Captain Marvel’s gruesome new enemy lands a powerful blow on the hero by pretending to be the one person whose untimely death hurt Carol the most.
WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Captain Marvel #31, available now from Marvel.
Captain Marvel has suffered some truly heartbreaking tragedies in her lifetime. Most recently, she’s been grappling with how her actions in the present could affect the future she desperately wants to avoid. Even though she has overcome the worst of these anxieties recently, it doesn’t take long before another grave concern rears its ugly head. Not only does Captain Marvel have a monstrous new threat to deal with, but it has even taken on a painfully familiar form, and seeing Mar-Vell in such a gruesome state is nothing that she could have prepared herself for.
While Carol and Rhodey had planned on a much-needed getaway vacation, their plans took an unfortunate turn when Carol’s Kree sister Lauri-Ell came bearing bad news. Back on the Throneworld of the Kree/Skrull Alliance, a lab containing Kree DNA had been ransacked, and one of the missing samples was the DNA of Carol and Lauri’s mother. The trio immediately goes to investigate what has happened only to discover a monster of the Alliance’s own creation. The micro-organism that the lab had been using to dispose of waste has apparently become sentient after exploding in size. Carol’s immediate reaction upon discovering this is to communicate with the creature, which proves a little too successful for any of the heroes’ liking. The Sludge knows who Captain Marvel is, and it’s decided to show its guests just how big a fan of the classic version of the character it is in the pages of Captain Marvel #31 by Kelly Thompson, Takeshi Miyazawa, Ian Herring, and VC’s Clayton Cowles.
The Sludge slowly shifts its shape into that of Mar-Vell, the original Captain Marvel who first appeared in 1967’s Marvel Super-Heroes #12 in “The Coming of Captain Marvel!” by Stane Lee and Gene Colan. During his time as a captain in the Kree Space Fleet, Mar-Vell was chosen by the Supreme Intelligence to journey to Earth and blend in with humanity for its own nefarious purposes. After taking the identity of the deceased Doctor Walter Lawson, Mar-Vell soon met and subsequently became romantically involved with for some time.
In fact, it would be her close relationship with Mar-Vell that led to Carol’s own Kree powers being bestowed upon her. Over the years, these two heroes would become quite literally synonymous with one another, though she wouldn’t take up Mar-Vell’s old mantle until after he made the ultimate sacrifice to defend the Kree from the Phoenix Force in 2012’s Secret Avengers #28 by Rick Remender and Renato Guedes. Now that the Sludge has taken on Mar-Vell’s appearance, all Carol can do is politely ask that it choose another form. The Sludge doesn’t seem to get the hint no matter how firmly she restates her request, and when it turns its tendrils on her allies there is nothing left to do but blast it away.
For someone who was a friend, love interest and superhero mentor to be presented in such grotesque fashion by an even more disgusting new threat is easily one of the worst sights that Carol has had to behold in recent months, and it’s hard to imagine that destroying the Sludge in that form felt very good, either. Her time with Mar-Vell has always been a defining aspect of Carol’s life, so it’s more than understandable that she would be so upset by his image being used in vain like this. Of course, it does beg the question of just how the Sludge knew so much about Mar-Vell in the first place. Considering the fact that it has apparently been consuming the discarded or stolen DNA of great Kree warriors, the obvious answer would be that it has part of Mar-Vell inside it. If that’s true, putting it down could be a lot more difficult than unloading a few bright lights its way, no matter how hot they burn.
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