Carol Danvers and a lack of a Rogues Gallery.

[Cmbmool]

And this is one of the main problems I have with Carol as Captain Marvel. Marvel keeps saying she their "#1 Female Character" but i really can't think of anything about her that really stands out.

She has become a very boring character that Marvel only use to prove they have a Wonder Woman.

I would love to write Carol

Well said as THIS is what Marvel should be working on with Carol Danvers. IF they're that dedicated with pushing this character forward, then give her a bigger Rogue Gallery of villains.

[MadFacedKid]

Always thought Count Nefaria and Ronan would make great longstanding villains for Carol.

[MichaelC]

Eh, I prefer Count Nefaria as an Iron Man villain. Ronan I can see, though.

[Myetche]

By the way does anyone actually believe that Captain Marvel can defeat Moonstone? I find it hard to believe that hot mess Captain Marvel wouldn't fall prey to Moonstone's mix of power and understanding of human behavior and get shut down. Good thing she is the hero.

Moonstone is just a selfish bully whose only motive is that her impersonation of Carol got ruined. She's an easily-beaten nobody.

That would make Mystique a rival type villain... at first I was against this notion, but I think given how often Mystique's been coerced into working as a secret agent for various agencies and Xavier and others... it kind of makes sense. It also grounds Carol into conflicts she can't muscle or powerblast her way out of. She has to trust a woman who's ultimately untrustworthy.

These days, Mystique is almost as crazy as Joker with none of the ambiguous morality she used to have. I think her solo book was the last time she was ever portrayed in anything resembling a positive light.

[JudicatorPrime]

I don't think it's a difficult job of creating a Rogue's gallery for Carol. The problem is that the characters who would fit perfectly are all DC characters. Imagine a rogues gallery of Sinestro, Black Adam, Gorilla Grod, Braniac, Silver Banshee, Darkseid, Ares (the DC version, not that whimpy Marvel poser), Vandal Savage, Klarion, Poison Ivy, the Emerald Empress and Reverse Flash. Or even Batwoman and Mister Mxyzptlk as provocateurs.

Marvel has no shortage of characters that they could use. If writers at Marvel weren't so darned obsessed with turning villains into heroes all of the time, Carol's gallery would already have Mystique and Rogue at the top of the list. Maybe it's time to turn some of the heroes into villains? If they did that, I'd definitely put characters like Marvelman, Sentry, Power Princess, Sat-Yr-9, Moonstone, Doctor Spectrum, Selene, Ultimate Hulk, Umar, one of Mar-Vell's test tube babies, and a few others into Carol's gallery.

[Silvermoth]

I reckon SWORD would be a really interesting antognaist for Carol plus it doesn’t wipe out Moonstone as an important threat to her. That would give Carol some extra depth I think

[Tiamatty]

Moonstone is just a selfish bully whose only motive is that her impersonation of Carol got ruined. She's an easily-beaten nobody.

I mean, you're not wrong, per se. But Moonstone could definitely be a threat. Moonstone's main motivation is self-benefit. She does what it takes to get ahead. And when written well, she's manipulative and conniving. Given Carol is a pretty straightforward person, there is a good contrast there. All it would take is to find a way for Moonstone to benefit from tangling with Carol.

Ooooooooh. Idea. Moonstone as a member of Alpha Flight. Maybe there's someone on the Alpha Flight board of directors who isn't happy about Carol being there, and manages to get Moonstone added to the crew. And Moonstone works against Carol, undermining the crew's confidence in her, and also undermining Carol's confidence in herself. But she does it subtly.

For additional villains: Might I put forward Corvus Glaive and Proxima Midnight? Have them split from the Black Order to pursue their own agenda, and Carol has to deal with them.

Bring back the Brood, too. As both overt and subtle threats. Let her kill a whole lot of Brood, but also do an arc where she has to deal with a Brood infestation on Earth.

These days, Mystique is almost as crazy as Joker with none of the ambiguous morality she used to have. I think her solo book was the last time she was ever portrayed in anything resembling a positive light.

