GENIS-VELL

 

GENIS-VELL

Real Name: Genis-Vell

First Appearance: Silver Surfer Annual (Vol. 1) #6, October 1993 (as Legacy); Captain Marvel (Vol. 3) #4, March 1996 (as Captain Marvel III); New Thunderbolts (Vol. 1) #6, May 2005 (as Photon)

Powers: Genis-Vell, alias Legacy, Captain Marvel III, and later Photon IV, is the artificially engineered child of Captain Marvel (Mar-Vell) and Elysia. Because his father is a Kree (who are normally 50% stronger than humans) and his mother is a Titanian Eternal (who possess average Class 15-20 superhuman strength), Genis has some level of enhanced strength and physical abilities on his own. He became Legacy once he placed a replica of his father's Nega Bands on his wrists, and gained the power to harness his psionic energy as his father had (for super-strength, durability, survival in space, flight), as well as the power to use the bands to manipulate spatial distortions between our dimension and the Negative Zone. He could funnel anti-matter from the Zone to fire highly destructive particle blasts from his hands, and also create spatial warps around people or objects to hold them immobilized in place. Furthermore, he could form gateways into the Negative Zone through his own body, allowing him to drain off excess energy from his environment and harmlessly displace it, or avoid certain death by displacing projectiles or physical assault against his person through a gap in reality opening through his body.

Because of the actions of his future counterpart during the Destiny War, Genis ended up molecularly bonded to his father's old partner, Rick Jones. This event triggered the manifestation of Genis' latent cosmic awareness and solar processing abilities, which he inherited from his father. He lost his previous Negative Zone-based powers, however, due to fluctuations being generated across reality by a young girl named Kelly who was conceived at the Nexus of all Realities in the Florida Everglades. This meant that Rick and Genis were now switching places between Earth and the Microverse instead of the Negative Zone. Put simply, Genis is a Kree-Titan hybrid molecularly bonded to the Earth human Rick Jones. They are in constant psychic contact with each other, and strike the Nega Bands together in order to switch places between Earth and the Microverse. Drax the Destroyer inadvertently shattered the environmental field which normally protected Rick from the vacuum of space in the Microverse, meaning Genis needed to be on a life-supporting planet before Rick could be sent to the Microverse. Genis, now Captain Marvel III, used the Nega Bands to harness his own psionic energy and focus the energy manipulating powers he inherited from his father's genes. The bands thus give him Class 50 super-strength, superhuman endurance, reflexes, and durability, the ability to survive unaided in oxygen-less environments, photonic energy powers that allow him to produce blinding flashes of light, shaped energy fields to protect himself from harm, concussive force blasts, holographic powers allowing him to shape realistic illusions out of light, and the power to fly and reach trans-light speeds. He also inherited his father's cosmic awareness which enables him to scan alternate realities and possible futures and perform trans-navigation scans to map out the celestial bodies of the universe, keeping track of his travels through space so he doesn't lose his sense of direction. His cosmic awareness is represented by a blue, starry field that manifests over his facial features when in use.

Genis' powers increased dramatically after he went insane trying to fully comprehend his cosmic awareness. He could now consciously identify divergent points in a timeline and instantly follow the results of any given action to their ultimate conclusion, tracking the ramifications of any action he or other people made. He could also share this power with others temporarily, giving them glimpses into the various future timelines he perceived. During the time he chose to outfit himself like a Kree soldier, Captain Marvel III carried a standard Kree firearm which he occasionally used to focus his massive energy powers. Genis could now manipulate energy in a variety of new ways, including warping light waves to render himself invisible, generate intense heat and cold, travel through time by concentrating, sensing various kinds of psionic, trans-spatial, and electromagnetic energy signatures (an ability separate from his cosmic awareness) and generating interference to prevent himself from being detected by various electromagnetic spectra beyond visible light.

