Yon-Rogg before coming to his senses and desperately taking Una off the field, to the point he stole a rocket from the Earthlings who'd come to see him as a hero. Alas, she succumbed to her wounds en route to their orbiting spaceship where the advanced healing tech could've saved her. Mar-Vell would often wonder if he could've saved her if he hadn't been so blinded by rage.
- Never Live It Down: Mar-Vell is best known as "that guy who died from cancer", both in-universe and out. As a career soldier, he (actually Khn'nr) wasn't happy to find out he died on a sickbed instead of in battle.
- Once Done, Never Forgotten: Mar-Vell has gone down in Kree history as a traitor, despite acknowledgement from the Kree Supreme Intelligence that he's a hero. In fact, the red-and-blue costume Mar-Vell is most known for wearing is basically the uniform of elite heroes of the Kree. The traitor has even returned to the homeworld whose people exiled him to save it in its time of need.
- Other Me Annoys Me: Mar-Vell's Cancerverse counterpart Lord Mar-Vell considered him a fool for allowing himself to just die (instead of making a Deal with the Devil like he did). Thanos observed he respected Mar-Vell far more than he does Lord Mar-Vell.
- Patriot in Exile: One of his defining characteristics was that despite being exiled and branded a traitor to the Kree for his defense of Earth, he still considered himself "a man of the Kree". While he opposed the machinations of the Kree Supreme Intelligence on multiple occasions, the Supreme Intelligence was still more than willing to call on him for aid if the Kree homeworld of Hala was in peril as it knew his love of their homeworld was far greater than any wariness he might have. In fact, on one occasion he was resurrected long after his death, realised Hala was in danger, and immediately sacrificed himself to save her.
- PietĆ Plagiarism: The cover of The Death of Captain Marvel graphic novel, featuring the Grim Reaper holding the captain's body. Of all the examples of this trope it's the closest to a true imitation of the Michelangelo work, explicitly borrowing the pose of a sitting Mary with her son's body in her arms.
- Reed Richards Is Useless: A variant: Rick Jones comes to Reed and the other superintelligent superheroes of the era and asks them to use their great minds to cure Mar-Vell's cancer. They come to the uncomfortable realization that they could have been doing that for everyone in the world the entire time. However, when their efforts fail to bear fruit in time to save Mar-Vell, they just stop trying. Nevermind that other people might be helped in the future, nope, it was "save Mar" or nothing.
- Retool: He underwent a few as his series struggled to find its identity.
- Spider-Sense: Cosmic Awareness, once appointed Protector of the Universe, Mar-Vell seemed to control it well enough that whenever universal threats or changes occurred that related to him he, but perceive the possible solutions to them. When his posthumous son Genis took the power on it drove him crazy because he couldn't fully control it and kept getting more information then he needed on possible outcomes. The actual Spider-Man couldn't handle similar when the Uni-Power boosted his spider-sense as Captain Universe, but this just left Spider-Man burnt out rather than insane.
- Sucksessor: Those who have attempted to take on the Captain Marvel name after the original have all met with immense hardship, with some even outright dying as they tried to live up to his daunting legacy while others simply suffer through the misfortune the title seems to bring.
- Swap Teleportation: For a time, Captain Mar-Vell was trapped in the Negative Zone, and could only leave when Rick Jones struck together a pair of "Nega-Bands" he wore on his wrists, causing the two to switch places.
- Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: For quite some time, Drax the Destroyer really, really, really wanted to kill Mar-Vell for his role in (what seemed at the time) permanently putting an end to Thanos. Since Drax was created specifically to kill Thanos, this robbed him of his reason for existing. Mar-Vell points out how completely unfair that is: Thanos was on the verge of succeeding with one of his plans to gain ultimate power, so what was he supposed to do, wait?!
- Time Travel Escape: In 2006, but not really.
- The Topic of Cancer: Possibly the classic Marvel Comics example: the death of Captain Mar-Vell.
- Worthy Opponent
- This is part of the reason Earth became a battlefield between various spacefaring empires. Mar-Vell was sent as part of a team to investigate Earth after the defeats of both a Kree Sentry and Ronan the Accuser at the hands of The Fantastic Four. The Skrull Empire wondered why such a valiant and decorated war hero would be sent to such a backwards world and decided to investigate by sending in the Super-Skrull. After Mar-Vell defeated the Super-Skrull, the Skrull Empire decided that if the Kree Empire sent someone of Mar-Vell's stature to protect Earth, it must be valuable.
- Later on, the news of Captain Mar-Vell's impending death due to cancer was described as causing mixed feelings among The Skrulls, their happiness at his death being tempered with disappointment and sadness that so great a warrior would die in a sickbed instead of in battle (ideally with the Skrulls themselves). The Skrull Empire eventually sent one of their top generals to visit Mar-Vell and present him with the highest decoration of The Skrull Empire, praising him for his courage and skill before wishing him a swift death and great rewards in the afterlife.
- Thanos considered Captain Mar-Vell to be this, to the point that he decided to welcome Mar-Vell into death's embrace personally. Later on during the Infinity War, he described Quasar (who had inherited Mar-Vell's role of protector of the universe) as a poor replacement to Mar-Vell. During one of his other brushes with ultimate power Thanos even briefly resurrected Mar-Vell to speak to him, and after the conversation when Mar-Vell asked to be allowed to return to his rest Thanos let him go. And when he encountered Lord Mar-Vell of the Cancerverse, he noted that he was much less impressed by him than he had been by the true Mar-Vell.
Monica Rambeau
Alter Ego: Monica Rambeau
Notable Aliases: Captain Marvel, Photon, Pulsar, Daystar, Sceptre, Lady of Light, Monica Marvel, Sun Goddess, Spectrum
Team Affiliations: The Avengers (leader), Mighty Avengers (field leader), The Ultimates
First Appearance: The Amazing Spider-Man Annual #16 (October, 1982)note ; Avengers Unplugged #5 (June, 1996)note ; New Thunderbolts #9 (August, 2005)note ; Mighty Avengers #1 (November, 2013)note
Monica Rambeau, otherwise known by her multitude of aliases (Captain Marvel, Photon, Pulsar, and presently Spectrum) is a Marvel Comics character created by Roger Stern and John Romita, Jr., first appearing in The Amazing Spider-Man Annual #16 (dated 1982).
