Ms. Marvel Special #1
Binary
At the New York Public Library, Rich and Gavin are looking for a good story to read. Rich wants his friend to read to him a sci-fi story based on Binary, a former identity once used by Carol Danvers (aka Ms. Marvel).[1] Gavin is reluctant to read another sci-fi tale, particularly one he already read but gives into Rich’s wishes. As Gavin reads a chapter from the middle of the book energy radiates from his mind and Rich goes into a trance-like state. This allows Rich to watch the events of the story play out as if they were really happening.
In the story, Binary had just left the Starjammers to enjoy some time alone in space. It is near Earth when she receives a telepathic call for help in an alien language. She follows it to the source and finds a massive alien being floating in the void of space, gravely wounded. Learning Carol’s language, the alien being told her its name is the Keeper and his race was around to witness the creation of life in the universe. He warns that this had a side effect of also creating the opposite of life, a dark cloud called the Swarm. His people took it as their duty to protect all life by keeping the Swarm contained. Unfortunately, over the millennia the Keepers began dying off until only twelve remained. This was not enough to keep the Swarm contained and it recently broke free, putting all life in the universe at risk.[2]
While the two had intended to do this in a quiet part of the library, a librarian happens by to return books to one of the nearby shelves. Overhearing Gavin’s voice, she too enters a trance like state. As Gavin gets deeper and deeper into the tale, his voice spreads across the city, putting more and more people into a trace.
Meanwhile, the real Carol Danvers (aka Ms. Marvel) and Simon Williams (Wonder Man) are sitting down for lunch. Simon is pleased to be spending so much time with her recently, a feeling that Carol shares.[3] Simon is about to ask something when there is suddenly a loud boom. When they look up in the sky, they see the alien Keeper from the Binary story floating in the sky above New York. As they get close, they can hear Gavin’s narration and Carol recognizes the alien and the prose as coming from the book she wrote about her time as Binary. As she tries to make sense of the situation, Simon also falls under Gavin’s trance. After lowering him safely to the ground, Ms. Marvel notices that the entire city is now being affected by whoever is reading this story. Everyone except for her and Carol realizes that the source of it all is coming from the library.
However, when she flies through the front door she suddenly finds herself in the middle of deep space. Gavin stops reading the story and is shocked to discover that Carol is invading his fantasy. That’s when he realizes that he can no longer see himself or his buddy Rich. Carol then watches in horror as the Swarm consumes an alien world before going after her. As Ms. Marvel speeds away from the all consuming Swarm, Gavin explains how his powers work. As they discuss the nature of his abilities, Carol deduces that Gavin can only imagine the facts and details of that are referenced in the book. This explains how she is still able to breath and speak in space because her novel never mentions how there is no air in space. She also figures that the reason why she is the only one unaffected by Gavin’s imagination is because she wrote the story to begin with. She then suggests Gavin think up something original to do away with the Swarm, but this is something Gavin hasn’t succeeded at before.
Since making something up of his own won’t work, Carol suggests that Gavin skip ahead to the part of the book where Binary destroyed the Swarm since that’s how the story ended. This is just as the Swarm begins enveloping her for consumption. When Gavin reads the climax of the story, Carol suddenly transforms back into her old Binary self and uses her cosmic powers to purge the Swarm from this imaginary universe. With the Swarm destroyed and the story over, reality snaps back to the way it was before. After checking everyone else out and making sure they are ok, Carol takes Gavin and Rich outside. Since Rich isn’t in any trouble he runs off, leaving Gavin to deal with this situation by himself.
That’s when a recovery unit from Advanced Idea Mechanics (AIM) shows up to re-capture Gavin. As it turns out, he is part of something called the Storyteller Protocols and they have come to bring him back. Gavin doesn’t like this part of the “story” and is suddenly able to change events so that the AIM soldiers are instantly in jail as though they were arrested. Carol is disturbed by how quickly Gavin went from making fiction seem real to altering reality itself. She finds it also very similar to how the Scarlet Witch recently changed all reality after going mad.[4] Gavin explains that he and a group of other kids were kidnapped and experimented on by AIM in their attempts to recreate the Scarlet Witch’s reality warping powers. Now that he is no longer in danger, Gavin thanks Carol for her help and then uses his powers to send her back to where she came from as if none of this happened.
Danvers finds herself back at lunch with Wonder Man, yet the two of them both remember what happened. Once Carol is assured that everything around her is all real she tells Simon that she might have helped or really screwed things up.[5]
Recurring Characters
Ms. Marvel, Storyteller, Wonder Man, AIM
Continuity Notes
After gaining cosmic level powers, Carol changed her name to Binary in Uncanny X-Men #164 a name she kept until those powers faded and changed her name to Warbird in Avengers (vol. 3) #4. She has gone back to calling herself Ms. Marvel since Giant-Size Ms. Marvel #1.
Per Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z #2, this story actually exists as a parallel universe. Per this source, it has been designated Reality-7192.
Carol and Simon have been working together since the passage of the Super Human Registration Act in Civil War #3. As registered superheroes they have been tasked with going after those who refuse to register with the government. See Ms. Marvel (vol. 2) #6-8.
The Scarlet Witch has recently used her hex powers to alter all of reality, briefly turning the world into one where mutants were the dominant species. Earth’s heroes, made to remember the proper order of things then forced her to change everything back. See House of M #1-8.
To find out more about Gavin and where he goes from here, see Ms. Marvel: Storyteller #1.
