Carol Danvers is a Small Part of the Avengers: Avengers Vol 1 #193– March 1980
Avengers Vol 1 #193: "Battleground: Pittsburgh!"
Ms. Marvel continues to have a small and not vital role as part of the Avengers. Also, this issue clearly references Superman from some reason.
This issue is almost a direct continuation of the previous issue in which Wonder Man and Iron Man are facing a new enemy, Inferno. However, Inferno isn’t exactly an enemy, he is an innocent factory worker who was murdered while working. And then accidentally turned into a monster looking for revenge.
This burning man’s powers are more than just fire, so he is a very formidable enemy. He manages to defeat Wonder Man without a problem. But, it’s not Wonder Man or Iron Man that he is after, it is the people who killed him. The factory manager mainly, who is simply sitting in his office. The security man tries to shoot Inferno as he breaks through the wall, but bullets just go through him. Both the security person and the manager manage to escape the office alive. Inferno manages to trap the security man on the dock.
Then we switch to the Avengers. This issue literally and directly references Superman. Yes, the original lines are still older than this comic: “Look! Up in the sky! It’s a bird! It’s a plane!” No, it’s the Avengers flying in their Quinjet. It is literally is a plane. I don’t truly understand the meaning of the quote here. It is so identified with Superman, to imply that perhaps it means that the Avengers are as powerful or as popular as Superman, which I am not sure is correct in either case. They are probably not as powerful, but surly they are more interesting. Perhaps it is simply a nod of appreciation towards the competition, either way, the reference is so obvious that I just couldn’t ignore it.
Back on the dock, Inferno has the security man trapped. The security man recognizes that it is the worker who fell into the melted metal, because of the Uru chip that is inside the palm of his hand, which is probably responsible for his new life. Apparently, he was ordered to kill him, but now Inferno kills him, by forcing the security man who can’t swim into the water. But now Inferno already has his mind on his next target.
The Avengers arrive and find Inferno attacking a car, probably on his way to the manager’s car. Wonder Man and Iron Man also arrive, but this is all meaningless for Inferno.
Ms. Marvel, Vision and the Falcon go in for a combined attack, but Inferno defeats all of them together with an electric charge. Well, this time Ms. Marvel isn’t alone her defeat, and she’s not the first one to get defeated, so she has that going for her. The WASP manages to hit him with a bio-power sting, but then Inferno takes her out as well. The Avengers need a plan. In the meantime, Inferno has his own plan. In order to divert the attention of the Avengers he throws a trolley full of people down a cliff. All of the Avengers save the people from the burning, falling trolley. While the WASP who only cares about her makeup, lets Ms. Marvel go up close to the burning trolley to confirm that there are no more people inside. Well, at least this makes Ms. Marvel like a more responsible person next to the WASP.
Now it’s time to face Inferno.
We switch to the manager who apparently used the factory for cleaning dirty money and other illegal operations. The employee who turned into Inferno was suspicious and wanted to call the police, so he needed to be dealt with. But now Inferno has arrived. However, so do the Avengers. They heard the manager’s confession and plan on stopping Inferno and sending the manager to jail. But, in the end Inferno isn’t a bad person, he just wants justice, now that he knows he will have it, so he simply walks into the water to end his own existence.
I suddenly notice that I didn’t use the name Carol Danvers inside my posts in a while. That’s because for now she has no life under the mask, she’s simply an Avenger and that’s it. She’s not even an outstanding Avenger. She’s just a small part of the greater team and not particularly an impressive part of it.
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