WARNING: The following article contains spoilers from The Amazing Spider-Man #92.BEY, on sale now.
The Marvel Universe has had so many skilled superheroes over the years that many who are as equally capable in skills like tactics as Captain America and Cyclops can easily be forgotten. While these superheroes are indeed at the top of their class, even they can't compare to Monica Rambeau, aka Spectrum. In her years as Captain Marvel, Photon and Spectrum, Monica has proven herself time and again in combat. However, in The Amazing Spider-Man #92.BEY (by Jed MacKay, Cody Ziglar, Zeb Wells, Luigi Zagaria, Bruno Oliveira, Fran Galán, Mark Bagley, Wayne Faucher, Espen Grundetjern, Carlos Lopez, Jim Campbell, Jim Charalampidis, Morry Hollowell and VC's Joe Caramagna) that forgotten skill is brought to light in the best way.
In the latest entry of The Amazing Spider-Man's Beyond arc, Peter Parker, Ben Reilly and many other heroes employed by the Beyond Corporation take the fight back to the company. While it would seem like Ben has been the one who's been pulling the strings towards Beyond's downfall, it's actually been Monica Rambeau the whole time, as she's had a history with the corporation in the past. But her disdain for their inhumane practices took on a totally new personal approach, as she revealed early in the issue.
According to Monica, she was the one who set up all of the dominoes against Beyond, and although Reilly was the one to knock them down, Monica quickly seized the opportunity to ensure they kept falling. She revealed that in the past, her likability ended up with her losing her place as Avengers Chairwoman and kickstarted her evolution into being much more cold and calculating. This helped her lead her first strike against the Beyond Corporation in Nextwave: Agents of H.A.T.E. by Warren Ellis and Stuart Immonen. Now she has used that same coldness as she released the Machineman, fellow Nextwave ally, to help her destroy a Beyond building.
The short story within the issue showed that Monica has always been a skilled tactician but specialized most in leadership and destabilization. She's no stranger to taking on conglomerates and even less of a stranger to commanding others to do the same. Like with Nextwave, Monica also commanded the Daughters of the Dragon to work as double agents against Beyond to put its higher-ups at a disadvantage. A similar proactive approach can be seen while she was on the Ultimates team, which consisted of heroes capable of handling matters before they happened and dealing with problems of tomorrow today.
Unlike Carol Danvers, Monica Rambeau has never been the high-spirited hero of the cosmos. But what she lacked in the traditional hero persona, she has gained by using her military and hero skills to better plan and execute missions that may seem too risky for many to accomplish. However, her skills and foresight have proven time and again that she's more than capable of dealing with any tactical obstacle that may cross her path while leading a team in the process.
Monica Rambeau has always worked best in the shadows for a character whose powers are based on the light spectrum. However, she has never lost her tactical expertise and has continued to show that anything can be accomplished with the proper plan, team and understanding of the enemy. In the end, she may not be in the comics spotlight like she once was, but that doesn't mean she doesn't deserve to have her own team so she can make history once again.