CAPTAIN MARVEL versus THING

Betrayal! (Marvel)
Where: Captain Marvel #26 When: May 1973
Why: Mike Friedrich & Jim Starlin How: Jim Starlin

The Story So Far...
Rick Jones' girlfriend betrayed his love when she fingered him for a murder rap he didn't commit! When Captain Marvel goes looking for answers, he discovers poor Lou-Ann Savannah is a reluctant pawn in a cosmic conspiracy!

The Mad Titan Thanos plans intergalactic conquest starting with the planet Earth, and his scheme is being carried out by Skrull minions: Skragg and Kl'rt!

With the truth exposed: Captain Marvel is on the warpath -- but he's still reeling from the mind-games inflicted in a previous fight with the Skrulls! Super-Skrull has lured The Thing into a trap that paralyzes his vocal chords -- meaning the hero cannot object when Captain Marvel mistakes him for his shape-changing enemies!

Tale of the Tape...
Strength: Thing 6 (Invincible)
Intelligence: Captain Marvel 4 (Tactician)
Speed: Captain Marvel 4 (Olympian)
Stamina: Captain Marvel 6 (Generator)
Agility: Captain Marvel 3 (Acrobat)
Fighting: Draw 3 (Street Wise)
Energy: Captain Marvel 5 (Lasers)
Total: Captain Marvel 31 (Super)

Today's featured fight marks the first serious entry for the legendary Captain Marvel! Not to be confused with the original Captain Marvel of Fawcett [and DC] Comics fame! This one's a cosmic Kree warrior published by Marvel Comics!

We've actually seen the man called Mar-Vell on one prior occasion. An intriguing quirk of the Marvel Zombies universe is its retro timeline, which meant Captain Marvel lived long enough to become walking dead! We saw his zombie take serious damage from Silver Surfer back in Marvel Zombies (Vol. 1) #3!

In our universe: Captain Mar-Vell was a decorated hero of the Imperial Kree Space Fleet drawn into the grand plans of the Supreme Intelligence. He sent Mar-Vell to Earth as a spy, but his altruistic nature led him to use his unique powers to become a hero on Earth! He was eventually bound to Rick Jones, forcing one to dwell in the Negative Zone while the other existed in our reality.

Mar-Vell gained multiple power boosts in his time, developing super-human strength, speed, intelligence, reflexes, photon energy blasts, and cosmic awareness. He was also an accomplished combatant prior to gaining his powers.

Thing's no stranger to duking it out with cosmically aware opponents! As a member of the Fantastic Four he's faced the majority of cosmic threats, even battling the likes of Silver Surfer, Champion of the Universe, and Ronan!

In past features we've seen Thing take on villains from the Kree's rival empire: Paibok The Power Skrull [Fantastic Four #358], and Kl'rt the Super-Skrull [Fantastic Four (Vol. 2) #7]. The former was a typical triumph for the physically powerful hero, but the latter saw him outmatched by raw cosmic might!

Thing should outclass Mar-Vell in the strength department most days of the week, but The Captain has superior speed, reflexes, and the ability to fly. He's also a far more skilled technical combatant.

It's rarely a good idea to bet against the ever lovin' blue-eyed Thing, but the versatility of Captain Marvel's abilities mean he's a real wildcard! Our Tape and Rankings can't agree. Let's find out how the fight went down!

The Tape: Captain Marvel Ranking: Thing (#10)

What Went Down...
Spotting The Thing skulking in the dark, Rick Jones remembers the recent deceptions of the villainous Skrulls and assumes the worst! He smacks the incredible Nega-Bands together to tag in the cosmic Captain Marvel!

The Kree soldier wastes no time launching an attack on the man he believes to be an unsuspecting foe! His left hook is fantastic enough to send even the mighty Thing flying uncontrollably through the air!

At first Thing thinks he's been attack by a Skrull in disguise, as well, but Marvel's belligerent berating puts the pieces together. As Thing recovers from the devastating punch, he realizes they've been set up!

With his vocal chords neutralized earlier by the insidious Skrulls, Thing has no choice but to let his rocky fists do his talking! He throws an all mighty right hand at the charging Captain - and then slams his head into a wall!

