The Death of Ms. Marvel, Part 2

Note: This story features a number of flashbacks that are interspersed between the main story (particularly the one involving Norman Osborn) I have summarized these flashbacks in full in order to maintain clarity.

Paris, France, Years Ago…[1]

During her time working for Air Force Special Ops, Carol Danvers ended up in a romance with the man who recruited her, Michael Rossi.[2] After a night together, Carol decided to tell Michael that she loved him. When he didn’t answer right away, she began to panic, thinking that she had screwed up their relationship. Michael then told her that she did no such thing before kissing her.

New York City, Six Weeks Ago

The world had just been invaded by the Skrulls. Carol, as Ms. Marvel, fought hard against the invaders particularly since they killed her current boyfriend, William Wagner.[3] With the battle over, Carol suddenly felt agony as though it felt like her body was burning up from the inside. Suddenly, she has a vision where she is visited by the alien known as Cru. Cru reminds her of the warning she gave Carol after she had her powers restored, that she should be wary of the days ahead because what seems like a gift is actually a curse.[4] With energy pouring out of her, Carol tried to pull herself back together for the final battle in Central Park.[5]

When the battle was over, Carol retreated back to her apartment where she writhed in agony. That’s when a letter was slid under her door telling her that Ghazi Rashid was still alive, that Ascension was in play and asking her to meet at the grave of Michael Rossi.[6]

Shortly After the Skrull Invasion

Norman Osborn, having become America’s top cop due to his part in repelling the Skrull invasion has Ghazi Rashid captured for interrogation.[7] Sending a Life Model Decoy of himself to meet with Rashid. He tells him that he has found him and brought him here because he knows that Ghazi has been living in the dregs ever since Carol Danvers nearly killed him years earlier. He was also able to find what Rashid wanted all those years ago, Ascension, something that he is now offering in exchange for Rashid eliminating Danvers.[8] However, before Osborn gives him the formula itself, he wants to inject him with it so he can carry out the assassination of Ms. Marvel. Warning that this formula may kill him or drive him mad do little to discourage Ghazi from wanting to take the dose of Ascension.

Today

Carol, Rossi, and the Agent (Rick Mason) are on a mission to determine if Rashid has managed to use Ascension to give himself superpowers or not. Until they find him, they have to assume that he has. Their only lead on Ghazi is a human trafficker named Asif Kambhampati, who was suddenly killed in an explosion in Pakistan the day before. He is the most recent in seven criminal leaders in the region who were killed. They had all worked together in the past, making sure their various empires could sustain themselves. Reports say that Rashid is responsible for all the murders. This is why they are heading to Hong Kong, where the next criminal leader is located.

Once they are on the ground, the team tracks down Ghazi’s next target, Zhou Chao, who is the Vice President of the Victoria Banking Initiative. He is shopping in a street market with a Middle Eastern man. They not-so-subtly hand off a message before Zhou Chao is by himself. That’s when Rick, disguised as a tourist, bumps into Zhou and tells him that there is someone who wants to meet him. Zhou is then abducted off the street, and after putting a hood over his head and tying him up, they take him back to their hotel. When Chao wakes up, he is interrogated by Michael Rossi, who wants to know how they can get a face-to-face with Ghazi Rashid.

With her phony credentials, Carol attends a lavish party posing as a reporter named Catherine Donovan. While Rick and Michael set up observations and sniper roosts, Carol socializes with the other guests. She learns that Ghazi is going by the alias of Jonathan Brandon. Mason becomes nervous when Carol starts isolating Ghazi’s security detail to incapacitate them because this is supposed to be an intelligence gathering mission. When Carol then approaches Ghazi directly, Rick leaves his post to stop Carol from getting hurt.

When Carol comes face-to-face with Ghazi, she suddenly feels an emotion she should, in theory, no longer have and that is anger. Anger for the torture that Carol endured years earlier when she was his prisoner. This causes her powers to reactivate and she decides she likes how this anger feels.[9] However, Ghazi is able to withstand an energy blast thanks to the powers given to him by Ascension. That’s when Carol’s body suddenly seizes up allowing Rashid to kick her to the ground. Before he ends her life, Ghazi tells her that Osborn wasn’t his only benefactor. For years he was being helped by a CIA operative code named Vitamin, and he reveals that Vitamin has been Michael Rossi this entire time!

Recurring Characters

Ms. Marvel, the Agent, Michael Rossi, Ghazi Rashid, (in flashback) Skrulls, Norman Osborn

Continuity Notes

1. According to the Marvel Chronology Project, this flashback takes place prior to her appearance in Logan: Shadow Society #1, which is set during her early dies as an intelligence operative, and shortly after the flashbacks in Ms. Marvel (vol. 2) #32 and 33. Per my assessment of those issues, this flashback likely takes place about four years prior to the start of the Modern Age, making it as having happened roughly 16 years prior to the main story.

2. In her narration of events, Carol recounts that while she remembers this moment she no longer has the emotions surrounding them thanks to Rogue. This is because Rogue once absorbed all of Carol’s powers and memories. She regained them thanks to the work of Professor X, but she no longer had an emotional connection, as seen in Avengers Annual #10. A great example of Rogue struggling with the emotions associated with Carol’s memories was in Uncanny X-Men #182, when she encountered Michael Rossi herself.

3. Carol had been briefly dating Wagner after they first met in Ms. Marvel (vol. 2) #9. He was targeted by the Skrull invaders because he was apparently a Kree sleeper agent. He is also believed to be killed, but that has not been independently verified. This stands as the last reference to Wagner as of this writing (June, 2024). See Ms. Marvel (vol. 2) #28-30.

4. TL;DR version, Ms. Marvel and Cru (an alien warrior trying to wipe out the Brood) got lined after being caught in an explosion in Ms .Marvel (vol. 2) #1-3. The two later separated, but Cru warned her that this was a curse, as seen in Ms. Marvel (vol. 2) #22-24.

5. This final battle took place in Secret Invasion #8.

6. At the time, Carol had believed that Michael Rossi had died in a plane crash back in X-Men #96. Readers who were wise enough to read Classic X-Men #7 know that Rossi actually survived. Danvers didn’t find out he was still alive until Ms. Marvel (vol. 2) #33.

7. Carol first encountered Ghazi Rashid when she was still with the Air Force and she was captured behind enemy lines. He tortured her for days until she was able to slit his throat and escape. As seen in Ms. Marvel (vol. 2) #32.

8. Osborn killed the leader of the Skrull invasion in Secret Invasion #8, making him a hero and getting himself installed as America’s top cop. He has an axe to grind with Ms. Marvel, because she refused his offer to join his team of Avengers in Dark Avengers #1.

9. We saw a brief moment of this scene in Ms. Marvel (vol. 2) #30. Here, Carol states that she didn’t feel any emotion when her father died, that was in issue #31.

Topical References

• While discussing Hong Kong, Michael Rossi notes that it has become a hub for money laundering every since it returned to Chinese rule. This is reference to the fact that Britain had leased Hong Kong from China back in 1898 for 99 years. This lease ended in 1997, leading to the country returning to Chinese authority. That said, this would be a factual reference since Rossi is referring to this in a general sense and not as though it had happened recently.

• Zhou Chao is taken to a hotel that is identified as the Mandarin Oriental, which is a real world chain and as such their reference here should be considered topical.