Ms. Marvel (vol. 2) #1
Best of the Best
Deciding to be the best superhero she can be, Carol Danvers (aka Ms. Marvel) comes to the aid of police who are trying to stop the criminal known as Stilt-Man from robbing an armored car.[1] She trounces the villain, and saves some kids playing a nearby park when he tosses the truck he was trying to steal. When she later tells this story to her friend Jessica Drew (aka Spider-Woman),[2] she tries to get away with a corny line that Stilt-Man said upon his defeat. When Jessica calls her on her bullshit, Carol admits was that he actually didn’t recognize who she was. But she did get to vent her frustrations at being unrecognized by blasting Stilt-Man in the dick seven times.
Still, this was nothing compared to the blow to her ego she had after. Carl had arranged a meeting with Sarah Day, a successful publicist that represents half of Hollywood to get help boost her public profile. Day admits that she is a big fan and knows of Carol’s past employment in the Air Force, NASA, and until recently, the Department of Homeland Security, as well as the different names she went under over the years.[3] Sarah’s first order of business is to get Carol to start working on something she can promote — a book for example — otherwise trying to get her on late night television will be next to impossible.
When Jessica asks why Carol is doing this now, she explains how she feels as though she hasn’t been living up to her full potential and wants to change.[4] that. She wants to be a pro-active superhero by doing things like going on patrols and busting small time crooks. The only thing Jessica is worried about is that this is just another “Carol thing” that gets hyper-fixated on before moving onto the next thing. Danvers assures her friend that this is for real and that she’ll prove it.
That night, while on patrol, Carol sees a light streak across the sky. She calls Captain America (Steve Rogers) for advice on what to do. Unfortunately, Steve is on a SHIELD operation in South America fighting Hydra alongside Sharon Carter when she calls. Since he’d not around, Steve tells her to call Mister Fantastic (Reed Richards) of the Fantastic Four since they are the resident experts. However, before Carol can give Reed a call, she fumbles and drops her cell phone and loses it since she was flying at Mach 3 at the time.
Realizing she has to deal with this alone, Carol speeds after the strange light as it crash lands outside a waffle place in the Spaulding, Georgia. When she arrives, something from the craft blasts her, knocking Ms. Marvel out of the sky. As she recovers she hears people screaming for help and gets back to her feet. She is horrified to see that the alien invaders are none other than the Brood![5]
Recurring Characters
Ms. Marvel, Sarah Day, Captain America, “Spider-Woman”, Sharon Carter, Stilt-Man, Hydra, the Brood
Continuity Notes
As seen in Giant-Size Ms. Marvel #1, Carol caught a glimpse of wealth and success during the House of M reality warp (see House of M #1-8) and realized that she wasn’t living up to her full potential and decided to change that.
The woman who appears to be Jessica Drew here is actually a Skrull impostor named Vernake. This is ahead of a Skrull invasion of Earth, as seen in Secret Invasion #1-8. Per New Avengers #42, Veranke swapped places with the real Jessica Drew circa Giant-Size Spider-Woman #1.
We get a crash course on Carol Danver’s career, both in and out of costume:
Career wise, Carol’s time in the Air Force was first mentioned in Ms. Marvel #19, this was followed by a stint at NASA which is where we saw her during her first appearance in Marvel Super Heroes #13, she joined up with the Department of Homeland Security in Avengers (vol. 3) #69 (nice).
As a superhero, Carol became Ms. Marvel in Ms. Marvel #1, and officially joined the Avengers in Avengers #183 and remained with the group until issue #200. After losing her original powers to Rogue in Avengers Annual #10, Carol was experimented upon by the Brood in Uncanny X-Men #163, becoming the cosmically powered Binary in the following issue of that series. After some time in space, Carol returned to Earth where her powers faded back to normal and she rejoined the Avengers in Avengers (vol. 3) #4 under the name Warbird.
“Spider-Woman” says Carol doesn’t need to prove herself, citing the time she prevented the sun from exploding. “Jessica” is referring to the events of Quasar #34. At the time, the sun was being destabilized by a warp gate being used by both the Kree and the Shi’ar during Operation: Galactic Storm.
As I mentioned above, Carol has a history with the Brood. She was with the X-Men during their first encounter with the aliens and was nearly transformed into one of them as well. See Uncanny X-Men #162-167.
Topical References
Some of the magazine covers that Sarah Day has hanging in her office include issues of The New Yorker and Time. These should be considered topical references as these are real world publications.
Sarah specifically states how to get Carol on The Late Show with David Letterman, one of the biggest late night talk shows around the time this story was published in 2006. This should be considered topical as Letterman retired from the Late Show in 2015. She also references Where are they Now? which ran on VH1 from 1999-2002 and Entertainment Tonight which has been on the air since 1981. Both of these should be considered topical.
Carol says that after her meeting with Sarah Day she went back to her apartment and ate Ben & Jerry’s ice cream and watched old movies. B&J should be topical as that is a real world brand.
Carol’s cell phone is depicted as having physical buttons and a small display. These styles of phone was common at the time of publication but has fallen out of common use due to the advent of smart phones. As such its depiction here is topical.
