Carol Danvers and Her Status as An Avenger: Avengers Vol 1 #181 – March 1979
Avengers Vol 1 #181: "On the Matter of Heroes!"
This issue is barley a cameo of Ms. Marvel. We simply see her in the background of events.
The issue opens with Beast and Wonder Man watching a movie. Wonder Man doesn’t understand why people watch movies and try to escape reality and Beast gives him the academic explanation: “victorious self-actualization transferal.” Also, if you will look it up, you will see that there is no such term in real life. It actually becomes a very meta discussion in opinion. Wonder Man thinks that there is more to it, that it’s like he is living his life for the public. Which is true in a way, as he is simply a character. Beast says that in a way he is right. The public keeps the world going, but it may also find its life to be a bit dull. They need other people to add excitement to their lives, people who can do extra-ordinary things. It’s sort of a meta discussion about why we like superheroes in the first place. Wonder Man ends the discussion by saying that a regular life of tax forms and diapers sounds really good to him.
Beast and Wonder Man reach the Avengers Mansion where the intruder alert goes off. And from some reason, they are trapped by moving arms made out of metal. They free themselves fairly easily. Then, Wonder Man breaks into the mansion. Apparently, much to the annoyance of Tony Stark and Scott Lang (in his first comic book appearance as it seems), as these were part of a new security system they installed.
A government official, Mr. Gyrich (a node to Grinch perhaps), is also at the mansion. He is there to discuss the reinstatement of Avengers’ priority. The government took that from them a while back. Stark is happy about this as he’s been having a lot of bureaucracy problems lately.
Then we switch to an old Russian man getting out of a taxi in front of the Avengers mansion.
Back at Avengers mansion a government official lets the Avengers know that the main problem with the Avengers and the reason that they are considered a security risk is that there are too many of them. Apparently, they are under the national security council watch, but that watch can’t keep up with who’s coming and going and changes in the team. Looks like the Avengers are being watched closely by the government.
The official says that the Avengers will have to narrow down to seven core members. Others can come during emergencies, but only if they receive special security clearance for that occasion. Iron Man is not happy, but Captain America reminds him that they need the government priority. I guess this decision was made to make it easier for audiences to understand who is in the team. I mean, look at the upper picture, there are just too many characters to juggle between.
Apparently, the government decides on who will be in the roster of the Avengers based on “uniqueness, of abilities, established loyalties and applicable regulations.” Whatever that means. The roster that he announces is: Iron Man as the leader, Vision, Captain America, Scarlet Witch, Beast, WASP and Falcon. The last one causes an outrage as he is not even an Avenger. But the government wants one person of a minority group and Black Panther is not available, I guess he decided to leave. Iron Man makes the good point of mentioning that mutants and androids are also minorities and generally speaking so are superheroes. Quicksilver is extremely outraged, and then he mysteriously passes out.
Scarlet Witch wants to call a doctor, but Thor says he knows one that will get there faster. Himself, not that they know that. Iron Man thinks that too much has happened to Quicksilver lately, being kidnapped by the Collector and Moondragon changing his brain. However, the comics implies that it has something to do with the old man outside of the mansion.
There are some touching goodbyes as most of the Avengers have to leave the mansion.
Ms. Marvel doesn’t get a touching goodbye, she simply flies away along side Captain Marvel no less. But, we don’t see them talking to each other, or make any contact.
As Mr. Gyrich talks to the Avengers, Scarlet Witch passes out as well. Dr. Blake/Thor announces that Quicksilver is neither dead nor alive and now so is Scarlet Witch. A crazy situation. And at the end of the issue we see that the old man who stopped by the Avengers mansion has living miniature Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch trapped in enchanted cages.
Though the story in this issue is really interesting, especially how meta it is, Carol Danvers doesn’t have much to do in it. She simply leaves the Avengers as she is not chosen by the government. She doesn’t even get a goodbye panel, she’s just another background character. This just shows how unimportant she is for the Avengers comics. She just doesn’t fit there and is not appreciated there.
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