Iron Man (vol. 3) #7
Live Kree or Die! Part 1: Bad Moon Rising
The Blue Area of the Moon has stood lifeless for many months since its atmospheric generators were rendered inactive.[1] However, deep inside its long abandoned Kree settlement there is activity. The Kree leader, the Supreme Intelligence has been has been hiding out on the moon ever since a failed attempt to assassinate him. Now he is visited by the remnant of the Kree military. Their leader Galen Kor, has come to seek vengeance on the Earth for their involvement in the collapse of the Kree empire and has now dubbed his group the Lunatic Legion. The Supreme Intelligence gives Galen Kor his blessings to attack the Earth. However, the Supreme Intelligence will be observing the coming events to ensure that the proper outcome comes from it.[2]
Meanwhile, on Earth, Iron Man pays a visit to the family home of Carol Danvers in northern Boston. He is greeted by Carol’s mother who is surprised to see an Avenger in person and invites him in, telling Iron Man that Carol is in her room.[3] Iron Man has come to check on Carol after she flew off in a rage following the Avengers battle with the Squadron Supreme.[4] Iron Man has been concerned about her ever since and has come to talk about her problems. To try and get her to open up to him, Tony flips up his face plate to reveal his true identity to her. That Iron Man is secretly Tony Stark is both shocking but also makes a lot of sense to Carol. Since he is so good at fixing things, she wonders if he can fix someone who lost it all.
Carol then tells Tony her life story, starting with joining the Air Force. She was always in love with planes and enlisted in the military because her father refused to let her enroll in college. She was one of the top pilots in her field and this landed her a job as security chief for NASA, earning the distinction of being the youngest to take on the roll at the time. It was during her tenure at NASA that she crossed paths with the original Captain Marvel, a Kree soldier who had defected from his people to defend the Earth.[5] At one point, Carol was kidnapped by Mar-Vell’s nemesis Yon-Rogg and the pair were caught in a Psyche-Magnatron explosion. This energy bombardment caused her to become some kind of Kree/human hybrid. Gaining super-human powers she began a crime fighting career as Ms. Marvel.
As Ms. Marvel she once again excelled, earning enough of a reputation to join the Avengers. However, that’s when things began going downhill.[7] First when she was impregnated by the son of Immortus who was seeking to be born in the timestream and escape Limbo. She was gaslit into joining Marcus back in his domain and none of the other Avengers did anything to stop this from happening.[8] Freeing herself and returning to Earth, Carol was later targeted by the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants who had their operative Rogue use her absorption powers to defeat her. Not only did Rogue steal Carol’s powers, but also her memories. While Professor X of the X-Men was able to restore Carol’s memories, the emotional connection to them were irreparably gone.[9] She remained with the X-Men for a time and was with them when they were captured by the alien Brood. They experimented on Carol, unlocking a new ability to tap the energy of a white hole giving her new cosmic powers.[10] Renaming herself Binary, Carol remained in space for a time. For a time her powers went haywire but the X-Men helped her restore them to their proper function.[11] However, that’s when things took a turn again when she finally returned to Earth only to discover her Binary powers were fading just as she joined up with the Avengers. After everything she has lost over the years, Carol wants to make a name for herself and refuses to let Captain America sideline her for any reason.
As Carol is laying out her life story, Tony notices that she has been drinking. When he turns her attention to the empty beer bottles next to her bed, Tony tries to warn her of the dangers of alcoholism since he himself has had personal experience with it.[12] This angers Carol, who transforms into her Warbird form. She tells him to butt out of her personal life and insists that she doesn’t have a drinking problem since her powers allow her to metabolize alcohol faster than normal and can’t get drunk. Having had enough of the lectures, Carol tells Tony to get out of her house.
Later, Tony drives out to his second bit of business in Boston, to investigate PowerSource Inc.’s involvement with the creation of Firebrand.[13] Joining him is his executive assistant, Pepper Potts. Along the way, he tries to talk to her about her recent divorce from Happy Hogan. He tries to convince Pepper that Happy still loves her and they should get back together. Pep tells Tony to butt out of her personal life, saying that if she and Happy get back together it’ll be on their own.[14] When they arrive at PowerSource, Inc. Tony is surprised to discover that the company is being run by Victoria Snow, a former employee of Stark International that worked out of Cincinnati.[15] During their meeting, Tony glosses over the Firebrand incident to get to the point of his visit: He’s trying to figure out who the Arms Dealer has been working for and he is concerned that PowerSource Inc. will might be providing a new experimental power generator that will be used in the construction of some kind of battle fortress.[16] Unfortunately, due to client confidentiality, Victoria cannot divulge the name of a client.