Introduced as a lieutenant of the New Orleans Harbor Patrol, an accident involving an energy weapon exposed Monica to extradimensional energy, giving her a multitude of energy-related powers. She can convert herself into any form of energy on the electromagnetic spectrum, absorb and manipulate energy, and travel at the speed of light while flying in her energy form. Because of this, she's described as an "Alpha Level" superhuman by Sam Wilson, and is quietly one of the most powerful heroes in the entire Marvel Universe.
Shortly after gaining her powers, Monica adopted the vacant Captain Marvel name for herself, meaning she's the first woman —and a woman of color, at that!— to do so, even though Phyla-Vell (daughter of Mar-Vell) and Carol Danvers (formerly Ms. Marvel) have been more associated with that distinction.
While learning to master her powers, Monica sought help from The Avengers, who eventually accepted her into their ranks as a full member. It's worth noting that Monica is the first black woman to join the team, and only the third black Avenger overall, behind The Falcon and Black Panther. Not only was Monica a valued member of The Avengers, but she even led them for a spell, ultimately retiring from duty when she lost her powers during a mission.
Years later, Monica regained her powers and (hesitantly) conceded the Captain Marvel name to Genis-Vell (son of Mar-Vell), instead opting for a new alias: Photon. And then Genis decided he actually wanted to be called Photon too, so Monica agreed to give him the moniker, rebranding herself as Pulsar.
Monica didn't actually operate under the Pulsar name for very long — she gave it up sometime before appearing in Warren Ellis' Nextwave: Agents of H.A.T.E. Now simply using her birth name (while rocking dreads and a new badass longcoat), Monica utilized her experience as former leader of The Avengers to head up this new Ragtag Bunch of Misfits, which included Elsa Bloodstone, Boom Boom, and Machine Man.
It should be said that Nextwave's level of canonicity was up for debate for years, and it was only established in 2015 that its events actually did happen. As explained in Captain America & The Mighty Avengers, Monica and Co. were transported into an alternate universe and screwed with For the Evulz by the Beyond Corporation, and nobody believed them when they returned to Earth-616 and talked about it.
Nextwave ended after only twelve issues, but Monica continued to appear throughout the greater Marvel Universe following its cancelation. She was anti-Registration under Captain America's leadership during the Civil War, teamed up with Carol Danvers (the newly-minted Captain Marvel) while on a mission in the Gulf of Mexico, and even helped to take down Galactus. She also starred in the Sex and the City-esque limited series Marvel Divas, alongside Firestar, Black Cat, and Hellcat.
The Marvel NOW! initiative brought Monica onto a new iteration of the Mighty Avengers, where she served as Luke Cage's lancer. Monica continued to serve with the team until Earth-616 collided with Earth-1610, thusly ending the Marvel Universe. She'd planned to channel all her energy into destroying Earth-1610 — so as to avoid the destruction of her own home reality — but was captured by The Maker before she could try.
While Monica didn't appear in any major capacity during Secret Wars, she did return in the All-New, All-Different Marvel universe as a member of the new Ultimates, reuniting her with (fellow Mighty Avenger) Blue Marvel and frenemy Carol Danvers. As one could probably surmise from reading her history, Monica's definitely one of Marvel's more underrated characters who doesn't nearly get enough love.
Though Monica has only ever really appeared in comics and not much else, 2019's Captain Marvel features her mother Maria as a major supporting character, as portrayed by Lashana Lynch. This version of the character, a 90's contemporary of Carol Danvers' in the US Air Force, notably uses the callsign "Photon", which is also one of the many names Monica has used over the years. Monica herself appears in the film as a child, played by Akira Akbar. The adult version of Monica shows up in the Disney+ series WandaVision, portrayed by Teyonah Parris. She also returns in The Marvels (2023), appearing as Photon alongside Captain(Carol) and Ms.(Kamala) Marvel
- Action Girl: Take a military law enforcement officernote and give her free reign of the entire electromagnetic spectrum at light speed. One of the single most dangerous superheroes in the Marvel Universe, Rambeau's likely underused specifically because she's a story breaker; her power is really only limited by her scientific knowledge and her imagination. An attempt to de-power her in the late '80s didn't really take, and she was back to her classic power set by the time of the "Operation: Galactic Storm" crossover.
- The Adjectival Superhero: During her time on The Avengers, Monica Rambeau was referred to as the Astounding Captain Marvel.
- Affirmative-Action Legacy: She's the second Captain Marvel — though it should be noted that Mar-Vell is technically considered "pink" and not white. Fittingly, Monica's nemesis Nebula claims to be the granddaughter of Thanos, who in turn singled out Monica's predecessor, Mar-Vell, as his greatest nemesis. It doesn't work as well for Moonstone, since the man preceding Carla Sofen was a Captain America villain.
- Afro Asskicker: She was introduced as wearing an Afro, so she qualified for this at the time.
- The Ageless: Blue Marvel concluded that Rambeau's "human" form was anything but, that even when not actively using her powers she had gradually moved beyond several human limitations, including age related organ degeneration. She can still be killed though, even in her shifted states, as Blue Marvel came to these conclusions after averting Rambeau's demise at hand of Proxima Midnight, then experimenting to determine what other medical needs and limitations Monica might have. However, defeating Nyx in Avengers: No Road Home took its toll, and she's apparently no longer immortal - somewhat to her relief.
- Alternate Self: 616 Monica Rambeau has an Alternate Universe counterpart, from a "universe" distinct from the reglar Marvel multiverse no less, coming from "Earth A" rather than being identified by any numeric code. Alternate Universe tourism is the only fantastic thing Monica of Universe A is really interested in however, and otherwise detests the superpowers Monica 616 has come to cherish. None the less A Monica is still a good person who will use her gifts to help people if she encounters such a situation, which she usually does.
