Things got off to a hot start in the first issue of Captain Marvel’s “The Last Avenger” storyline. Kelly Thompson wasted no time in having Captain Marvel turn to the dark side. That turn led to a huge battle between Captain Marvel and Thor that raged throughout Earth and the cosmos. Captain Marvel turned out to be the winner of the battle between the Avengers most powerful heroes. If that wasn’t enough, Captain Marvel cemented her victory by beheading Thor and presenting the God of Thunder’s head to Vox Supreme. What caused Captain Marvel’s sudden turn to the dark side? And with Thor taken out can the other Avengers survive against Captain Marvel? Let’s find out with Captain Marvel #13.
Writer: Kelly Thompson
Artist: Lee Garbett
Colorist: Tamra Bonvillain
Story Rating: 7 Night Girls out of 10
Art Rating: 7 Night Girls out of 10
Overall Rating: 7 Night Girls out of 10
Synopsis: At Tony Stark’s place, Captain Marvel smashes through and knocks Tony through a wall while he was brushing his teeth.
Captain Marvel then relentlessly attacks Tony as he is still putting on his Iron Man armor. As they take their fight outside Tony quickly realizes Carol Danvers is his attacker. On her end, Carol thinks how Tony was her next logical target because of his connections and affection for her.
Iron Man eventually blasts Captain Marvel off him. He asks Captain Marvel to talk about what is going on but she says she can’t.
Iron Man fires another blast but it is ineffective against Captain Marvel. Captain Marvel then fires her own blast that sends Iron Man flying into the outer atmosphere.
Captain Marvel catches up to Iron Man and takes him further into space. As she does that Iron Man begins to activate a counter protocol. Before he can do that Captain Marvel starts stripping Tony of his Iron Man armor. Eventually Captain Marvel finishes taking off all of Tony’s Iron Man armor and lets him float in space to die due to lack of oxygen.
While floating in space Captain Marvel spots Singularity nearby and signals for her to stay quiet.
An hour later, in a pocket dimension, a still alive Thor demands to know what is going on. Carol reveals that Vox Supreme is monitoring her through her suit so she had Singularity create a pocket dimension for the Avengers to stay in while she keeps up her lie. She goes on to say she needs to minimize her time in the pocket dimension. Thor asks Carol to elaborate further on what is going on.
Twenty-Two Hours earlier Captain Marvel is told that Governor’s Island in New York is dealing with an overcrowding crisis because it was only supposed to be a temporary holding facility for Kree refugees. Captain Marvel asks how many other facilities like this there are. The government official says there are nine across the country. Captain Marvel asks how she can help.
A little later Captain Marvel decided to clear her head by flying into space. As soon as she reaches the outer atmosphere she is attacked by a black substance. The black substance eventually causes her to pass out.
When Captain Marvel wakes up she finds herself wearing a black and red version of her costume. Vox Supreme appears and reveals her new suit has bonded to her and allows him to monitor her every move.
Captain Marvel tries to attack Vox Supreme but is unsuccessful. Vox Supreme says Captain Marvel will do as he commands without question.
He then shows Captain Marvel one of the Kree Refugee camps. An explosion suddenly rocks the facility. Vox Supreme reveals he has placed bombs that he can detonate in 24 hours at every facility if Captain Marvel does not do as he says. Vox Supreme then demands very specific things and that if Captain Marvel does that she could also possibly be freed from his control at some point.
Some time later this Captain Marvel thinks of what she can do with her mission to kill all the Avengers. After thinking for some time Captain Marvel realizes what she must do.
Somewhere in New Jersey Captain Marvel goes to the abandoned SHIELD facility holding Project Gemini. She forces herself in knowing that Project Gemini was not shut down even after warning SHIELD to do so. She enters a special lab where clones of the Avengers are being held in containment tubes. Captain Marvel decides these clones can help her save the world. End of issue.
The Good: Following up on the momentum created by the first chapter of “The Last Avenger” Captain Marvel #13 successfully moves things forward. That is accomplished by how Kelly Thompson wasted no time going into detail about what is really going on. Making that choice strengthens not only these first two chapters of “The Last Avenger” but also provides plenty of intrigue for future issues in this storyline.
Having Tony Stark be the next target on Captain Marvel’s hit list makes the most sense. With Thor we understood that he was the big gun on of the Avengers that would need to be taken out first if someone was going after Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. When it comes to Iron Man, not only is he the most connected hero in the world, but also has a strong connection with Captain Marvel. That is something that Kelly Thompson has made an emphasis during the course of her Captain Marvel run.
Thompson did a good job still creating a sense that Captain Marvel and Iron Man were having a battle of titans but in a different way. There were some powerful blasts shared back and forth. But what made things play out differently was that Iron Man never left the state of shock about being attacked by Captain Marvel. After all the fights they’ve had the relationship between Carol Danvers and Tony Stark is actually in a good place. Carol understanding this to be her biggest weapon against Tony was a strong way to use all that development Thompson has spent time on.
Making this early fight with Iron Man even better was how Thompson did not waste anymore time to let us know what is going on in “The Last Avenger.” As fun as seeing Captain Marvel fight both Thor and Iron Man was it was a story that could’ve gotten old if that’s all these early issues of “The Last Avenger” was about. By explaining how Captain Marvel has been forced to listen to Vox Supreme’s every command Thompson is able to establish how future issues of this storyline can have a different tone.
Revealing how Vox Supreme took control of Captain Marvel also helps in building more of an emotional connection to her story. Adding in the stakes that the Kree refugees are being placed in danger because she was Vox Supreme’s target immediately draws in that connection. The one page Thompson spends showing the Kree refugees and Carol’s concern for them was enough to understand why she is doing what she is doing. It helps this be more than just a case of Vox Supreme controlling her through the black substance he attacked her with.
This also helps build how big of a threat that Vox Supreme is. There was a deadly aura around the character’s design. Everything the villain says comes from a place where he feels he is in complete control. And how he gets Captain Marvel to side with him makes you hate him more and hope that our heroes can overcome the threat of Vox Supreme.
Lee Garbett and Tamra Bonvillain once again deliver solid artwork throughout Captain Marvel #13. They delivered high-impact action sequences with the short fight between Captain Marvel and Iron Man. At the same time, they help elevate the dialogue heavy scenes with how they drew each character. From Thor’s anger to Captain Marvel thinking through everything she has to do, there is a lot packed in to how each character look at various points in the issue that elevated Thompson’s dialogue.
The Bad: The one part Captain Marvel #13 did not work was with the ending. The whole clone Avengers came across as a deus ex machina explanation for how Captain Marvel is tricking Vox Supreme. It would’ve been better if Captain Marvel had Iron Man or someone else help her in creating versions of the Avengers to convince Vox Supreme. Just having Captain Marvel find Project Gemini that housed clones of the Avengers came across as a rushed sub-plot.
Overall: Captain Marvel #13 was a tightly paced comic book, delivering a solid second chapter to “The Last Avenger” storyline. Kelly Thompson wasted no time in giving us a fun showdown between Captain Marvel and Iron Man. The way that fight leads into understanding why Captain Marvel is working with Vox Supreme helped create an emotional connection to what is motivating Carol Danvers. In the process, Thompson, along with Lee Garbett and Tamra Bonvillain, creates greater excitement for how things will go down in “The Last Avenger.”
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