Ms. Marvel Revenge Squad

Pretty sporadic updating here, I know. There are still quite a few readers according to whatever Typepad tells me, but hey, for all I know you are all phishing robots or something. Shrug. Do people even read blogs anymore?

Anyway, my entry for Comic Book Runway last week got me thinking about Ms. Marvel (again,) and I did a bit of sketch of Ms. Marvel enemies. A very rough, quick sketch I might add. I'll be updating this post throughout the week with a selection of rogues from the pages of Ms. Marvel.

First up, Deathbird!

Ms. Marvel #9 (1977) by Chris Claremont, Keith Pollard, Joe Sinnott, and Sam Grainger

Did you know Deathbird started as a Ms. Marvel villain? It was never made clear what her origin was at the time-- that is, her background as member of the alien Shi'ar royal family, her traitorous act, her exile on earth, etc. It was all very mysterious and enigmatic-- although she certainly talked as if she were not human, calling Ms. Marvel a "hatchling" and talking about something called "the Aerie." For some reason, she was working with A.I.M. and MODOK, so when Ms. Marvel investigated A.I.M.'s headquarters underneath a department store (?), they naturally battled it out. Deathbird immediately after abandoned A.I.M./MODOK and showed up battling Hawkeye before ending up as a regular X-Men villain.
  
The ship has probably sailed to have Deathbird as a true archenemy for Ms. Marvel. D-Bird is on a whole 'nother scale at this point, wheeling and dealing at the level of interstellar empires. She's now become a boss-level villain that Ms. Marvel would have to get to only after several side-scrolling screens of lackeys and underlings. Still, these two would have been great rivals-- the exiled Shi'ar empress versus the Earth-born Kree warrior.

 

Next, Mystique!

Ms. Marvel #17 (1978) by Chris Claremont, Jim Mooney, and Tony De Zuniga

Did you know Mystique ALSO started as a Ms. Marvel villain? I never realized it in my early years of reading Marvel Comics, but in retrospect it makes Mystique's order for Rogue to attack Ms. Marvel (and subsequent absorption of all her powers) make more sense.

Mystique appeared in her then-often-used but now-abandoned secret identity of Raven Darkholme,  who had infiltrated a high position in the U.S. government. She helped some guy in SHIELD steal armor and weaponry to become the Centurion and attack Ms. Marvel, only to have to take on the whole Avengers (and lose.) Mystique was only refered to as "Raven Darkholme," and also to be working on behalf of someone she had to call "lord."  I have no idea how that was resolved; as far as I know, she next showed up with a Brotherhood of Evil Mutants to call her own, and she's been an X-Villain ever since. (See a pattern developing here?)

Comments

[Nathan Adler]

Eureka!!! I think translating the meaning behind a “Claremont” name is the key to finally breaking open the mystery behind his longest standing story.

My own mother’s maiden being that of the surname of his character, Lifeguard, this made me recall it is Scottish for ‘crooked nose’. With Heather’s later transformation revealing her Shi’ar royal ancestry, this made me wonder whether the ‘crooked nose’ is meant to imply an avian beak!

Now given the entry from Destiny’s Diary in XXM 10 reveals that Heather was “Mothered by War”, fans have previously taken this to mean Claremont was implying that her mother was Deathbird.

However, given Claremont gave Heather the code-name of LIFEguard, was this meant to clue us in to her mother’s attributes being the polar opposite to that of her murderous sister who represented DEATH?

So did Claremont intend the diary entry to instead suggest that Heather is the half-Shi’ar offspring of Deathbird’s unnamed sister whom she supposedly murdered [ref. UXM 156]?

But I’m not stopping there!

Setting aside her name of Raven, did you know the word Mystique translates directly as ‘air of mystery’?

So not only does Mystique’s surname refer to a ‘bird of death’ but her code-name refers to her mystery being related to ‘AIR’.

