There are certain characters that start as simple background fodder, but through marketing and character exploration they gain footholds in the comic community. You could definitely say this trend defines Carol Danvers – whose canology has been through mundane and absurd changes that’s seemed to somehow lead to her popularity. In fact, she only took the Mantle of Captain Marvel in 2012. Before that she had several code names and has gone through many other changes.
Since there is decades of Danvers History, we’re gonna have to breeze past this as fast as we can. She started as a background character in the alien superhero Captain Mar-vell, a captain in the air force who was caught in the middle of one of his battles- where an explosion would eventually lead to her DNA blending with the alien hero giving her powers.
During the 70’s she was found alongside the Avengers, Defenders, Spider-Man as well as having her own series. This would all lead to her feature in Avengers 200 where …. She basically is raped, brainwashed and the Avengers think it’s all romantic.
She then goes into a coma after a tangle with X-Men’s Rogue who was evil at the time, and after waking renounces the super smart and responsible Avengers and joins the X-Men as their super cool human sidekick. On one of their many space adventures, she’s exposed to another alien mcguffin and becomes Binary. A character more powerful than her previous form and a subtle middle finger from writer Chris Claremont.
After the 2000’s she kinda wandered around teams, forgiving the Avengers, fighting alcoholism, Alien Invasions ect. During an event called House Of M, she was able to see an alternate reality where she was the earth’s most popular hero, under the title of Captain Marvel. There are other events where she does play a noticeable role, all adding to her growing importance and notoriety in Marvel Comics.
19 years ago is where she started to really gain popularity, with the inclusion in all of the different comic events, and the fact that her long time reputation of getting the job done (for better or for worse) helped push her to her popularity now.
Now we can spend all day debating whether or not she’s been consistently written, and if she deserves the spotlight, or if the idea of the character has outgrown and outshines who she actually is.
Just remember when you examine these characters, it’s important to examine how they came to be, and what editorial or fan force that helped mold the character into how they’re portrayed and interpreted today.
What do you think of Carol Danvers? Tell us in the comments!