- Amicable Exes: She used to date one half of Brother Voodoo, still has feelings for him, and readily assists him in his superhero duties if he so asks.
- Arch-Enemy: During her first Avengers stint there were two attempts to give her one in the form of a manipulative psychiatrist who became the second Moonstone, and the Space Pirate Nebula, but neither stuck. As of the Cerebus Retcon to Nextwave The Beyond Corporation as a whole have been cemented in the role. Not even the knowledge the executives of the company were cosmic beings could diminish Monica's desire for revenge and when a seemingly human run Beyond Corporation later resurfaced Rambeau hired Daughters of the Dragon to investigate it.
- Bad Liar:
- When caught on Sanctuary II, she claimed hyperspace had made it difficult to use her powers. Nebula then shot Monica to prove otherwise, though Nebula was planning on killing her anyway.
- In Nextwave she'd constantly remind everyone she used to lead The Avengers, which was true, but she'd describe the experience as being much better than that of her current team, which it wasn't at all.
- Badass Cape: Her original Captain Marvel outfit had a small cape around her arms that did not look too impressive, until she shifted to light mode and created a magnificent silhouette.
- Badass Longcoat: Introduced to her outfit in Nextwave, which returned in Captain America & The Mighty Avengers in 2014.
- Berserk Button: Beyond Corporation became one for her, once the Cerebus Retcon described below came into play. Even a seemingly unrelated, seemingly legal organization using the name sets off Rambeau's suspisions in Spider-Man Beyond.
- Beware the Nice Ones: Monica is usually one of the nicest people around. Usually. People who piss her off tend to learn that it's not wise to anger a woman who can microwave you.
- Black-and-Grey Morality: She opted to help the Skrull Empire over Nebula's space pirates when caught between the two, because Galactus just ate the throne world and put the Empire in disarray, making them more sympathetic to her. That and Nebula was using Sanctuary II to destroy more planets. Her aid would do nothing to stop the Skrulls from trying to conquer Earth in the future... but they have collectively proved less problematic than Nebula.
- Braids of Action: She took to braiding her hair in various styles after moving on from Afros, and continued to fly into battle with them.
- Breaking the Fellowship: She led The Avengers twice when then regular leaders, Captain America and The Wasp, happened to be out of commission. The former lieutenant did such a good job that Captain America decided to make Rambeau the permanent leader of the group, but from that point on her leadership became much less effective. This was because she didn't realize Dr. Druid was secretly undermining her, even though he was also openly undermining her at every opportunity. To be fair to Rambeau, no one else realized Druid was The Mole either, leading to The Avengers eventually reconciling and reassembling.
- Brought Down to Normal: The first time she lost her powers she was also bedridden and dropped off at her parents to be nursed back to health.
- Brought Down to Badass:
- Monica Rambeau initially suffers from Power Incontinence that makes her a danger to herself and others. Ironman manages to drain some of her excess energy she doesn't know how to safely get rid of, doing nothing to actually solve the incotenence, but making Rambeau less powerful but less dangeorus while she figures out how her new powers work. When Blue Marvel accidentally powers her up even further than she had been before, Rambeau handles it just fine, some aversion to prospects of immortality aside.
- At the end of Avengers: No Road Home #10, Monica joins Blue Marvel, Ms. America, Hulkling, and Toni Ho in the middle of a battle with some supervillains after returning from the war against Nyx, she states that she used up so much energy keeping Vision alive that she has changed from being an energy-being in human form to a superhuman with great energy powers. She says that she is no longer an immortal light being and has returned to being a flesh-and-blood human with limits. She still retains her full powerset, including energy-form transformation, flight, speed-of-light movement, and full electromagnetic-spectrum manipulation, but she is no longer agelessly immortal and cannot generate the same scale of power output as before. Given that she was experiencing some Fantastic Angst along the lines of Who Wants to Live Forever?, she finds this more or less a relief.
- Calling Your Attacks: In Nextwave she'd developed the somewhat Animesque habit of coming up with fancy names for various things she could do with her powers and screaming them dramatically while showing off."MICROWAVE STORM!"
- Captain Super Hero: She has served as a harbor ship captain, but her martial rank was lieutenant.
- Cerebus Retcon: The entirety of Nextwave became a whole lot darker when it was revealed to be a kidnapping plot by evil Beyonders and not a silly Elseworlds plot. Monica didn't take the revelation well.
- Character Exaggeration: She's always been demanding, sarcastic, and perfectly aware of how outlandish her circumstances tend to be. Nextwave simply magnified all of these traits for comedy.
- Combo Platter Powers: Phasing, shooting and flying, though downplayed in that all of her consistently used abilities relate to energy and light:
- Atomic Superpower: The EM spectrum is technically a step below this, but infrared and ultraviolet radiation, and gamma radiation are still options for her, and she can use them to share with or power up those who benefit from the trope.
- Elemental Speed: She is capable of shifting into a body of pure light, whereupon she moves at lightspeed and the entire world comes to a complete stop.
- Energy Absorption: She can absorb all the light and heat from an area. While Brashear's power up was in effect she could absorb enough sunlight to make the sky dim for a minute, if she wanted to.
- Extradimensional Power Source: The explanation behind her powers is she's a living aperture into a dimension of pure energy.
- Flight: She can fly, obviously while shifting, but sometimes can do so more slowly even while still in human form.
- Fusion Dance: Because she's basically an energy being when her powers are active, she can merge her form with allies to supercharge any energy based powers they have, such as with She-Hulk (gamma radiation), Captain Marvel (photons), or Blue Marvel (anti-matter, which isn't energy in of itself, and annihilation, the form of energy associated with anti matter, is several leagues beyond the four fundamental forces of nature, let alone the EM spectrum).
- Intangible Man: She can pass through solid objects, provided she knows what wavelength of light can bypass a particular object. Unlike most Marvel examples she can also let non kinetic energy attacks harmlessly pass through her shifted states, again providing she knows which wavelength to shift to.
- Light 'em Up: She can generate and turns into any light on the magnetic spectrum, including that other humans cannot see.
- Master of Illusion: "Master" is a stretch, but she can easily alter the way people perceive her even when not actually transformed.
