CAPTAIN MARVEL
The History of Captain Mar-Vell
The Kree were a
technologically-advanced empire which spanned many different star systems, ruled by an an
incredibly advanced sentient collective intelligence known as the Supreme Intelligence.
The Supreme Intelligence (or Supremor) was a repository of the sum of all Kree advancement
and knowledge, and was almost worshipped as a living god by the rigid, militaristic, and
extremely bellicose Kree society.
The Kree had forgotten about a small outpost, manned by the solitary Sentry #459. This outpost was discovered by the Fantastic Four, and the defeat of not only the Sentry but also Ronan the Accuser (a high Kree official) marked this little backwater planet as something to be watched.
An espionage unit commanded by Colonel Yon-Rogg and consisting of Captain Mar-Vell and Medic Una (who is a member of a Kree pacifism cult). Mar-Vell and Una are lovers, and Mar-Vell is hated by his commanding officer not only for reasons of professional jealousy but for reasons of romantic jealousy.
Mar-Vell assumes the identity of Dr. Walter Lawson, one of the chief scientists at the Cape Canaveral missle complex. He is watched by the head of security, Carol Danvers, as he tries to balance his duty to the Kree and his aversion to letting innocents die. Mar-Vell is coming to really like his adopted planet. Mar-Vell fights such villains as the Super-Skrull, Quasimodo, a killer robot Cyberex built by the original Walter Lawson, the Aakon (alien enemies of the Kree), and the Man-Slayer. Medic Una is killed by a stupid plot of Yon-Rogg's, and Mar-Vell vows to have vengence.
Mar-Vell is granted powers by a cosmic entity named Zo, but it soon becomes clear that Zo is an illusion, masking a conspiracy by Ronan the Accuser and Zarek the Imperial Minister against the Supreme Intelligence. They wish to overthrow the Supreme Intelligence and establish a regime in which the racially pure Blue Kree can purge the Empire of the 'corrupted' non-blue Kree. Mar-Vell defeats their efforts, and the Supreme Intelligence rewards Mar-Vell by making those powers permanent and giving him a new costume. However, he is trapped in the Negative Zone by Yon-Rogg.
Enter Rick Jones, who has left his partnership with Captain America. Led by illusions, he discovers a forgotten alien base, wherein he finds a pair of Nega-Bands. Donnign these, he discovers that by slamming them together he and Mar-Vell may switch places. Mar-Vell and Rick fight Yon-Rogg, who dies shortly thereafter. Rick begins a career as a pop-singer, managed by a promoter named Mordecai P. Boggs.
Rick and Mar-Vell travel around Earth, and become involved in the Kree-Skrull War, and Rick taps into the inherent genetic 'greatness' which puts an end to the War. At the end of the War Mar-Vell merges with Rick to save his life, and is apparently lost, but later it is revealed that Mar-Vell and Rick are doing the Negative-Zone bit again.
Mar-Vell and rick travel
around the country, with Rick reluctant to let Mar-Vell out from the Negative Zone. They
fight such menaces as Megaton the Atomic Assassin and Dr. Mynd as they wait for the
greatest battle of Mar-Vell's career - the fight against Thanos.
The Thanos War consumes Mar-Vell and Rick's existence as they battle Thanos' minions - various renegade aliens, the Super-Skrull, the Collector, and myriad others. Mar-Vell is joined in this fight by Mentor (Thanos' father) and Eros (Thanos' brother), Moondragon, Drax the Destroyer, and the Avengers. He is made 'Cosmically Aware' by the entity Eon, and declared by Eon the Protector of The Universe.
Ultimately Mar-Vell and his allies defeat Thanos and his minions. Mar-Vell returns to earth, where he faces Nitro, and is exposed to carcinogens which will ultimately kill him.