Rather than slow the Kree soldier down - it strengthens his resolve! Refusing to give up until he claims victory, Mar-Vell grapples with his hulking opponent and launches him through a nearby interior wall!

The impressive toss sends the pair deeper into the Skrull base, exposing a more hi-tech interior than the decrepit apartment they entered. Captain Marvel flies straight in like a missile targeting his powerful enemy!

Thing catches the airborne Captain with a devastating left hook to the chin that redirects the threat at a nearby steel wall!

Cap hits shoulder first, and before he can collect his footing: Thing uses his incredible strength to rip the steel floor up like it was mere carpeting! A gambit that successfully throws Captain Marvel into a carnage of interior structure!

Thing believes he has finally claimed victory, but Captain Marvel explodes from the wood and metal! Still mistaking his opponent for a deceptive Skrull, he snatches an exposed power cable and thrusts the live wire at Thing's chest!

Thousands of volts of electricity course untamed through Thing's body! He's down for the count, and with all that's been experienced leading up to this duel of mistaken identities -- Captain Marvel is ready to kill!

The Kree warrior forages for a jagged prong of metallic wreckage as Thing tries desperately to stir to his knees. Mar-Vell looms over his fallen opponent and raises the spike above his head to drive it down with a killing blow!

Yet! Only the floor feels the point of the improvised weapon!

Despite the terrible crimes the Skrulls have committed, Captain Marvel does not have it within his soul to murder a helpless man in cold-blood!

A good thing, too -- because Benjamin J Grimm is no villain! Fortunately, the jolt of electricity has counteracted the paralysis of his vocal chords! Recovering from the attack, he speaks for the first time - forging an alliance of heroes!

The Hammer...

Whoa! What the heck just happened?! Did Captain Marvel really just steamroll the Fantastic Four's resident muscle at half past clobberin' time?! It was such an intense slobber knocker -- I was hardly even paying attention to the result!

No prizes for guessing who's been reading Captain Marvel over Christmas! A deep dive back to the life of one of Marvel's forgotten heroes was exactly what the doctor ordered!

Nothing I say or do will capture the white-knuckle frenzy of seventies Captain Marvel! I've been hearing the phrase "gonzo" thrown around a lot to describe fast and loose comics coming out today -- but you don't know the meaning until you've treated yourself to this patch of potent publishing!

The 1970s and I don't always get along, and sometimes even Marvel comics from the decade can read a little dour. No such trouble in Captain Marvel, though! Every action is thrust with maximum intensity! Every judgment made to snap! One minute Rick Jones is betrayed by a lover -- the next moment Captain Marvel's yelling bloody murder as the walls collapse around him!

I tend to think of Jim Starlin writing cosmic opera in the nineties, but here he is two decades earlier as a proficient penciller, too!

The artwork reminds me of John Romita's account of working on Spider-man, and the editorial influence of Jack Kirby and exaggerated, non-stop action. Peter Parker doesn't fold his clothes neatly and take practical action to find a flagpole outside his window. He leaps out and explodes into web-swinging action! That ethos is very much here in just about every wide-eyed panel of Captain Marvel!

I suspect Starlin's large panels and melodramatic figures are key to injecting the wild energy spilling off every page. There's an enthusiastic, reckless vibe I would naively equate with a college  sensibility. Starlin was in his mid-twenties at the time, so that might not be such a bad reading.

I also wonder if the infamous circumstances of Captain Marvel's creation helps explain the reckless, erratic energy of the book. It may read like a Kirby-tinged cosmic rollercoaster, but it's a lot looser than anything The King put out!

Fawcett Comics stopped publishing the regular adventures of their original Captain Marvel in 1953. His reign as comics icon was partly ended by a successful suit from National Comics (later DC) for infringing on the basic copyright of their archetypal originator: Superman. This lapse in publication meant the "Captain Marvel" trademark expired -- and Marvel Comics pounced!

If Marvel was to maintain the trademark, they would have to continue to produce relevant publications. Even when Captain Marvel wasn't selling particularly well, the obligation to maintain the series remained.

