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Characters / Marvel Comics: Carol Danvers

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Captain Marvel & Ms. Marvel Main Character Index
Captain Marvel & Ms. Marvel (Carol Danvers | Kamala Khan)
Supporting Characters (Kamala Khan's Supporting Cast) | Rogues Gallery (Kamala Khan's Rogues Gallery)

Carol Danvers

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/cd_2.jpg
Carol Danvers through the years.note 

Alter Ego: Carol Susan Jane Danvers (Human name), Car-Ell (Kree name)

Notable Aliases: Ms. Marvel, Binary, Warbird, Captain Marvel

Team Affiliations: The Avengers, Mighty Avengers, New Avengers, A-Force, The Ultimates

First Apperance: Marvel Super-Heroes #13 (March, 1968) note ; Ms. Marvel vol. 1 #1 (January, 1977) note ; The Uncanny X-Men #164 (December, 1982) note ; The Avengers #4 (May, 1998) note ; Avenging Spider-Man #9 (July, 2012) note 

"Carol falls down all the time, but she always gets back up — we say that about Captain America as well, but Captain America gets back up because it's the right thing to do.
Carol gets back up because 'Fuck you.'"
— Kelly Sue DeConnick, Polygon

Carol Danvers (current Captain Marvel, formerly Ms. Marvel, Binary, and Warbird) is a Marvel Comics super heroine, Distaff Counterpart of (their version of) Captain Marvel. Originally a supporting character in his series, Carol Danvers first appeared in Marvel Super-Heroes #13 (March, 1968). She was created by Roy Thomas and Gene Colan. She eventually gained her own series Ms. Marvel vol. 1, which lasted for 23 issues (January, 1977-April, 1979). She mostly appeared in team books ever since, returning to the spotlight with Ms. Marvel vol. 2, which lasted for 50 issues (May, 2006-April, 2010). After that she made regular appearances in team books again, until her third solo series was launched in 2012.

Carol Danvers was a tough Air Force officer who was involved in various missions, at one point teaming up with Logan, and another time, with Ben Grimm. She later became chief of security at NASA. At one point, she was involved in a battle with the alien Kree race, befriending their hero, Captain Marvel (for whom she harbored a Lois Lane-style infatuation). Later she was hit by the explosion of a Kree Psyche-Magnetron device which messed with her DNA, causing her to later have blackouts during which her body morphed into a Kree warrior, who called herself 'Ms. Marvel'. It also caused her to fall from grace in the military world and she was forced to become a magazine editor for The Daily Bugle.

Ms. Marvel had a different personality than Carol, but eventually she came to terms with it and their personalities combined. She celebrated the change with a new costume... just in time for her series to be cancelled.

She later joined The Avengers but decided to quit after an incident which caused her to become pregnant by an adult version of her baby. Later, Rogue (at the time a villain under Mystique) ambushed her. After a grueling battle, Rogue absorbed Ms. Marvel's powers AND memories, then threw her off the Golden Gate bridge, leaving her to die. Fortunately, Spider Woman/Jessica Drew was around at that time and rescued Carol and sent her to the X-Mansion for treatment courtesy of Professor Xavier. After she sort of recovered (she regained her memory, but not her powers or emotions), Carol chose to stay with the X-Men for a while.

Unfortunately this led to her getting caught by the Brood aliens along with the X-Men. The Brood experiment on her and she ends up turned into a new superhero named "Binary" (as in 'binary star') with the power to manipulate stellar energy. She had some space adventures after joining the Starjammers, but eventually returned to Earth. At that time, her full memories returned and she went by the name Warbird (using a reduced version of her Binary powers to simulate her Ms. Marvel power set) since another character had taken up the name Miss Marvel in her absence. She also rejoined The Avengers. Unfortunately, all the sufferings she experienced became a burden to her and she resorts to alcohol to relinquish her pain, which got her expelled from the group. A consolation from fellow alcoholic Iron Man set her straight and she later rejoined the Avengers.

During House of M, Carol was inspired by that dimension's version of Ms. Marvel, who is essentially the Marvel version of Wonder Woman, and realizes her potential. She started taking life positively once more and used the name Ms. Marvel again (as the second Ms. Marvel was no longer using it). In 2006 Marvel launched her new solo book, which ran until 2010. All 50 issues of that series were written by Brian Reed.

She was later involved in various events such as the Civil War (siding with Iron Man, and kicking some dogs along the way) and the Secret Invasion. She was once the leader of the Mighty Avengers team, then she joined the New Avengers after Norman Osborn formed the Dark Avengers. When Osborn's Dark Reign was over, she became a member of the New Avengers under Luke Cage. She is also recurring character in Alias as best friend of fallen superhero-turned-Private Detective Jessica Jones.

In July 2012, Carol got a new uniform and hairstyle (which varies depending on the artist interpretation on how her hair fits with the collapsible face mask/cowl), changed her name from Ms. Marvel to Captain Marvel, and got a new ongoing book under that name, written by Kelly Sue DeConnick. Even though Carol Danvers had been depicted as a feminist superhero since the 1970s, DeConnick was the first woman to become a regular writer of her series. As of that run, Carol has been re-invented as a cosmic hero, the link between Marvel's Earth-based heroes and the Marvel cosmic universe, even briefly being a member of the Guardians of the Galaxy and The Ultimates (2015). She was one of the main characters of the Civil War II crossover.

In 2018, her origin story was retconned in The Life of Captain Marvel, in which it was revealed that Carol was half-Kree all along (gaining her alien genes from her mother Marie, AKA Mari-Ell, a former Kree Warrior) and the Psyche-Magnetron just awakened her Kree genetics. It was also revealed that her true Kree name is Car-Ell. It was followed by an ongoing comic by Kelly Thompson, which is still being published.

In 2019, Carol made her Marvel Cinematic Universe debut in her solo movie Captain Marvel, played by Brie Larson. This version of the character is reimagined as an amnesiac fighter pilot-turned-Kree soldier who was approached by Nick Fury to become a superhero in the early 1990s, predating the formation of The Avengers decades later, but disappeared under mysterious circumstances. Though not in the film itself, her emblem appears at the end of the post-credits scene of Avengers: Infinity War. Carol plays a role in the film's sequel; Avengers: Endgame, once again portrayed by Larson.

