Carol Danvers is a Good and Bad Friend: Avengers Vol 1 #194– April 1980
Avengers Vol 1 #194: "Interlude"
Ms. Marvel does have room in this issue, as a friend. A good to Captain America and a bad one to the WASP.
The issue opens with Wonder Man being reinstated as a full time Avenger. A quick reminder, the Senate gave the Avengers more freedom and they can now choose who will be on the team and how many people will be on the team, without losing their priority privilege. I guess now we can say that Ms. Marvel is no longer a temporary member. Wonder Man’s acting career didn’t really take off as the critics killed the play that he was in with their awful reviews. Ms. Marvel tries to be sympathetic, but somehow misses the mark.
Wonder Man hasn’t given up though. He landed a secretive part time job on TV which is more embarrassing than secretive as we later find out. The WASP is dying to know what it’s about and asks Vision to join the interrogation, but Vision is disinterested. Wanda’s departure has affected him more than he lets on.
Now that Wonder Man is officially back, Falcon officially resigns. He longer has to fill in a quota or be the token Avenger, because they have no other people of color. Which means now the Avengers have no people of color, but no tokens either. Falcon says it was occasionally fun, but he is not a group person, but a solo superhero. Plus, he feels that his presence has caused some tension with the Avengers. Captain America and I disagree with that, but they have mostly ignored him, so I guess it’s good for him that he is leaving. As Falcon leaves, Ms. Marvel notes that she will miss him. Which is odd as she almost had no personal contact with him. In fact, it seems that the person she talks to the most is the WASP, the only other female member of the team.
Also, Iron Man is now officially back with the Avengers.
Ms. Marvel goes outside and sees Captain America, brooding while cleaning his shield. They have a nice warm conversation. That mainly just flashes out his great character while revealing nothing about her, other than the fact that she’s a great listener. She notices that Captain America is sad, because Falcon, who is his friend, left. He has some thoughts about why Falcon didn’t fit in. Probably because most of the Avengers work great together, because they want to be Avengers and Falcon never did. Also, in an unusual display on humor, Captain America blocks a snowball that a kid throws at him from beyond the wall, with his shield. It’s a pretty great moment. It seems like there is some spark between them for a moment. That moment ends when Captain America says that they should get inside.
Tony Stark watches Captain America and Ms. Marvel from the window. He wonders that perhaps Captain America should stay as the Avengers chairman as he is doing a good job leading them and getting along with Ms. Marvel. Is that jealousy over Ms. Marvel or maybe he makes this remark simply because he sees them together? Because remarking about Ms. Marvel in this context doesn’t make a lot of sense. That’s clearly less important than the fact that Tony Stark is an alcoholic and he knows it. He has a lot of responsibilities that are very stressful and perhaps not being chairman of the Avengers will lighten the load a bit.
It also seems that Vision is going through a hard time and no one notices. He spends most of his time in the testing room, testing his own body and powers. Jocasta, other machine programed by Ultron with Janet Pym’s personality decides to join him. She feels lonely even though machines shouldn’t feel anything. Vision confesses that he feels empty without Wanda. He is not human, and he gives a demonstration of his unhuman power, and blames a malfunction in his circuits as the source of his feelings.
Then a crazy person wearing a hospital dress and a coat shows up at the Avengers mansion door. He literally passes out in the WASP’s hands.
We switch to Wonder Man and Beast playing Ping-Pong. Beast is winning. After his fifteenth win he decides that he has enough of winning he turns on the TV and accidently gets a glimpse into Wonder Man’s TV gig. As Mr. Muscle, dressed in a leopard skirt. It is pretty humiliating. But, the show is interrupted when Captain America takes over the TV, calling all of the Avengers to assemble in the med lab. Sparring Wonder Man from further humiliation.
All of the Avengers gather. Captain America explains that their new visitor just knows that someone is trying to kill him. Ms. Marvel, being very rational here just states that from his hospital gown she can tell that he escaped from a hospital for the criminally insane. That would explain why he thinks someone is trying to kill him. The WASP does believe this man. Ms. Marvel acts very out of character and tells WASP that the fact that the man gives her flattering attention is clouding her judgment. Ouch.
Jarvis comes in and announces that two men from the institution showed up with a court order to have the man returned. Captain wants to turn the man over, while the WASP resists. The Captain is the leader, so his decision is the one that matters.
Ms. Marvel tells the WASP that she is too emotional, and in return the WASP calls her an iceberg. Which she kind of is, but so are all the men around her. In fact, she seems to behave a bit like Captain America. Still, Ms. Marvel and the WASP have been getting along pretty well so this confrontation is very unusual. Ms. Marvel is acting coldheartedly and not like a good friend.
The meeting continues, and Captain America is happy with his former decision as he doesn’t want any trouble with the law. However, as Beast and Ms. Marvel note, trouble is coming. The WASP is missing and is probably following the man. Therefore, Captain America changes his mind and decides to follow the WASP and investigate the mental institution and the leading doctor.
Ms. Marvel at last has some serious room with the Avengers and she’s interacting with them more. However, it is never about her. She is a good friend to Captain America, comforting him after the Falcon decides to leave. She listens to him, but makes no real comments of her own, we learn nothing about her. She tries to comfort Wonder Man about his acting career, but that come out sort of fake. From her interactions with the WASP here we learn that she can be very cold hearted. There is a way to express yourself and telling your friend that they are being too emotional is a really bad idea. Telling them that they are emotional because someone flattered them is a total insult. I guess she used up all of her emotional support on Captain America. This is a typical characterization of her as being unstable in her behavior, we saw that even in her solo comic. This is not about her being a merger between Kree and human, this is just bad writing.
Do you agree with me? Have anything to say about this or any other related issue? Let's discuss in the comments below or on my Facebook page or on Twitter. Also, please help the blog grow by liking it and sharing my posts. Have a great day.