Carol: Ms. or Captain?

[lordozone]

My favorite Captain Marvel was Monica Rambeau. But the ship is sailed, I'm not a fan of Carol Danver (too serious, too inflexible) but she is now the only Captain Marvel.

[mikeb]

I prefer neither. I want Carol to call herself Warbird, again.

[John Ossie]

Character progression wise? Captain.

The stories? Ms.

[mikeb]

Why is it that Captain sounds so much cooler than Colonel? Does Colonel sound too old?

In the US Navy, the rank of Captain is equivalent to that of a US Airforce Colonel. If the original Mar-vel held a Navy rank (Like the ranks in Star Trek.) in the Kree armed forces he probably would be equaled that of a colonel.

[DrNewGod]

Why is it that Captain sounds so much cooler than Colonel? Does Colonel sound too old?

For most people, the ranking of "Colonel" immediately brings to mind the image of an old guy who created a fried chicken fast food chain, so yeah.

In the US Navy, the rank of Captain is equivalent to that of a US Airforce Colonel. If the original Mar-vel held a Navy rank (Like the ranks in Star Trek.) in the Kree armed forces he probably would be equaled that of a colonel.

In the 616 published works, Kree ranks were closer to Army/Air Force structures, so a Captain is relatively junior. Hard to say if there's a wide cultural bias against the title Colonel. However, Captain is a far more widely used generic term for "leader," so I can see why it works better.

[Tiamatty]

Captain, and also, it's a completely pointless question to ask. Carol is Captain Marvel. She has a movie coming out under that name. This is a permanent thing. She's not going back to being Ms. Marvel. Ever. She is, now and forever, Captain Marvel. Oh, there will be stories where other people take over the mantle, because she's dead or injured or out of favour or otherwise unable to be Captain Marvel. But these stories will be temporary, and will end with her reclaiming the mantle, same was what happens with other characters.

Carol is Captain Marvel. The blue-and-red, with the Hala star, is her look. Neither of those are changing. She won't go back to Ms. Marvel. She won't go back to the black costume with the lightning bolt. So asking what a tiny number of people on one website prefer is, ultimately, completely meaningless.

[DrNewGod]

It's tangential to the topic, but there's a similarity between Carol Danvers as Ms. Marvel and Jean (Phoenix nee Marvel Girl) Grey that's always bugged me a bit.

Cockrum redesigned Marvel Girl as Phoenix in 1976 (Uncanny X-Men 101, cover date October). Ms. Marvel debuted in January (cover date) of 1977, and as I understand it several artists contributed to the costume. However, Cockrum redesigned her costume in Ms. Marvel no. 20, (cover date) October 1978.

When you look at Cockrum's Phoenix and Ms. Marvel costumes...
images.jpg
images.jpg
...they look an awful lot alike. Anyone know if Ms. Marvel might have been Cockrum's planned upgrade for Marvel Girl that he modified for X-Men and returned to later for Danvers' title?

[Baseman]

Captain, and also, it's a completely pointless question to ask. Carol is Captain Marvel. She has a movie coming out under that name. This is a permanent thing. She's not going back to being Ms. Marvel. Ever. She is, now and forever, Captain Marvel. Oh, there will be stories where other people take over the mantle, because she's dead or injured or out of favour or otherwise unable to be Captain Marvel. But these stories will be temporary, and will end with her reclaiming the mantle, same was what happens with other characters.

Carol is Captain Marvel. The blue-and-red, with the Hala star, is her look. Neither of those are changing. She won't go back to Ms. Marvel. She won't go back to the black costume with the lightning bolt. So asking what a tiny number of people on one website prefer is, ultimately, completely meaningless.

Its just a poll.Relax.

[Wiccan]

It's tangential to the topic, but there's a similarity between Carol Danvers as Ms. Marvel and Jean (Phoenix nee Marvel Girl) Grey that's always bugged me a bit.

Cockrum redesigned Marvel Girl as Phoenix in 1976 (Uncanny X-Men 101, cover date October). Ms. Marvel debuted in January (cover date) of 1977, and as I understand it several artists contributed to the costume. However, Cockrum redesigned her costume in Ms. Marvel no. 20, (cover date) October 1978.

When you look at Cockrum's Phoenix and Ms. Marvel costumes...
images.jpg
images.jpg
...they look an awful lot alike. Anyone know if Ms. Marvel might have been Cockrum's planned upgrade for Marvel Girl that he modified for X-Men and returned to later for Danvers' title?

Carol's outfit is more similar to Storm's then Jean's, though they have a couple of similarities too. I don't think there's anything behind it. Cockrum had another design in mind for Jean before they decided to make her Phoenix, and it doesn't look like this at all.

[mikeb]

It's tangential to the topic, but there's a similarity between Carol Danvers as Ms. Marvel and Jean (Phoenix nee Marvel Girl) Grey that's always bugged me a bit.

Cockrum redesigned Marvel Girl as Phoenix in 1976 (Uncanny X-Men 101, cover date October). Ms. Marvel debuted in January (cover date) of 1977, and as I understand it several artists contributed to the costume. However, Cockrum redesigned her costume in Ms. Marvel no. 20, (cover date) October 1978.

When you look at Cockrum's Phoenix and Ms. Marvel costumes...
images.jpg
images.jpg
...they look an awful lot alike. Anyone know if Ms. Marvel might have been Cockrum's planned upgrade for Marvel Girl that he modified for X-Men and returned to later for Danvers' title?

Also, remember Dave Cockrum designed Carol's Binary outfit, too! (UXM#164)

[DrNewGod]

Also, remember Dave Cockrum designed Carol's Binary outfit, too! (UXM#164)

I had forgotten that.

[MichaelC]

Captain is fine.

Ms. Marvel is Kamala Khan's name, now and forever.

[theoneandonly]

I wonder if there is a title bout for the name like Luke and Erick duked it out for the power man moniker who would claim it between Monica and Carol likewise if kamala ever decides to change her name to fantastic(not that's likely) and Reed objects and challenges her who would outstretch the other.

[KurtW95]

Ms. Her character was destroyed when she became Captain.

[Coin Biter]

“Colonel” Marvel does, indeed, not sound quite right. That said, it’s pretty much impossible to imagine a senior military officer deliberately taking on a lower rank for their superhero identity. It just seem daft, and the fact that it’s an equivalent rank to Colonel in the Navy would only be of importance if her superhero identity was nautical themed. Give her a naval cap or an anchor motif

I also can’t quite get over the fact that it’s been used because Marvel has the IP, and they need to use the name to retain it, and she’s the best they can come up with to currently carry it. No doubt it’s silly of me. Really, though, it was only a great name in the Golden Age, and I just don’t think it particularly “fits” any contemporary hero.

To be fair, there are two things that can be said in its favour. It’s a lot better than Binary, in God’s name, and sadly for Monica Rambeau, it’s also a hell of a lot better than Spectrum.