Carol Danvers has appeared in the following works:

Notable Comic Books

Anime

Live-Action Film

Live-Action TV

Video Games

  • Marvel Ultimate Alliance (2006): Ms. Marvel is a playable character, with Sharon Ventura as one of her alternate costumes.
    • Sharon Ventura is a whole other story. A wrestler-turned-superhero and supporting character in the Fantastic Four books, she took the name Ms. Marvel in 1986 when Carol Danvers was in her Binary phase. She would later become the She-Thing in 1988.
  • Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 (2009): Ms. Marvel returns as a playable character.
  • Marvel: Avengers Alliance (2012): Ms. Marvel is one of the recruitable heroes.
  • Marvel Heroes (2013): Carol Danvers was originally playable as Ms. Marvel, with her default costume (right costume above), her "masked" Captain Marvel was added as one of many alternate costumes. She was updated into Captain Marvel (same powers, new character name) with a new default costume being a "maskless" Captain Marvel costume (middle costume above) and her old "default" Ms. Marvel costume became a purchasable alternate. She also had an alternate "Captain Mar-Vell" costume, with a male voice actor, to replicate the original Captain Marvel.
  • Marvel Puzzle Quest (2013): Playable as both Ms. Marvel and Captain Marvel.
  • LEGO Marvel Super Heroes (2013): Playable as Ms. Marvel.
  • Marvel: Contest of Champions (2014): Playable as both Ms. Marvel and Captain Marvel.
  • Marvel Future Fight (2015): Playable as Captain Marvel, with a Ms. Marvel alternate costume later released.
  • Avengers Academy (2016)
  • Zen Pinball 2 (2016): Carol is featured on the A-Force table, as part of the "Women of Power" DLC pack.
  • LEGO Marvel's Avengers (2016): Playable as both Ms. Marvel and through DLC for Marvel's "Women of Power" initiative as Captain Marvel.
  • Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite (2017): Playable as Captain Marvel.
  • LEGO Marvel Super Heroes 2 (2017): Playable as Captain Marvel.
  • Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order (2019): Carol as Captain Marvel returns as a playable character.

Western Animation

Carol Danvers provides examples of:

    open/close all folders 

    A-H 
  • Aborted Arc: Or perhaps more accurately Indecisive Arc. The writers of the early Captain Marvel stories that featured Carol as a non-powered supporting player to Captain Mar-Vell couldn't seem to make up their minds as to whether or not Carol was supposed to be a full-blown love interest to Mar-Vell or not (he already had a girlfriend, and arguably not a very interesting one at that).
  • Abusive Parents: Old Man Danvers tended to think Carol's role in life was to be a babymama, and was occasionally physically abusive, Carol once casually recounting how he "whaled the tar outa [her]" for sneaking out of the house when she was a teenager.
  • Ace Pilot: She used to be in the Air Force.
  • Action Girl: She's currently known as 'Earth's Mightiest Hero' for a very good reason.
  • Affirmative-Action Legacy: In 2012, Carol becomes one for Captain Marvel.
  • The Alcoholic: She hit the bottle hard after losing her full Binary powers - she was dealing with the power loss at the same time she regained her emotional connection to some very nasty memories. Iron Man helped her out and got her into Alcoholic Anonymous.
  • All Your Powers Combined: Though actually it's all of her own powers combined: as Captain Marvel she has both her original Ms. Marvel powers and her Binary powers (though the latter only activate if she's absorbed enough energy).
  • Amazonian Beauty: Although her physique varies Depending on the Artist, she is a big woman who has very strong muscles, toned broad shoulders, muscular yet voluptuous body, and standing in at 5'11" and over 160 lbs. Frank Cho in particular makes her look like Cammy. Her newer titles have her looking less overtly curvy, and far more muscular, than before.
  • Ambadassador: As Captain Marvel, she's both a superhero and "Ambassador Extraordinary" for the human race.
  • Anti-Hero: A hard Type III on her bad days, which are MANY. She tries to do good and earnestly wants to be a valiant superheroine, but she's a violent, traumatized wreck prone to depressive bouts of drinking, and has at times gone on to commit cold-blooded murder.
  • Arch-Enemy:
    • Mystique. It's not just the X-Men that want her blood and for good reason - Mystique murdered Carol's boyfriend in Carol's form. As far as the poor guy was concerned, his girlfriend went berserk and stabbed him to death.
    • For a long time, Rogue was played as her Arch-Enemy, but a combination of Rogue's Heel–Face Turn and Carol regaining the stolen memories have gone a long way to repairing things although tensions remain. They now occasionally engage in Teeth-Clenched Teamwork.
    • Moonstone is occasionally regarded as this, even though the two have had little interaction anywhere outside of Dark Reign.
    • The Brood also consider Carol to be their greatest enemy due to the sheer damage she inflicted on their empire as Binary.
    • Some fans also jokingly consider Carol's greatest enemies to be cars due to her rather frequent tendency to get hit by them in battle. The car thing took kind of a shocking twist when her unpowered Ultimate Marvel counterpart was hit by a car and put in critical condition in an arc of the Ultimates.
    • As of volume 10 (and a general effort to beef up her supporting cast and Rogues Gallery), Vox Supreme (super evolved Inhuman) and Star/Ripley Ryan stand out as her top foes. Vox Supreme is on par with Carol power-wise and is a alien supremacist wheras Star is a Evil Counterpart to Carol.
  • Ascended Extra:
    • Carol used to be something of a second-stringer amongst the Marvel Comics fandom and most people outside of Avengers fandom would just know her as 'The woman that Rogue stole her powers from'. After House of M, she started to get her second own ongoing series and more prominence in other titles.
    • And she started out as the secondary love interest of another character, long before anyone had any idea of giving her a series of her own.
  • Authority in Name Only: In the Mighty Avengers days, Carol was supposed to be the team's field leader, but when you have a micromanaging boss like Tony Stark, Carol rarely got treated like the actual leader.
  • Badass Normal: Even before becoming Ms. Marvel, Carol could still hold her own, being an experienced and highly decorated Air Force officer. Counts as an Empowered Badass Normal after gaining powers.
  • Blood Knight: She became this during the Battle of New York against the Super-Skrulls. Major ass-kicking ensued.
  • Boisterous Bruiser: In the 2014 Captain Marvel issue #1 her two favourite things are Star Wars and punching stuff.
  • Breeding Slave: The Kree Supreme Intelligence wanted to make Carol this, since her Half-Human Hybrid DNA was just what he needed for his eugenics program. So he planned to use the Millennia Bloom to destroy her personality and refashion her into someone who would gladly be one for the rest of her physical life. For someone as stubborn and independent as Carol, this was naturally pretty much the worst fate imaginable.
  • Broken Bird: A massive one. She's been raped, suddenly impregnated, kidnapped repeatedly, physically damaged, depowered, kick off multiple teams, mocked relentlessly, etc. She's a massive bundle of tragedy wrapped up in one superheroine.
  • Brought Down to Badass: Her depowering in the late 90s took her down from "Cosmic Level Bruiser" to "Standard Flying Brick". She was still capable of holding her weight, just... not as powerful as she was (so she couldn't fly fast enough to break orbit).
  • Butt-Monkey: Carol has a bad tendency to get the short end of the stick, dignity wise. Most superheroes have generally crappy lives, especially in the Marvel universe, but bad things seem to happen to Carol with greater frequency than anyone else short of Spidey and Bruce Banner. Fired, depowered, booted off teams, mind-raped, disliked by her coworkers, subject to humiliations no-one should have to go through, insulted repeatedly...
  • Characterization Marches On: When Carol Danvers first appeared in the early Captain Marvel comics (back in the late 1960s), she was already a woman in a hard, masculine profession (security consultant for a US Government agency) who showed some signs of feminism, but in retrospect, her starry-eyed swooning over the title character and Action Survivor characterization when faced with the villains of the week can look a little weird if measured against the ultra-tough Action Girl background Claremont later wrote up for her.
  • Clothes Make the Superman: In the first issues, Ms. Marvel's suit had a high-tech webbing built inside, which allowed her to fly. In issues 6 and 7 she was exposed to the Kree Psyche-Magnitron a second time, which destroyed the tech in her suit but also transferred the flight power to her own body and it's stayed that way since.
  • Clothing Damage: Happen during Secret Invasion when a Skrull unleashes an energy blast from his eyes that shreds her costume.
  • Combo Platter Powers: To say that Carol Danvers won the Superpower Lottery is an understatement! Her most iconic powers are her Flying Brick powers — Flight, Super-Strength and being Nigh-Invulnerable. She also canonically has Energy Absorption, complete with the ability to super-charge her physical abilities with absorbed energy, she a Healing Factor, she has "photonic energy blasts" that she can release as a Hand Blast or as Eye Beams, she has the abilities to alter matter on a molecular level and create physical energy constructs, she has Super-Reflexes and, finally, she has a "Seventh Sense", also known as "Cosmic Awareness", which is Hyper-Awareness — but her version is much less reliable than that of the original Mar-Vell's.
    • And that's just what she has in her Ms. Marvel, Captain Marvel, and Warbird identities! During her time as Binary, she lost her Seventh Sense and Molecular Manipulation abilities, but her physical abilities all took a massive increase, to the point she could blow up planets with her photonic blasts, travel faster than light, and sit unharmed in the center of the sun. She also gained Elemental Powers due to her connection to a white hole; as Binary, she can generate heat, light, and radiation, as well as access all other forms of energy along the electromagnetic spectrum, and she can do so on an almost solar scale. Oh, and she also has some Gravity Master abilities.
      • Whilst she lost the Elemental Powers when the white hole link was severed, she can boost herself temporarily back up to Binary-level physical power by absorbing sufficient energy. It's also possible that she could relink herself to another white hole and become Binary again.
    • Oh, and she has the ability to survive unprotected in the vacuum of space. This was initially unique to her Binary identity and its modified power set, but it was later revealed that she had the power all along, she was just too messed up to access it during her time as Warbird.
  • Create Your Own Villain: Alison Green, the woman she illegally detained during Civil War II on unsubstantiated charges of terrorism then indeed became a terrorist in order to get revenge on Carol.