- My Significance Sense Is Tingling: Because she doesn't have a physical body, her energy form has a low-level form of cosmic awareness to approximate her senses.
- Photographic Memory: Not in the usual sense, but her ability to recall events greatly improved due to the electromagnetic and extra dimensional natures of her superpowers, greatly diminished when she lost them, and got even better when Blue Marvel had powered her up.
- Rainbow Motif: Her powers revolve around turning into forms of energy within the electromagnetic spectrum. While she can only take on one wavelength at a time, she can alter the photons around it just enough to make herself visible to people, if need be.
- Shock and Awe: Electricity.
- Super-Senses: She can track and trace radioactive elements using her powers. She can even tell when lasers are coming her way and shift fast enough to bypass, or at least reduce damage they would deal to her human form.
- Super-Speed: Shifted into light, Monica can move at the speed of light.
- Comic-Book Fantasy Casting: She was initially modeled off of Pam Grier. The editor told the artist to tone it down.
- Da Chief: During her time in Nextwave. After all, did you know she used to lead the Avengers?
- Depower: Toward the end of the 80s, during a fight with Marina, Namor's wife who for reasons had turned into a rampaging monster, Monica hit a body of water while in energy form. The result nearly killed her, stripped her of her powers and left her an emaciated husk. ... it's one way to shove a person onto a bus.
- Doesn't Trust Those Guys: When a new Beyond Coporation surfaces and buys out Parker Industries, Rambeau has suspicions, inspite of its good public relations and perfectly legal activities. She ends up hiring Daughters Of The Dragon, instructing them to make sure it is as clean as it appears to be.
- The Dog Bites Back: Upon realizing the Beyond Corporation was behind the events of Nextwave:Monica: Hey. Remember me? You took me out of the real world for a year and destroyed my life?Jason Quantrell: Uh-oh.Monica: Yeah. "Uh-oh".
- Dreadlock Warrior: These days, she's invariably depicted with these, currently donning them as recently as The Ultimates. Back in her early days, though, she had a cool-looking, swept-back afro and in between these periods she had various styles of braids.
- Eye Scream: A good tactic of hers is to turn to light and go in through someone's eyes. She uses it on Shuma-Gorath during Infinity, and tries using it on Thanos during Civil War II. That doesn't work so well.
- Friendly Rivalry: With Carol Danvers, who succeeded her as Captain Marvel eventually. They're very snarky to each other during their team-up in Mexico.
- Glory Days: In Nextwave, she would continously talk about how she used to lead the Avengers.
- Glowing Eyes of Doom: Her eyes sometimes glow, most commonly gold or blue, before she's about to use her powers, especially if she's about to shift. More commonly it is her hands that glow.
- Goo Goo God Like: During Nextwave The Beyond Corporation altered Rambeau's history so that she always had superpowers. She's also been "de aged" in Fearless.
- Hand Blast: After transformation and flight, her third most commonly used power is this. A randomly chosen discharge from her can strike with the force relative to three hundred tons of TNT. Applying knowledge of chemistry or radiology in the right situation can make her even more lethal. Then there was that time Dr. Brashear inadvertently pushed her into at least the sextillion TNT ton range...
- Hard Light: After being healed and evaluated by Adam Brashear, she's no longer sure if she's a human being who turns into light, or a being of pure light that turns into a very convincing hard-light human. After Avengers: No Way Home, she expended so much energy that she's now 'just' an immensely powerful superhuman.
- I Have Many Names: Monica is one of those superheroes who've never really stuck to just one name in their career, meaning people usually just refer to her with the name she was born with. This was lampshaded in an issue of Captain Marvel:Carol: You have like fifteen alternate code names, anyway, Monica-Photon-Pulsar-Captain-Marvel-Rambeau!Monica: I'm sorry, did I just hear that right? Am I being judged by, by Ms.-Captain-Warbird-Binary—Marvel...?
- I Just Want to Be Normal: Subverted with 616 Rambeau, who simply doesn't want to be immortal if no one else is, making it more like "I just don't want to be left alone", but played straight with her counterpart from Universe A. She is a "tourist" of various alternate realities who gets the same superpowers of whichever counterparts of hers exist in any given space time, but dislikes superpowers and only visits Earth 616 because the versions of her parents she found there are both familiar and still alive.
- I Just Want to Be Special: When speculating she might be faced with either dying or losing her powers, Monica admits she isn't sure which one she'd pick (fortunately, the situation results in neither).
- I Let Gwen Stacy Die: Monica blames herself for the disaster that kicks off Civil War II (though there's a lot of that going around), thinking she could've immobilized Thanos herself. Potential blame is alleviated since the tactic she proposed is soon shown to not work on Thanos.
- Innocently Insensitive: Monica Rambeau had no idea there had been a Captain Marvel before her, and felt ashamed when she learned the papers had been comparing her to a dead man. Ben Grimm assured her that he likely wasn't the first "Thing" either (this was a reference to the giant purple African crocodile from Lorna, the Jungle Girl, before the comics code pushed Marvel back into superheroes).
- The Leader:
- For a time, she was the Avenger's leader. She spent a lot of it having to deal with Dr. Druid spitefully trying to undermine her.
- When Thanos sent an invasion force to Earth, Spectrum lead a group who came to be known as "The Mighty Avengers" (the official Avengers team were in space). She suffered a crippling blow in the skirmish however, and Luke Cage stepped up as leader by the time they had become an established team. Spectrum acted as The Lancer after recovering.
- Leotard of Power: Her most iconic costume consists essentially of a white leotard with black tights, sometimes also with a Badass Longcoat over top.
- Let's You and Him Fight: Downplayed: After her powers activated in New Orleans she freaked out and flew to New York while looking for help, activating Spider-Man's danger sense. However, their similar senses of humor quickly put him at ease, and he suggested that The Avengers could give her the help she needed.
- Light Is Good: She is able to manipulate light and wears a white costume.
