CAPTAIN MARVEL VI: Page 2 of 14

BIOGRAPHY - Page 2

After recovering from the injuries she sustained in Mar-Vell’s final confrontation with Yon-Rogg, Carol returned to work as a security officer with NASA. She quickly found that her stock with NASA had fallen severely due to her inability to unravel the mysteries of Dr. Walter Lawson and her unwillingness to bring Captain Marvel to justice when he was suspected of treason. She continued working for NASA for a short time, encountering the Avengers and Captain Marvel on occasion. During this time, Carol found her diminished role with NASA frustrating and decided to return to one of her first loves: writing. She wrote a best-selling, tell-all book about the space industry that helped to win her an instant reputation in the field of journalism. [Ms. Marvel (1st series) #1]

As the weeks passed, Carol began to experience side effects from her exposure to the Psyche-Magnitron. The exact nature of the Psyche-Magnitron device is unclear. Its power has been described as the ability to transform wishes into reality. At the moment she was bathed in the device energies, Carol was longing for the power to stand with Mar-Vell as an equal, not a helpless victim. From that desire, the Psyche-Magnitron rebuilt Carol’s DNA cell-by-cell creating a perfect synthesis of Kree and human genes. The machine also created a costume based on Mar-Vell’s and summoned Carol back to retrieve it. This costume enhanced the powers that were naturally developing within Carol’s body. The device also gave Carol the mind of a Kree warrior, basing her Kree memories on Mar-Vell’s, including his military experience, scientific knowledge, even an instinctive hatred of Skrulls. This all caused Carol's psyche to fracture, separating the core of Carol Danvers' personality from the new memories of this Kree warrior, who became known as Ms. Marvel. Carol and Ms. Marvel experienced blackouts that left them unaware of the other personality's existence. [Ms. Marvel (1st series) #19] 

After a year of freelance writing, Carol relocated to New York City and was offered a position as editor of WOMAN magazine by J. Jonah Jameson. The magazine was floundering and Carol was charged with revitalizing it. She quickly dumped Jameson’s notions of a women’s magazine that offered up beauty tips and recipes and took a more revolutionary approach by focusing on women’s issues and achievements. One topic that Jonah suggested did interest Carol, however: the debut of a new super-heroine, the woman warrior who would come to be known as Ms. Marvel. Ms. Marvel was a complete mystery to everyone… including Carol Danvers herself. She was unaware of the connection between Ms. Marvel and her own blackouts.

A trait possessed by Kree females known as the "seventh sense" alerted Carol of danger to herself or others, triggering her blackouts and calling forth the Ms. Marvel persona to deal with the threats. During her early exploits against the likes of the Scorpion and the Destructor, Ms. Marvel herself was a complete amnesiac and relied solely on her seventh sense and Kree warrior instincts to fight crime. She chose the name “Ms. Marvel” for herself, due to the similarity between her costume and that worn by the Kree hero, Captain Marvel. [Ms. Marvel (1st series) #1]

Carol became a regular fixture at the Daily Bugle and found new friends among those working there. Through Peter Parker, she became pals with Mary Jane Watson, who admired Carol’s poise and confidence. Carol continued to be overwhelmed by sudden migraines and blackouts and sought help from her friend, psychologist Michael Barnett. Using hypnosis, Barnett helped Carol to remember what happened to her during her blackouts. He believed that Carol’s account of transforming into the superhuman Ms. Marvel was an indication of paranoid delusions, until he witnessed the transformation himself. [Ms. Marvel (1st series) #2]

