HERO WORSHIP: MS. MARVEL

Hero: Ms. Marvel
Real Name: Carol Danvers
Alias: Binary, Warbird, Captain Marvel

Breakdown: Carol Danvers came from an average household with not a whole lot of money. To go to college she joined the Air-Force and paid her way through. Her training did not stop at piloting. The government trained her in espionage and hand to hand combat as well. This led to her eventually acquiring a job for NASA as the security chief at Cape Canaveral. It was there that she met a man named Mar-Vell who would later change her life forever. An alien from a distant planet, Captain Mar-Vell was assigned to scout Earth and ready it for invasion by his alien race, the Kree. He worked in disguise at Cape Canaveral and upon meeting Carol his life changed too. He was the first real super hero she had ever seen and she was a beautiful, strong, convicted woman similar to a loved one waiting for him with his fellow Kree.

Mar-Vell rebelled against his own people, fighting to save Carol and the Earth from destruction. She became enamored with him, a love in bloom. In a battle with Kree madman Yon-Rogg and Captain Marvel, Carol was blasted with cosmic rays from a machine called the Psyche-Magnitron. This machine, the pinnacle of Kree science, grafted Mar-Vell's powers and Kree heritage onto Carol's. She awoke with the powers of flight, super-strength, a seventh sense, and photonic energy blasts.

Review: So, I used to not care at all about the Marvel Comic Books character Carol Danvers. I was aware of Ms. Marvel. I knew the X-Men character Rogue stole Ms. Marvel's powers to gain the ability to fly and her super strength. That was it. I could've cared less.

Then I started reading Marvel's CAPTAIN MARVEL and he quickly became one of my favorite characters. Through him I learned more about Carol. She first appeared in Marvel Super Heroes #13, Captain Marvel's second appearance. She was a regular character in his book and an eventual love interest of his. Then I learned she received her powers directly from him. Today she has taken up his moniker as Captain Marvel. She's a part of his legacy. The more I read the more I liked her.

Marvel has so few leading ladies out there. Storm, Rogue, She-Hulk, Invisible Woman, Spider-Woman, Elektra, Black Widow, and more lesser known characters. All of them are great characters in their own right but none of them really stand tall on their own. Storm and Elektra maybe are the closest. But they're nothing like DC's Wonder Woman. Her and Catwoman are probably the biggest female names in comic books.

Carol is Marvel's great leading lady. She has the potential for greatness and has had some success. Her being a derivative of a male super-hero hurts her some but since then she has come into her own. It took her quite some time to get there and a lot of changes too. Her original adventures started off strong but ended rather poorly. From there she transformed into a space-fairing super hero called BINARY and joined the fun loving space pirates called the STARJAMMERS. She spent more time as Binary than Ms. Marvel for time. Then she came back with a drinking problem and anger issues and changed her super hero name once again to WARBIRD.

Carol had become so convoluted that very few people knew her history and even less cared about her as a character. It wasn't until the mid 2000's when she finally came back and reestablished herself as the leading lady of the Marvel Universe. The 2006 volume of Ms. Marvel represents a benchmark in her character's evolution. For essential reading of Carol Danvers here's what I'd recommend:

Captain Marvel Vol. 1
Captain Marvel Vol. 2
Essential Ms. Marvel
Marvel Masterworks: Uncanny X-Men Vol 7
Marvel Masterworks: Uncanny X-Men Vol 8
X-Men Spotlight On... The Starjammers #1 & 2
Avengers: Operation Galactic Storm
Ms. Marvel Vol. 1
Ms Marvel Vol. 2
Ms Marvel vols 3-9 by Brian Reed
Captain Marvel: In Pursuit of Flight
Captain Marvel Vol. 2 Down
Avengers: The Enemy Within
Captain Marvel: Higher, Further, Faster, More

I actually really enjoyed her stint as Binary with the Starjammers. The Ms Marvel stories written by Chris Claremont are all solid. Ms. Marvel's first run, issues 1-23, Marvel Team-Up #62, 76, & 77 are essential too. Currently she is going by Captain Marvel and is in a new awesome costume. Here and now as Captain Marvel I feel she has the potential to really come into her own and become the best super hero for the Marvel Universe.

Overall Ranking: 7 out of 10