- MayāDecember Romance: Strikes up a relationship with Adam Brashear, the Blue Marvel. He was a super since the Korean war (so he's at least in his seventies), she isn't anchored to any real world event so thanks to Comic-Book Time maybe in her thirties. In the meta sense Monica first appeared in the 80s while Adam was retconned into the universe in 2009. No matter how we count this is a couple with a huge age difference.
- Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: Fans demanded an explanation as to why Blade, Luke Cage, Brother Voodoo and Black Panther had to spend any time with a vampire outbreak in New Orleans while a woman with light based superpowers and light speed movement lived in the city while being just as aware of the problem as they were. The handwaves range from Rambeau having amnesia to that particular Rambeau being displaced from the alternate "Universe A" where she had no experience with her powers yet while the 616 version was off doing something else.
- Mid-Season Upgrade: Proxima Midnight used anti photon particles to try and kill Spectrum, but her life was saved by Blue Marvel, who specializes in containing antimatter. Since photons are product of, rather than matter in of themselves, and "anti photons" aren't even supposed to exist in 616 Marvel, his efforts to reverse the process were less that perfect, but ended up making Rambeau much stronger than she had been before.
- Military Superhero: A former lieutenant in the New Orleans harbor guard, turned professional superhero.
- The Mole:
- Monica willingly joined Nebula's crew of space pirates when she happened to be on Sanctuary II while Nebula's crew infiltrated it and warped it to the Skrull's Empire. Monica proceeded to undermine their attempts to takeover the empire until she could find a way back to Earth. Nebula didn't exactly inspire loyalty when she tested Monica's use by shooting her in the chest though.
- Nebula (or possibly Ravonna Renslayer impersonating her) returned the favor by having Dr. Druid as a mole in The Avengers, with the specific task of turning them against Monica.
- Named by Democracy: It was the news media who decided she was the new Captain Marvel, which Rambeau eventually accepted. This is why Rambeau tends to be salty about other people just claiming the title, though she has admitted Danvers, the Vell siblings and Varr have their own claims of varying validity.
- The Night That Never Ends: Defying this trope, and Nyx, the night goddess trying to invoke it, by acting as a substitute for the sun, happened to burn out the power up Spectrum had been provided by Blue Marvel.
- No-Sell: Shortly after Infinity, the Mighty Avengers go up against a Nuhuman who can slow down time around herself. Since Rambeau can move at the speed of light, it doesn't really do anything to slow her down.
- Passed-Over Promotion: Despite being a very competent lieutenant, she was passed over multiple times for the position of captain of the harbor patrol. The harbormaster claims her way of working is too unorthodox and not "by the book"; Monica claims sexism, since those who were promoted were men. She ends up quitting after becoming Captain Marvel and having her first heroic adventure.
- Planet Destroyer: After Blue Marvel saved her life, Monica underwent a substantial power boost. Already one of Earth's elite superheroes, she secretly became reclassified as a "Planet-Buster" with enough power to destroy an Earth-sized object without any effort. During the Incursions, this was a source of conflict because while she certainly had enough power to destroy other Earths before they collided with her own, she wrestled with the question of which was worse: killing a world or allowing two worlds (including her own) to die knowing she could have saved one of them.
- Power Incontinence: Monica Rambeau initially has little clue what she's doing and has to have excess energy siphoned off by Iron Man to prevent her from causing mass destruction. She gets things under control while staying with The Avengers, however.
- Red Baron: Rather than keep up with her various code names, some people just come up with their own nicknames that are easier to keep track of, such as Supersonic Sensation, Daystar, Sun Goddess, The Lady Of Light, Avengers Mom and Auntie.
- Rogues' Gallery Transplant:
- Karla Sofen was once an unremarkable Evil Minion in Captain America and didn't do anything overtly criminal until she antagonized the Hulk as the second Moonstone. She didn't regularly face any protagonist besides Hulk until she met Rambeau, but after Rambeau lost both the titles of Captain Marvel and Photon, Moonstone II became a rival to Genis-Vell as Photon and then the Evil Counterpart to Carol Danvers as Miss and Captain Marvel.
- Nebula was created specifically to antagonize Monica, but as Rambeau faded into obscurity, Nebula became more associated with Firelord, as she destroyed his home planet with Sanctuary II, and Silver Surfer by association. Even as Monica started to return to prominence Nebula moved on to Loki when he tried to reform, then Gamora specifically after Nebula turned Graces against her and Guardians of the Galaxy in general, after the group got a movie.
- Sassy Black Woman: "Sassy" isn't her only defining characteristic, but it was a characteristic shown early and often, as she quickly befriended Spider-Man after matching his wit.
- Screening the Call: On the receiving end from her mother at one point, who was blocking Monica's phone-calls because she didn't want Monica getting hurt again. Please note Monica was a grown woman at this point.
- Shadow Archetype: Sofen knows the preferences, desires and aversions she Rambeau share, as well as their different values. Sofen tries to use this knowledge to convince Rambeau that Sofen was the one in the right, to little success, but nonetheless managed to manipulate Rambeau into helping her complete Project Aaru. Nebula also shares a lot with Monica, but the nature and length of their conflict did not allow for as much to be explored on panel.
- Shape Shifter Mode Lock: Downplayed She can stay in her various transformed states seemingly indefinitely. However, the longer she spends phase sifted the longer it takes her to shift back to her "human" form. She noticed this more when her power was boosted by Brashear.
- Stealth Expert: Rambeau is not the most skilled among Marvel's stealth experts, but as long as she knows the visible spectrum any given observer is limited to, she does not have to be. Blade in particular recognizes the potential benefits of this ability while his Strikeforce is rooting out shapeshifting infiltrators.
- Story-Breaker Power: A woman with military training who's capable of converting into any form of energy along the electromagnetic spectrum, Monica has proven capable of slugging it out with actual gods and singlehandedly fighting advanced civilizations' space fleets. If you go back and read the Avengers issues that follow her debut, a startling number of storylines involve the antagonists having to figure out specific ways to take Monica off the board before they can proceed.