While writing an article about an astronaut friend from her days at Cape Canaveral, Carol Danvers transformed into Ms. Marvel once more to battle the robotic menace called the Doomsday Man. This brought her close to the cave where she had been imprisoned by Yon-Rogg. Finding herself inextricably drawn to this spot, Ms. Marvel experienced a severe sense of deja vu that unlocked her memories of her true identity as Carol Danvers. During her battle with the Doomsday Man, Ms. Marvel tapped into Carol Danvers’ memories of the project that created the Doomsday Man while she was working for NASA. Using Carol’s knowledge, Ms. Marvel deactivated the Doomsday Man and took another step towards integrating her dual personalities. Although Carol and Ms. Marvel were now aware of each other, they still operated as independent personalities. She had little time to process this before she was ambushed by the Destructor, who was seeking to uncover the source of Ms. Marvel’s newfound powers. In the cave, he located the Kree Psyche-Magnitron and unleashed its power once more. The direct exposure to the energies drove the Destructor mad and bathed Ms. Marvel in a second dose of alien radiation. [Ms. Marvel (1st series) #3-4]

In the weeks that followed, Carol Danvers struggled to deal with her dual identity and sharing her body with the warrior-like persona of Ms. Marvel. Whenever danger would appear, Ms. Marvel would take control. For a woman like Carol, this loss of control was anathema to her very nature. Her precognitive seventh sense also had a tendency to activate at inconvenient times and became increasingly difficult to explain away.

Ms. Marvel’s debut drew the attention of AIM (Advanced Idea Mechanics), who used x-rays to determine that her powers of flight were derived from an electronic webbing built into her costume. Determined to exploit this advanced technology, AIM’s leader MODOK captured Ms. Marvel after she was defeated by the subterranean menace known  as Grotesk. MODOK stripped Ms. Marvel of her uniform and tested it on one of his agents. His plan was to duplicate the unique properties of the suit that empowered Ms. Marvel and create an army of women warriors to serve him. However, MODOK was unaware that the circuitry in the costume had been damaged during Ms. Marvel’s battle against Grotesk. Disappointed that the suit failed to imbue his agent with Ms. Marvel’s abilities, MODOK used his mental powers to take control of Ms. Marvel’s mind. But he was unaware of Ms. Marvel’s dual personas and Carol Danvers’ psyche continued to struggle against his control. She eventually broke free by tapping into her memories, as well as those of Ms. Marvel, which proved to be based on the experiences of Mar-Vell. During the battle, Ms. Marvel learned that she was no longer reliant on her costume for her powers, due to the second exposure to the energies of the Kree Psyche-Magnitron. Ms. Marvel managed to escape but made a deadly enemy of MODOK. [Ms. Marvel (1st series) #7]

Over the next several months, Carol continued her efforts to reconcile herself with the warrior woman instincts of Ms. Marvel. She struggled to balance her career with fighting crime as Ms. Marvel. Her continuing investigation into AIM’s activities prompted MODOK to send his alien ally, Deathbird, after Ms. Marvel. The two fighting furies found themselves almost too equally matched. In the end, Ms. Marvel prevailed and, while MODOK and Deathbird escaped, she managed to thwart their latest schemes. As if this wasn’t trouble enough, Carol had also become a target of the mysterious group known only as The Council. Carol had in her possession documents that could lead to complications for The Council’s unknown criminal activities. In an attempt to prevent these papers from falling into the wrong hands, The Council sent a mercenary named Geoffrey Ballard to destroy the papers. This led to the firebombing of Carol’s penthouse. [Ms. Marvel (1st series) #9-10]

It was during a conflict with a mysterious woman called Hecate that Carol finally reached a breaking point. While stopping Hecate and her mad followers the Elementals, Carol’s friend Salia Petrie was in mortal danger. Forced to choose between saving Carol’s friend or ending the threat posed by the Elementals, Ms. Marvel chose to defeat the villainous Elementals, who posed a threat to the entire world. The seeming death of her best friend drove Carol into a rage and she forced the transformation from her Ms. Marvel form into her true self. She projected her rage at Ms. Marvel onto Hecate and battled the mystery woman in the form of Carol Danvers. During this conflict, she used her super-strength to lift a boulder to attack Hecate. The villain confronted Carol with the truth… that she and Ms. Marvel were not two separate individuals at all. Hecate managed to break through to Carol, ending the months of confusion and inner conflict she had endured since her first transformation into Ms. Marvel. Now that the two sides of her persona were fully integrated, Carol found that she possessed her full powers in both her forms and that she could transform at will from her civilian clothing into her Ms. Marvel costume. [Ms. Marvel (1st series) #12-13]

