Ms Marvel (early years)
Ms Marvel (Avengers)
Binary
Warbird
Captain Marvel
Sharing headspace with Rogue.
Protected by the Comics Code Authority
YES Capes. YES Masks. YES Secret Identities.
I don't mind the Captain Marvel moniker, but I do have to say that Carol when she first had powers was a much, much more interesting character than she is now. Especially when Claremont was writing the Ms. Marvel book.
I still miss Renee Montoya. Oh, and I'm a dude.
I am a Marvel fan preferably cosmic storylines, especially Thanos or Dark Phoenix related, when both the Avengers and the X-Men are involved count me in, loved the original Uncanny Avengers series.
Not a fan of any of the new characters.
(Marvel/DC fan for 44+ years)
Carol as Captain Marvel could not be more generic. From the colors, to the costume, to the powers, to the name, to the revised origin. She looks like a generic hero you'd see on a lunchbox that didn't get the license to use Wonder Woman.
Wanna make somethin' of it?
"A super-powered blonde alien chick in a
red & blue outfit whose last name is Danvers?"
"Oh, how original."
I personally see most of these as a character arc upto about 2015 (end of KSD's run)
Early Ms Marvel: Hurt, but coming into her own, overcoming the initial brainwashing, potential to be one of the greats in universe/out
Binary: Trying to reclaim and find herself again after a lot of traumas, working as space pirate, or atleast separating herself from the places that were hurting her emotionally
Warbird: Retraumatized, and forced to return to earht and confront all the trauma, taking it hard, taking to alcoholism, but overcoming it, and building herself up again
2000s Ms Marvel: Saw a glimpse of her potential spoken of earlier (House of M), but still has a lot of baggage that needed to be metabolized, a lot of trauma, a lot of issues with violence and self esteem. But grows past many of them
Early 2010s Captain Marvel: Finally coming into her own again, having moved past many of her issues, so you can the aspirational qualities and the journey she took to get there. There are parallels to her earlier times, like her trauma with rogue/loss of identity and the Yon Rogg stuff. Going to space to figure yourself out a la binary. Dealing with the loss of a loved one to cancer (tracy burke/mar-vell), but with more agency than she was allowed in the past.
Tokenism & Tokenization Explained
Binary and Warbird get my vote. Love Perez and Claremont. I read Carol's classic solo run and don't remember any standouts. When I think of Carol on early Avengers, I can't think of anything besides Avengers #200. Not the best look.
Sad that Ultimate Carol wasn't an option. She was a girl-boss.
Acting Director of SHIELD. After the Ultimates marooned Fury on the Squadron Supreme's Earth during Ultimate Power.
Helped the Ultimates and Triskelion during the crises against Gah Lak Tus, Norman Osborn, Apocalypse, the Ultimatum Wave, and Reed Richard's turn to evil.
Ultimate Carol also gets my vote for being a knockout, smoke show!
Last edited by Doctor Know; 08-14-2021 at 10:59 PM.
I loved the Warbird era of the Avengers, although there's really no big difference between that and her Ms. Marvel days as an Avenger (other than her having energy blasts left over from her time as Binary, by the Warbird days). I'll always pick Warbird or Binary over the others though, 'cause they're not a legacy. Those names are all hers.
Though I probably would have liked her outfit more if it wasn't pirate boots and a bikini. The bare shoulders are fine, but the six inches of exposed thigh are just, 'what?' Just have the boots go the extra few inches up to her belt and call them, I don't know, maybe pants.
Most of the similarities basically come from Mar-vell being derivative of superman, and the variations harkening back
Like carol wasn't even even meant to have powers, she was just a side, supporting character in Mar-vell's cast.
But most of these similarities are superficial at best.