At the Church of Hala, the worshipers are slaughtered by a man who looks like the long dead Captain Marvel. He only keeps the church leader, Nathan Jefferson, alive so they can have a talk about Carol Danvers, aka Ms. Marvel.[1]

Two days later, Carol Danvers finds herself back in Los Angeles to see Jefferson in the hospital.[2] Since she is still wanted and the place is crawling with HAMMER agents, Carol disguises herself as a doctor to try and get access to his room.[3] When the guards at Nathan’s room refuse to let her in without ID, Carol knocks them out. He tells her that someone pretending to be Mar-Vell had attacked him and that his church wasn’t the first target. He points her to his laptop which has a bunch of saved news stories about other branches of the Church of Hala that were attacked recently.

Carol promises to get to the bottom of it, then sends an email to the Essential asking to meet up with her somewhere that is neither Los Angeles or New York.[4] 36 hours later, Carol arrives at the meeting place: An abandoned warehouse in St. Louis. There, she is hit in the chest with an energy beam from an unknown attacker hiding in the shadows. When Ms. Marvel incapacitates the shooter, she is surprised to see that it is her friend the Agent (aka Rick Mason). Mason is surprised to see that Carol is alive again and reveals that he has been working jobs for the Essential since they last saw each other. He takes her into the next room where the Essential — now digitized on the internet — is waiting for them.[5] Its after everyone is reacquainted that Rick reveals how Carol’s former lover, Michael Rossi, had betrayed them to Norman Osborn on their last mission together. He apologizes for killing Rossi, but said he needed to avenge her demise at the time.[6] Carol understands and they move on to the business at hand.

Getting down to the matter at hand, the Essential has gone over the surveillance data of these “Captain Marvel” attacks and has determined that the attacker moves like a woman. This leads Carol to assume that they are dealing with the mutant shapeshifter known as Mystique (Raven Darkholme). The Essential notes that Mystique had gone quiet just prior to the Skrull invasion of Earth.[7] However, data shows that Mystique might be hiding out by disguising herself as a 65 year old man named Gordon Marks, who recently used funds taken from an numbered Latverian bank account to buy a remote property in Cobalt, Idaho.

17 hours later, Ms. Marvel is at that location and spots “Gordon Marks”, who tries to bolt on her. Carol quickly subdues “Marks” who tries to play dumb. When they realize that the jig is up offers to tell her about some lady. When Carol tells them to stop playing games, “Gordon Marks” sets off a massive explosion.

Recurring Characters

Ms. Marvel, the Agent, the Essential, “Captain Marvel”, Nathan Jefferson, HAMMER

Continuity Notes

1. The Church of Hala was a religious group formed around what they viewed as the resurrection of Captain Marvel, but the sitch was a lot more complicated than that:

   • See, years earlier, Mar-Vell had died of cancer, as seen in Marvel Graphic Novel #1.

   • More recently, Mar-Vell seemed to be pulled forward in time from a period prior to his death in Civil War: The Return #1.

   • That’s what led to the formation of the Church of Hala, however it was later revealed that this “Mar-Vell” was actually one of many Skrull infiltrators sent ahead of a planned invasion of Earth see Captain Marvel (vol. 6) #1-6. That said, inspired by Mar-Vell’s legent, this Skrull (named Khn’nr) sacrificed his life during the invasion in Secret Invasion #6.

2. Carol says she never intended to return to Los Angeles and doesn’t enjoy hospitals. These are two references to two traumatic episodes in her life:

   • She doesn’t want to return to Los Angeles because it was here she briefly lived a false life following her supposed death in Ms. Marvel (vol. 2) #37, as seen in issue #42-46.

   • Carol has had a traumatic experience in a hospital after her memories and powers were stolen from her by Rogue way back in Avengers Annual #10.

3. When Norman Osborn became America’s top cop following Secret Invasion #8, he offered Carol a position on his new team of Avengers. When she turned him down, he made it his goal to have her arrested. See Dark Avengers #1.

4. Carol previously encountered the Essential back in Ms. Marvel (vol. 2) #42. She is an immortal trapped in the body of a little girl who absorbs all data from everywhere making her a fountainhead of information.

5. When Carol met the Essential in issue #42, she gave her a means of escaping the CIA by uploading her essence onto the internet. This was done using technology created by inventor Stuart Cavenger. See Ms. Marvel Annual #1 for more about this tech.

6. Carol, Mason, and Rossi were on a mission to stop the terrorist named Ghazi Rashid, someone from their mutual past who had gotten his hands on a superpower giving formula called Ascention. It was later revealed that Rossi was responsible and was working with Norman Osborn who was trying to get revenge on Carol. See Ms. Marvel (vol. 2) #32-37 for that convoluted double-cross.

7. For someone who is supposed to have access to all the data in the world, the Essential has one hell of a blindspot. Mystique has been seen post-Secret Invasion, as she was recruited into Norman Osborn’s Dark X-Men, as seen in Dark X-Men: The Beginning #1.

Topical References

• When Carol tries to get into Jefferson’s hospital room with ID, one of the HAMMER guards quips that she is trying to use the “Jedi mind trick” on them. This is in reference to the Star Wars franchise, specifically the 1977 film Star Wars: A New Hope. In that film, a Jedi master named Obi-Wan Kenobi uses the power of the Force (read: Space Magic) to convince some Imperial Storm Troopers that the Droids in his party were not the ones they were looking for. He managed to convince them by waving his hand and saying “These aren’t the Droids you’re looking for”. This memorable scene has often been cited as the “Jedi Mind Trick”. Usually a reference like this would be considered topical, but since Disney now owns both Marvel and Star Wars, this is now an instance of brand synergy.