Captain Marvel’s “Revenge Of The Brood” continues but now the rest of the X-Men will be joining the story. We already saw over in X-Men #19, also released this past week, that Krakoa’s X-Men team is dealing with the Brood from another part of the Marvel Universe. Captain Marvel and her squad of X-Men and Avengers they’ve been dealing with saving Binary and Rogue from the Brood. They weren’t so successful in the first three parts as the Brood captured the team. Now that they’ve escaped capture can Captain Marvel and the X-Men save Rogue and Binary? Let’s find out with Captain Marvel #46.
CREATIVE TEAM
Writer: Kelly Thompson
Artist: Javier Pina
Colorist: Yen Nitro
Letterer: Clayton Cowles
SYNOPSIS
While searching for Binary, Captain Marvel is racing so fast that she accidentally lets it slip about meeting Sora (Forge and Psylocke’s daughter from an alternate Marvel Universe seen in Captain Marvel #22). Psylocke catches this and Captain Marvel further opens her mind to let Psylocke know about her trip into the alternate universe.
Captain Marvel, Psylocke, and Spider-Woman finally find Binary and immediately work on breaking her free though they don’t of if Binary is alive due to being made of pure energy.
In another part of the space station Gambit, Polaris, Wolverine, and Hazmat battle through an army of Brood as they reach where Rogue is being held captive.
While breaking Rogue free Polaris notices on the monitors a massive army of Brood heading to the space station.
Seeing all this Hazmat has Polaris and Psylocke to protect their respective teammates in their area. As soon as the horde of Brood arrives Hazmat unleashes her full power. End of issue.
REVIEW
The goal of Captain Marvel #46 is clear but not always well executed. As a continuation of the race to save Binary and Rogue, we get a lot of good character moments. But it is the fumbling of a major plot point that keeps Captain Marvel #46 from reaching its full potential as a continuation of the
When Kelly Thompson’s writing for Carol Danvers is at her best is when playing off the continuity of the character. That continuity is not just the one for this volume of Captain Marvel. Tapping into Carol’s entire history, in this case, the trauma she has experienced through her own cosmic journey does get you behind the character. Being in the Brood space station is a clear trigger for Carol, especially considering that Binary was born out of her own energy. That gives Carol even more things to think about as she deals with her own past and how that paints a picture of what Binary is going through.
But it is this same strength where Thompson misses an opportunity to have Carol connect more with Spider-Woman, Hazmat, and the X-Men. That is because we know that everyone is connected through the mental link Psylocke set up for the team. Psylocke even makes it a point that Carol is thinking about so much in a quick fashion that her thoughts are leaking through their mental link. This should’ve been an opportunity for greater character connections to be made but it doesn’t happen.
What do we get instead is an alternate future Captain Marvel visited and Psylocke learning about the daughter another universe version of herself had with Forge. While that works as a call back to a previous story it drops the ball on the greater character growth the mental link had. Especially with how heavily Thompson went with Carol’s inner monologue. That should’ve been an opening to either explore Carol’s friendship with Jessica Drew or connect her with the rest of the team. But instead, Carol was just so lost in her thoughts that she ended up not being a great leader, leaving Spider-Woman and Psylocke to deal with saving Binary and figuring out if Binary is alive.
The second half of Captain Marvel #46 worked much better with the team of Gambit, Polaris, Wolverine, and Hazmat saving Rogue. The team was efficient in defeating all of the Brood that got in their way. And as soon as they reached Rogue the team worked quickly to free her. This quick action does make Gambit and the others appear much better in taking the lead on things.
We see that even Hazmat got a chance to shine as she recognized how bad things were about to get. Taking all that in Hazmat quickly figured out that the best way to deal with the Brood army heading their way was to use her powers at max capacity. With that in mind, Hazmat was quick to warn all her teammates and got them prepared so they were protected against the power she was about to unleash. This all made for an impressive showing from Hazmat, who hasn’t gotten this type of chance to shine very much.
Javier Pina delivered solid artwork throughout Captain Marvel #46. Even with the heavy inner monologue on the front end of the issue Pina still got the chance to showcase all the characters in action. The second half especially was Pina’s time to shine as we see some cool combo moves with Polaris and Wolverine while Hazmat had her most impressive showing with her powers.
FINAL THOUGHTS
While the inner monologue did not work to tap into the full potential of things Kelly Thompson previously established the dynamic between all the characters was done well. Hazmat, Polaris, and Psylocke stole the show in this issue. Good artwork from Javier Pina made Captain Marvel #46 another solid chapter in The Revenge Of The Brood story.
Story Rating: 6 Night Girls out of 10
Art Rating: 7 Night Girls out of 10
Overall Rating: 6.5 Night Girls out of 10