Eh, I wouldn't agree with that. There have been some piss-poor presentations of her, no question. And she's less ambiguous, more straight-up awful. But Bunn's already put in a retcon to explain her behaviour - her shape-shifting messes with her brain - so it's not like it'd be tough to have her be ambiguous again. On the other hand, should she even be ambiguous? She's a murderous rapist. (Yes, a rapist. She's slept with men while pretending to be someone else. That's rape. Mystique is a rapist, and I think that's worth remembering.) Fine, she can sometimes do things that she thinks will benefit mutants as a whole, but she's always been most concerned with herself and her family. She's never been the type to care if the rest of the world burns, as long as she can get something out of it.

[Alpha Male]

Interesting comments so far in this thread. Now that I have a free moment. Here are some villains I would do if I was to write Carol Danvers.

The U-Foes would be recurring foes for Captain Marvel. They represent the opposite of what Carol stands for. They are about selfishness, greed, preservation. Sometimes there goals cause conflict amongst each other as members aren't usually on the same page. In any interesting twist of fate, one of the members decides to betray the others for the opportunity to go straight and be turned back to a regular person. I would also have individual members of the U-Foes attack Carol separately.

Also, I would introduce a new version of Blackout who can also access the Darkforce Dimension and create constructs out of the energy as well as unleash species that are native to that world.

Other villains I would bring on would be a renegade faction of the Eternals called the Uranianites who first appear as an alien race who have noble intentions but is secretly plotting to conquer Earth. A group of villains who have access to nega bracelets that augment the strength, speed and agility to superhuman levels, a foe who is now using one of Carol's old code names and has a warped and twisted version of her former powers (ie Binary) and Maelstorm.

I kinda see her having a mixture of different villains who aren't all from space. Some could use magic and others are science based.

[Alpha Male]

Interesting comments so far in this thread. Now that I have a free moment, here are some villains I would use in a Carol Danvers book.

The U-Foes would be recurring foes for Captain Marvel. They represent the opposite of what Carol stands for. They are about selfishness, greed, preservation. Sometimes the goals cause conflict amongst each other as members aren't usually on the same page. In any interesting twist of fate, one of the members decides to betray the others for the opportunity to go straight and be turned back to a regular person. I would also have individual members of the U-Foes attack Carol separately.

Also, I would introduce a new version of Blackout who can also access the Darkforce Dimension and create constructs out of the energy as well as unleash species that are native to that world.

Other villains I would bring on would be a renegade faction of the Eternals called the Uranianites who first appear as an alien race who have noble intentions but is secretly plotting to conquer Earth. A group of villains who have access to nega bracelets that augment the strength, speed and agility to superhuman levels, a foe who is now using one of Carol's old code names and has a warped and twisted version of her former powers (ie Binary) and Maelstorm.

I kinda see her having a mixture of different villains who aren't all from space. Some could use magic and others are science based.

[Alpha Male]

Also, the Grapplers and Miracle Man would make great foes as well.

http://marvel.wikia.com/wiki/Joshua_Ayers_(Earth-616)

http://www.marvunapp.com/Appendix4/grapplersteam.htm

[JudicatorPrime]

Maybe we should start a thread: "Design a new arch-nemesis for Captain Marvel." It's ok to use old names, if you create a supergroup of archvillains like the Sinister Six.

[Tiamatty]

WAIT! Wait a minute! Idea!

A big problem with organizations like Alpha Flight and SWORD before it is that we seldom get to see them actually fend off an alien attack. So, my idea for a nemesis: An alien conqueror who wants to conquer the Earth, and whose forces get fought off by Carol and Alpha Flight. But it's not just a straightforward epic battle. Treat it more like a long-term war, with occasional fights, lots of verbal back-and-forth, and occasionally needing to work together against a common threat. A mutual respect between Carol and the conqueror, maybe even give them some sexual attraction for fun, and let them debate their philosophies. (I'd also be inclined to have the conqueror be non-binary, and think the human gender binary is weird.)

