Ms. Marvel

Ms. Marvel has adopted the mantle of Captain Marvel. Remembering her late friend and mentor, Helen Cobb, she undertakes the vast legacy of the name "Captain Marvel" with a renewed vigor.

Origin
In the 1960's, Carol Danvers made her comic book debut as a beautiful and highly capable young woman who had managed to overcome gender-typing and excel in challenging military occupations normally dominated by men. She was already an ace fighter pilot, a former officer in the U.S. Air Force, and a former CIA agent when she was hired as the head of security of NASA headquarters at Cape Canaveral. One of Carol's co-workers at NASA was a Dr. Phillip Lawson, who was secretly the alien Kree super-agent named Mar-Vell.

When a dormant Kree Sentry robot that NASA had been studying activated and went berserk, Mar-Vell defeated the rampaging robot and saved Carol's life in the process, with the press dubbing the mysterious new superhero " Captain Marvel." Carol became drawn to Mar-Vell and a romance developed between the two. A Kree enemy of Mar-Vell's named Yon-Rogg soon learned of the relationship and kidnapped Carol as bait to lure Mar-Vell into a trap. When Mar-Vell came to the rescue, Yon-Rogg deployed forbidden Kree technology called the Psyche-Magnitron in an attempt to destroy his enemy. During the battle the Psyche-Magnitron, which had the power to turn thoughts into reality, exploded and Captain Marvel shielded Carol from its radiation with his own body, causing Carol to absorb much of his own genetic template. Carol's wish to stand with Mar-Vell as an equal rather than a helpless victim completed the process, and her DNA became a perfect synthesis of Kree and human genes.

After Carol recovered from the explosion, she had gained superhuman powers much like those of Captain Marvel and her alter-ego even wore a costume patterned after that of the Kree hero. She became known as Ms. Marvel, and soon established herself as a powerful superhero in her own right.

Creation
The originally non-powered Carol Danvers was created by writer Roy Thomas and artist Gene Colan in 1968, for a Captain Marvel story in the 13th issue of Marvel Super-Heroes. She became a supporting character in Captain Marvel's own title, where the idea was born that Carol had the potential to one day play a starring role. Writers Roy Thomas and Archie Goodwin laid the groundwork for what eventually became Ms. Marvel's superhero origin. By the mid-1970's, Marvel decided that it wanted a powerful new female superhero who could carry her own title and who represented the modern liberated woman. This came to fruition in 1977 when Carol Danvers, now fully powered as Ms. Marvel, finally made her debut as the heroine of her own title, the first issue of Ms. Marvel which was written by Gerry Conway and drawn by John Buscema. Writer Chris Claremont took over and further developed her character as the series progressed, and was responsible for writing many of the key events that ultimately defined her character. Towards the end of Ms. Marvel's original series, artist Dave Cockrum designed a distinctive new costume for her that became her signature look.