  • Damsel in Distress: Started off as this for Captain Mar-Vell. Only in the sense that she was taken captive, though. Carol Danvers didn't bother with the damsel-ness.
  • Dark and Troubled Past: Danvers' early superhero career included rape, sudden pregnancy, kidnapping, and being depowered.
  • Depending on the Artist:
    • Whether her black Ms. Marvel costume came with heels on the boots or not.
    • Her haircut as Captain Marvel. Is it power hair? A pixie cut? Long flowing locks? A sort of Mohawk-thing? The advent of her live-action movie seems to have stabilised it to flowing locks.
  • Depower: Lost her Binary powers in the mid 90s, which drove her to drink. They didn't come back until early 2007, during a fight with the Collective. Since then, they're back, but only when she absorbs enough energy to make them work.
  • Desperately Looking for a Purpose in Life: Why she's so often on Avengers teams - she wants to be a superhero and do good. It's also part of the reason she didn't tell the Avengers about her depowering until it caused some serious problems, because she didn't want to jeopardize her chances of getting on the team (for added irony, she didn't know she was a sure thing at that point anyway, Cap having noticed how badly she wanted on a team that was actually in serious danger of not having enough members as was).
  • Distaff Counterpart: Captain Marvel's, naturally.
  • The Dog Is an Alien: Rocket claims that Carol's cat Chewie is a rare and dangerous alien species called a flerken. Turns out he's right.
  • Drinking on Duty: During Avengers vol 3, Carol starts drinking while superheroing. The only one who actually notices is Iron Man, who doesn't say anything because he feels it isn't his place. Eventually, Carol starts lashing out at everyone, and accidentally badly injures Lockjaw the dog at a serious moment, prompting the Avengers to suspend her from the team.
  • Drowning My Sorrows: You know you're off the wagon when Tony Stark calls you on it. He later sponsors her at Alcoholics Anonymous.
  • Dude Magnet: Many men, including Spider-Man, War Machine and Star Lord, find her attractive.
  • Dude, Where's My Respect?: For one of Marvel's longest serving heroines, she didn't get much respect from her fellow heroes. It's why she took up superheroing again after M-Day, to prove she could be one of the world's greats.
    • As of Marvel NOW and her taking of the Captain Marvel name, as well as her establishing herself as Captain America's second in command, she's largely shaken this off.
  • Eek, a Mouse!!: Not Carol Danvers herself, but it was in her series that it was shown that Jessica Drew is not a fan of rats.
  • Embarrassing Nickname: "Cheeseburger"
  • Energy Absorption: Part of her superpower set is that she can absorb immense amounts of energy, to the point where it was the keystone of her cosmic powers as Binary, linking herself to the power of a white hole.
  • Epiphany Therapy: Being told Carol Danvers and Ms. Marvel were actually one and the same, the split being her mind responding to getting superpowers, is enough to immediately cause both personas to merge, and never look back.
  • Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas: Subverted. Carol putting Moonstone's power source in her mother's tomb in hopes for her redemption is because she thinks this trope might apply to Moonstone. It doesn't.
  • Evil Counterpart: She’s got one for her human side in Moonstone. And one for her Kree side in Dr Minerva. Each, at one point, wearing Carol’s costume.
  • Eye Beams: Carol pulls this off as a desperation move against Vox. It's not only pretty painful, she points out the obvious drawback that she can't see while doing it, completely defeating the common purpose of projecting energy for ranged attacks.
  • Fanboy: She's a Star Wars nerd. Which is why she named her cat (well, flerken) Chewie.
  • Flaming Hair: As Binary.
  • Flying Brick: Danvers has flight, super-strength, resistance to injury, and the Most Common Superpower. Twist: She can absorb ambient and directed energy, and project energy blasts from her fists (though she also had a sort of "seventh sense"/luck power for a while), but despite her impressive power level she has always been something of a second-stringer. This was played with in the House of M event, where in that Alternate Universe she was the greatest non-mutant superhero in the world. And since people kept their memories of the House of M reality, her knowledge that she could be that good has spurred her to new heights, her own monthly title, and leadership of The Avengers.
  • Flying Firepower: In a rare overlap with Flying Brick, she currently tends to switch between brawling and blasting her opponents.
  • Four-Star Badass: Holds the rank of Colonel in the US Air Force, so going by "Captain" Marvel is a downgrade. In one issue, she uses this fact as an excuse to order around Captain America since he is "just a Captain" (in another, it's Played for Laughs). Problem is, the writer of the issue was apparently unaware that Captain America is a retired Brigadier General, and thus would still outrank her. He's taking an even bigger downgrade than she is.
  • Freak Out: Ultimates tried to suggest Carol's taking several levels in jerkass during Civil War II was a result of a lecture on the nature of time from Galactus leaving her shaken. "Tried" because Brian Bendis isn't exactly known for acknowledging continuity.
  • Gendered Outfit: Her classic, more Stripperiffic costume is a gendered version of Captain Marvel's, complete with Thong of Shielding and bared midriff. Picture for reference◊. Her later outfit as Captain Marvel largely averts this, being far more modest and militaristic than her previous outfits, only retaining the scarf.
  • Genius Bruiser: Downplayed. Carol is very smart, but she comes up short compared to the likes of Iron Man and Mr. Fantastic.
  • Good Cannot Comprehend Evil: Carol is eventually victorious against Moonstone and ripped away her power source, leaving her to die in 3 days, but if she can redeem herself, she'll live. In an attempt for a Heel–Face Turn, Carol puts Moonstone's power in her mother's grave, so she could realize why she has gone bad. When Moonstone reclaimed it, she... smashes her mother's tombstone.
  • Good Old Fisticuffs: Even with her energy powers, Carol openly says she enjoys punching things.
  • Growling Gut: In the novel Liberation Run, Jessica Drew pesters Carol to pull rank so they can get seated at a restaurant with a ridiculously long line. Despite being tempted by her growling stomach, Carol refuses to abuse her superhero status for something so minor and petty, much to Jess' annoyance.
  • The Guards Must Be Crazy: Being, as it were, the guard in question. Her run as Cape Canaveral's director of security wasn't too great, and she eventually got fired for it.
  • Half-Human Hybrid: Unusually for this trope, Carol was a full human altered to be half-Kree in an accident. Decades later, in the Life of Captain Marvel mini-series, it's revealed that Carol's mother was secretly Kree, meaning that Carol has always been half-Kree.
  • Hartman Hips: Carol's butt is canonically "insane" ostensibly due to size. Unfortunately this trait leaves the poor woman a victim of a Running Gag where villains repeatedly refer to her as fat.
  • Hair-Trigger Temper: Not that Carol is always mellow anyway, but she was a very bad-tempered drunk, responding to simple requests from Captain America with accusations that he doesn't think women can think for themselves. She got better after getting sober.
  • Half-Human Hybrid: Has a bit of Kree DNA in her, due to how she got her powers. In Life of Captain Marvel #3 it's revealed that her mother was secretly Kree. So, Carol's always been half-Kree, it seems.
  • Henshin Hero: Initially how Carol Danvers transition into Ms. Marvel, gaining a foot in height, extra muscles, and a different hairstyle.
  • Hero with Bad Publicity: In the 2006 series, Carol hires a publicist as part of her attempt to move up to the A-list of heroes (and after not being recognized by D-list villain Stilt-Man).
  • The Hero's Idol: Kamala Khan has a great of admiration for Carol, to the point that she transformed into her when her powers manifested. After Carol officially changed her alias to "Captain Marvel", Kamala took on the Ms. Marvel moniker for herself.
  • Heterosexual Life-Partners: Carol is this with Jessica Drew, after Jess saved her life in Avengers (vol. 1) annual #10, the two remaining as good friends who are rarely seen apart when appearing on the same team, and often guest-starring in the other's book. Carol was the first person to stick up for Jess after Secret Invasion, when everyone was still blaming her for the whole "Skrull invasion" thing.
  • Hopeless Suitor: Carol was this to Captain Marvel, back when she was just a non-powered supporting character in his comics. Unfortunately for her, he already had a girlfriend, hence the hopeless angle, though she did manage to kiss him at least once. They later settled for being friends.

