Ms. Marvel (vol. 2) #20
Puppets, Part 3
Ms. Marvel (Carol Danvers) and Operation: Lightning Storm are investigating why Chilean soldiers have been kidnapping female superhumans. This has led them to the town of Puerto Maravilla where Carol is kidnapped by the Puppet Master (Phillip Masters). Trying to enslave her with his clay puppets, Carol is able to break free thanks to the alien entity that has been overriding her body and keeping her alive.[1]
Seeing that his control isn’t working, the Puppet Master panics and runs for it. Carol follows after him, discovering that Masters has enslaved countless women and has been keeping them in his mansion. Phillip manages to reach the puppet he uses to control Stature (Cassie Lang) and uses her giant size to battle Ms. Marvel.
Outside, the other members of Operation: Lightning Storm — SHIELD Agent Dave Sum, Machine Man (Aaron Stack),[2] and Sleepwalker — have arrived and are engaging the soldiers stationed outside. As Ms. Marvel knocks out Stature, other enslaved women — Tigra, Silverclaw, and Araña — arrive on the scene to help their captor. In the middle of the fight, Sleepwalker suddenly disappears because his human host — Rick Sheridan — is awoken after being taken aboard the Lightning Storm mini-carrier for medical attention. Luckily, Ms. Marvel arrives and knocks out both Tigra and Silverclaw out.
This leaves Araña, whom the Puppet Master orders to kill her form mentor. However, Añya has come to view Carol as a mother figure and her unwillingness to kill her breaks the spell that Masters has over him.[3] Carol, furious that the Puppet Master has been enslaving women, orders everyone to evacuate while she deals with him. She goes inside his ruined mansion and smashes all the clay puppets, freeing his slaves before hunting him down. She finds him in his study where he has rigged up an nuclear explosion. It was his insurance policy for whoever ended up coming after him so he can destroy them in a blaze of glory. Carol, disgusted that Phillip did this all for his own twisted amusement doesn’t stop him from hitting the detonator. This is because her newfound healing powers would ensure that she survived the blast. Walking out of the explosion unscathed, she doesn’t feel the least bit bad about allowing the Puppet Master to kill himself.[4]
After SHIELD comes to clean everything up, Ms. Marvel contacts the Beast (Hank McCoy) to see if he has gotten any clue as to why she keeps turning blue and has a powerful healing factor. McCoy has been examining his scans of Carol’s body and has determined that it is actually some kind of transmission that is coming from low orbit. Whatever it is, its been getting stronger all day. That’s when something falls from space and crashes into the mini-carrier. The attack is by the alien warrior known as Cru, and seeing it suddenly makes everything make sense!
Recurring Characters
Ms. Marvel, Operation: Lightning Storm (Agent Dave Sum, Machine Man, Sleepwalker/Rick Sheridan), Puppet Master, Araña, Tigra, Silverclaw, Dusk, Stature, Beast, Cru
Continuity Notes
This is the result of Ms. Marvel being linked to the alien warrior known as Cru during their battle in Ms. Marvel (vol. 2) #1-3. This will all be explained next issue.
According to Marvel Comics #1001, this is not the real Machine Man but an impostor who took his place between X-51 #12 and Nextwave #1. As of this writing (May, 2024) the purpose of this charade has yet to be explained.
As explained in Araña: Heart of the Spider #1, Añya’s mother died when she was very young through unexplained circumstances (time of this writing). Since then, she was mentored by Carol Danvers between Ms. Marvel (vol. 2) #7-12.
The Puppet Master somehow survived this explosion and he will turn up alive again — sans explanation — in Fin Fang Four Return #1.
Topical References
Carol’s cell phone is depicted as having physical buttons and an antenna. These types of phones were common when this story was published in 2007. However, they have since fallen out of popular use due to the advent of smart phones. As such, its depiction here should be considered topical.