Shortly before teaming up with the new Thunderbolts, Genis was separated from his molecular bond with Rick Jones. Later, Captain Marvel III was seriously injured and somehow managed to resurrect himself from a death-like state, possibly death itself. Upon his return, his physical appearance was somewhat changed, as were his powers. Now calling himself Photon, Genis accessed his powers by tapping into an interspatial source of photons, meaning he is channeling and manipulating energy from another dimension instead of that which is present here. The importance of this has yet to be uncovered, however it seems like he may have regained a variation of the spatial warp abilities he had when the Nega Bands were tied to the Negative Zone. He has used his newer Photon powers to teleport himself and other people from one location to another, and can displace matter, energy and radiation out of this dimension by funneling it through his own body or manifesting a "static shell" that can be cast over a larger area of space. This enabled him to remove a bomb before it explodes or drain harmful radiation away from his area without it affecting anyone, and lets him shield himself and others from detection by displacing the probing energies used by psionics or electromagnetic sensors before they register their presence. He can also cause minor spatial shifts within other people, fluctuating their molecules to render them unconscious. The spatial rifts he can form also seem to interact with his cosmic awareness, enabling him to visually project any of the various events and timeframes he registers mentally. The Nega Bands seemed to be completely gone, with any and all powers they gave him apparently internalized into his system.

Genis-Vell once served in the Kree military, although the exact extent of his abilities and skills remain unrevealed.

MS. MARVEL

 

MS. MARVEL

Real Name: Carol Susan Jane Danvers

First Appearance: Marvel Super-Heroes (Vol. 1) #13, March 1968 (as Carol Danvers); Ms. Marvel (Vol. 1) #1, January 1977 (as Ms. Marvel I); The Uncanny X-Men (Vol. 1) #164, December 1982 (as Binary); Avengers (Vol. 3) #4, May 1998 (as Warbird); Avenging Spider-Man (Vol. 1) #9 September 2012 (as Captain Marvel VII)

Powers: Carol Danvers first gained super-powers as a result of the Psyche-Magnetron, a Kree device capable of forming any technological creation known to Kree science with a thought. As the Psyche-Magnetron exploded, the Kree Captain Marvel (Mar-Vell) blocked its radiation from striking Carol. However, the radiation actually passed through Mar-Vell, endowing Carol with his traits. Her genetic code was altered to become partially Kree, she assimilated a knowledge of Kree science and battle tactics from Mar-Vell, and she even manifested a "seventh sense", a form of psychic ability possessed by Kree females. Furthermore, the Psyche-Magnetron gave her the power to manifest a costume at will, one equipped with micro-circuitry that in some ways mimicked Mar-Vell's nega bands and their ability to convert psionic energy to increase his physical powers. As a result, Carol possessed superhuman strength, endurance, durability, and the ability to fly at superhuman speeds while wearing this costume. Carol originally developed a split-personality to compensate for the stress her body and mind were placed under -- she kept the original Carol Danvers separate from a new personality (Ms. Marvel) derived from her new Kree knowledge and sensibilities. Even after a second exposure to the Psyche-Magnetron internalized all her super-powers, psychic blocks prevented Carol from accessing her super-strength, flight, etc. when as "Carol". The only power she manifested in her civilian guise was her "seventh sense", which often gave her visions of events and perils that might threaten her in the immediate future. In battle, the sense enabled her to predict her opponent's actions and reflexively counter them. Later, a dimension-traveler named Hecat'e helped Carol break down her mental barriers, and she merged her two personas and could use her powers even out of costume. Despite her mental fusion, Carol was still capable of switching between her costume and civilian clothes at will.

