Monica "Photon" Rambeau, Spectrum Appreciation 2019

[Ichijinijisanji]

That's a possibility. I think Ewing implied that all of her human bits were converted into energy on this plane of existence. And there's no down converting back into flesh and bone. She isn't tapping into an extradimensional force or otherwise exchanging her human form for an energy form.

Yeah maybe. I was just considering a plot hook for a further character arc of some sort. Maybe some psychological reason she prefers to remain in her energy form or something.

I would be perfectly fine with Monica being able to mimic psionic energy -- to read minds, and project her own thoughts into someone else's mind. That certainly sounds better than "Cosmic Awareness" explaining away some of her communicative feats while she is in some of her various EM forms

I used to think characters like Ulysses klaw, living laser, living lightning etc just simulate human forms. Their brains could be different types of computers. Like LL-optical/photonic computer, Klaw a phononic computer etc having the components signal each other with different intereference patterns. But this was just me worldbuilding head canon. Maybe they all have cosmic awareness now?
I'm not sure if wonder-man is an energy form simulation (I think I remember him remarking on him not being human but living ionic energy) or organic tissue infused with ionic energy (always been iffy on that)

Maybe living laser could be her rogue's gallery with an upgrade in terms of personality and power

Monica was one of my first Marvel loves and I don't mean in the romantic sense but she was just so cool, even her father was awesome. I loved her costume, her hair, her personality. I don't like Mon with straight hair. iit just doesn't seem right. But I've always liked her (except Warren Ellis' version) and she is one of my favorite Marvel characters to boot. I was so psyched about her becoming the Avengers leader and then the book was hijacked and all of Sterns ideas for her were scrapped. Bah!

It's weird, so many people who were fans of her in the 80s don't like her Nextwave version whereas for many modern readers that's the version they like.

Must be the dog killing.

[From The Shadows]

I remember when I was a kid how excited I was for the Avengers vs. X-Men series in the 80s written by Claremont and was hoping we'd be getting some good Monica and Ororo interaction but it never came.

Based on what we have seen of Monica’s New Orleans background (professional and family life), I recon she has the downtown NOLA accent that’s described here. True writers have never tried to put that dialect on the page for Monica...and that’s peobably for the BEST.

Rarely are a supers parents so likable. Growing up with them must have been wonderful.

Sigh, of all of the ways that they could have introduced Monica to the MCU....

One day someone will have to explain to me why it was necessary for Monica to be part of Carol's support/subordinate gallery in the movie. Monica is her own woman, with her own history that doesn't involve Carol at all. She should be the legend that Carol looks up to, considering their standing in the Marvel community.

I don't like how so many characters were connected/related in the Movies. The X-Men movies did the same thing. The MU is vast and rich. Not some bubble. I do think it takes away some of her independence as a character.

It's weird, so many people who were fans of her in the 80s don't like her Nextwave version whereas for many modern readers that's the version they like.

Must be the dog killing.

I don't know... it's seems like he was making a joke out of her -- WAIT, SHE KILLED A DOG?!?!

[JudicatorPrime]

Yeah maybe. I was just considering a plot hook for a further character arc of some sort. Maybe some psychological reason she prefers to remain in her energy form or something.

I think eventually some writer will come along and roll back the Ewing interpretation of Monica's powers. You're definitely on the right track for a future story idea either way. After all, we still don't which dimension, exactly her energy powers come from. At least with Molecule Man we know that his accident more or less linked him to the Beyonderverse.

I'm not sure if wonder-man is an energy form simulation (I think I remember him remarking on him not being human but living ionic energy) or organic tissue infused with ionic energy (always been iffy on that)

I may be wrong, but I think initially Wonder Man was a human shell that contained or was infused with ionic energy. It was much later on that he became pure ionic energy and I always thought that Scarlet Witch had something to do with that.

Maybe living laser could be her rogue's gallery with an upgrade in terms of personality and power.

Hmmm, not sure. It's been ages since I read a Living Laser story, but if memory serves, he's your basic light photon. He can't change into other, more powerful electromagnetic photons like Monica can. He wasn't capable of gamma ray bursts, like Monica can. If that's the case, any fight with Monica wouldn't last very long. Gamma Rays are far more powerful than light photons. Monica could flood LL with a barrage of gamma rays, which would ultimately cause the electrons in LL's body to rapidly disperse. He wouldn't be a Living Laser for very long if he was a pure light construct. If any parts of him converted back into normal human tissue, he'd be dead from the gamma ray radiation in a matter of seconds. On the other hand, there isn't anything that LL could do to Monica. She'd match him at every turn, absorb whatever he dished out, and deliver it back to him as a different waveform radiation that LL couldn't readily absorb or counter.

