Ms. Marvel (vol. 2) #5
Time and Time Again
After her apartment was trashed, Carol has been put up in a fancy hotel overlooking Central Park by her agent.[1] She decides to take a bubble bath but is suddenly rudely surrounded by members of the media who want to know what happened in Georgia as well as her thoughts on the Super Human Registration Act (SHRA).[2] That’s when Stephen Strange begins talking to her through a cat in the room. She tells her that this is only a dream and that he needs her to wake up right now. Danvers wakes up and finds this same cat in her bed, but Strange is not talking to her through it.[3]
Changing into Ms. Marvel, Carol flies to Doctor Strange’s Sanctum Sanctorum. When she arrives a massive mystical blast shatters the skylight on the mansion. Although she doesn’t know what it will do to her, Carol tries her best to absorb all of the mystical energies in order to prevent anyone from being hurt. When it finally subsides, Ms. Marvel is horrified to see the city outside is in ruins. Inside, she is shocked to see the skeletal remains of Doctor Strange sitting in a chair. Warren Traveler is there but he assures her that this is just an alternate reality.[4] It is one where the Earth was decimated by a swarm of insectile alien invaders that ate every living thing on the planet in a matter of minutes before leaving behind a dead world. He figured that this was the best place for them to have a private chat.
Ms. Marvel isn’t interested and tries to attack Traveler, but he easily subdues her with the Wand of Watoomb which he stole from her reality’s Doctor Strange. However, he’s not mad at her for his last defeat at her hands. In fact, he wants to thank her because she inadvertedly opened up the concept of alternate realities to him. After learning that existing in another reality will slowly drive him mad, he can now hop from one world to the next and amass even more magical might. He then uses the powers of the Wand to send them back in time six years, to the moment when the alien swarm was just starting their destruction of Earth. Traveler intends to leave Carol there to die but Ms. Marvel manages to wrest the Wand of Watoomb from his hands. With the swarm quickly approaching Traveler has no choice but to cast a spell to send them back to Carol’s native reality and time to avoid being eaten alive himself.
When the arrive, Doctor Strange is back on his feet and tries to fight back against Traveler. However, the amount of magic is too much for him to handle. Since Ms. Marvel can absorb and re-channel forms of energy she suggest they use their powers in tandem to avoid a potential overload. Ultimately, the pair win out the battle and Warren Traveler flees the scene, but Strange is certain that he will be back. Although Carol dreads facing Warren again but they both look forward to team-up again in the future.[5]
Three Weeks Later
Carol’s apartment is finally repaired and she returns home with her newly adopted cat, who she has named Chewie. As she enters the lobby she gets a call from Tony Stark (aka Iron Man) who wants to know if Carol has heard from Captain America (Steve Rogers) recently because Tony needs to talk to him right away. Carol hasn’t and says she’ll let him know when she sees him next. As she ends the call and enters her apartment she finds Cap waiting for her as he needs to talk.[6]
Recurring Characters
Ms. Marvel, Warren Traveler, Doctor Strange, Chewie , Iron Man, Captain America
Continuity Notes
This was done by Warren Traveler last issue.
Carol intercepted a crashed Brood space ship and fought an alien warrior named Cru in Georgia. This led to an explosion that wiped out an entire town. See Ms. Marvel (vol. 2) #1-3. The SHRA is a proposed law that would require superhumans to register with the government. It will be passed into law in Civil War #3 and remain in effect until Siege #4.
This cat is a refugee from the House of M reality, when Carol threw it at Warren Traveler and interrupted one of his spells in Giant-Size Ms. Marvel #1. This caused them both to appear in the Prime Marvel Universe last issue. Carol kind of adopted the cat as a result.
Per Mystic Arcana: The Book of Marvel Magic #1, this parallel universe has been designated Reality-6095.
As of this writing (May, 2024), this is the last we have seen of Warren Traveler. The Wand of Watoomb, on the other hand, ends up in the hands of Victor Von Doom eventually as we’ll see in Invincible Iron Man (vol. 2) #2-3.
This final scene is a precursor to the superhuman civil war, which is over the SHRA. Iron Man and Captain America will find themselves on opposite sides of the conflict. The bulk of this tale is told in the pages of Civil War #1-7.
Topical References
The hotel that Carol is staying at is depicted as the Ritz-Carleton Hotel overlooking Central Park. It being referenced as the Ritz-Carleton should be considered topical as this is a real world hotel chain.