WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for Star #4 by Kelly Thompson, Javier Pina, Jay Leisten, Filipe Andrade, Jesus Aburtov, Chris O'Halloran and Clayton Cowles, available now.
In her solo series, Captain Marvel recently dealt with the threat of a mysterious new character named Star. After being saved by Captain Marvel, Ripley Ryan turned against the hero and pretended to be an ally when she was really trying to siphon Carol Danver's powers. Their confrontation in Captain Marvel #11 ended with Carol triumphant and Star imprisoned in the Raft, a maximum-security prison for supercriminals.
During their fight, Captain Marvel stopped Star by ripping the power-siphoning device from her chest, which left a gaping hole in Star's body. When we caught up with Star in The Raft, her chest wound was bandaged and she appeared to be fine. It's here that we learned Star is the new host for the Reality Stone, one of the six Infinity Stones made famous across the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
The Infinity Stones have a long, complicated history in the Marvel Universe, with the latest changes made to the cosmic artifacts coming in the Infinity Countdown and Infinity Wars events. The conclusion of the story arcs turned the Infinity Stones sentient and scattered throughout the universe, with Star coming into possession of the Reality Stone. The Star miniseries follows Ripley while she learns to channel these strange new abilities, with various villains like Loki and the Black Order looking to steal the Reality Stone for their own evil machinations.
In a surprising turn of events, Star #4 features a team-up between the titular character and her rival Captain Marvel, with the opening pages revealing that the heroic Captain Marvel actually killed Star, host of the Reality Stone, back in Captain Marvel #11.
Star #4 opens with Ripley and Carol in a mid-air skirmish. When Captain Marvel tells Star that their fight is going to go badly for her, Star replies that it can't be any worse than when Carol killed her. This is the first confirmation that Star died during the time she was taken captive and arriving at the Raft. A flashback sequence finds Star screaming as she awakens inside a body bag. A physician on-hand informs Star that she died from Captain Marvel's chest wound. The doctors tried to save Star's life, but she passed away before they could even get her on the operating table.
Luckily for Star, the Reality Stone must have saved her life that day. She contemplates Carol's actions in her prison cell when she accidentally snaps a restraining collar from her neck. Next, Star removes her chest bandages to reveal the red Reality Stone glowing in her chest, which is all she needs to launch her escape. These events cast a different light on Captain Marvel's actions, as she clearly didn't know her fight with Star resulted in Ripley's death. Captain Marvel was so desperate to stop Star, she kept the power-siphoning device inside herself to save innocent civilians. Star gave Captain Marvel two options: either she gets drained or the innocent bystanders get drained. Carol quickly came up with a third option, which was to put Ripley down for good. Although Captain Marvel didn't want to kill Star, she did what she had to do to save lives when left with no other choice.
This revelation really underscores the impressive display of power from the combination of the Reality Stone and Star. Even though Star had no idea she had the Reality Stone, she used its power to bring herself back from the dead. However, this was more likely a self-preservation action by the Reality Stone since it is bonded with Star.
Nevertheless, Star has consistently demonstrated to be a quick study under the tutelage of the Scarlet Witch. With the Black Order going on the offensive, the antihero has managed to stay one step ahead of Thanos' former henchmen. And by the time the Star miniseries comes to an end, Ripley Ryan may have mastered her Infinity Stone.