Credit Where Credit Is Due: Captain Marvel
Back in the heyday of Marvel's Civil War, there was a one-shot that came out towards the end of the story that brought quite a few fans to ire. A long-solicited, though shrouded in mystery, book called simply "The Return" was finally coming out. We had thought the cover was a simple whitewash, but the image soon presented itself as a faded star cross - the insignia of the Kree warrior and Earth hero Mar-Vell, Captain Marvel.
A number of fans were rather annoyed that Captain Marvel was returning at all, let alone as nothing more than a warden for Reed Richards's 42 prison. The Kree had little to do with Civil War's outcome leading readers to believe his return was little more than a publicity stunt. His limited series was delayed time and again and he wasn't seen again until January of this year when he reappeared in Paris, of all places.
Now, here's where it gets interesting.
Want to know the real deal behind Captain Marvel and, more importantly, why you should care about him? Hit the Nega-jump to find out.
Spoilers be damned, we're going to be catching up to the latest antics of Captain Marvel so be warned.
So we're up to his limited series some time after Civil War, but a few months before Secret Invasion.. The limited series, written by Brian Reed, started somewhat middle-of-the-road, though nothing bad at all. Then halfway through the series we learned one hell of a shock - Captain Marvel was a Skrull sleeper agent!
He was one of the first reveals and still stands out as one of the best and most shocking. Even he didn't know he was a Skrull until he was revealed by a higher agent. In one reveal we have the real power the Skrull invasion all smushed together.
We get agents who think they are who they're pretending to be.
We get agents who are placed at high and sensitive ranks within the superhero community.
We get agents who are able to stand toe to toe with heavyweights like Iron Man and Mr. Fantastic and avoid detection.
We get agents who get the people of Earth on their side.
Captain Marvel really was the ideal candidate for this kind of invasion. He was dead, so there is no duplicate to worry about (which I still wonder about - where the hell are Hank Pym and Jarvis and so on?). He was instantly loved by the people because Mar-Vell had won their trust years previously. Being put in place as warden of the 42 prison in Civil War, who knows what kind of sensitive information he was privy to.
His first mission was to take out the Thunderbolts. Now, while he really didn't follow through on said mission, he certainly could have. Already crippled by the Starktech blackout, the T-Bolts had their asses handed to them as Captain Marvel tore a hole into Thunderbolts Mountain. He would have ripped similar holes in the 'Bolts themselves had Norman Osborn not been able to get inside the good Captain's head. (Not to mention the hilarious comparison between Marvel and Osborn not knowing if they should be pink or green.)
So now Captain Marvel seems to be on his own, fighting his demons as he comes to grips with being Skrull, Kree and human all in one. I'm sure he will pop up again before the end of the invasion, but he's taking a well deserved break this month leaving us waiting to see his next move.
Now why is this piece called "Credit Where Credit Is Due" you ask? Valid question.
More often than not, fandom can get a bit snarky at ideas outside of the normal (and even at the normal ones, really). Before The Return was even published there were cries of graverobbing and heresy. Mar-Vell was a character that never should be brought back because his death was so well written (which it was, thanks to Jim Starlin).
Well, now that we have more of the story, let's credit to those who deserve it. Marvel as a whole (and Brian Bendis, Mark Millar, Paul Jenkins and Brian Reed individually, among others) orchestrated a fantastic story that we didn't see coming. The pieces fit and the story is coming together as we see more and more. We were gnawing and thrashing our teeth over the disregard for those great stories of yesteryear, all the while they knew this was not Mar-Vell and we were screaming about nothing.
Not only did we get an thoroughly unexpected outcome from this story, but it's a GOOD outcome. It's a great story that I am totally enjoying reading. I anxiously await the next issue of Secret Invasion in the hope we see Captain Marvel pop up. I'd love to see him take another crack at the Tunderbolts - or even ask them for help or join the team!
So let's all take a step back, apologize for our bile, and applaud for a story - and bait-and-switch - very well done.
Goblin
Posted to Comics, Superheroes on 29 August 2008
· Comments (3)
Other stuff like this: Captain Marvel, Civil War, Marvel, Secret Invasion
in one of the worst plot devices to retrieve a fallen hero EVER, captain marvel was plucked out of a time before he died to help fight the civil war in the present. so, help me out here, WHEN was marvel replaced by a skrull sleeper agent? has he always been a sleeper agent (even as far back as his first appearance)? if so, when is he going to go back in time and die like he's supposed to? if not, then how did the skrulls know exactly WHEN to place their agent in the past so that he could be picked up by.. oh, whatever. like you, i wonder where the originals are. i mean, i want jessica drew back!
He was never plucked out of time. that was sort of a flashback thing which was essentially a lie. It was what he believed occurred to him, not what actually happened. It was part of the whole fake past thing that happens to all the skrulls.
so, if it wasn't really plucked out of time then why did the heroes believe him to be the real captain marvel?