Does this finally reveal that Mystique was an Aerie?

Now recall that Lifeguard’s ability to register danger enabled her to obtain the powers, and or forms, necessary to save her or others, the powers and forms she took being determined by the situation she was in and adapting accordingly.

So did Heather inherit her ability to shape-shift from Mystique?

What, you say?!

Well we know that while Heather was in space her shape shifting DNA brought out her natural Shi’ar heritage, but when she was on earth the royal Shi’ar markings had not manifested despite her mutant abilities having done so.

So is this why Mystique showed no obvious signs of Shi’ar heritage – because she was primarily stationed on Earth?

If Lifeguard inherited her shape-shifting ability from her mother, did she likewise inherit the ability to register danger?

So if Mystique is Heather’s mother, did she secretly manage to survive Deathbird’s attempt on her life because like her daughter she was able to sense danger within a 30 metre radius, after which she replaced her body with that of a similar Shi’ar and thereafter fled to Earth?

Does this finally explain why Deathbird came to Earth? Did she somehow suspect her sister had survived and intended to seek proof of her treachery so she would no longer be exiled from her empire? That is, had D’Ken and Mystique conspired to kill their mother and frame Deathbird to prevent her claiming the throne since she was the first in line for it?! It just never seemed to make sense that Deathbird would jeopardise her rightful claim, but it didn’t seem to be beyond of the realm of capability of her brother.

So does D’Ken’s sister-in-arms, Mystique, station herself on Earth to their mutual benefit, where she takes up numerous identities, including that of a male Shi’ar agent, Davan Shakari.

On this point, recall how Lilandra had stated in UXM 107 how Shakari had been “our agent on Earth”. This never seemed to make sense when you consider the reveal in UXM 105 that he had been exiled to Earth. However, keeping my above theory in mind it does. That is, Davan Shakari was stationed on Earth by the Shi’ar Empire first as their loyal agent, but upon Mystique fleeing there, fearing the empire would take note that more than one Shi’ar was stationed there, she killed him and took his as one of her many identities.

I would further posit that the original Shakari stationed on Earth had never taken the identity of Eric the Red, but that had instead been Mystique’s doing, her taking utter delight in the irony not only of using the spelling of the Christian name she had adopted upon settling on earth (cf. Eric Raven from Chaos War: X-Men 1) but also an identity previously used by one of the surviving sons of the family her brother had abducted from Earth year’s earlier.

So when did Mystique originally arrive on Earth? Had she stowed away on the ship that abducted Christopher and Kate Summers? At the time Claremont was originally writing these scenes the year these events would have occurred would be approximately 1953. Now why is this year significant in Claremont stories? Despite Claremont’s revelations since returning to the X-titles that Mystique is over one-hundred years old, you’ll recall him revealing during the fox-hunt sequence in UXM 170 that she would not be born for another 170 years from 1783 (i.e. 1953). Was this meant to suggest that her life as an Earther didn’t begin until 1953? If so, she would have been deposited on Earth at about the time Christopher and Kate were withdrawn from Earth at her brother’s command.

Interesting is it not, that Mystique first appears in the same title Deathbird is introduced in, Ms. Marvel!

[Danny]

Wow! That is an amazing theory if true. With the power of retrospect, it is easy to see Claremont's attempt to streamline various concepts into any book he was writing (and at the time those were quite a number of books.) I'm not 100% convinced by your theory, but it certainly jives with my own theory that Ms. Marvel could have been a major power player in the Marvel Universe-- just think it it were her title that was the focus of such epic Shi'ar stories that the X-Men are known for!

(BTW, I like your own blog and may have to take inspiration from your premise "How would you fix...?" Intriguing ideas!)

[Nathan Adler]

Thanks for your kind comments.

Re: "How would you fix...?" why not go one step better and prepare a fix for my own blog.

I have provided guest spots in the past and could also provide a link to your blog on my favourites (you have my email if interested:)

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