Carol Danvers: Captain Marvel Appreciation 2020

[Will Evans]

Some fans on twitter were talking about CarolJess x CarolRhodes and Kelly pretty much hinted that Marvel is the one pushing CarolRhodes

Keep in mind the writer has had for the issues that take place in the future, Captain Marvel The End and the current storyline, have Rhodey’s future daughter Carol Rhodes. But she’s not Carol’s daughter, only named after her.

They haven’t said who the mother is yet, only hinted it’s someone that knew Carol and was jealous Rhodey names her that.

So the writer has already laid out Carol and Rhodes won’t be together for ever, and supposedly not much longer.

Still....Rhodey has so far been the most stable relationship Carol has ever had going out with someone.

Though it’s pretty obvious the majority of her fan base want her in relationship with Jessica Drew.

[Digifiend]

Which is dumb, as neither Carol nor Jess are gay, and Jess has her own boyfriend, Porcupine. They're just BFFs.

[Seren]

Which is dumb, as neither Carol nor Jess are gay, and Jess has her own boyfriend, Porcupine. They're just BFFs.

I have lots to say about this and Jess in particular but I'll save it.

[AndersonHoran]

At least this time around the relationship is at least getting some exploration and panel time. When they first put Carol and Rhodey together, it was entirely out of the blue (the relationship had developed during a time jump between volumes), it required dropping the love interest that the previous volume had spent time building up...and then they immediately launched Carol into space for an extended period, so she had Rhodey were doing the long distance thing and not interacting at all for most of the run. It was bizarre.



Although it has yet to get much in-depth development, the Carol/Rhodey pairing is actually Carol's first successful ongoing romance on-panel since she became Ms. Marvel! Her love life has been a royal mess throughout her publication history.

She was introduced as a love interest for Mar-Vell, but that was dropped when they decided to spin her off as a superhero herself.

The original MS. MARVEL run gave her Mike Barnett but he was more of a friend-with-benefits than an actual boyfriend (partly because Claremont was at times a bit inconsistent about how intimate they were), but ultimately Barnett wanted them to become a more serious couple and Carol just didn't feel that way about him--and then he got murdered by Mystique.

Frank Gianelli was also introduced in that run, but was more of a friend than a love interest at that point (although they did share one kiss). DeConnick brought him back in Carol's first CAPTAIN MARVEL run and set him up as a love interest for Carol...but just as the relationship seemed about to blossom, it was tossed aside off-panel between volumes.

During her original AVENGERS stint Carol had sexual tension and flirtation with Wonder Man, but it didn't go anywhere at that point. She also had some playful flirtation with Captain America and Tony Stark, but it wasn't anything serious.

Then came her time as Binary, and she had no known love life during that period.

When she rejoined the Avengers in Busiek's run he had the Vision ask her out and they casually dated for a short time--but that was more of a friendship than a romance. There was also the Scarlet Centurion as a tragic love interest during the Kang War storyline. He and Carol might have had a good romance--but due to the fact that he looked exactly like the Marcus Immortus who kidnapped and raped her, she couldn't bring herself to ever trust him or her attraction to him.

Brian Reed's MS. MARVEL run implied an off-panel fling between Carol and Johnny Storm in the first issue of his run (Carol made a comment about avoiding the FF after an embarrassing weekend in Vegas with Johnny), but it was just a throwaway line that never got followed up on at all. He gave Carol a love triangle by bringing back the Wonder Man sexual tension and introducing a new civilian love interest named William Wagner. Bendis picked up on the Carol/Simon thing in his MIGHTY AVENGERS run--but started writing them as an actual couple while Carol's solo book still had them in a will they/won't they dynamic since she was torn between the two suitors. Both of those relationships were abruptly dropped around the time of "Secret Invasion"--William was killed off, and Carol slept with Wonder Man to distract herself from her emotional issues at the time...and then apparently broke up with him since he was not seen again for the rest of the series. There has never been any on-panel resolution to their fling.

Presumably both of those relationships were dumped so summarily because Reed wanted to introduce a Carol/Spidey flirtation. That ended up going nowhere--and mainly seemed to be an excuse for Reed to have Spider-Man guest star a lot.

And that's it until Carol became Captain Marvel and ended up with Rhodey. So yeah--prior to Rhodey, Carol's on-panel love life has mainly been false starts and brief flings.

I'm cool with that because i don't think Carol needs a love interest, something that i always loved about her is that her story doesn't revolve around romance, as a normal person she has a crush for a while and that's it.

Keep in mind the writer has had for the issues that take place in the future, Captain Marvel The End and the current storyline, have Rhodey’s future daughter Carol Rhodes. But she’s not Carol’s daughter, only named after her.

They haven’t said who the mother is yet, only hinted it’s someone that knew Carol and was jealous Rhodey names her that.

So the writer has already laid out Carol and Rhodes won’t be together for ever, and supposedly not much longer.

Still....Rhodey has so far been the most stable relationship Carol has ever had going out with someone.

Though it’s pretty obvious the majority of her fan base want her in relationship with Jessica Drew.

Yeah, i know they won't make Carol and Jess a couple because of how toxic people are but i'm here for any CarolJess content.

[Frontier]

Some fans on twitter were talking about CarolJess x CarolRhodes and Kelly pretty much hinted that Marvel is the one pushing CarolRhodes

Considering how quickly they got back together it wouldn't surprise me. I'm not sure how Thompson feels about it though since she doesn't seem to mind it much.

I wonder if editorial came up with it for DeConnnick.