Next, Mar-Vell begins to encounter the agents of the Lunatic Legion, who send andriods to defeat him. Mar-Vell traces the Lunatic Legion to the Blue City on the moon. The Lunatic Legion is a conspiracy of blue Kree high-ranking military officers such as Admiral Sro-Himm, Zarek, and Fer-Porr. They have obtained assistence from the Watcher, who undergoes a trial for his interference in the affairs of others and is adjudged guilty. Mar-Vell travels to the Kree homeworld where he finally defeats Ronan the Accuser and the Lunatic Legion.
On his way back he encounters the Stranger and is attacked by Drax the Destroyer (a recurring theme in Mar-Vell's existence, it seems....). He helps the underground of Deneb IV against the Null-Trons, killer Kree robots. He is later captured by the Supreme Intelligence, who is trying to absorb Rick Jones to gain those supra-abilities with which Rick defeated the entire Kree Empire during the Kree-Skrull War.
Mar-Vell and Rick returned to Earth, just in time to defeat the Kree Sentry #459 and his partner, the Cheetah. When he collapses at the end of the battle (well, OK....after he escapes from incarceration in a Sheriff's office), he is captured by Mac-Ron, and does battle with Ronan the Accuser. Ronan succumbs to a viral disease which reduces him to a childlike condition, and he and Mac-Ron are stranded on Earth.
Mar-Vell then helps the Avengers defeat the Super-Adaptoid, and in the process separates himself from Rick Jones. Rick goes off to pursue his own life (for a change), and while Mar-Vell foils the invasion plans of Mercurio the 4-D Man, Rick is captured by Dr. Minerva, who desires to mate with Mar-Vell so that Kree genetics can transcend that dead-end they've been in for the last millenia or so. When Mar-Vell returns he is confronted by Minerva, but before she can consumate her plans (heh), the head of the Kree Science Council, Phae-Dor, takes control of her vessel and uses an energy-manifestation to try and capture Mar-Vell for use by the Kree in the War Of Three Galaxies. Mar-Vell and the Inhumans deal with the War, and Mar-Vell returns to Earth once again.
After a short period where he fights Nitro and Deathgrip, he is attacked by Drax the Destroyer, who is somewhat enraged that he has no purpose - he blames Mar-Vell for the death of Thanos, and attempts to destroy Mar-Vell in revenge. Mar-Vell brings together a temporary truce when they discover that Thanos has programmed ISAAC, the master computer system of Titan, to continue his plans in the event of his death. Mar-Vell and Drax proceed to Titan.
Most of the Titans have been captured by ISAAC, and Mar-Vell frees Mentor and Eros, and battles Lord Gaea, Dionysus, Elysius (who changes her mind about working with ISAAC when she falls in love with Mar-Vell), Stellarax, and Chaos.
After the defeat of ISAAC and his minions, Mar-Vell and Elysius tour Earth together, in what Mar-Vell refers to as "it was a honeymoon of sorts". They retire to Titan for a time, until Mar-Vell discovers that he has a problem.
Titans call it "The
Inner Decay". The Kree call it "The black-end". We Terrans call it
"cancer".
When Mar-Vell defeated Nitro and sealed the leaking cannister of a deadly bio-agent, he contracted cancer. Unknown to him, his nega-bands kept the cancer in remission until the cancer mutated beyond its ability to affect, and by the time it was detectable by Mar-Vell it had mutated past a cure.
Mar-Vell was awarded the Royal Skrull Medal of Valor before his death by General Zedrao in recognition of his bravery, as a token of respect to their enemy. The Kree rejected Mar-Vell even in death. Mar-Vell was posthumously made an Avenger.
In postscript, some time after his death, Elysius used his and her own genetic material to have his posthumous child, named Genis-Vell. Genis-Vell was artificially aged to prevent Mar-Vell's enemies from taking revenge on a helpless child, and Genis went on a quest to discover his heritage, assuming first the name Legacy, and then (with the consent of Monica Rambeau) Captain Marvel.
Text and images provided by the David G. Medinnus
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