Captain Marvel has been dealing with Carol Danvers experience a possible future for the Marvel Universe. This future is the same one we saw in the Captain Marvel: The End one-shot that we got not to long ago. In this world we’ve seen Captain Marvel go up against the son of Namor and Enchantress who in this world is known as the dreaded Ove. Things didn’t go well when Captain Marvel met Ove as she was captured by the villain as part of Ove’s greater plans to make his rule permanent. How will things go from here? Let’s find out with Captain Marvel #26.
Writer: Kelly Thompson
Artist: Lee Garbett
Colorist: Antonio Fabela
Story Rating: 6 Night Girls out of 10
Art Rating: 7 Night Girls out of 10
Overall Rating: 6.5 Night Girls out of 10
Synopsis: Thanks to the power up provided by Brigid Thorsdottir (Thor Odinson’s daughter) Captain Marvel is able to easily overpower Ove (Namor and Enchantress’ son). Captain Marvel ends up throwing Ove across the city to get him out of the way.
Captain Marvel tries to get Armor (Hisako Ichiki) out of the device Ove put her in to create the bubble around New York City but Armor says they need to ensure the radiation level outside the bubble is safe for her to get out of the device.
Captain Marvel rejoins Emma Frost, Luke Cage and Brigid as they are fighting Enchantress. Gerry Drew (Jessica Drew’s son), Fuse (Johnny Watts), Wolf (Sora, daughter of Forge and Psylocke), Carol Rhodes (James ‘Rhodey’ Rhodes daughter) and Katie Barton (Clint Barton and Natasha Romanoff’s daughter), join the group to combat the Limbo demons and Enchantress.
Eventually Ove makes it back and is able to use his magic powers to fend off Captain Marvel and capture Wolf. Enchantress then forces Wolf to use her psychic blades on Magik to complete her spell. Ove then uses his powers to send everyone flying to give his mom room to finish her spell. The spell is then completed as Ove feels overwhelming power that ends up causing him to vanish.
Captain Marvel asks Enchantress what she did. Enchantress states that while Ove is a monster he is still her son and passes away as she gave her up her own life energy to power the spell, as Magik reveals it was the only way to take out Ove.
Six Days later as everyone is settling in back to what is left of New York City, Captain Marvel talks to the older Jessica Drew about how things ended with Ove getting what he wants in going to her timeline. Jessica says it may not be a bad things as they all still exist.
Captain Marvel and Emma Frost then talk for a bit. Emma tells Captain Marvel to stop letting not getting perfect wins blind her to her accomplishments. Emma then tells Captain Marvel that Magik was looking for her.
As Captain Marvel goes to meet Magik she sees Luke Cage reuniting with his daughter (Dani Cage) and Carol Rhodes talking with Rogue and Wolf.
Captain Marvel then meets up with Magik and is stunned to find Jessica collapsed on the ground after passing away. Magik reveals that in order to send Captain Marvel back to her timeline life force energy is required and Jessica sacrificed herself to do so. Magik then sends Captain Marvel back to her timeline.
Back in the normal Marvel Universe Captain Marvel regains consciousness and is immediately destroys the alien creature that was attacking her Hazmat, Spider-Woman and War Machine. Hazmat and the others reveal that Captain Marvel’s body has been in the present the whole time even though she mentions going to the future. Captain Marvel then asks to talk with War Machine.
Later, Carol Danvers (who is still dealing with controlling her overpowered state) reveals to Rhodey the details of her trip to the future, including the fact that Rhodey has a kid in the future with someone that is not her. Carol says she believes they should break up so Rhodey can find who he is meant to be with and have Carol Rhodes with. Rhodey says that it’s ridiculous that Carol is throwing their relationship away just for a future she visited that is not guaranteed. Carol states that she just can’t forget what she saw in the future she went to. This pisses Rhodey off more. He says that he needs time alone to think about it and leaves.
Alone, Carol says that Rhodey will understand when he has his daughter. End of issue.