That said, this is comics and I don't expect a writer to just hand Monica the win so easily. They'd hamstring her in some way just to make a fair fight of it. But we know the truth.

It's weird, so many people who were fans of her in the 80s don't like her Nextwave version whereas for many modern readers that's the version they like.

Must be the dog killing.

Nextwave depicted Monica as a "Disproportionate retribution" trope. The comics culture being what it is, some people like seeing hyperviolent Monica. Even here in this forum you can sometimes see how geeked out people get when they discover that Monica isn't only powerful enough to destroy a planet, but she was more than willing to do so during the Incursions. Lots of sick, immature blokes in this hobby.

[Ichijinijisanji]

Nextwave depicted Monica as a "Disproportionate retribution" trope. The comics culture being what it is, some people like seeing hyperviolent Monica. Even here in this forum you can sometimes see how geeked out people get when they discover that Monica isn't only powerful enough to destroy a planet, but she was more than willing to do so during the Incursions. Lots of sick, immature blokes in this hobby.

Even Aaron stack's personality seemed to hve changed past Nextwave, in a much more pronounced way. He used to be more sincere, but now he's just a mean drunk complaining about fleshy meatbags (and I love him for it)

[Ichijinijisanji]

I don't know... it's seems like he was making a joke out of her -- WAIT, SHE KILLED A DOG?!?!

Eh it's not canon. Just a drug induced hallucination that is nextwave.

[Ichijinijisanji]

Hmmm, not sure. It's been ages since I read a Living Laser story, but if memory serves, he's your basic light photon. He can't change into other, more powerful electromagnetic photons like Monica can. He wasn't capable of gamma ray bursts, like Monica can. If that's the case, any fight with Monica wouldn't last very long. Gamma Rays are far more powerful than light photons. Monica could flood LL with a barrage of gamma rays, which would ultimately cause the electrons in LL's body to rapidly disperse. He wouldn't be a Living Laser for very long if he was a pure light construct. If any parts of him converted back into normal human tissue, he'd be dead from the gamma ray radiation in a matter of seconds. On the other hand, there isn't anything that LL could do to Monica. She'd match him at every turn, absorb whatever he dished out, and deliver it back to him as a different waveform radiation that LL couldn't readily absorb or counter.

viz why I think there should be a power upgrade, or a special connection to monica that makes him a better match against her specifically since they are linked to the same dimension.

Or perhaps a bigger overall, newly made villain, who's interested in the dimension they're from to exploit its power and targets LL, Monica etc to study it for nefarious purposes.

Also, some more exploration of the energy/mass idea. A regular person's mass converted to energy comes up to about a megaton nuke. Perhaps further exploration of why characters like monica are more powerful.

Just spitting ideas for a solo.

[JudicatorPrime]

Eh it's not canon. Just a drug induced hallucination that is nextwave.

I thought Ewing established that it was canon. That all of it happened in this continuity, no?

[JudicatorPrime]

viz why I think there should be a power upgrade, or a special connection to monica that makes him a better match against her specifically since they are linked to the same dimension.

Or perhaps a bigger overall, newly made villain, who's interested in the dimension they're from to exploit its power and targets LL, Monica etc to study it for nefarious purposes.

Also, some more exploration of the energy/mass idea. A regular person's mass converted to energy comes up to about a megaton nuke. Perhaps further exploration of why characters like monica are more powerful.

Just spitting ideas for a solo.

I hear ya, and all solid ideas. I suppose there are other ways to make Living Laser a threat without him becoming Monica-level powerful. Just his knowledge of photons might be enough for him to find and exploit a vulnerability using an external device. It's just a matter of a writer concocting a credible exploit.

Re the E=MC2 thing, there are some pockets of the scientific community that feel that there are gaps in Einstein relatively, and others more who feel that while mostly accurate, it may be incomplete. Perhaps we should see Monica in that same light? Not exactly a true reflection of Einsteinian math, but an evolving formula unto herself. The more we think of Monica as someone who can mimic energy particles and forms other than just the standard EM variety, I think we have to keep an open vista for her. Until the writers indicate otherwise.