- Super-Toughness: Her physical strength is far below that of Moonstone, who is roughly equal to Spider-Man, or Nebula, who was already taller and bigger than her before becoming a Cyborg roughly equal to Luke Cage. She has endured physical contact with them without instantly being reduced to mist and powder, leading to speculation that her powers are still providing a subconscious form of protection even when she isn't phase shifting. She herself wondered if her "human" form wasn't really a convincing Hard Light construct that just felt human due to electromagnetic manipulations.
- Thou Shalt Not Kill: Rambeau has been trained against escalating conflicts and against using lethal force when it can be avoided. Monica attempted to make her team subscribe to this (for humans at least) during her time with Nextwave, but not only was it a pretty lost cause, when pushed (or injured) she'd just throw in the towel and say "screw it". Afterward, she will kill if the situation absolutely requires it, but she'll hate doing it.
- Took a Level in Badass: Not that she was exactly a slouch beforehand, but she gets a power-up in Mighty Avengers, thanks to a combination of one of Thanos' goons trying to kill her and Adam Brashear's efforts to save her from it. By the time of Captain America & the Mighty Avengers, she's able to make an Eldritch Abomination go "uh-oh" just by showing up in a bad mood. In Last Days it's made clear she's become capable of cracking planets open if she wanted to. The opening issues of Ultimates: Squared suggests she's beginning to develop a form of cosmic awareness, as has become standard of Captain Marvels.
- Twofer Token Minority: She's a black woman.
- Undying Loyalty: One of the most ardent Avengers, demonstrated in Vol 3 issue 2, when Captain America delivers a rousing speech to break everyone out of magically induced brainwashing. Monica is one of the first to snap out of it.
- Voluntary Shapeshifting: Usually she doesn't actually change shape so much as her shape's composition, but her light manipulation powers do allow her to shapeshift to a degree, and create illusions of even more. She can do a pretty good impression of Blue Marvel. Later, when she discovers that Beyond Corporation is encroaching into the real world again, she manages to change from her Spectrum look to her Nextwave one (only with different tights under the coat) just by shining real bright in anger.
- What You Are in the Dark: During Last Days (set during the opening issue of Secret Wars) Monica is sent to crack open Earth-1610 on her own. She almost gets there, until she sees the point of impact is a playground of oblivious kids, and hesitates, long enough for The Maker to capture her.
- Who Wants to Live Forever?: Zigzagged after she becomes a full energy being and gets a further power up. She angsts over the possibility of outliving everyone she'll ever know and growing detached from humanity, but at the same time fights a potential death by not letting herself dissipate. She refuses to simply allow herself to die in order to avoid "Who Wants to Live Forever? syndrome" because she will continue to have the ability to make a difference as a hero until the day she meets her death.
Genis-Vell
Alter Ego: Genis-Vell
Notable Aliases: Legacy, Captain Marvel, Photon, The Mad God, "Genny", "Star Face", Sparky, Space-Face
First Appearance: Silver Surfer Annual #6 (October, 1993)note ; Captain Marvel (Vol. 3) #4 (March, 1996)note New Thunderbolts #6 (May, 2005)note
Cloned from the DNA of the Kree warrior Mar-Vell, Genis-Vell was implanted with false memories making him believe he was instead Starfox's son. He was then artificially aged so that he'd be ready to face Mar-Vell's enemies. He inherited the title of Captain Marvel, but succumbed to the madness of Cosmic Awareness as he became nearly omnipotent and sought to "fix" the universe. He redeemed himself afterwards and became part of the Thunderbolts, where he took the title of Photon and was killed by Baron Zemo. In 2022, Genis finally returned to life... sort of, via a clone with implanted memories.
- Abusive Parents: His mother after he remade the universe noticeably changed her demeanor towards him. Not only does she send Phyla-Vell to violently pacify him but she goes a step further by torturing him via choking him, threatening to kill him and nearly tearing his limbs off by tying them to horses to make him sane again. She even goes so far as to say her own son got himself killed for not being good enough to be Mar-Vellās successor to a grieving Phyla.
- Accidental Misnaming: Both before and after his Captain Marvel career, the press kept mistakenly referring to him as Captain Marvel, much to his and Monica Rambeauās annoyance.
- Amazing Technicolor Population: Encounters several aliens of varying skin tones, mostly blue in color. Genis himself can turn his skin blue either due to Cosmic Awareness and possible shapeshifting.
- Amazon Chaser: Has the hots for Songbird and marries her in the future.
- Ambiguously Bi: Dated and slept with the gender flipping Steckāee though itās not made clear if Genis is attracted to Steckāeeās male form. Despite that, Genis knew of it and still kept sleeping with her even after she dumped him, implying that at the very least, he wasn't bothered by it.
- Amplifier Artifact: His Nega-Bands, given to him in an attempt to make Gensis-Vell more like his father.
- Babies Ever After: Genisās future with Songbird. It sadly doesnāt go well.
- Celestial Body: Genis-Vell has several costumes that make it look like he is literally made of the night sky, which causes him to pick up several embarrassing nicknames like "Star Face" and "Space Face".
- Deader than Dead: Zemo cut him up into pieces, scattered those pieces throughout time, and then declared Genis-Vell deader than dead. Though the author admitted not even that could keep Genis-Vell dead if some future writer wanted to use him again.
- Fashion Dissonance: Genis is able to change his appearance at will, and does so specifically to try and avoid this. Even he is embarrassed by how he used to dress.
- A Form You Are Comfortable With: Entropy tries this while trying to get the formerly insane Genis-Vell to help restore the universe Genis just destroyed. Genis proceeds to shoot Entropy in its "head", but this does kick start the universe's restoration.
- A God Am I: When you have access to the Power Cosmic, it's not much of a stretch to consider your self as such. He's also bullied several Cosmic Entities that are roughly on par with gods, sometimes doing even worse than that.
- History Repeats: Due to complicated time-travel stuff, Genis and Rick Jones wind up sharing Rick's old status quo with Mar for a time.
- I Was Quite a Fashion Victim: In series, Genis himself acknowledges what fans had been saying for years — the Legacy costume was the epitome of tacky.
- Jerkass Ball: He and Rick Jones really don't like one another, though they get better with time.
- Killed Off for Real: By Baron Zemo no less, who sought to make him even more dead than Nitro made Mar-Vell.