Having finally resolved her identity crisis, Ms. Marvel dove headlong into her new role as a super-heroine. She met and teamed up with numerous other heroes, battling the Super-Skrull alongside Spider-Man and teamed with the Defenders against the forces of AIM. [Marvel Team-Up (1st series) #62, Defenders (1st series) #57] Carol fought such foes as Steeplejack, Sapper, and Goldenblade. She also worked with the Avengers for the first time to save Namorita from Tiger Shark. When Ms. Marvel was ambushed by the Centurion, Earth’s Mightiest Heroes saved her. The Centurion turned out to be Geoffrey Ballard, the same man who had firebombed Carol’s penthouse and had also burglarized her office at WOMAN magazine. He had stolen the Centurion armor from SHIELD with the help of Raven Darkholme, aka Mystique, a woman who was destined to play a pivotal role in Ms. Marvel’s life. The battle against the Centurion strengthened Ms. Marvel’s ties to the Avengers and she repaid the team by aiding them against Ultron and the Atlantean powerhouse called Tyrak. [Ms. Marvel (1st series) #13-18, Avengers (1st series) #171-172]

Ms. Marvel’s increased activities brought her to the attention of the Kree Supreme Intelligence. Having just recognized the vast untapped psionic potential of humankind during the Kree-Skrull War, the Supremor decided that Ms. Marvel was the perfect vessel through which to jump-start the evolution of the Kree. He sent Ronan the Accuser to retrieve her, though, naturally, Carol fought back. She managed to hold her own against Ronan and their battle triggered Mar-Vell’s cosmic awareness. He arrived on the scene of the battle and was surprised to see a woman clad in a variation of his own costume. Almost immediately, he recognized her as Carol Danvers. Ronan took advantage of his momentary distraction to subdue both Mar-Vell and Ms. Marvel. En route to Kree-Lar, the Supreme Intelligence revealed his plan to wipe Carol’s mind clean and use her as a brood mare for a race of new, more powerful Kree. Using a device called the Millennia Bloom, the Supremor attempted to wipe Carol’s mind. However, the dual nature of her memories and psyche enabled her to resist the device‘s effects and, together, she and Mar-Vell defeated Ronan and returned to Earth. She made it clear to the Supreme Intelligence that, if he ever tried to use her again, she’d make sure he regretted it.

Back on Earth, Carol and Mar-Vell shared an awkward moment, not sure how to deal with their strange ties to each other. Carol realized that, despite the fact that she would have never chosen to be a copy of any man, she was glad to be a superhero now. The two heroes parted as friends, but found themselves fighting alongside each other once again not much later, when they both aided the Avengers against the threat of Korvac. [Ms. Marvel (1st series) #19, Avengers (1st series) #175-177]

Following the meeting of the minds with Mar-Vell regarding her origins, Carol was ready to strike out on her own as a heroine. With a little design assistance from the Avengers‘ Wasp, she adopted a new costume that expressed her newfound sense of individuality and distinguished her visually from Captain Marvel. [Ms. Marvel (1st series) #20]

This wasn’t the only change in Carol’s life. After months of trying to balance her role as Ms. Marvel with her work at WOMAN magazine, her unexplained absences and erratic behavior finally caught up with her. She was unceremoniously fired by J. Jonah Jameson. Despite how much she enjoyed the challenge of editing her own magazine, Carol found herself relieved to be out from under the stress that trying to manage a magazine alongside her burgeoning heroics created.

She didn’t have much time to celebrate her new lease on life, however. She found herself in battle once more with Deathbird, who had returned for revenge. Ms. Marvel managed to survive this conflict and thwarted Deathbird’s attempt to steal components from Stark Industries that would help her in building a starcraft to return her to the Shi’ar Empire. [Ms. Marvel (1st series) #22]