[Ichijinijisanji]

I thought Ewing established that it was canon. That all of it happened in this continuity, no?

It happened in the sense the members in continuity experienced it and the beyond corporation exists, but it didn't happen in the sense it was an illusion cast by the jason quintrell impersonator

[Ichijinijisanji]

I hear ya, and all solid ideas. I suppose there are other ways to make Living Laser a threat without him becoming Monica-level powerful. Just his knowledge of photons might be enough for him to find and exploit a vulnerability using an external device. It's just a matter of a writer concocting a credible exploit.

Re the E=MC2 thing, there are some pockets of the scientific community that feel that there are gaps in Einstein relatively, and others more who feel that while mostly accurate, it may be incomplete. Perhaps we should see Monica in that same light? Not exactly a true reflection of Einsteinian math, but an evolving formula unto herself. The more we think of Monica as someone who can mimic energy particles and forms other than just the standard EM variety, I think we have to keep an open vista for her. Until the writers indicate otherwise.

really the whole equation is E2=m2c4+p2c2 to account from energy gained through momentum (p) with relativity where m is the rest mass and also for energy contained within things without mass like photons.

There's an avenue right there to expand upon. Basically how much momentum does monica have to get enough relativistic mass so her total energy can blow a planet (gravitational binding energy being about 10^32 joules)

[DMightyBlue]

They REALLY need to play up her connection to thebBEYOND and the corporation.

[JudicatorPrime]

really the whole equation is E2=m2c4+p2c2 to account from energy gained through momentum (p) with relativity where m is the rest mass and also for energy contained within things without mass like photons.

There's an avenue right there to expand upon. Basically how much momentum does monica have to get enough relativistic mass so her total energy can blow a planet (gravitational binding energy being about 10^32 joules)

It's nice to know I wasn't the only one wondering about Monica's top end capabilities.

I was thinking that Monica might have a Higgs field that she agitates/activates whenever she achieves a certain threshold. She'd then be able to generate additional mass, thus increasing potential energy and ultimately amplifying the amount of energy that she can release on demand.

The other idea that I had has to do with Monica completing the Unified Field Theory whereby gravity/gravitons and electromagnetism are all firmly within her wheelhouse. That would allow for her to achieve quite a few feats on a cosmic scale.

The final idea that I had was that Monica is the conduit/lens/filter/transducer for the raw, esoteric energies from the extradimensional source that empowers her. She controls how much comes through and the form that it takes. EM energies are more abundant on this side of the sphere, so perhaps early on she subconsciously chose EM particle/wavelength forms for simplicity's sake. And perhaps the longer she acts as a conduit, the more adept she becomes at converting that raw energy into other forms of "native" energy. However, she'd also be able to simply let that raw destructive energy come through unfiltered, releasing a massively destructive burst in the process. Enough to destroy a planet or three with ease.

There are bound to be a number of possibilities. I almost wish Ewing had let her destroy that alternate Earth so that we could have gotten a better look at how it was done.

One thing is for certain: Monica is not one to brag or lie about her capabilities. She is supremely confident that she can destroy the planet. The question that we have to ask ourselves is, how did she come to that knowledge? Is there a Nextwave-like untold story of Mad Monica the Planet Atomizer that we need to know about?

[JudicatorPrime]

They REALLY need to play up her connection to thebBEYOND and the corporation.

I agree. There has to be a reason why they like messing with Monica so much.

[EMPulse]

Roxxon - has anyone noticed they are practically everywhere in Marvel Comics and subtlety in MCU? My guess it's gotta be the Beyond/Beyonders "earth" based company. Way to tie Monica in their narrative.

[Ichijinijisanji]

It's nice to know I wasn't the only one wondering about Monica's top end capabilities.

Eh sure, I fancanon over charas I like in terms of villains, rewriting stories, power building, character building etc.

There are bound to be a number of possibilities. I almost wish Ewing had let her destroy that alternate Earth so that we could have gotten a better look at how it was done.

One thing is for certain: Monica is not one to brag or lie about her capabilities. She is supremely confident that she can destroy the planet. The question that we have to ask ourselves is, how did she come to that knowledge? Is there a Nextwave-like untold story of Mad Monica the Planet Atomizer that we need to know about?

Probably from hurting zeus. That and the avengers tests she was going through to understand her potential capabilities (like the time she was sent to the sun to get and idea of neutrinos) could've given her a theoretical understanding of her power level.