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Carol Danvers – I told you so: Captain Marvel #3 – July, 1968


Captain Marvel #3

The Super-Skrull has kidnapped Captain Mar-Vell in order to investigate him more privately on his ship. The Super-Skull uses a Psycho-probe to download Mar-Vell's memories. When Mar-Vell loses consciousness, because of the pain the device causes, the Super-Skrull looks at Mar-Vell's memories. One particular memory which I will focus on is taken from Marvel-Super-Heroes #13

Carol Danvers Marvel-Super-Heroes #13 vs. Captain Marvel #3

The picture on the left is taken from Marvel-Super-Heroes #13 and the picture on the right is Mar-Vell's memory of the same conversation. As you can notice, there are a few differences between these two panels. Carol Danvers' clothes are different, no green pants, but a red skirt or a dress; this is probably just a technical error. The wording is also different; a few more words have been added to the memory. Suddenly Carol feels an "uneasiness" about Dr. Lawson, and Mar-Vell tells her that he will gain her trust. Also, her body language is different as she crosses her arms in the memory, a sign of tension or insecurity; she looks much calmer in Marvel-Super-Heroes #13. These differences are interesting, but can be explained easily by a technical error; the writers didn't do the comparison that we do. However, there is an alternative explanation: the human memory; and I guess that Kree memory works the same way that our does. Our memories are not a recording device, they doesn't remember things accurately. The different version of the event is what Dr. Lawson remembers and not necessarily what happened. It may be easier for Mar-Vell to remember Carol Danvers as more fearing and himself as more confident.

Captain Mar-Vell regains consciousness and manages to escape and flies back to his ship to shack off the Super-Skrull. The Super-Skrull takes the cylinder (suitcase) and takes on the shape of Dr. Lawson, as he can transform his appearance. He goes to the Cape, security doesn't let him in because he doesn't have a pass on him, but General Bridges arrives with Carol and he lets him in. The General tells the Super-Skull about the fighting between the Super-Skrull and Captain Marvel. The Super-Skrull asks Carol what's her theory and she tells him that she doesn't have one yet.

Carol Danvers talking to the Super-Skrull

She is determined to get to the bottom of this situation. Not only because she is the head of security, but as she states: "I take my heroes very seriously". Therefore, the fact that Captain Marvel was taken is not just a cause of concern, but also a chance to repay the debt.

The general asks Dr. Lawson to look at the Sentry, and the Super-Skrull asks for directions, which is odd because Dr. Lawson was there yesterday. Finally the General notices the oddness. This is the part where Carol gets to say I told you so, and tells the General she didn't trust Dr. Lawson from the beginning.

Captain Marvel catches up to the Super-Skrull and manages to defeat him with his wit. The issue ends with Captain Marvel's victory, he turns off the bomb in his cylinder and he find out that the suspecting night clerk from the previous issue is in a coma.

Just like in the previous issue, Carol's appearance here is mainly a cameo. We already know that Carol Danvers is right from the start about Dr. Lawson as he is a Kree imposter and the Super-Skrull just makes it clearer. Even though she's the head of security and it seems like she is respected and is part of the action, it seems that her opinion is still not valued as it should be.

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