    I-N 
  • I Have Many Names: Carol Danvers, Ms. Marvel, Binary, Warbird... she sticks with the default "Captain Marvel" for now.
  • I Have You Now, My Pretty: Awkwardly often, for "The Female Who Fights Back". While Chris Claremont deserves credit for his handling of the fallout from the "Marcus Immortus" story in Avengers #200 (the infamous "Rape of Ms. Marvel"), his own run also featured several instances of brainwashing and sexual abuse of the heroine, and at least one◊ glaring example (by MODOK, of all people) which really was not all that much better — Indeed, in some ways arguably worse.
  • Improbable Age: She was head of security at Cape Canaveral when first introduced in the 60s, and despite being apparently no older than her early 30s at best.
  • Informed Deformity: Brian Reed's run on her title had characters repeatedly calling her fat apropos of nothing.
  • Interservice Rivalry: A good-natured one between herself (U.S. Air Force) and Captain America (U.S. Army). Captain America once joked that he's been trying to get her demoted for years.
    Steve: She was a colonel in the Air Force, Jarvis. It's not a real rank.
    Carol Jarvis, did you know 'Army' is an acronym? It stands for 'Air Force Rejected Me Yesterday'.
    Jarvis: I am retreating behind the lines.
  • I Owe You My Life: While not because of 'saving from death', this might be the reason why she assists Tony in Civil War (she'd be an alcoholic wreck if it wasn't for him...). Though this is more or less the reason for her friendship with Jessica Drew.
  • It's Personal: First, with Rogue. When Carol met her again after their first encounter, she punched Rogue through the X-Mansion roof. They eventually came to an understanding, of sorts. And with Mystique, who made it her mission in life to get at Carol by any means necessary, including brutally murdering her loved ones. Then, with Kang / Immortus / Whatever-He's-Calling-Himself-This-Week, after the events of Avengers #200.
  • Jekyll & Hyde: The early Ms Marvel days had Carol blacking out whenever she became Ms. Marvel, which caused some problems with her career. She eventually managed to solve the problem.
  • Kick the Dog: Usually ends up handing these out in crisis crossovers.
    • One example would involve arresting Julia Carpenter in front of and then separating her from her daughter for being a Pro-Registration defector and working as a spy for Captain America during Civil War. There were many crimes committed by both sides against the other, but that is just... well... low. However, it was something of an out of character moment and was immediately followed by a My God, What Have I Done? moment.
    • Not to mention her actions in Civil War II wherein she arrested and imprisoned a woman who was guilty of doing nothing — absolutely nothing — without any sort of due process being applied. Some felt she had fallen into Villain Protagonist territory at that point, and this action resulted in the woman despising superheroes and working to destroy them. Ultimates tried to re-rail her by explaining her behaviour as the result of an extended Freak Out after being bluntly exposed to the nature of Comic-Book Time by Galactus and exploring the self-loathing she felt afterwards.
    • She invokes Godwin's Law on Magneto when he compares her fascism in Civil War II to Hitler's. Yes, the Magneto who was actually in concentration camps in World War II, aka, someone who you can't invoke Godwin's Law on without coming off as an asshole at best. On the other hand, it's worth noting that she's not the first person to do this - even Xavier once, pointedly, suggested when Magneto was musing on a "solution" to the problem of Genosha's human population that he was perhaps looking for a "final solution"? So, low, but not unprecedented.
  • The Lancer: As Captain Marvel, if she's not the leader of a team she's on, she'll be second-in-command.
  • Landmarking the Hidden Base: Lives in the Statue of Liberty.
  • Late-Arrival Spoiler: The first issues of her first comic book are starred by both Ms. Marvel, a new superhero with amnesia, and Carol Danvers, a military woman who used to be a secondary character in the Captain Marvel comic book, now working as a journalist and who frequently passes out for no reason. It is soon revealed that Carol Danvers is Ms. Marvel (she turns into a superhero, without being aware of it).
  • The Leader: First off, for the SHIELD-backed Mighty Avengers team (but, see above). Then, the Ultimates (sort of - in the second volume, she concedes leadership to America Chavez). Come 2018, and she's the field leader of the Avengers team.
  • Legacy Character: For Captain Mar-Vell.
  • Leotard of Power: Her signature black Ms. Marvel/Warbird costume is this, as is her Binary outfit, only in white.
  • Light 'em Up: After the Brood experimented on her, she gained photon-based powers.
  • Male Gaze: If Carol is in a book wearing her "Ms. Marvel" leotard, chances are the artist will find some way to get a rear shot, regardless of what she may be doing at the time. Artists have been known to draw her with a rather sizable backside.
  • The Mentor:
    • To Anya Corazon, originally during the first Civil War.
    • In the 2018 series of The Avengers, she started serving as one to Robbie Reyes, the latest Ghost Rider, who's a rookie teenager on a team of superhero veterans, being most caring and supportive of him, if in a gruff sort of way - e.g. warning him not to get cocky, but also letting him know when he'd done something awesome, and talking him through issues with his powers and the crap that can come with them. After Robbie goes missing, she takes up the mentorship reins for the new Starbrand.
  • Mind Rape: What happened when Rogue took her memories. It took all the emotion behind them as well, and nearly killed Carol.
  • Military Superhero: She's an Air Force Colonel by background, and she's been explicitly involved with military and quasi-military forces. Certainly, she sees herself as a soldier.
  • Most Common Superpower: Even toned down somewhat following her becoming Captain Marvel (and even that is Depending on the Artist), she has a very impressive bust, even by comic book standards. (Perhaps this was why one of her incarnations was really called "Binary".)
  • Ms. Fanservice: Carol for a long time was practically the poster girl for this before her "promotion" to being the new Captain Marvel. Her first costume was originally derived from the red-and-blue Kree uniform of Captain Marvel, but after emerging from under his shadow she was given a distinctive new black-and-gold leotard costume with a lightning bolt motif; this costume gets many Male Gaze. This was lampshaded by Moonstone/Dark Ms. Marvel in Avengers: The Initiative when she asks Tigra just how Carol wears these outfits, and by Kamala Khan when her newly manifested powers transformed her into a duplicate of Carol in her Warbird costume. Eventually, it was finally averted with her latest outfit, which aside from being form-fitting, is about as non-fanservice as you can get.
  • My Country, Right or Wrong: Carol, being a career military officer, is very likely to follow her government's orders. This is why she sided with Tony in Civil War, and she very rarely will go against the government.
  • Never a Self-Made Woman: Originally played straight, but later subverted. It was always assumed Carol had gained her powers from Mar-Vell after the explosion, but this was massively retconned in The Life of Captain Marvel, which revealed her mother was secretly Kree the whole time, meaning Carol is physiologically half-human and half-Kree by birth. The Psyche-Magnitron only enhanced her potential further.
  • Nigh-Invulnerable: As a side-effect of being part Kree. Gal can survive a nuke to the face.
  • Not Wanting Kids Is Weird: In her backstory, her Self-Made Man father thought Carol should not bother with college, but simply find a good husband. And did not take it well when she retorted that she didn't want a family—Even as she was quick to add a disclaimer to the effect of "Not yet." The half-Kree retcon later explained that part of it was also worries that her fascination with flight and space would lead to her attracting attention from her mother's Kree superiors.
  • Nude-Colored Clothes: Ms. Marvel's lightning bolt on her front is the same color as her skin in quite a few incarnations, particularly in some older, more color-restricted comic books. The artists have taken to making it either clearly very yellow or shiny to avoid this.