Carol is supposed to be The Boss Of Space, Earth's first line of defence, the wall against which alien invaders break. So, why not actually go with that? If that's the direction for her, use it. Let her defend Earth. Give her a rival to play off of. She can fight plenty of other villains in the meantime, of course, but have a recurring threat that tries different strategies against her and requires she and her crew adapt to them.

[Alpha Male]

Maybe we should start a thread: "Design a new arch-nemesis for Captain Marvel." It's ok to use old names, if you create a supergroup of archvillains like the Sinister Six.

You got my vote!

[JudicatorPrime]

WAIT! Wait a minute! Idea!

A big problem with organizations like Alpha Flight and SWORD before it is that we seldom get to see them actually fend off an alien attack. So, my idea for a nemesis: An alien conqueror who wants to conquer the Earth, and whose forces get fought off by Carol and Alpha Flight. But it's not just a straightforward epic battle. Treat it more like a long-term war, with occasional fights, lots of verbal back-and-forth, and occasionally needing to work together against a common threat. A mutual respect between Carol and the conqueror, maybe even give them some sexual attraction for fun, and let them debate their philosophies. (I'd also be inclined to have the conqueror be non-binary, and think the human gender binary is weird.)

Carol is supposed to be The Boss Of Space, Earth's first line of defence, the wall against which alien invaders break. So, why not actually go with that? If that's the direction for her, use it. Let her defend Earth. Give her a rival to play off of. She can fight plenty of other villains in the meantime, of course, but have a recurring threat that tries different strategies against her and requires she and her crew adapt to them.

I like some of these ideas. But I'm of the thinking that the first line of defense more often than not fails. I mean think of every major story and it's usually a situation where the day is saved by the last resort, not the first wall. Maybe incorporate some of that harsh reality into Carol's narrative.

I like Carol when she's down, but not quite out, and very, very dangerous because she can be resourceful. I like her as the opposite of some of the more powerful women, like Monica Rambeau, who will usually kick most people's butts in the first 5 nanoseconds, leaving only the most craziest of villains thinking that they ever had a chance to beat her.

Carol should win, but in a way that leaves her opponents thinking that they always have a better than fair shot to beat her. Her gallery respects her skill set, but they don't fear her. And as a result, she's always knocking heads with them, winning most of the time, but also getting her head handed to her more often than she'd be willing to admit.

[CRaymond]

Given that she's kind of a cosmic character, who's to say that a "Ra's Al Ghul" figure and someone who keeps her busy in space have to be mutually exclusive? If anything, reclaim Deathbird and make her a cosmic Ra's Al Ghul figure.

I'm a big fan of Deathbird as an extraterrestrial nemesis. The Kree and the Skrull are in ruins, and the Shi'Ar are ascendent... but that just means it's ripe for fracturing. Let's assume Carol's jurisdiction is primarily Earth's Solar System, and her range of patrol is planets THIS side of the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. That gives aliens plenty of moons and gas giants to fill with star bases.

Let's assume Deathbird is mounting a coup against her sister, and seeks to both destabilize her sister's hold on the empire, as well as unite planets against her. She could use a a Jupiter moon like Io as her rebel throneworld, and thereby invite tons of conflict that's too close for comfort.

I'd give her a small team of badguys, like all badguys in cartoons get... but in the vein of the Imperial Guard's pastiche of the Legion of Super-Heroes... Deathbird's team would be a riff on DC's Titans franchise, with Deathbird herself as "Batman".

"Robin"
Warbird Ava'Dara Naganandini

"Cyborg"
Hoplyte a Shi'Ar imperial criminal, forcibly bonded to the corpse of a Phalanx unit

"Beast Boy"
Skrull Shock a Skrull prisoner of war with a Klyntar symbiote

"Starfire"
Dark Matter a Kree dignitary, kidnapped and given weird powers and disfiguring scars

"Raven"
Embr a lost prince of Muspellheim, wary of accepting his true power