Something Dark is Coming

After learning the Doomsday Man is active again, Ms. Marvel (Carol Danvers) raced to face her old foe. She left her trainee Araña (Añya Corazon) outside to call for help. As she waits outside, she gets a call for Carol from Wonder Man (Simon Williams) and tells him what’s going on. He tells her to stay put and that he is on his way.

Inside, Ms. Marvel has learned that the Doomsday Man robot’s human host, Kerwin Korman, has taken full control and wants to kill her for all his past defeats. To do so, he has unleashed an army of genetical modified soldiers known as the Torgoths to attack her.[1] Between fighting the dozen or so Targoths and the Doomsday Man, Carol learns that this breed are infected with a highly communicable plague and she has already been infected upon contact. As the infection quickly spreads up her arm, Korman boasts that this is his ultimate revenge after all the years he has spent trapped inside the Doomsday Man robot and tested on by AIM, things that he blames Carol for happening.[2] Ms. Marvel takes a heavy blow and feels one of her ribs snap, making it hard for her to breath.

Outside, Araña spots an AIM operative fleeing for his life from one of the Targots. As she forms her spider carapace to form over her body, she swings down to save him. Unfortunately, she is too late and the AIM scientist is infected and transformed into a Targoth himself. She soon finds herself surrounded by the infectious creatures. Despite the risk of infection, Añya fights to take down these zombie-like creatures before they can get loose and infect the rest of the city.

Meanwhile, Carol gets flashes of memories like the one she recently had in a dream. She is in a dark room looking at a blinding light while some alien voices are working on her body.[3] It still makes no sense but after they insist that she will heal, Carol snaps out of it and discovers that her body has fought off the infection and healed her broken rib. She then goes looking for the Doomsday Man.

The man/machine lunatic is in another lab going over other weapons of mass destruction. Here he is confronted by Araña who had just finished off the last of the Targoths. When Carol arrives she tries to tell Añya to get to safety. Tragically, this warning comes too late as the Doomsday Man teleports Araña into his range and rips the carapace from her flesh. The pain is so excruciating that Añya blacks out. Enraged by this, Carol slams into Doomsday Man, knocking him out of the warehouse. She decides that perhaps she should end his life since killing is all Korman ever does. When she rips what’s left of the man out of his robotic shell she discovers that his interface with the Doomsday Man robot has left him a hollow shell of a man. Finally freed from his prison, Korman thanks Carol before passing out.

Later, as emergency crews come to contain the area, Wonder Man tells Carol that they were able to stabilize Kerwin and he is expected to live.[4] Back at her apartment, Simon asks about the AIM scientist who tipped her off to the Doomsday Man. For a moment, Carol thinks Simon found out she was on a date before realizing what who he was really talking about and admits that she doesn’t know.[5] At that moment the agent in question, Sean Madigan, bargains his life over his failure to control the Doomsday Man. While intentionally releasing the robot, he was able to gain access to Advance Idea Mechanics’ most secret data and has located their leader, MODOK. Since the scientists are attempting to be rid of the mad cyborg, Madigan offers to give up his location if they meet his price.[6]

At the same time, Carol’s publicist Sarah Day is paging through a book covered with strange symbols. She is interrupted by her assistant who has just learned the man Carol was out on a date with that evening. When she hears the name William Wagner, Sarah knows something very interesting about him and decides that they’ll have to deal with him sooner rather than later.[7]

Later still, Carol goes to Bellevue Hospital to check to see how Añya is doing. She is still in a coma and when her father — Gilberto — sees her, he tells Carol to get out of her sight. He doesn’t want to see her around anymore after breaking her promise that no harm would come to her daughter.[8] Carol leaves the room without protest and sits outside where she breaks down into tears.

Recurring Characters

Ms. Marvel, Araña, Doomsday Man/Kerwin Korman, AIM (Sean Madigan), Targoths, Wonder Man, Sarah Day, Gilberto Corazon

Continuity Notes

1. In her internal monologue, Carol mentions how the Targoths were used as soldiers used by the Slorenean government. See War Machine #14.

2. For more on how Kerwin got fused to the Doomsday Man see Ms. Marvel #1-4, Iron Man (vol. 3) #15-17 and last issue.

3. Carol first started having these weird dreams in Ms. Marvel (vol. 2) #6. This is a hint that she has been linked to the alien warrior known as Cru during their battle in issues #1-3. She won’t learn the truth until Ms. Marvel (vol. 2) #21.

4. As this is the last appearance of the Doomsday Man/Kerwin Korman to date (in May, 2024), his ultimate fate has yet to be revealed.

5. The man she went on a date with was William Wagner, as seen last issue. The two met when Carol accidentally trashed his restaurant while fighting her a variant of herself in Ms. Marvel (vol. 2) #9.

6. Around the time of this story, MODOK was working behind the scenes with the Intelligencia a group of evil super geniuses who were attempting to create their own Hulk to take over the world. See Fall of the Hulks: Alpha #1, Hulk (vol. 2) #23 and 40 to learn about what he was up to. He’ll turn up again in Ms. Marvel (vol. 2) #14.

7. What the deal is with Sarah Day’s book of strange symbols is unexplained as of this writing (May, 2024). In Ms. Marvel (vol. 2) #16 we will learn that William is actually a Kree sleeper agent. His whole deal outside of that is also never fully explained.

8. Carol convinced Gilberto to allow his daughter to register under the Super Human Registration Act in Ms. Marvel (vol. 2) #7. At the time, she assured Gilberta that she would train Añya directly and keep her safe from harm. Añya will pull through as we’ll see next issue. To date, she not longer has the ability to summon a spider carapace for protection.

Topical References

• Carol’s cell phone is depicted as a “flip” style phone that were popular when this comic was published in 2007. These have since fallen out of common use due to the advent of the smart phone. As such, its depiction here should be considered topical.