War of the Marvels, Chapter 4: Variations in Tactics

Life has gotten weird for reporter Catherine Donovan. After seeing both Ms. Marvels (Carol Danvers and Karla Sofen)[1] fighting on the news she has been struggling with intrusive thoughts trying to convince her that she is Carol Danvers.[2] Traveling to New York she went to Avengers Tower for answers and was attacked and apprehended by Norman Osborn’s Avengers. After discovering that Donovan’s proximity to Carol Danvers seemed to make her stronger, Karla Sofen has gone down to the infirmary to kill Catherine in the hopes of putting down Danvers as well.

However, Catherine suddenly finds that she is much faster than Sofen’s killing blow and manages to scramble out of bed and flee the room. Unfortunately, Catherine doesn’t get very far as Karla blasts her in the back. Sofen doesn’t know who or what Catherine Donovan is but she says she is no Ms. Marvel. That, at least, Catherine can agree with. That’s when the real Ms. Marvel — who just freed herself from captivity —- ambushes Karla from behind. The renewed brawl between the two women soon smashes its way outside where they scrap in the air.[3]

While the two women fight outside, Catherine Donovan decides to get away while she can. However, when she turns to leave she discovers that she is now surrounded by a team of HAMMER agents. Before they can start opening fire, Catherine uses her newfound speed and strength to beat up the soldiers. As she does so, the voice she heard before speaks to her and tells her that she needs to get away from Ms. Marvel, as their proximity to one another interferes with her fondest wish to be free of the life of Carol Danvers and Ms. Marvel.

Meanwhile, the battle of the Ms. Marvels rage on. The two titans soon crash into a nearby office building. When Karla mentions how her boss, Norman Osborn, is going to kill Catherine, this prompts Ms. Marvel to turn back toward Avengers Tower. Karla isn’t done with her yet, so in order to keep Carol fighting, she grabs some of the office workers and begins tossing them down to the streets below. This forces Danvers to turn around and save them.

Back inside, Catherine gets to an elevator and is still trying to make sense of how she got into this insanity. When the doors open, the Iron Patriot (Osborn himself) is waiting for her. Having overheard how she has been hearing voices in her head, he finds himself becoming more interesting with each passing moment. When she tries to shoot him with a gun she took off one of the soldiers, she discovers it has a failsafe that prevents it from being used against Norman. He quickly crushes the weapon and decides interesting makes Catherine Donovan a threat and repulsor blasts her in the face at point blank range, killing her instantly. As Osborn walks away he wonders how Karla is coming along.

That’s when the voices in Catherine’s head begin telepathically berating Osborn for ruining their work. As he turns to look at Donovan’s body, he is shocked to see that it is crumbling away in the form of glowing blocks. They decide to fix this situation by taking the essence of Catherine Donovan and sending it toward the two brawling women. However, rather than merging with Carol, the energy merges with Karla Sofen instead, briefly stunning her in the process. When Carol catches up and orders Karla to surrender, she gets up and tells Carol that she’s Catherine Donovan!

Recurring Characters

Ms. Marvel (Danvers & Sofen), Iron Patriot, Storytellers, HAMMER

Continuity Notes

1. At the time of this story, Karla Sofen usurped the Ms. Marvel name as part of Norman Osborn’s team of Avengers. See Dark Avengers #1. She has been battling Carol Danvers over the title since Ms. Marvel (vol. 2) #42.

2. In Ms. Marvel (vol. 2) #37, Carol was seemingly killed when her powers overloaded her body and she exploded. However, she was disbursed into various forms, most of whom were re-integrated in issue #42. Donovan apparently being the only one left separate from Carol.

3. Karla mentions how Carol ran during their last fight, that was in Ms. Marvel (vol. 2) #42, again.

Topical References

• Watching Karla and Carol fight, Catherine quips “I should have DVR’ed Surviving Disaster!” DVRs (or digital video recorders) were a relatively new thing when this comic was first published. While they are still used today, they aren’t as common due to streaming services making consumers less reliant on recording media on network television. Surviving Disaster was a short lived reality TV series that aired for a single season in 2009. Both of these references should be considered topical.