WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Star #5 by Kelly Thompson, Javier Pina, Filipe Andrade, Jesus Aburtov and VC's Clayton Cowles, available now.
Ripley Ryan is a fairly new addition to the Marvel Universe, and she's already one of its most powerful characters. The character debuted in Kelly Thompson and Carmen Carnero's Captain Marvel #1 in 2019. At first, she was a reporter for a magazine but, eventually, she was turned into a half-Kree, half-human super-soldier thanks to the efforts of Doctor Minerva, echoing Carol Danvers' origin. Taking on the name Star, Ripley posed as a superhero to gain the public's trust, only to reveal herself as a villain and enemy of Captain Marvel. But while Carol Danvers was ultimately successful in defeating her, this was far from the end for Ripley Ryan.
After her defeat, she woke up in prison, somehow as the new avatar of the Reality Stone. Since then, the Star miniseries has chronicled Ripley's efforts to learn more about her new powers, just as the Black Order, Loki and many more interested parties became involved in the hunt for the Infinity Stone inside of her.
And in Star #5, Ripley stops running from everyone and finally masters the abilities of the Reality Stone to become Marvel's most powerful new villain.
At the end of the Infinity Wars event, the Infinity Stones were given sentience, and they were scattered around the cosmos to seek out hosts to bond with. After the Time Stone bond with a human named Hector Bautista, the Reality Stone found itself inside Ripley Ryan. When Star first discovered that she was the host of this powerful cosmic gem, she didn't waste any time in escaping her prison. Then, she went on the run, seeking out more knowledge about the Infinity Stones, and trying to control her new abilities. Her quest led her to Jessica Jones and Scarlet Witch, who could provide knowledge and lessons about reshaping reality, respectively.
As she spent more time with superheroes, we saw that Ripley hovered between good and evil. More than anything, she was down on her luck, and she was given a great cosmic privilege she that simply didn't know how to use. Over the course of the Star miniseries, we've seen Ripley refine her abilities, using it give herself her previous powers as well as some new ones. She even began to use them on others, reshaping reality to her needs. But despite that, she was still very limited as she kept learning.
But in Star #5, Ripley's learning curve is all but over. After tapping into the full potential of the Reality Stone, she finally chooses a side by officially turning her powers on Wanda Maximoff and Carol Danvers, teleporting them to Mars with ease. She even cuts a deal with the Black Order so she can escape with her life -- and her Infinity Stone. As the issue comes to a close, it's now become clear that Ripley Ryan is a dangerous supervillain who stands as one of the most powerful in the Marvel Universe, thanks to the Infinity Stone inside her.
The final two pages of Star #5 show Ripley walking in public and demonstrates just how fully she has mastered the abilities of the Reality Stone. She uses its power to change her look, altering the length and color of her hair over and over to settle on a red, asymmetrical lob.
She even plays around with her costume, altering her previous white and red look to a full-body black outfit with the red outline of a star on her shoulders. Worse yet, she even uses her abilities to trigger an explosion in a building when she's already blocks away, wearing an eerie smile on her face.
After more than a year since her introduction, Ripley Ryan's full transformation into a cosmic villain is now complete. With the abilities of the Reality Stone, her power levels are on par with Captain Marvel and Scarlet Witch -- two of Marvel's most powerful Avengers -- and she just beat them both. With no clear way to stop her, Star may simply have no match, and she's now free to run wild around the Marvel Universe.
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