The definitive, chronological, and up-to-date guide and trade reading order on collecting Captain Marvel and Ms. Marvel comic books – including everything Carol Danvers – via omnibuses and trade paperback graphic novels. Find every issue and appearance! Part of Crushing Krisis’s Crushing Comics. Last updated September 2023 with titles scheduled for release through April 2024.
Looking for Kamala Khan as Ms. Marvel or Monica Rambeau as Capt. Marvel? They both graduated to their own guides! See Guide to Ms. Marvel – Kamala Khan or Guide to Monica Rambeau – Photon, Spectrum, & Capt. Marvel.
It’s fitting that the title of Captain Marvel has passed through the hands of so many Marvel heroes, since it tacitly implies the holder as a mascot for the entire Marvel Universe just as Captain America stands as a patriotic symbol of America.
Similarly, it makes sense that the title of Ms. Marvel – originally tied to women’s liberation in the 1970s – is now the name of a new generation of Pakastani-American hero.
In reality, adopting the name was a copyright grab by Marvel Comics, who wanted to prevent Fawcett Comics from using it for their own hero, rechristened Shazam (and later purchased by DC Comics) – which explains both the emergence of Ms. Marvel and why Marvel also finds a way to re-use the title for a new hero.
The original Captain Marvel wasn’t even of this planet! Captain Mar-Vell was a Kree Officer that found Stan Lee riffing on Silver Surfer by bringing an alien meant to scout Earth into its protector. However, it was Jim Starlin who made Mar-Vell truly notable when he became a cosmic hero and began to battle Thanos.
Later, a former police officer and frequent Avenger, Monica Rambeau, took on the name in the 1980s. Rambeau is a proven tactician who could transform her body into any kind of energy, including visible light and electricity.
In the late 90s, the title would pass to Mar-Vell’s son Genis-Vell, and after that to his sister Phyla-Vell. In Dark Reign, when many villains took on the mantles of heroes, Grant Morrison creation Noh-Varr AKA Marvel Boy wore the Captain mantle, though that was short-lived.
However, the majority of modern-day fans now know Captain Marvel as the original Ms. Marvel, Carol Danvers. Danvers is one of Marvel’s earliest leading ladies and she’s been through it all – everything from being an Air Force pilot to having her mind and powers stolen in Rogue’s debut to gaining a flaming head and traveling through space with the Starjammers. After a powerful return to her own title in 2006, it felt incredibly fitting when she was promoted to “Captain” in 2012, and it seems that this title will stick for a long while thanks to Marvel adding Carol Danvers as Capt. Marvel to its Cinematic Universe.
With the name “Ms. Marvel” freed up by Danvers, Marvel created a new hero to fit the name. Kamala Khan is a teenage girl, major Carol Danvers fan, and a dormant Inhuman whose shape-changing powers are activated by the aftermath of Infinity. [Read more…] about Carol Danvers, Captain Marvel & Ms. Marvel – Definitive Collecting Guide & Reading Order
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