Carol Danvers a Strong-Minded Woman: Ms. Marvel #7 – July, 1977, Short Mentioning: Captain Marvel #5
Ms. Marvel #7: "Nightmare!"
This issue may be all about Ms. Marvel, but it is Carol Danvers who ends up looking more impressive by the end of the issue after they both face the threat of A.I.M. and MODOK.
This issue goes back in time and shows us Ms. Marvel a few moments before the tower collapsed on her. She is aware that it is about collapse on her as she previously predicated, but she cannot save herself. At the last moment, she finds a pit and throws herself in it. She falls and falls and then MODOK welcomes her. We know that he has been watching her in Ms. Marvel #5 and now they finely meet as he captures her.
Ms. Marvel finds herself a prisoner. She is unmasked, which is bad, because her costume gives her powers and now she can be recognized as Carol Danvers, with a different hair style. At first, she panics but then she calms herself and questions MODOK. He informs her that he intends to use her to take control of A.I.M and the world. At last a villain with larger plans worthy of our heroine. Also, her response is realistic, at first she’s surprised and panicky, but she quickly gets a hold of herself.
MODOK has discovered that most of Ms. Marvel’s powers come from her suit. He intends to replicate the suit and create an army of Ms. Marvel’s, but for now he is letting one woman try it out. But, the costume doesn’t work as it short circuited during her battle with Grotesk in the previous issue.
So MODOK moves on to the plan B, brainwashing Ms. Marvel into becoming his loyal servant. The moment that he releases her from her restraints, after believing she is brainwashed, she starts fighting and defeating all of his workers.
Ms. Marvel goes after MODOK, but when he tells her to stop, she does. The brainwashing worked, she now believes MODOK is her master. But as you can see there is another woman, Carol Danvers, in the back that is outraged by this declaration.
To test the conditioning, MODOK asks Ms. Marvel to kill the woman who is wearing the Ms. Marvel suit, agent M17, with her bare hands. While Ms. Marvel is chocking M17, Carol Danvers fights for control, but fails.
Under this double strain, from both Carol and her conditioning, she goes into memory lane, or crazyville if you prefer. She remembers fighting as a Kree, that memory probably belongs to Mar-Vell. Then she remembers fighting with Salia Petrie at the gym as Carol Danvers.
Then we see a panel which states that Ms. Marvel only has memories of battles, but Carol has memories of friends, beautiful memories. I don’t see how it is relevant, but that is the reason the issue gives for Ms. Marvel breaking free from MODOK’s control. Somehow Carol’s memories are essential.
Ms. Marvel wants her costume back. If she’s going to die, she wants to die as herself. She takes M17 and flies away with her. She also calls her sister, I guess sister in the sense that all women are sisters. Up until now it was established that Ms. Marvel’s flying alibies were because of her suit. Now she believes that the exposure to the second Psyche-Magnitron explosion transferred the powers from the suit to her body. Meaning that our favorite heroine, just got stronger and the suit is nothing special. Which is excellent.
While she’s having this realization, she is also fighting against a lot of A.I.M. warriors. Then MODOK joins the fight with his special beam. We find out that his name means: Mobile Organism Designed Only for Killing. While he is shooting at her, he is also leading her into a trap. But his trap is just a lot more men so she takes them out easily enough. However, while she is fighting them, MODOK shoots her with a beam again. She realizes that they want to capture her alive so they can brainwash her again. She also realizes that the brainwashing didn’t work because they are two of them, she realizes that she and Carol are truly two separate people.
Ms. Marvel is not a woman of illogical pride and decides that her best chance of survival is to escape through a hole in the wall which MODOK’s beam created. MODOK tells everyone not to follow her as he needs to keep this base a secret. She runs into more A.I.M. men, but these do not belong to MODOK. She finds the exist which leads into a department store. There, Ms. Marvel does the logical thing and turns back into Carol Danvers who simply blends in with the crowd of women doing their shopping. As a fight in a department store would probably lead to a lot of innocent bystanders getting hurt. Carol blends in perfectly and even buys a few things at the store before walking out.
The issue ends with Carol Danvers wanting to take down A.I.M herself. Because being a hero is not just for superheroines like Ms. Marvel, it’s also for women like Carol Danvers who have the means to expose the wrongs of this world. You can look at it as a reminder that journalists and writers have the power to become heroes by exposing the corruption in our world. Also, a villain base inside a department store can be seen as a punch at capitalist America. This finale panel has a lot of impact and says a lot.
I’d also like to mention that Carol Danvers is referred to in Captain Marvel #51, July 1977. Too brief of a mention for its own post. However, it probably occurs after Carol is back in the office after the events of this issue. We see J. Jonah Jameson telling Robertson to call in Carol Danvers in for their editorial conference while he opens a window. We he opens it, Captain Marvel, while flying, bumps into his head, and injures Jameson slightly. Then Jameson tells Robertson to forget about it and hurry about an expose about Captain Marvel for the Bugle. No one can escape Jameson claws. It’s a small mention, but funny.
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