Guaranteed publication and a flagging audience is a perfect storm for wild and unusual ideas! The editorial chains come loose, giving creative folks free reign to find an audience without fear of reprisal! That seemed to contribute to the revamp of Mar-Vell's design from retro spaceman to modern superhero. I imagine it was the impetus for letting a young Starlin loose, as well.

Whatever the reasons -- I'm enjoying the heck out of it! I love the cavalcade of guest heroes and villains who went through the series during this period, and I'm sure we'll be back some time in the future to talk more about them!

If you like what you've seen and want to read more about the life and times of Captain Marvel, be sure to check out the Amazon links provided. Doing so will put collected editions in your hot little hands - and help support the site at no extra charge!

If you're looking for more battles from the cosmic corners of the Marvel Universe, be sure to check out links to characters and featured fights found throughout this post. You can also dive into the Secret Archive to check out past featured fights index by publisher, series and issue!

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Winner: Captain Marvel
#160 (+279) Captain Marvel (Mar-Vell)
#10 (--) Thing

FANTASY FIGHTS: DC/MARVEL ROUND 4!
By popular demand, the Infinite Wars are about to go where they've never been before! After two years of comprehensive canonical fight fact coverage, we're delving into the fictional world of fantasy fights, because you demanded it!

In the spirit of the immensly popular '96 DC/Marvel crossover event, we're pitting fifteen of each company's most relevant characters to 2007 against one and other! Stay tuned as we take a look at the imagine struggles of the superhero stars that have propelled the Infinite Wars across two full years of fisticuffs!

BOOSTER GOLD versus CAPTAIN MARVEL
Strength: Mar-Vell 6 (Invincible)
Intelligence: Mar-Vell 3 (Straight A)
Speed: Mar-Vell 4 (Olympian)
Stamina: Mar-Vell 6 (Generator)
Agility: Mar-Vell 3 (Acrobat)
Fighting Ability: Draw 3 (Street Wise)
Energy Powers: Draw 5 (Lasers)


The Hook...
Aquaman/Sub-Mariner was the obligatory combo of fish-men; Tigra/Catwoman played wittingly to the cat-lovers; Captain Marvel Jr/Hercules maybe made you stop to think a little bit about what's going on. If you instantly identified today's thematic hook, then consider yourself amongst the super-groovy elite of Infinite Wars readers!

DC's wave of Infinite Crisis/52 related storylines reinvigorated many-a character, and the JLI allumnist from the future was right up there among them. Under the pen of mastermind, Geoff Johns; Booster Gold is now enjoying his time in the sun, spilling across time in a brand new solo series.

Coming out of the pages of Marvel's Civil War; seventies superheroing icon, Captain Mar-Vell, made his shock return to the Marvel Universe as a time-displaced warden for SHIELD's Negative Zone prison.
The Kree hero, who famously died of cancer, is plucked from a time before his illness took by Reed Richards and Tony Stark, and after fleeing his post, Mar-Vell seeks anonymity and seclusion amongst humanity, until perils force him into the light in the pages of a new solo series written by Brian Reed.

So, you see? It's a battle of the time-displaced!

The Math: Mar-Vell (Super Class) Ranking: Mar-Vell (#225)

The Battle...
Travelling back through time to investigate a disturbance, Booster Gold finds himself rocked by cosmic powers, torn out of the warp, to crash land in our present. The time travelling hero stumbles through the dust, which clears to reveal the glowing visage of our world's Captain Marvel!

Mar-Vell's cosmic awareness registers that Gold is an unfamiliar quantity in the universe, but before he can interrogate the strange visitor, Gold leaps at him with a devestating sucker-punch!

Operating on the assumption that Mar-Vell was responsible for yanking him into the timestream, Gold wastes no time attempting to blindsight the cosmically powered Kree. The physical onslaught provokes response in kind.

Mar-Vell delivers a defensive uppercut that sends the attacking Booster Gold into the air! He follows swiftly, leaving a trail of twinkling golden light that maps the path of his torpedo-like attack, ending at a collision point with Gold.

Dazed but still airborne, Booster retaliates on instinct with a full powered energy blast that sends Mar-Vell hurtling earthbound. His landing leaves a massive crater in the dirt, and this time Booster tracks his opponent through the dust with the use of his futuristic goggles. Alas, whilst being strategically sound, it only means he sees what hit him -- the devestating power of the cosmic nega-bands -- power even Booster Gold can't stand up to.