- Legacy Character: Genis-Vell was even called "Legacy" initially, before he even know he would end up taking on his father's mantel.
- '90s Anti-Hero: Zigzagged. Despite originating in the 90s, he wasnāt much of one with his only crime being that he abused his power and got revenge on a bully that the Silver Surfer disapproved of. Dialed to 11 during his insanity.
- Obfuscating Insanity: After Genis finally overcomes his insanity to the point he can exist in the universe without breaking down everything around him while terrorizing every living thing he recognizes, Genis continues to act insane as a way to avoid facing all the crimes he comitted.
- Ornamental Weapon: As defender of The Kree Empire, Genis-Vell began using a gun. The weapon was for all intents and purposes just a hunk of metal, with no mechanisms or ammunition. Genis was just shooting his regular cosmic blasts through it, to be symbollic.
- Outdated Outfit: The Legacy suit: a high collared, high waisted jumpsuit straight out of a 1980's music video — in 1994.
- Power Born of Madness: Genis-Vell becomes far more powerful when he gains cosmic awareness, but he also becomes far less sane.
- Put Them All Out of My Misery: Genis chains up Cosmic Entity Eternity and proceedes to crush Eternity to death in an effort to get rid of his own cosmic awareness, which Genis can't stand to the point it is driving him insane. His plan works, but in his regained clarity Genis realizes he just destroyed the universe, save for himself and another Cosmic Entity, the "friendless" Entropy. Entropy encourages Genis-Vell to help bring the universe back, even though doing so will probably drive Genis insane again, and Genis obliges, by shooting Entropy in the head.
- Shoot the Dog: Via complicated time-travel hijinks, he learned his future son, much like his father Genis himself, would one day turn evil and insane. Genis vowed to kill him as a child to prevent this ever happening.
- Sucksessor: Not at first, but gradually, culminating in his undignified and pretty permanent death. In 2022, however, he reappeared in Captain Marvel, along with his sister, due to a whole thing with Vox Supreme's obsession with the various Marvels.
- Super Hero Packing Heat: In the ninties of course, but subverted in that the gun was just for show and did not actually do anything but make Genis look like an ideal Kree hero.
- The Atoner: On his own terms, which is why Genis joins The Thunderbolts, a group of super villains who were faking heroism but ended up Becoming the Mask. They're the most likely to be helpful without being judgmental.
- The Rival: One sided, as Genis-Vell doesn't really care that much himself, but after he takes the name Photon that Monica Rambeau was using he finds himself being antagonized by Rambeau's old adversary Moonstone, even after they both end up on the same team, The Thunderbolts.
- Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: He really didn't want to get bonded to Rick Jones, and Rick didn't want to be bonded to him.
- 10-Minute Retirement: Quits his superhero career after the Outpost 313 massacre. It doesnāt stick when it turns out he was set up.
- There's No Kill like Overkill: How Zemo killed him - slicing him up into pieces, then scattering the pieces across time, just to make sure Genis didn't come back.
Phyla-Vell
Alter Ego: Phyla-Vell
Notable Aliases: Captain Marvel, Holy One, "Little Miss Goody Two-Bands", Phy, "Protector of the Universe", Quasar, Martyr
First Appearance: Captain Marvel (Vol. 5) #16 (January, 2004)note ; Captain Marvel (Vol. 5) #19 (March, 2004)note ; Annihilation: Conquest - Quasar #1 (September, 2007)note Guardians of the Galaxy (Vol. 2) #12 (May, 2009)note
Phyla is daughter of Mar-Vell. Formerly calling herself Quasar in honor of Wendell Vaughn, she now calls herself "Martyr".
Khn'nr
Alter Ego: Khn'nr
Notable Aliases: Marv, Mar-Vell of Titan
First Appearance: Civil War: The Return #1 (March, 2007)
Khn'nr was a Skrull impersonator of Mar-Vell. A sleeper agent, he fully believed himself to be Captain Marvel and chose to fight and die as Mar-Vell against the invading Skrull forces.
Noh-Varr/Marvel Boy/Captain Marvel/Protector
Alter Ego: Noh-Varr
Notable Aliases: Captain Marvel, Ensign Marvel, Mobile Defense Unit 564, Protector, Marvel Boy
First Appearance: Marvel Boy (Vol. 2) #1 (August, 2000)
- "...I come from a dimension where there is transcendental peace and universal enlightenment. But there are no close harmony girl groups. How could anyone leave a world that makes things as wonderful as this?"
Noh-Varr was the youngest member of a Kree diplomatic team that was blown out of the sky after reaching Earth. Noh-Varr was the only one who survived. He then vowed vengeance on all mankind but was later tasked with protecting them in the name of the Kree, becoming Captain Marvel and later the Protector. After being forced out of the Avengers, he would then become a part of the Young Avengers.
Carol Danvers
Alter Ego: Carol Susan Jane Danvers (Human name), Car-Ell (Kree name)
Notable Aliases: Ms. Marvel, Binary, Warbird, Captain Marvel
First Apperance: Marvel Super-Heroes #13 (March, 1968)note ; Ms. Marvel #1 (January, 1977)note ; The Uncanny X-Men #164 (December, 1982)note ; The Avengers #4 (May, 1998)note ; Avenging Spider-Man #9 (July, 2012)note
A US Air Force pilot who joined up because her father refused to fund her way through college, instead supporting one of her brothers who had lower marks than her, she became the USAF's top pilot and left the service a Lieutenant-Colonel. She spent time in Air Force Intelligence, teaming up with Wolverine, and then joined NASA. Her first appearance had her become the sidekick of Captain Mar-Vell and she later got powers like his via the Kree Psyche-Magnitron (basically a wishing machine). In 2019, it was revealed that she was actually half-Kree from the start via her mother, a Kree warrior of note, and all the Magnitron did was kickstart her powers.
She became first Ms. Marvel, then Binary and Warbird before going back to Ms. Marvel. Despite an intriguing past, compelling and popular enemies in Mystique and Rogue, a strong Flying Brick power set that then took a step up into the Cosmic Entity tier, and long term membership of the Avengers and association with the X-Men, she went through a Trauma Conga Line and spent a long time as a second stringer who even Stilt-Man didn't recognise.
