Carol Danvers recently celebrated an important milestone, as she’s celebrating her 10th year in the role of Captain Marvel. She inherited the role from the Kree Captain Mar-Vell after spending a few years trying to find the right fit for herself. She spent years operating in Mar-Vell’s shadow as Ms. Marvel before she moved through a few different costumed identities.
She’s also disguised herself on more than one occasion to confuse her enemies or even preserve the timestream during adventures in the past. Reality shifts, cosmic upheavals and even powerful aliens have all introduced new identities for Carol Danvers. Thankfully, she found a role that suits her best as one of Marvel’s most powerful Avengers.
10 She Joined The United States Air Force As Major Danvers
Carol grew up unaware of her alien/human heritage or her destiny as one of the most powerful members of the Kree, but she still dreamt of the stars as a child. She wanted to become an astronaut, which led her to seek a career as a pilot in the United States Air Force. She was no stranger to military service, as her father was a retired member of the US Navy.
Her callsign in the air was “Cheeseburger,” though she eventually left to become an agent with the CIA and Air Force Intelligence. That led to her position as security chief at Cape Canaveral, where she met Mar-Vell for the first time. Her years with the USAF would prove to be a shared trait between Carol and her on-again, off-again boyfriend Jim “Rhodey” Rhodes/War Machine.
9 Enchantress Swapped Carol Danvers And Dr. Strange’s Bodies
Malekith the Dark Elf led a dark army against Midgard during The War of the Realms event. He managed to briefly take over Earth and put the Asgardian Enchantress in charge of South America. Captain Marvel led a small team of her War Avengers to disrupt Enchantress’ control. Black Widow and Dr. Strange accompanied her, though Enchantress was ready for them.
She cast a powerful Asgardian spell that caused Carol Danvers to switch bodies with Doctor Strange. She had access to Dr. Strange's strongest spells, though she still needed his help to actually cast the magical incantations. They managed to swap their bodies back and stop Enchantress to strike a blow against Malekith.
8 She Was Disguised As Black Widow From Marvel’s Golden Age
An errant Cosmic Cube that altered reality sent two teams of Avengers and the modern Invaders into the timestream. They joined Captain America and the original Invaders in the past during World War II, where Red Skull had located the Cosmic Cube. The future heroes had to join the fight against Red Skull and the AXIS powers to regain control of the Cube.
Hoping to avoid altering the timestream, the Avengers disguised themselves as superheroes from the era. Carol Danvers took on the costumed identity of Claire Voyant, who was better known as the Golden Age Black Widow. Her photon blasts were able to replicate Black Widow’s “death-touch” and they managed to remain hidden until they returned to their own time.
7 She Became Lady Marvel In Morgan Le Fay’s Medieval World
The most powerful members of the Avengers assembled together after a series of mystical attacks shortly after the Heroes Return event. The assembled team of heroes discovered a plot by Modred the Mystic and his mother, Morgan le Fay. She used her dark magic to reshape reality into a medieval world ruled by her.
The Avengers became her Queen’s Vengeance, and each member received a similar medieval redesign. Carol Danvers became Lady Marvel, and she wore a modified dress version of her black Ms. Marvel uniform. She was also still in her energy form, which combined her Ms. Marvel look with her Binary form for the short-lived reality shift.
6 Carol Danvers Bonded With An Alien Symbiote As Venom
During the Siege event, Norman Osborn sent his villainous team of Dark Avengers against the heroes of the Marvel universe. Mac Gargan bonded with the Venom symbiote after it left Eddie Brock, and he was able to alter his shape to look like Spider-Man in his black suit. Gargan and Venom were sent after Spider-Man to take him out of the fight before Osborn’s siege on Asgard.
Carol Danvers became one of Peter Parker’s best love interests during their time. Danvers used her incredible strength to rip Gargan out of the symbiote, though it formed over and took control of Danvers. She became Venom, and the symbiote revealed her feelings for Spider-Man before the wall-crawler was able to electrocute the symbiote and free her.
5 Carol Briefly Became Warbird After Her Powers Were Reduced
Danvers' time as a cosmic hero ended when she lost the ability to access her enhanced powers. She returned to Earth and rejoined the Avengers in an effort to return to her old life. However, she didn’t want to use her former costumed identity and decided to try out a new name instead. Danvers began calling herself Warbird while wearing one of Ms. Marvel's best comic costumes.
Carol also briefly altered her costume during her time as Warbird. She added patches of body armor over a full-body black costume to compensate for her reduced abilities. The name didn’t really catch on with fans and she didn’t use the identity for too long. She retired her Warbird identity after she left the team to focus on recovering from her alcoholism.
4 She Wielded A Powerful Universal Weapon As A Kree Accuser
When Carol Danvers learned of her real birth mother and origins as a human/Kree hybrid named Car-Ell, her connection to Mar-Vell’s world was further expanded. She later found herself involved in the Kree/Skrull Galactic Alliance’s battle against the Cotati during the Empyre event. Tanalth the Accuser gave Carol her powerful Universal Weapon and named her an Accuser.
As an Accuser, it was her responsibility to hand out judgments against enemies of the Kree empire. She replicated her Universal Weapon and deputized three other heroes to join her as Accusers as well. Hazmat, Spider-Woman and War Machine were each enhanced with a Universal Weapon. Carol eventually gave her hammer to her newfound Kree sister, Lauri-Ell.
3 She Gained A Huge Power Upgrade As Cosmic Hero Binary
Danvers spent some time in a coma after an encounter with Rogue drained her powers. When she awoke she decided to spend some time with the X-Men. She joined the team on a mission to the Shi’ar Empire which soon found itself invaded by the Brood. The Brood took Danvers and subjected her to experiments that unlocked a powerful ability within her.
She had a powerful connection to a white hole that gave her incredible cosmic abilities. She developed a new energy form as Binary and joined the Starjammers. As Binary, she was able to absorb and manipulate incredible amounts of energy. She abandoned her role as Binary when she lost her enhanced abilities, though she regained her ability to absorb and rechannel energy.
2 Ms. Marvel Was Her First Offical Role As A Superhero
Danvers first met the Kree warrior Mar-Vell in his civilian disguise as Dr. Walter Lawson while they worked at Cape Canaveral together. She helped Mar-Vell during a mission against the Kree Yon-Rogg and his Psyche-Magnitron. Yon-Rogg knocked Danvers into the device, and it unlocked the Kree powers within her genetic code.
Inspired by her ally Captain Mar-Vell, she adopted her first superhero identity as Ms. Marvel. Her original costume was similar to Mar-Vell’s suit, though she would eventually upgrade to her more familiar black costume with the yellow lightning bolt. Danvers spent years operating as Ms. Marvel both before and after most of her other costumed identities.
1 Captain America Convinced Her To Become Captain Marvel
Ms. Marvel rededicated herself to become one of the Marvel universe’s greatest heroes after the House of M event gave Danvers a taste of her true potential. A resurrected Mar-Vell briefly returned during the Avengers vs. X-Men event. He reminded Carol about how much Mar-Vell had meant to her and influenced her later years as her own hero.
While she had been hesitant to step into the role of her predecessor, Captain America gave her a pep talk that helped convince her it was time to step up and take over as Captain Marvel. She wore a new suit that updated Mar-Vell’s original look and helped her finally achieve her goal of becoming a capable and respected hero.