The Good: Captain Marvel #26 did its job of wrapping up “The New World” arc in a way that does open the door for more stories with the Ove villain in the future. The problem that this ending runs into is how it just to neat of an ending given all that we saw Captain Marvel and company go through against Ove.
When Captain Marvel #26 is at its best is when the story is focused on Carol Danvers interaction with one of the characters in the future or present. Thompson nails how impactful being in the future is for Carol during these interactions. While she has a sense of familiarity with the older Jessica Drew there are others likes with the children of her friends that she does feel like an outsider. You get into her headspace that Carol does feel like she missed out on a whole life because of how long she spent interacting with everyone.
Framing things in this way does put into question if Carol will focus more on her personal life or if she will start using her Captain Marvel life as a way to not deal with these emotions. That is something the ending of Captain Marvel #26 hits on. Because while she is still processing things Carol makes decisions that even she is not sure of. She is letting what she saw in the future guide her decisions in the present even if the place she visited isn’t her continuity.
While you do sympathize with Carol in some respects it is really Rhodey that you most feel for. reaction to Carol using the possible kid he has in the future as a reason to break up was completely understandable. Rhodey does his best to get Carol to remember how their futures aren’t written in stone. Thompson wrote Rhodey well as both trying to be supportive while also not holding back his anger when Carol was dead set on breaking up. It grounded what would otherwise be a supernatural story by having Carol and Rhodey interacting in this way.
Carol’s decision made the interactions with the future versions of Emma Frost and Jessica Drew earlier on in Captain Marvel #26 stand out more. Both Emma and Jessica do what they can to tell Carol to not let perfection be what guides her. Carol is so focused on being the best that she doesn’t sometimes recognize the good she does as Captain Marvel. These interactions along with how things went with Rhodey hopefully start opening things up for us to see more of the Carol Danvers side of the character to be a focus as we know the Captain Marvel adventures will always be continuing.
Lee Garbett’s artwork was solid throughout this issue. Garbett’s artwork did a particular good job getting over how overpowered Captain Marvel became thanks to Bridget Thor lending her an upgrade. Seeing Captain Marvel in her powered up state was a good way of showing visually that this state was to much power for even Carol to fully control. Garbett also did a good job in making you feel how hurt Carol was when she learned the future Jessica Drew gave up her life so that Carol could return to her timeline.
The Bad: When all was said and done Ove was just a boring villain. The character’s backstory as the son of Namor and Enchantress never hit in the way it intended. The same goes for how Enchantress saying that Ove being her son made her still want to help him did nothing for the story’s impact. Ove was just to one-note of a villain to care about him getting what he wanted. As soon as he disappears you are not left wondering where he went. The way his entire arc went just made you immediately forget about Ove even being around because of how forgettable he was.
And as someone that was built to be the main antagonist of the story this is not the feeling a reader should have about them. Especially given all the terrible things he has done in this possible future there should be more of a celebration feel to him being gone. While some of the artwork does get that across with Luke and Dani’s reunion the rest just doesn’t hit the intended note. Which all just goes back to the impact Ove had not hitting the way Thompson intended with how much build up there was for the villain.
The same goes for the whole cause of this storyline being the tentacle creature was another forgettable sub-plot to this story. It was just used as a way to get Captain Marvel to the future. What this creature is and how our heroes dealt with it made it seem like an afterthought. Which is odd given what it did to Captain Marvel making it a dangerous thing to keep around. The connection to Ove all just seems to convenient since Carol doesn’t bother to dealing with it more outside of briefly mentioning Ove to her friends.
Overall: Captain Marvel #26 was at its best when it focused on the Carol Danvers aspect of the story. The way visiting a possible future for herself and her friends impacted Carol was well handled by Kelly Thompson. Which makes the underwhelming way that the main villain of this story was dealt with such a massive disappointment. At the end of the day Ove was a forgettable villain even though a lot of time was spent trying to develop him as a credible threat. That disappointment brings down what was otherwise a well-written character focused conclusion.
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