    O-Z 
  • Odd Friendship:
    • Is very close with the down-to-earth and standoffish Jessica Jones, one of the embodiments of dark and edgy takes on superheroes in the 2000s.
    • With Peter Parker, eventually — while he initially got under her skin, due to his constant quips (which she mistook for him not taking things seriously), they got on rather better once they got to know each other and had a fair amount of Ship Tease. As it was, their one date didn't go any further, but they ended up bonding over a shared love of New York street food.
  • Older Than She Looks: According to the Logan: Shadow Society graphic novel, she was already an adult government agent when Angel of the X-Men was still a little boy. This would likely put her in her mid to late 40's at the youngest, yet she is rarely drawn any older than the other adult heroines published by Marvel. It's justified by her Healing Factor; like Wolverine, Sabretooth, or Mystique, she ages incredibly slowly — if at all. In Ms Marvel Vol. 2 #21, Hank "The Beast" McCoy says that Carol is functionally immortal, stating that her regenerative powers will keep her in her prime "forever".
    • Finally given a nod in the Alien Nation storyline. When a young adult scientist tries to flirt with her, she shuts him down. Nearly gets out the old "I am old enough to be your mother" line.
  • One-Woman Army: She defeated an army of Super-Skrulls during Secret Invasion.
  • Overranked Soldier: Even by the standards of Comic-Book Time and Continuity Snarl, Carol's military rank is still improbable. She retired from the U.S. Air Force at the rank of full Colonel (O-6)... apparently before her first chronological comic book appearance in 1968. Absent some highly unusual situation, one would expect Carol to be at least pushing 40, and this is before her entire career as a superhero. While she's depicted as an experienced heroine in current stories with an official age of 31, she isn't drawn or treated as if she's anywhere near as old as her backstory would suggest - though it is sometimes suggested that she is rather Older Than She Looks thanks to her Healing Factor.
    • Chris Claremont, who had a somewhat better understanding of the military than most comics writers in his time, seems to have realized the problem and wrote her as a major (O-4), which makes it a little better, though probably still pushing it. However, this retcon did not stick.
    • At the same time, whether accidentally or as a deliberate in-joke, Claremont also doubled down on her Improbable Age by giving her Command Pilot wings. Look up the requirements for this, and it becomes obvious why this is arguably even more of a problem—Even if one assumes that the USAF even allowed women pilots in the 1960s in the first place in the Marvelverse, which they didn't in real life.
  • Persona Non Grata: She wrote a tell-all book about NASA after they kicked her out and before she wound up in New York. Needless to say, the folk at Cape Canaveral weren't exactly gushing with joy when her job at Woman Magazine brought her back to Florida.
  • Pietà Plagiarism: As in parodying 'The Death of Captain Marvel', the last print of her second series (#50) had her in this pose... with the same death figure. That doesn't kill her, fortunately.
  • Pitbull Dates Puppy: She had gone out with, and implied to have an interest in, Peter Parker. She's stronger and far more stoic than he is, but the two grew close.
  • Platonic Life-Partners: She is hot, stunning, and around him quite often, but at no point has she ever slept with Iron Man, who Really Gets Around with just about every other attractive heroine. Also this with Steve Rogers and Peter Parker - though in the latter case, she did go on a date with him, and there was a lingering degree of mutual interest.
  • Pop-Cultural Osmosis Failure: According to New Avengers, she's never seen Ghostbusters, and doesn't even recognise the phrase "who ya gonna call", when Peter Parker and Ben Grimm quote it, much to their distress.
  • Power Incontinence:
    • At first, the Ms. Marvel persona comes without Carol's control.
    • Her "Seventh Sense" started as a kind of clairvoyance-based X-ray vision. But by the 12th issue of the original 1970s series, it was giving her visions whether she wanted to receive them or not — often accompanied by a gut-punch-level headache.
  • Primary-Color Champion: Her Captain Marvel uniform.
  • Questionable Consent: Avengers #200 was supposed to give her a happy ending and grand send-off from the book, by giving her a badass love interest (albeit right out of nowhere) to retire with. Unfortunately, the "romance" was atrociously written even by comic book standards, to the point where the writers had the Adonis openly admitting to using mind-altering technology on Carol to make her fall in love with him, somehow not realizing that this translated the whole thing from just awkward to creepy. Oh, and this was after he literally had her give birth to him to bring him into the 616 reality. To make it worse, none of the other Avengers cared when told this to their faces. Carol bitterly called them out on this whole fiasco in a later story, when she had her own mind back again.
  • The Rival: As of now; Moonstone. Prior to that, Rogue. It took a long time for Carol to forgive Rogue for nearly destroying her, but during a mission where she had to confront her greatest fear (Rogue absorbing her powers/personality again) the two finally came to an understanding and made peace. They probably won't ever be friends, but at least Carol's first reaction to seeing Rogue now isn't clenching her fists.
  • Rogues Gallery: Carol has had a varied one; Mystique (her original Arch-Enemy before she got transplanted to the X-Men, Deathbird (more known as an X-Men villain nowadays), the Brood alien race (more known as X-Villains, sense a trend?), the Skrulls, Moonstone, Toxie Doxie, Dr Minerva, Doomsday Man, Grace Valentine, and Yon-Rogg. Newer additions since becoming a cosmic hero include Hala the Accuser and Dr. Eve.
  • Running Gag:
    • Her being "fat" (despite having a perfect physique).
    • Her constant battles against cars.
    • A newer one seems to be others commenting on how hard it is to wear one of her outfits.
  • Scarf of Asskicking: Part of her original costume. Carol later uses it as a sash for her more iconic costume (as well as for the current Captain Marvel full body suit).