Before Tony can press the issue, Warbird comes crashing in through the window in a drunken fury. She accuses Tony of going to Captain America to try and get her kicked off the Avengers and refuses to allow him to get the chance. Carol then stops herself when she realizes what she is doing. Before Stark can deal with this, members of the Kree Lunatic Legion come crashing into the room, believing that their secret operation has been compromised. However, the arrival of Warbird is a boon for them as she plays a part in their plans for Earth.[17] But before they can capture Carol, she uses her powers to blast a hole in the floor so she and Tony fall down into the basement of the building. This gives Tony the cover he needs to change into Iron Man. As Iron Man and Warbird battle the Kree, Pepper helps Victoria evacuate to a safer part of the facility. Things get more dangerous when a Kree Sentry arrives on the scene and begins charging up its devastating vibro-fields.
Meanwhile, Pepper and Victoria have gotten the others to safety. While they wait for the battle to end Pepper learns how Victoria’s company was facing bankruptcy when the Lunatic Legion approached her to buy one of her new experimental energy generators. She went into a deal with them to save her company but learned later that they intended to use the technology she was providing to doom the Earth. Pepper decides that Iron Man needs to hear about this and calls him on her cell phone to tell Tony what she’s learned.
Back at the scene of the battle, Iron Man destroys the Sentry, prompting the Lunatic Legion to flee. Carol wants to go after them, but Tony realizes that the vibro-field was the only thing keeping the building together and it is now about to collapse, putting lives at risk. Tony swoops in and rescues everyone without Carol’s help. With the battle over, Tony remains behind as the authorities arrive on the scene and start cleaning up the mess.[18] In the aftermath, Victoria Snow is arrested by the authorities on the charge of treason for unauthorized business with a foreign nationalist. Tony is surprised by the outcome of the day. He came to Victoria to solve one mystery only to find another and now that he has lost one friend he hopes he doesn’t lose another.
… This story continues in Captain America (vol. 3) #8.
Recurring Characters
Iron Man, Warbird, Lunatic Legion (Kona Lor, Talla Ron, Galen Kor, Dylon Cir, Bron Char), Supreme Intelligence, Happy Hogan, Pepper Potts, Marie Danvers, Victoria Snow
Continuity Notes
This happened when the Inhumans city of Attilan was removed from the moon and returned to Earth’s surface during the Atlantis Rising event. See Namor the Sub-Mariner #60-61, Fantastic Four: Atlantis Rising #1-2, Warlock and the Infinity Watch #41-42, Fantastic Force #8-9, and Fantastic Four #401-402. This will remain the status quo until the Inhumans return to the moon between Fantastic Four (vol. 3) #54 and 68.
Lots of Kree related happenings are dropped here in the opening exposition. Here are the details:
The abandoned city on the Blue Area of the Moon is identified as a long abandoned Kree settlement. Millions of years earlier, the Skrulls came to the planet Hala to share their technology with the dominant race of the planet. Discovering that the mammalian Kree shared their world with the plant based Cotati, the Skrulls decided that there would be a test to determine who was the superior race. Taken to the moon and given resources to build a city, the Kree constructed this massive city. The Cotati on the other hand created a forest on the moon. The Kree later slaughtered both the Skrulls and the Cotati and stole the technology and left their city abandoned. See Avengers #133.
More recently, the Kree Empire was devastated in a war against the Shi’ar and who absorbed the Kree worlds into their own federation. The Avengers got caught in the middle of all of this and were unable to stop a nega-bomb from being detonated in Kree space. Learning that the Supreme Intelligence manipulated events for this very outcome to jumpstart the Kree’s stagnant evolution, a group of the Earth heroes seemingly assassinated the Intelligence for his war crimes. Nobody suspected that the Supreme One was able to transmit his mind to safety. See Captain America #398, Avengers West Coast #80, Quasar #32, Wonder Man (vol. 2) #7, Avengers #345, Iron Man #278, Thor #445, Captain America #399, Avengers West Coast #81, Quasar #33, Wonder Man (vol. 2) #8, Avengers #346, Iron Man #279, Thor #446, Captain America #400, Avengers West Coast #82, Quasar #34, Wonder Man (vol. 2) #9, Avengers #347, Captain America #401, Quasar #35.