The Hammer...
To lift the curtain a little further back: I write each of these entries, like most others, without much in the way of editorial process. Regular readers are going to already know this because of the many grammatical and spelling errors that find their way into these streams of hand-eye co-ordi-nsciousness.
While I've paired thirty characters together in advance; by writing them as they come, the below tally is preserved. So levelling out at two-all, coincidental fun!

I would have to admit that neither character is really my favourite, and being that I'm a little bit behind, I might've played it a tad generic. If you're a diehard Mar-Vell or Booster Gold fan, confirm or deny the results of this confrontation that crosses time and space! Take me to school!

In the mean time -- ooohhhh! It's all evens!
With the only stern mandate being that there can be no draws, this next one will put either DC (blue) or Marvel (red) in the lead! Much like the original crossover series, I've ordered the showdowns much like any fight card worth it's salt, leaving the major battles to the end of the year. That said, there are plenty of significant characters from 2007 to come, and this next one is a must-have!
WINNER: Captain Marvel

2 versus 2

MARVEL ZOMBIES versus SILVER SURFER
Marvel Zombies (Marvel comics)
Where: Marvel Zombies #3 When: April 2006
Why: Robert Kirkman How: Sean Phillips

The story so far...
In the universe dubbed 2149, heroes and villains are no longer of any relevant concern. However, this is not a reality of uptopian peace and harmony among man.
The super powered heroes and villains of the Marvel universe have simply become infectious walking dead -- zombies!

With humanity all but exterminated, and the efforts of the genius zombified Reed Richards having been foiled by his alternate counterpart, the zombies are tortured by their lust for fresh meat.

Their undead prayers are soon answered with the arrival of a chrome skinned spaceman called the Silver Surfer, who warns of the coming of the great devourer, but they've got news for him: HE'S the one that's going to get devoured!

Previous Form:
Silver Surfer (#28): Silver Surfer had a victory over Green Lantern, Kyle Rayner.
Marvel Zombies: They ate Magneto...

Tale of the tape...
Strength: Hulk 6 (Invincible)
Intelligence: Giant-Man 6 (Genius)
Speed: Nova 7 (Light Speed)
Stamina: Silver Surfer 6 (Generator)
Agility: Spider-man 5 (Cat-like)
Fighting Ability: Wolverine 6 (Warrior)
Energy Powers: Silver Surfer 7 (Solar Power)


Ah, well, here we are again, approaching once more the monumental task of one unfortunate against the ravenous league of the Marvel Zombies. No, not the fans! The infected heroes and villains of the title of the same name.

Our format has changed considerably since the last time we did this [Marvel Zombies #1], and because of that, I feel the need to at least clarify the roster of zombified characters we are dealing with. They are as follows: Iron Man, Nova, Vulture, Falcon, Storm, Thor, Moon Knight, Black Bolt, Captain Marvel, Daredevil, Iron Fist, Wolverine, Angel, Captain America, Sub-Mariner, Crystal, Gambit, Ghost Rider, Speedball, Deadpool, Black Widow, Giant-Man, Spider-man, Hulk, Beast, Hercules and Power Man, Luke Cage.

That's twenty-seven zombie characters all up!
A pretty big ask for even the Silver Surfer, whose power cosmic provides a wide array of strengths and abilities.

A few people, in response to the Rise of the Silver Surfer trailer have expressed explicit confusion about the nature of the character's abilities. To clarify some of that (and hopefully make this section less boring than usual), the Surfer does not phase through objects.
At least, not in such bland terms. "Phasing" is an expression I would limit to a Kitty Pryde, whose chief ability relates to intangibility and passing through objects.

At various stages the extent of Silver Surfer's cosmic powers have been explored, highlighting his abilities on a molecular and atomic level. So, as far as passing through buildings and buses and whatnot, he's less "phasing" than he is displaying his brisk harmony with the universe, and molecular manipulation.
Given some time and energy, he could probably turn lead into gold, too.

