I’m working through the Ms. Marvel run from the mid-2000s. I won’t go into full detail on every single issue, because that’s just tedious, so I’ll pick and choose some favorites along the way.
#spoilers
Carol is in the midst of sorting her life out as Ms. Marvel. After going through a dark patch in her life, House of M, and the first Superhuman Civil War, she’s more than ever trying to push herself to become the best possible hero she can. When she comes home one night she is confronted by Rogue of the X-Men (whom she had a bad experience with in the old days) and another Carol Danvers – one that is teeming with bloodlust towards Rogue and goes by the name Warbird (another former alias of our Carol).
Turns out Warbird is from another universe where she failed to be a proper hero and basically puts all of her rage towards other Rogues and Carols. There’s a lengthy fight that ends with Ms. Marvel victorious, but not without some heavy-duty self-criticism of the literal sort – chewing herself out for her past mistakes.
It’s a crucial moment to me, because this is what separates the Ms. Marvel I remember from the Captain Marvel she is today. The voice she speaks in commands the room and herself in a way I never realized before, because Ms. Marvel had always been a supporting character in the books I read, so I never got a true sense of this assertion she radiates and the will to carry it out. In this particular moment I can see the threads beginning to align that will lead straight to get destiny as Captain Marvel.
This story spans issues 9 and 10 so if you spot it while perusing the long boxes I’d grab it. It’s short, sweet, and character-defining.
TL;DR Score: What I wouldn’t do to go a few rounds with a less than heroic version of myself… Ding. Ding.
TL;DR Comics 