Only following House of M, which showed her her potential to be the greatest hero in the world, did she kick on in and out of universe (she even got a publicist In-Universe). She got her own solo comic before taking the mantle of Captain Marvel for her own as part of Marvel NOW, becoming Captain America's right hand woman and turning up absolutely everywhere.
Ms. Marvel
Sharon Ventura
Alter Ego: Sharon Ventura
Notable Aliases: Ms. Marvel, She-Thing
First Appearance: The Thing #27 (September 1985)
Sharon Ventura was a former pro-wrestler who fell in love with the Thing and subsequently joined the Fantastic Four as Ms. Marvel. During an adventure in space, she was exposed to Cosmic Rays which mutated her body into a rock-like form similar to that of the Thing. She is not to be confused with Darla Deering (a.k.a. Ms. Thing).
- Abusive Parents: Her dad was a sexist asshole who emotionally abused her for years.
- Appropriated Appellation: Michael Lynch, a guy who'd saved her from some of the Power Broker's thugs, saw her in her wrestling outfit and commented she looked like Ms. Marvel. So Sharon took it as her name.
- Brought Down to Badass: Currently she has become able to return to her human form, and even then she has a degree of Super-Strength.
- Capture and Replicate: One of the many heroes captured and impersonated by Skrulls during Secret Invasion.
- The Chew Toy: Yeah, she's a Ms. Marvel alright. Her superhero career begins with her nearly getting brainwashed, Strapped to an Operating Table, betrayed by her supposed love interest and strapped to the table again, driven into a brainwashed frenzy, turned into She-Thing, abducted by Skrulls with no-one noticing...
- Dark and Troubled Past: Dead mother, abusive father, a failed military career, a wrestling career that ended in gang rape, and a superhero career that ended in a psychotic break.
- Distaff Counterpart: First female version of the Thing.
- FaceāHeel Revolving Door: Though she spent most of her career as a superhero, she has ended up on the other side a few times, most notably during a time when Doctor Doom promised her a cure for her condition in exchange for her help undermining the Four.
- Gonk: Her She-Thing appearance is less good-looking than Ben Grimm's ugly mug, so you can understand why she's so aggrieved about it.
- Hates Being Touched: In Steve Englehart's Fantastic Four run, especially by men.
- One-Steve Limit: The Ms. Marvel codename, which she shared with Carol Danvers and now shares with Kamala Khan.
- Primary-Color Champion: Her outfit as Miss Marvel was red, blue and yellow. As She-Thing her outfit was black.
- Rape as Backstory: She was gang-raped early in her career.
- Straw Feminist: As written by Steve Englehart, Sharon despises any and all men, ranting about how much she hates them and refusing to save any man, teammates included, from peril. Ben Grimm is an exception because he's "one of the good ones". Mercifully, afterwards this has been allowed to fall by the wayside.
- Super-Strength: Her original powers given to her by Karl Mallus.
- There Are No Therapists: Her early days in superheroing leave her with such severe trauma she's more hinderance than help, alternating between freezing up or going into rages. Rather than send her to a therapist (competent or otherwise), Ben Grimm lets her hang around with the Fantastic Four. Sharon gets mutated into She-Thing, which just gives her even more problems.
- Voluntary Shapeshifting: Seemingly she has become able to alternate between her human and She-Thing forms.
Karla Sofen
Alter Ego: Karla Sofen
Notable Aliases: Moonstone, Meteorite, Ms. Marvel
First Appearance: Captain America #192 (December 1975)note ; Incredible Hulk #228 (October 1978)note ; Incredible Hulk #449 (January 1997)note ; Dark Avengers #1 (March 2009)note
Dr. Karla Sofen is a founding member of the Thunderbolts and former member of the Masters of Evil. She has flirted with both sides of the law in Norman Osborn's Avengers as Ms. Marvel. She's a control freak with nearly limitless power granted her by moonstones, hence her codename.
Deidre Wentworth
Alter Ego: Deidre Wentworth
Notable Aliases: Superia, Minister of Education, Ms. Marvel
First Appearance: Captain America #387 (July, 1991)
Dr. Deidre Wentworth is a superpowered misandrist who originally opposed Captain America with the Femizons, and later went on to join Norman Osborn's second iteration of the Dark Avengers as Ms. Marvel.
Kamala Khan
Notable Aliases: Big M, Captain Marvel, Destined One, Giant Girl, Sword of Saffa, Shield to a Million Children
Editorial Names: Magnificent Ms. Marvel
First Appearance: Captain Marvel (Vol. 7) #14 (September, 2013)note ; All-New Marvel NOW! Point One #1.NOW (March, 2014)note
Kamala Khan is a nerdy teenage girl from a Pakistani-American family of Muslim faith living in Jersey City — not New York City, unlike most of the heroes who populate the Marvel Universe.
After being exposed to Terrigen Mist, Kamala discovers she has Inhuman DNA and her latent shapeshifting power become apparent. Inspired by her heroine Carol Danvers, who had recently abandoned the Ms. Marvel title to become Captain Marvel, Kamala decides to use her newfound abilities to protect her home and those in need.
Kamala is notable for being one of the most prominent (and heroic) Muslim characters in popular culture; she was co-created by Wilson (a Muslim convert herself) and Marvel editor Sana Amanat — a Pakistani-American Muslim woman not unlike Kamala — who currently serves as their Director of Content & Character Development.
Kamala's presence outside of comics has been steadily growing since her introduction. She appears in a variety of Marvel's mobile games, and serves as the de facto protagonist of Marvel's Avengers. She also guest stars in the third season of Disney XD's Avengers Assemble and joins the team in season 4, and also stars in Marvel Rising: Secret Warriors. She is scheduled to join Marvel Cinematic Universe in her own Disney+ live-action series
, portrayed there by Iman Vellani in her very first acting role. Vellani is also set to appear in The Marvels, opposite Brie Larson as Captain Marvel.