So, against an army of Marvel Zombies, does this come in handy?
Maybe, but it isn't one of his chief abilities and requires some effort, so he's not about to try to turn Iron Fist into cheese mid-fight. He's more likely, as I'm sure you're about to see, mow them down with raw blasts of cosmic energy.

Since even Wolverine has been ravaged by the degenerative qualities of this particular brand of zombie-ism, it's safe to say the Surfer has a great chance of coming out on top here. That said, many of them retain their offensive powers, which does pose a problem.

I guess at the end of this we just have to look at it as one for the fans. Cheap!

The Math: Marvel Zombies (Total) Silver Surfer (Average)
The Pick: The Silver Surfer

What went down...
Trust the math to cop-out and pick both sides!
Things kick off from the opening of this action-packed issue! A zombified Tony Stark [pictured above] leads the charge, with various other flying characters hovering around for a taste of the action.

Not one for emotion at the best of times, and not really used to people doing anything but cower in fear in his presence, Silver Surfer meets their challenge willingly. His cosmic plast tears through Iron Man's armor with ease, shredding his decaying body at the waist.

The airborne torso manages to snag the Surfer's board and leg, while the Vulture and Nova swing around for a bite of the cherry. They provide sufficient interference to pull the Surfer's cosmic blast off course.
It narrowly misses Stark's head, leaving him free to ravenously attempt to take a bite out of the chrome thigh before him. His teeth chip on the cosmic wrap, much to the Surfer's stoic disgust.

"In all my travels -- I have never encountered such creatures!"
He frees himself of the full nelson, and fires off devestating blasts at Nova and Captain Mar-Vell, penetrating gut and face respectively.

A lurking Thor makes his presence known, swinging his mighty hammer Mjolnir with a thundering KROOM!
The force of the blow knocks the Silver Surfer from his board, but likewise shatters the stone head of the Asgardian hammer. Perhaps the barer was no long worthy...

Landing hard on the apocalyptic street level below, the harbinger from space finds himself with many more abominations to contend with.

Colonel America leads the charge, promising double rations to the man or woman who makes the kill. Something easier said than done. The Vulture and Moon Knight each take the brunt of cosmic blasts, followed by Namor, and Falcon.

Charging through some of the other street level characters, Wolverine declares his intentions, but is quickly embarrassed.
The mutant takes a swipe with his adamantium claws, but while the skeleton is willing, the flesh is weak. His claws and forearm tear straight through his failing skin and flesh as he strikes the Surfer's sturdy chest.

With his healing factor unable to fight the decomposition, and no ligaments to contain his adamantium laced bones, Wolverine trims the fat. With his good arm, he slices away at the exposed bones and ragged edges of torn skin and muscle.
At this time, he feels a tap at his ankle.

The upper torso of Iron Man asks Wolverine for a lift, and with his one good arm, he's all too happy to oblige a fastball special.

Iron Man hurtles through the falling and fighting bodies of Speedball, Ghost Rider, Deadpool and others, as Gambit's disembodied head floats across the battlefield. Giant-Man arrives from his lab in time to witness the slaughter, and remains content to hideout in the shadows of the alleyways for the time being.

Meanwhile, on the sidelines, Bruce Banner and Spider-man are both carrying prominent injuries. Banner, with a hole in his gut, feels the hunger gnawing, while Spidey metaphorically gnaws at himself, relieving his body of a useless, dangling leg. By then, Banner is no more, and Hulk has entered the fight.

Don't make him hungry. You wouldn't like him when he's hungry!

The Surfer continues to expell his energies, fending off the never-ending physical onslaught of the zombie armada.

Beast, Black Bolt and others are tossed aside as the rampaging Hulk charges at the first signs of food! He snatches the Surfer from Beast's grip, and scoops him up valiantly in a cradle, declaring "the silver man" as his.

The Surfer has other ideas, firing off a double barrelled blast of cosmic energy at point blank. The gambit is enough to free him from the green goliath's grip, and gives him an opportunity to reunite with his surfboard.

With Colonel America and others in pirsuit, it is again the Hulk who gets the benefit of the alien. Hulk's mighty leap sees him landing atop the chrome herald, forcing them again away from the intergalactic surfboard.