  • Screw This, I'm Outta Here: After Rogue's attack, Carol went to Professor Xavier to help mentally recover, and bonded with the X-Men during her stay as their guest and assisted them on a few missions. After gaining new powers by way of the Brood, she was going to join the team as Binary (she wouldn't have been the first non-mutant to do so)...but then Rogue came begging Xavier to help her deal with the psyches she had absorbed (especially Carol's). Xavier agreed to do so, causing Carol to leave the mansion in protest. In Hunt for Wolverine: Mystery in Madripoor #1, Rogue discovers this fact and the fact that Carol begged Wolverine in a letter to kill Rogue in a letter she left him before she left. It should be noted that this was blatant character assassination of Carol by the writer
  • Secret Identity: She was very protective of hers during her early Avengers days. One poor schmuck working for Henry Gyrich tried to make her give fingerprints, and Carol informed him if he tried, she'd rip his hand off.
  • Secret Public Identity: Carol Danvers has household name recognition, thanks to being an author before she hit big-time as a hero.
  • Sexy Backless Outfit: Her Warbird costume in vol 3 of The Avengers would be drawn with her back being exposed.
  • Ship Tease: With Spider-Man after she agreed to go on a date with him. When she was possessed by the symbiote, Venom suggests to Spidey she has feelings for him. Despite mild flirting on both sides, they've become Platonic Life-Partners, though it's implied Peter wishes they got a Relationship Upgrade, and a cover when she was in-between boyfriends depicted him as one of her potential/past Love Interests.
  • Shoot Your Mate: Pre-superheroine Carol and the original Captain Marvel in his first series, when he was trying to ingratiate himself with the Organization and she helped by angrily denouncing him as a traitor. Of course, they faked it—And hilariously, the scene was so over the top that Carol apparently couldn't take the whole thing seriously even in a Silver Age comic:
    Marvel: You little idiot—Why do you think I even bothered with you? Your position as head of Cape security could prove useful! Now—Use your head!
    Carol: Let go of my hand! You—You're hurting me!
    Marvel: (Whisper) When I release your hand, keep it clenched. I've placed a knockout gas capsule there. Release it the instant you're alone with your guards—Understand?
    Carol: (Whisper) Yes. (Really loud and clear) I said let go of me, you coward! Do you also kick dogs and children?!
  • Shout-Out: In recent years, she's developed a tendency to make references to Star Wars and, to a lesser extent, Star Trek, from naming her cat 'Chewie' (to which she admits is nerdy but justifies it by stating she looks like Chewbacca), to trying to perform a Jedi mind trick on some HAMMER goons (who both get the reference and laugh it off, before she kicks their ass).
  • Sidekick Graduations Stick: It helps that Carol's arguably the first Marvel Captain Marvel worth publishing for the character's own sake rather than as an exercise in trademark retention. That imperative still existing makes it an Enforced Trope.
  • Single Woman Seeks Good Man: While he gets under her skin, Carol developed an interest in Peter due to his good nature. When he says he feels he doesn't belong with in the clouds with her and rest of the Avengers, she brings up she likes having him in the clouds.
  • Sleeves Are for Wimps: Her signature black costume.
  • Solar CPR: How she loses her Binary powers; she gave them to the sun to stop it from exploding.
  • Split Personality: Her early problem with her powers; she would blackout and then her Ms. Marvel powers would overtake her, which she eventually overcame. Came to light again during her battle with Moonstone.
  • Statuesque Stunner: Carol is 5'11" of pure hotness. Originally Carol was listed as 5'7" and that she would grow to 5-foot-9 when she transformed into Ms. Marvel in the 70s, but this was eventually retconned out as her simply being 5'11". However, when Kelly Sue DeConnick came onboard to write a new series, she found that no one had ever updated Carol's official physical stats in Marvel's internal documentation or on Marvel.com, and she was still listed as weighing 130 pounds. DeConnick got it changed to 165, since, as she said, "There's no way a woman that tall, with that musculature and those boobs, weighs 130 pounds."
  • Stay in the Kitchen:
    • In her earliest solo stories, Carol got this treatment from J. Jonah Jameson, who, as her boss, was something of a Straw Misogynist. Which, oddly, doesn't make much sense considering how well he's treated Betty Brant and his outspoken views against discrimination against anyone besides Spider-people. Although it might have less to do with his views on women in general and more with him disliking her personally.
    • Carol's father seemed to have a fixation with this trope, as he refused to send Carol to college partly because of a bad financial situation and also because he seriously believed that as a woman, Carol could never handle college and the real world and seriously believed she'd be better off just marrying a nice guy and being a stay-at-home mom while he sent one of her brothers to college instead, despite the fact that Carol was smarter than both of her brothers and had better grades. Needless to say, Carol did not agree with her father on this matter and joined the United States Air Force to make her own way, which he didn't take well.
      • The Life of Captain Marvel later goes some way to explaining this partly as a case of parental fears - essentially, Carol's mother was a Kree soldier, which he knew, and both were aware of what might happen if she or Carol ended up on the Kree's radar.
  • Straw Feminist: She can occasionally come across as one, with some variation between different writers. Notably, when Iron Man (quite respectfully) expressed some worry for her, she launched into a long speech about how he had no right to impose the role of a helpless woman on her. However, while she has always been somewhat of a feminist, such over-the-top depictions were usually the exception rather than the rule.
