Ms. Marvel Annual #1
Scavangers
Peter Parker is running late for dinner with his beloved Aunt May. In a hurry, he takes to the rooftops and quickly changes into Spider-Man so he can web-sling across the city and make up for lost time. Down below, he swings past what seems to be an ordinary New York fender-bender. As the two men argue over whose fault it is a third man approaches and places a strange cube on the hood of one of the smashed vehicles. The owner quickly snatches it off and is surprises when the cube starts taking a liquid form and stretched in his hands. Spider-Man is unaware of all of this because he is too busy lost in his own thoughts. That is until his web line is snagged by Ms. Marvel (aka Carol Danvers)!
Ms. Marvel is attempting to arrest the web-slinger for being an unregistered superhero.[1] Having no time for this, Spidey tries to shake her off with a sucker punch but she manages to catch up to him over a nearby construction site.[2] Spider-Man tries to remind Carol that he is a member of the New Avengers, but since they are also outlaws, this does little to dissuade her from trying to arrest him.[3] They stop fighting when they hear a massive explosion on the street. Something has transformed every day machines into deadly robots. The pair trade quips until the machines are all destroyed.[4] With the immediate battle over they wonder who was responsible for this attack and why. That’s when they notice that the machines are starting to repair themselves. Spider-Man’s scientific background makes him realize that the robots aren’t just rebuilding themselves, but creating more. Sifting through one of the wrecked machines, he comes across an active car radio set to 88.8 on the FM frequency and tells Carol to smash some more robots and see if she can find the same thing.
This is all being observed by the man who created these robots — which he calls SCAVENGERS — from his hideout. The man, Stuart by name, is interrupted by someone saying they are all out of peanut butter. Stuart is angered by this but tells the person interrupting him that he is busy doing his job.
Meanwhile, Ms. Marvel is able to find another radio tuned to the same frequency. That’s when the robots start actively attacking them. Quickly, Carol uses her SHIELD communicator to have the spy agency triangulate the source of the radio signal. That’s when the SCAVANGERS merge into one massive robot. When SHIELD comes back with the address of the signal, Carol sends Spider-Man to deal with that while she keeps the robot busy.
When Spider-Man arrives at the apartment on Broadway, he is confused that it is home to a group of identical men all calling themselves Stuart Cavenger. They explain that they all represent segments of Stuart Prime’s personalities and that their creator uploaded his mind onto the internet. After communicating with their creator, the Stuarts tell Spider-Man that he wishes to stop the carnage outside and has instructed them to bring them to the Stuart of Destruction, the one responsible. When Spider-Man confronts this Stuart of Destruction, he explains that the real Cavenger downloaded his mind onto the internet so he could amass the sum total of human knowledge. This in turn led to the creation of the Search Catalog and Assess Viability of Engineering New Generation Electronic Robots, or SCAVENGER for short.[5] The mission is to create a viable rocket to take Stuart Cavenger to the stars.
That’s when the giant robot smashes Ms. Marvel through the wall. This leads to an argument among the Stuarts as they try to figure out how to stop this rampage. It’s ultimately deduced that the FM broadcast is coming from Stuart of Destruction’s mind. Spider-Man then rips his head off and finds the off switch. While the robot topples to the ground, the web-slinger suggests that Ms. Marvel head back outside to make sure nobody was injured. Once she is gone, the rest of the Stuarts upload themselves back up to the internet, leaving their android bodies lifeless shells. When Carol finally comes back, Spider-Man has taken off and left her a message with the disembodied head of the remaining Stuart: That he’s going to tell Wolverine that he got to second base with her. Carol furiously flies off with the head screaming a threat to Spider-Man that she will kill him if he says anything like that to Wolverine. Spider-Man, having changed back into Peter Parker has a huge smirk on his face as she flies off.
Recurring Characters
Ms. Marvel, Spider-Man, SHIELD
Continuity Notes
This story takes place following the events of Civil War #1-7, which saw the passage of the Super Human Registration Act. It requires superheroes to register with the government. While Spider-Man originally supported the new law, as seen in Civil War #2, he later changed sides in issue #5 after the the war killed Goliath (Bill Foster). This law will remain in the books until Siege #4.
Spider-Man quips that Carol is a member of the “crazy” Avengers. He is referring to the team formed by Tony Stark post-Civil War in Mighty Avengers #1. Here, he also jokes about fighting villains in frog costumes. He is referring to Leap-Frog, aka Eugene Patilio, whom Spidey first encountered in Marvel Team-Up #121. However, Leapy wasn’t much of a villain as he was a misguided wanna-be hero. But I think we can assume that Peter is being hyperbolic here.
Spider-Man first joined the New Avengers in New Avengers #1-5. The majority of the team were against the SHRA and have become outlaws ever since. See New Avengers #21-25.
Spider-Man uses this as an excuse to make his “power and responsibility” speech. You know the one.
When hearing what SCAVENGER stands for, Spider-Man jokes about how SHIELD changes their acronym every week. Indeed SHIELD has had a few names over the years:
The organization has ties to the ancient group known as the Brotherhood of the Shield, as per S.H.I.E.L.D. #1-6. However, as of this writing (May, 2024) this connection has yet to be fully explained.
When they first appeared in Strange Tales #135, the organization was known as the Supreme Headquarters, International Espionage, Law-enforcement Division.
Later, in Nick Fury vs. SHIELD #6, the organization was renamed the Strategic Hazard Intervention, Espionage and Logistics Directorate as it became part of the United Nations.
Lastly, they have been calling themselves Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division starting in Secret War #1.
Topical References
The cell phones in this story are depicted as “flip” and “slide” models of phones. One phone had physical buttons and folded in half when not in use. The other had a physical dialing pad and a small screen. This portion could then slide up to reveal a small keyboard for typing text messages. These were common when this comic was originally published in 2008. However, they have fallen out of common use due to the advent of smart phones and as such, their depiction here should be considered topical.
Spider-Man mockingly refers to Carol as Gloria Steinem. Steinem is a political activist who was the leader of second-wave feminism. You could argue that this is a topical reference given that Steinem is like, 90 when I write this. You could replace this with a more contemporary reference and the joke would still work.
Peter jokes that Ms. Marvel has OnStar. OnStar is a built in driver’s assistant on General Motors brand vehicles. It provides a subscription service that offers road-side assistance, navigation, and hands free cellphone services that are built into these vehicles. The technology was at its height when this comic was published in 2008, but the use of smart phones for these functions have made it a less in demand service since people can just plug their phones into their car’s entertainment system and do the same thing. The reference here should be considered topical as this is a real world brand.
Carol refers to the giant robot as “Mechagodzilla”, Mechagodzilla was an antagonist in the Godzilla franchise of films, first appearing in Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla in 1974. You could consider this a topical reference although Godzilla does exist in the Marvel Universe so YMMV.