Furious about the damage suffered at the Surfer's blast; a charred face Hulk, seething with strength, guarantees the Silver Surfer regret his resistence.

The Hulk's teeth and jaws prove powerful enough to penetrate the Silver Surfer's hardy exterior. He crunches down, biting the head off like a crazed rockstar.
The cosmic energies housed within spew forth from both the Hulk's mouth, and the gaping neck of the gleeming herald to Galactus.

Giant-Man steps out of the shadows to give Iron Man and Spidey a helping hand toward the feeding. Thor, Wolverine, Powerman and Colonel America are all quick to get their fill, before having the torn body snatched away by Giant-Man.

As things start to get nasty amongst the squabbling zombies, Colonel America makes the discovery that they have inherited some of the Surfer's power by feasting on his chromed flesh. He does so by blasting Beast's objecting head off.

The hammer...
Is there any way being eaten could make you the victor? With the killing blow struck by the Hulk, I declare the Marvel Zombies victorious! Assists for all, with Hulk picking up the kill!

I've probably gone a bit generous on this one. There were a few characters thrown in there getting the assist who really weren't seen to be all that effective. Crystal shows up for a single panel, as best as I can recall at 2:30am.
There's some implication that Gambit is about to do something pretty spectacular, but the biggest scenes for the Cajun are being blasted through the chest, and his decapitated head being thrown across the background.

Still, I guess thems the breaks when we dare to do these BIG superhero battles on Secret Earths. They're usually a bit of fun to read, but when it comes to recapping and judging, it can be a bit of a pain in the ol' arse, if I may say so.

A lot of love being thrown the Marvel Zombies way again with the recent Army of Darkness vs Marvel Zombies mini-series.
I haven't had the chance to pick up any issues yet, but I do have one distinct problem with the project. No, it's not the longevity of the concept, and it isn't anything to do with burning sacred cows. It's the longterm logic of it.

As near as I can tell, the series is set before this particular mini we reviewed here today [Marvel Zombies], but that means Ash and the Army of Darkness intellectual properties, rights and trademarks are being tied into something that will inevitably outlast any agreement between the involved parties.
So not only do you have a concept from an unrelated medium impeding on proceedings, but there's the real likelihood that it will prevent any canonical reference to this period of the past.

Of course, I might be scaremongering there. It might not really matter, and certainly for the on-going adventures of the Marvel Zombies, I can't imagine it will. I'm very much looking forward to the upcoming storyarc with Black Panther and the new Fantastic Four.

Dramatic resonances of the Black Panther involvement aside [BP is a surviving human in Marvel Zombies], I just think it's a nice change of pace to be seeing quirky concepts like this being drifted toward the 'serious' business.
It could very easily overstay it's welcome, and cross into in-your-face mundanity, but for the time being I watch with interest.

On another related note -- if you backtrack through the downing of what went, you'll notice during Thor's moment of glory I made reference to Mjolnir.
The hammer explodes upon impact with the Surfer, which isn't really what Mjolnir is known for in the regular universe, so it potentially answers a question I would have asked: -- Is zombie Thor still worthy of lifting the enchanted hammer?

I guess you could theorize that deep-down he is worthy, and that the spell is somewhat robotic or mechanical in it's determination. You could extrapolate to come up with some sort of meta-mystic theory that the hammer shattered because it was weakened byproxy by the infection.
Or you could just say it was a fun moment, with a bit of creative oversight.

Certainly, despite an upcoming prequel, the series does not feel like something carefully crafted and built atop lengthy planning. Which is where some of my concerns for the Zombies franchise enter the picture, but we'll burn it as it comes.

Ah, we can also harken back to a discussion had previously [What if...? #24], where I asked how Wolverine, healing factor and all, could be infected to begin with. Apparently the proposition here is that the zombie infection has simply overpowered his regenerative capabilities.
It's a simple solution, but I can't help but think it isn't what I'd go with...

Well, it's getting late and I'm probably minutes away from getting incoherrent, so I'll wrap it up here. Stay tuned for next week when we wrap up with a MAJOR finale for What If Wednesdays, and fight out where we're going next in the May Punch-Up! Cheers!

The Fight: 5 The Issue: 5.5