Captain Marvel’s 10 Greatest Enemies

Carol Danvers has a long list of antagonists, but only a few number among her deadliest foes.

This week, Marvel is launching a new volume of CAPTAIN MARVEL with Kelly Thompson and artist Carmen Carnero as the incoming creative team. Together, they’re going to chronicle Carol Danvers’ new adventures, and give fans of the upcoming Marvel Studios' "Captain Marvel" a strong jumping on point. Although she’s only been calling herself Captain Marvel since 2012, Carol’s heroic legacy goes back four decades when she first burst on the scene as Ms. Marvel. It’s impossible to be a heroine for that long without making a few enemies. And Carol’s villains are a particularly dangerous lot. Fortunately, Captain Marvel is one of the most powerful heroines in the Marvel Universe!

Ahead of the release of CAPTAIN MARVEL #1 on Wednesday, January 9, Marvel.com is taking a look back at 10 of Carol Danvers’ greatest enemies. In case they show their faces again, we’re excited to see the potential rematches!

Carol first crossed Ronan’s path when she was Ms. Marvel, and their encounter led Carol to reunite with her mentor, Mar-Vell. The once and future Captain Marvel teamed up to take down Ronan the Accuser. In the intervening years, Carol and Ronan have crossed paths a few times. During the Black Vortex incident, Carol was among the Guardians of the Galaxy and the X-Men when the Kree homeworld, Hala, was destroyed. Ronan swore vengeance over Hala’s fate, and his current enmity may be directed towards Carol as well.

When the Supreme Intelligence first learned about Carol’s power, he sought to remake her in his image as a way of giving the Kree access to humanity’s latent abilities. Carol was able to resist the attempt to strip away her mind and memories. The recent revelations about Carol’s true heritage as a human and Kree hybrid may call into question what the Supreme Intelligence knew about her origin and when. If the Supreme Intelligence ever returns, we may even find out.

While Carol has had more than one run-in with M.O.D.O.K., her first encounter was enough to make him one of her most hated foes. M.O.D.O.K. attempted to brainwash Carol and make her his slave. However, his plans backfired and inadvertently started the process that allowed Carol’s human and Kree personas to reintegrate.

Long before we knew the extent of Deathbird’s connections to the Shi'ar Empire, she made her debut as a Ms. Marvel villain. Deathbird also aligned herself with the Brood during the incident that transformed Carol Danvers into Binary. There’s a lot of history between Carol and Deathbird, and a rematch is probably inevitable.

During DARK REIGN, Norman Osborn used Moonstone as his substitute Ms. Marvel on the Dark Avengers team. Moonstone went even further and attempted to usurp Carol’s legacy as well. This created a very personal battle between the two women, with Carol emerging as the winner. However, Moonstone is still very dangerous and very powerful in her own right. She isn’t a foe who can be easily dismissed.

Spider-Woman discovers Rogue attacked Ms. Marvel

There was a time when Rogue would have been considered Carol Danvers’ greatest enemy, even after she reformed and joined the X-Men. As a member of Mystique’s Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, Rogue fought Carol and permanently absorbed her powers and most of her memories. It took Carol several years to fully recover from that trauma, and even longer to let go of her hatred for Rogue.

Their current status is friendlier than “frenemy,” and Carol even lent Rogue a spaceship for her intergalactic honeymoon with Gambit. That said, Carol and Rogue still have good reasons to be wary of each other, and they may never truly be friends.

Ghazi Rashid may not be a well-known villain, but his impact on Carol’s life was immense. Years before she was a Super Heroine, Rashid captured Carol in Afghanistan he tortured her for information about Ascension, a scientific project that could give normal humans superpowers. Rashid later resurfaced with superhuman abilities and fought Carol while her own powers were unstable. Rashid seemingly perished in the battle, but if he returns, it wouldn’t be the first time that he cheated death.

Yon-Rogg’s hatred of Mar-Vell was so complete that he kidnapped Carol as a way to strike at the original Captain Marvel. In a subsequent accident, Carol’s powers awakened and Yon-Rogg was believed to have been killed. Years later, Yon-Rogg returned with superpowers of his own. Carol was eventually able to defeat him, but the experience destroyed several of her cherished memories.

While Rogue was the instrument of Carol’s initial downfall, it was Mystique who guided her adopted daughter to attack Ms. Marvel. Mystique is also personally responsible for the death of Carol’s boyfriend, Michael Barnett. Although Mystique often has a larger agenda to pursue, she rarely passes up a chance to destroy Carol’s life. This feud is far from over.

In one of the darkest chapters of her life, Carol was kidnapped by Marcus, the son of Immortus, and brainwashed into believing that she was in love with him. Despite Marcus’ dubious story, the Avengers allowed him to leave for Limbo with Carol in tow. She later berated her teammates for falling for Marcus’ obvious lies as she recovered from her encounter with Rogue. Several years later, Carol encountered another version of Marcus who called himself the Scarlet Centurion. That version of Marcus was the son of Kang, and more openly infatuated with Carol. Naturally, Carol was unnerved by the entire experience.

Although both versions of Marcus are seemingly dead, the nature of time travel suggests that Carol may eventually encounter them again. And on that day, there’s gonna be hell to pay.

CAPTAIN MARVEL #1, written by Kelly Thompson with art by Carmen Carnero, goes on sale Wednesday, January 9! Get your copy online or at your local comic shop.

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