    • An even better example comes from her tenure with the Avengers, when she basically lectures the Scarlet Witch on what a horrible idea it is to be a mother. That being said, this could have come from her own issues relating to her father telling her to Stay in the Kitchen and have babies with some nice man, plus prior attempts to make her a Breeding Slave (and the whole Marcus fiasco).
      Ms. Marvel: We all know that you've been worrying about having children — But just consider what that would do to your career as a superheroine. You'd have to focus so much of your life on a single individual, an infant.... You're a vital person, Wanda, one that half the women in the world would probably kill to be. Surely you find that more "fulfilling" than any silly stereotype of having a baby?
  • Stripperiffic: Her original costume, a Leotard of Power with knee-high boots. Her original original costume, though, was more obvious in this regard, as it was a feminized version of Captain Marvel's Kree uniform, which for him covered everything, but for her left her abdomen, back and legs uncovered. Her Captain Marvel outfit now covers everything, though it's still skin-tight.
  • Super Mode: Binary was treated as such during Carol's membership in the third volume of Avengers. She started drinking because she lost those powers and didn't tell her teammates. She later regained them to some degree.
  • Superpowered Alter Ego: Initially, Ms. Marvel and Carol Danvers were different people, and exchanged sides with a Transformation Sequence.
  • Super-Strength: Enough to, on one memorable occasion, drop kick Iron Man straight through a passenger plane and, during Avengers vs X-Men catch the top half of the Empire State Building.
  • Swarm of Rats: Jessica Drew details an adventure involving every rat in New York in a letter to Carol.
  • Take That!: The first issue of the 70's series had a citizen claim that Ms. Marvel made Lynda Carter (the actress who played Wonder Woman in the eponymous TV series) "look like Olive Oyl".
  • Talk to the Fist: She once punched out her dad while rescuing him. Admittedly, he was so pig-headed and sexist he was determined to go back and fight a supervillain who'd just had him at gunpoint rather than admit he'd been saved by a woman, but Carol admits it still felt damn good regardless.
  • That Man Is Dead: For a time, after losing her memories to Rogue.
  • The Teetotaler: Danvers used to have a serious alcohol problem. She later got sober.
  • Thong of Shielding: Depending on the Artist
  • Trauma Button: Kang's face. Well, technically his son Marcus, but since they're nigh-identical thanks to Kang's chosen method of procreation... Seeing his son Marcus looking like him during Kang War sent Carol ballistic.
  • Tsundere: When she was written by Brian Reed, she behaved like this towards Spider-Man. Later writers have dropped this dynamic in its entirety.
  • Underwear of Power: Again, part of her original costume, which caused Rogue (at a point in the X-Men where she was manifesting Ms. Marvel's costume) to lament Danvers' choice in clothes.
  • The Unfavorite: Carol was apparently never very close to her father, who stubbornly clung to old fashioned notions that women couldn't hold their own with the men and that her father never seemed comfortable around her, which only got worse when she joined the Air Force so she could have her own life after her father refused to send her to college. The Life of Captain Marvel later explains that he did love her, but his behaviour towards her was at least partially driven by worries of what might happen if she got on the Kree's radar.
  • Unwanted Rescue: When Carol's father was being threatened by Steeplejack, he refused her help both as herself and as Ms. Marvel, and when Ms. Marvel went ahead and saved his life anyway, the man refused to acknowledge that he couldn't have handled the supervillain himself. He was truly dedicated to his belief in the proper place of women.
  • "Well Done, Son" Guy: One of the things Carol wanted, more than anything, was to just get her dad to stop being a sexist ass for two minutes and be proud of her accomplishments, rather than seeing her as his 'little girl'. After she saved his life as Ms. Marvel and he refused to say anything more than a curt "thanks" without even bothering to look at her, she decided "screw that".
  • What the Hell, Hero?:
    • Awesomely called the Avengers out in Avengers Annual #10, for their dickery from the 200th issue.
    • Somewhat unfairly on the receiving end at the conclusion of Empyre from Abigail Brand, who blames the whole mess on Carol not bothering to warn Earth about the incoming alien invasion. Later on, S.W.O.R.D. (2020) has Abigail state privately it was an attempt at getting Carol to step up her game. Since Carol proceeded to quit being Earth's "ambassador extraordinary", looks like it backfired.
  • With a Foot on the Bus: In one issue, she had a tragic encounter with another Ms. Marvel from a Expendable Alternate Universe. She left for space, and thought about leaving the planet and not returning. She decides doing that is another way of escaping from problems instead of dealing with them... so she turned back and returned home.
  • With Us or Against Us: Starts slipping into this during Civil War II. She even tries saying the phrase to the Ultimates, only to get interrupted by America Chavez expressing her opinion on the matter.
  • Wolverine Publicity: During the "All-New, All-Different Marvel" era, Carol was featured in a number of books, as part of a number of teams. In her own book, she acted as leader of Alpha Flight. She was also a regular team member of The Ultimates (2015), and the Sixth Ranger of A-Force. She's also getting her own film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and appearing in season 3 of Avengers Assemble.
  • Worth It: Once, as a teen, she snuck out of the house and headed to Cape Canaveral just to see one of the Apollo launches. She figured the severe beating she caught when she got back was still worth it
  • You Are Fat: A running gag during the Brian Reed series (despite her being anything but). And also, once, from Doctor Doom of all people.
  • You Fight Like a Cow: Less so than the likes of Spider-Man, but she sometimes gets in on this.

Alternative Title(s): Carol Danvers

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