At least this time around the relationship is at least getting some exploration and panel time. When they first put Carol and Rhodey together, it was entirely out of the blue (the relationship had developed during a time jump between volumes), it required dropping the love interest that the previous volume had spent time building up...and then they immediately launched Carol into space for an extended period, so she had Rhodey were doing the long distance thing and not interacting at all for most of the run. It was bizarre.

"Some" still doesn't seem like a lot to me, at least up to where I've read in her run.

Although it has yet to get much in-depth development, the Carol/Rhodey pairing is actually Carol's first successful ongoing romance on-panel since she became Ms. Marvel! Her love life has been a royal mess throughout her publication history.

Carol was kind of a hot mess as Ms. Marvel.

I'm cool with that because i don't think Carol needs a love interest, something that i always loved about her is that her story doesn't revolve around romance, as a normal person she has a crush for a while and that's it.

Well, maybe not revolve around romance, but she's had plenty.

[AndersonHoran]

[Frontier]

Good use of the hair and sash .

[Sneakronicity]

I read Captain Marvel: The End back in January when it came out, and when I saw we were revisiting that future I sat down and read the entirety of Thompson's run to catch up. Really quite enjoyed it! I haven't read a lot of Carol, but I have enjoyed this story so far and I love that it's very much her solo book but she has a great cast of reoccurring characters (namely Jess and Hazmat). I'm kind of ambivalent to her relationship with Rhodey; it's fine, they're cute, but so far it feels pretty shallow. I don't mind there not being drama, stable relationships are underrated, but I haven't felt any real depth to it either myself. As someone else stated, though, I think it's in for a shakeup when she gets back since it's kind of like seeing that she has no future with him unless she believes she can change the future. Curious to see how she'll handle it, especially once we find out who Carol Rhodes mother is (I have my theory). I also wonder what she'll do with the knowledge of these other future kids, if it's something she'll ever bring up with any of their parents in her own time? certainly a fun plot to play with!

[Kurt Busiek]

There was also the Scarlet Centurion as a tragic love interest during the Kang War storyline. He and Carol might have had a good romance--but due to the fact that he looked exactly like the Marcus Immortus who kidnapped and raped her, she couldn't bring herself to ever trust him or her attraction to him.

Did she ever express any attraction for him? I don't remember doing that.

He was attracted to her, absolutely. But I don't think she returned it -- there wasn't any basis for one.

kdb

[Dermie]

Did she ever express any attraction for him? I don't remember doing that.

He was attracted to her, absolutely. But I don't think she returned it -- there wasn't any basis for one.

kdb

True, I worded that badly. There were a few moments where Carol seemed like she was having some response to his attention to her and in particular his occasional efforts to assist her despite them being on opposite sides--her expression would soften a bit, or she'd have a moment of hesitation before her defenses went back up. Exactly what was going through her head wasn't specified though.

[Ichijinijisanji]

i think the thing with barnett was kinda weird to begin with, i mean he was her therapist and was trying to end her superhero or ms marvel side by the end. And he seemed to want children with her, but i think that was carol's major issue, she didn't see herself or wasn't sure she was or will ever be ready for kids.

[Frontier]

i think the thing with barnett was kinda weird to begin with, i mean he was her therapist and was trying to end her superhero or ms marvel side by the end. And he seemed to want children with her, but i think that was carol's major issue, she didn't see herself or wasn't sure she was or will ever be ready for kids.

Biologically I kind of wonder what that would be like since we've got her Kree genes but she also has all the other souped-up stuff with her powers. How would a kid end up from that?

Of course I can kind of understand how the idea of giving birth would be traumatic for Carol...

[Dermie]

i think the thing with barnett was kinda weird to begin with, i mean he was her therapist and was trying to end her superhero or ms marvel side by the end. And he seemed to want children with her, but i think that was carol's major issue, she didn't see herself or wasn't sure she was or will ever be ready for kids.

Just for the sake of accuracy, he wasn't actually her therapist--he was her friend who also happened to be a therapist. She just started asking him for help with his professional skills due to the identity issues she was having in her early Ms. Marvel days (when she thought "Carol Danvers" and "Ms. Marvel" were two separate personalities). Its an easy mistake to make the very first time we're introduced to him is Carol bursting into his office and asking for his help....but the narration captions and Carol's dialogue always specify him as "her friend" rather than her therapist. It was a personal relationship first--which is an important distinction, since it would be really unethical if she was his patient and then their friends-with-benefits situation developed.

Its not exactly professionally appropriate for him to be treating his friends either--but a superhero's secret identity probably justifies a bit of bending when it comes to professional ethics.

But anyway, yeah, you're right that the big problem for Carol and Mike working out is that he wanted a lot more from the relationship than she did--he wanted her to settle down into a traditional "wife and mother" female role, and that just wasn't going to ever suit Carol. To be honest, I was surprised when Claremont started moving Mike in that direction; he hadn't really expressed those sorts of attitudes earlier in the run. But I guess as his feelings for Carol grew deeper, that side of him started to emerge.

[Ichijinijisanji]

Biologically I kind of wonder what that would be like since we've got her Kree genes but she also has all the other souped-up stuff with her powers. How would a kid end up from that?

Of course I can kind of understand how the idea of giving birth would be traumatic for Carol...

the mike barnett stuff was before any of the preganncy associated trauma

and the product would be a souped up kid. Or atleast a kid with latent powers that could be activated from bombardment with radiation or something

[Darthfury78]

He's a nice guy, but CarolJess will always be my fav relationship

My personal favorite is :

Carol and Jessica
Carol and Peter Parker
Jessica and Peter

What would had been nice to see is a story that featured Carol, Jessica, and Peter working together...