10. This Disaster
Leading up to the 200th issue of ‘The Avengers’, Ms. Marvel suddenly and inexplicably discovered that she was pregnant, but not in a normal way. Her pregnancy lasted only one day, as the baby inside her grew rapidly and was born and before she knew it, he was a grown man named Marcus… a man that Carol quickly declared she was in love with. (But also, still the child she had just given birth to.) But, Marcus explained that he wasn’t actually Carol’s offspring, but the son of the time traveler Immortus, and that he’d whisked Carol away to his dimension earlier, where he used Immortus’ tech to seduce and “impregnate” her with his own essence, before sending her back to Earth and wiping her memory of the entire event. He basically raped Carol and used her womb to escape purgatory.
This was such an icky development that a year later, in ‘Avengers Annual’ #10, writer Chris Claremont (known for writing exceptional female characters in the ‘X-Men’) brought a pissed-off Carol back to confront her teammates and so-called friends. It seems that Marcus was still mentally controlling her after his “birth,” which is why she seemed so eager to run away with him. She chastised the Avengers for not figuring that out and simply allowing her to go. (Marcus, by the way, never stopped aging at an accelerated pace, so he grew old and died shortly after he and Carol returned to limbo.)
‘Avengers Annual’ #10 also just happens to be the same issue in which Rogue steals Ms. Marvel’s powers and memories.
Carol’s abuse at the hands of Marcus lives in infamy as one of the worst storylines ever, certainly when it comes to the depiction of a powerful female character. Carol has had a long career that has had its ups and downs, but she has managed to emerge as Marvel’s preeminent female champion. Now the film is ready to send her even higher into the stratosphere.
Directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, ‘Captain Marvel’ stars Brie Larson, Annette Bening, Gemma Chan, Clark Gregg, Djimon Hounsou, Samuel L. Jackson, Jude Law, Lashana Lynch, Ben Mendelsohn, and Lee Pace, and swoops into theaters March 8, 2019.
