It’s easy to forget sometimes that Ms. Marvel is one of Marvel’s oldest characters. Long before she got powers she was Carol Danvers, a Major in the U.S. Air Force who befriended Captain Mar-Vell. These issues explore her past as a soldier, doing for Danvers’ military service what others have done for Tony Stark’s origin: Adjusting the war.
In this version, she was shot down while flying a mission in Afghanistan and tortured (quite unnecessarily in her bra and panties)…
She’s beaten until her arm breaks, and then she stabs her captor with her own broken arm.
That’s some seriously bad ass shit there.
By issue #34, her “spy past” brings her back to the U.S., where she investigates the same Taliban terrorists she faced in Afghanistan and meets a young Spider-Man.
Writer Brian Reed also fills in information about Danvers’ childhood and, frankly, it’s a little surprising that no one has done this before. Danvers has a deeply complex history, struggling through multiple identities and always feeling overtly inferior (or grossly superior) to those around her. So the typical terrible parental background (daddy a dead drunk, mommy mean) makes sense here–especially her missing father figure. It might explain why she so often always ends up in relationships (both sexual and friendship) with men who take advantage of her.
None of this is essential to the character, but for fans of Ms. Marvel, this is great stuff. my only complaint is the switching of artists twice throughout, which makes it hard as a reader to feel that connective through-line. Minor complaint, though, because each artist does their job well.
The next arc continues the journey through her early years, and will include Mar-Vell. I’m looking forward to it.
English (US) · 