Unaware of the Supreme Intelligence’s machinations nor that he survived, Galen Kor blamed the Avengers for what happened and has previously targeted the Earth on a few occasions, notably in Avengers #364-366 and 378-379. Here he names his group the Lunatics Legion, after a group of Kree insurgents who went by the same name in Captain Marvel #37-38 and 41.
It has only been recently discovered that the Supreme Intelligence was still alive and hiding out on Earth, as seen in Imperial Guard #1-3. This story marks his transition from his hideout in New York’s sewers to the Blue Area of the Moon.
This is as good a time as any to point out that Carol’s mother, Marie Danvers is secretly a member of the Kree race. This will remain a secret though until many years later as we’ll see in the Life of Captain Marvel (vol. 2) #1-5.
Carol, as Warbird, joined up with the Avengers in Avengers (vol. 3) #4. However, her waning cosmic powers and alcohol abuse started making her a liability to the team. Annoyed by Captain America’s being critical of her, Carol rage quit the team in Avengers (vol. 3) #6.
Carl started working for NASA in Marvel Super-Heroes #13, the same issue where she met Captain Marvel.
The psyche-magnatron explosion occurred in Captain Marvel #18, however her powers would not manifest until Ms. Marvel #1. At the time of this story, Carol was under the impression that the explosion caused her and Mar-Vell’s DNA to intermingle, making her a Kree/human hybrid. It’s later revealed that this is not the case. In reality, the energies from the psyche-magnatron actually activated the latent Kree DNA in her body passed on to her by her mother. This will be revealed to her years later in Life of Captain Marvel (vol. 2) #5.
Carol ended up joining the Avengers in Avengers #183.
Marcus Immortus was the son of Immortus and was trapped in Limbo as he was born there. He then hatched a scheme where he kidnapped Carol, impregned her with himself and sent her back to Earth with no memory of what happened. She suddenly underwent a rapid pregnancy and gave birth to Marcus who rapidly grew up into a man. He explained himself and the Avengers did nothing when he coaxed Carol into going back to Limbo with him. All this cringe played out in Avengers #199-200.
Carol retuned to Earth after Marcus suddenly died. She was then attacked by the Brotherhood and Rogue. She was then taken into the care of the X-Men where Prof. X restored her lost memories. This story was played out in Marvel Super-Heroes (vol. 2) #11 and Avengers Annual #10.
Carol was with the X-Men when they were kidnapped by the Brood and this led to the experiments that turned her into Binary. See X-Men #163-166.
Carol’s powers started going wonky in Starblast #4 prompting her to team up with the X-Men to fix them in X-Men Unlimited #13.
Tony has had a long history of alcohol abuse and has gone through two particularly damaging benders as seen in Iron Man #120-128 and 167-182.
Tony encountered the new Firebrand and learned his origins back in Iron Man (vol. 3) #4-5.
Happy and Pepper had been married since Tales of Suspense #91. The pair had a rocky relationship that eventually ended in divorce as we learned in Iron Man (vol. 3) #4.
Victoria Snow wasn’t pulled out of nowhere, but this story doesn’t reference when he first saw her. Don’t worry, I have you covered, she first appeared back in Iron Man #62.
Tony has been investigating the Arms Dealer’s mystery client since Iron Man (vol. 3) #2. It’s the Mandarin. It’s always the Mandarin. See Iron Man (vol. 3) #9-10.
The Kree are trying to find a way to use the Terrigen Mists to turn humans into slave warriors to overthrow the Shi’ar empire. See Captain America (vol. 3) #8 and Quicksilver #10 for all the horrifying details.
Here, a news reporter mentions how Captain America just recently stopped another alien threat. This was one posed by the Skrulls who were using Cap’s new found celebrity to create mass panic with false claims of an alien invasion. See Captain America (vol. 3) #6-7.
Topical References
The beer Carol is drinking is Budweiser (yuck). This should be considered topical because Bud is a real-world product.
Pepper is depicted as having a cell phone that has an antenna to pick up signals. This should be considered topical as this is an obsolete technology.
The two detectives that arrest Victoria Snow are depicted as Andy Sipowicz and Bobby Simone. These were two characters on the procedural drama NYPD Blue which ran from 1993 to 2005. The characters were played by actors Dennis Franz and Jimmy Smits respectively. Their appearances here are to pay homage to the TV show which was at the height of its popularity when this comic was published in 1998. Their appearances here should be considered topical.