After being leeched by Rogue, all of Carol's super-powers were gone -- only her part-Kree genetic code remained. When she was being genetically experimented on by the Brood, Carol manifested cosmic energy powers, and became Binary. Carol could now harness the power of a white hole, the theoretical exit point for all the energy consumed by a black hole. While in her Binary state, Carol possessed Class 100 strength, near-invulnerability, the ability to fly faster-than-light and survive in the vacuum of space. Her head was aglow with a corona of stellar energy, and flame licked on the ends of her boots and gloves. Her physiology was also realigned to feed off of the energies she channeled, giving her extraordinary stamina and the ability to survive without rest or sustenance. By funneling the white hole's energies, Binary channeled stellar energy in various forms: Unfiltered discharges could virtually incinerate anything in her path. By mentally setting up filtering lenses, she could selectively summon light, heat, solar plasma, radiation, gravity, radio waves, etc., all the things being emitted by a star. She could also pull substance through her body and into the white hole, shunting things like energy or volatile radiation harmlessly out of her environment. This eventually led to the demise of her new powers.

During Operation: Galactic Storm, Binary absorbed anti-matter that was threatening Earth's sun. Sending this material to her personal white hole is apparently the reason it started to collapse, weakening her over time and eventually leaving her with half the power she normally possessed. Now, Carol no longer transforms into a Binary state, has Class 50 strength, more limited but still impressive durability, transonic instead of trans-light flight speeds, and can no longer survive totally unaided in space. She cannot filter her cosmic energy anymore, leaving her with only a single form of photonic energy blast. She can, however, absorb various forms of electromagnetic energy. Carol can be caught off-guard by energy attacks, but when prepared she can take in electromagnetic energy and use it to boost all of her superhuman powers and revitalize her natural stamina as well.

While battling the Brood and a Brood-hunter named Cru, Ms. Marvel and her opponents were caught in a devastating explosion. Cru, a techno-organic entity, was blown to pieces, and a small portion of her repair protocols became lodged in Carol's physiology. This quasi-sentient nanotechnology incorporated itself into Carol's body and began protecting her from harm. These protocols made Carol virtually invincible, dramatically increasing her durability and giving her an enormously powerful healing factor to deal with any injuries she did suffer. It even shielded her mind from outside forms of control, like the Puppet Master. Carol typically turned blue like Cru when the protocols were working. Eventually, the real Cru returned to retrieve her protocols from Ms. Marvel. During the process, the two women merged and separated some more, and Carol's own powers were left dramatically increased by the process. Able to once more achieve her Binary power levels again, Carol ultimately pushed her boosted abilities too far, and began to burn herself out from the inside. She was forced to avoid using her powers at all to keep them under control, but eventually she overloaded in battle anyway, and was killed as her body dispersed itself.

Ms. Marvel survived, but separated into a series of multi-hued energy forms. These energy Marvels were scattered across the world, and possessed many of Carol's powers such as flight and photonic blasts. With the help of the Storytellers, psychic fetuses with reality-manipulating powers, the energy Marvels were reunited into Ms. Marvel for the most part. In fact, the Storytellers created two versions of Carol Danvers: One, a warrior guided by Kree battle instincts and calling herself Ms. Marvel, and two, a writer in Los Angeles named Catherine Donovan who was living a successful, if normal, life. Due to their unique connection, Ms. Marvel's powers increased exponentially the closer she was to Catherine, making her virtually invincible and in a Class 100+ strength level. Eventually, the two women were re-merged into a single being: Carol Danvers, aka Ms. Marvel.

Carol Danvers earned a bachelor's degree from her military intelligence training. A talented journalist excelling as a freelance writer and magazine editor, she also has extensive training in espionage and is a skilled pilot with excellent hand-to-hand combatant skills.

CAPTAIN MARVEL

 

CAPTAIN MARVEL

Real Name: Mar-Vell

First Appearance: Marvel Super-Heroes (Vol. 1) #12, December 1967

Powers: Captain Marvel is a pink-skinned member of the Kree race. Due to the fact that Hala, the Kree homeworld, possesses roughly 50% greater gravity than Earth, Mar-Vell and other Kree have enhanced strength, speed, endurance, and reflexes compared to humans. When he first came to Earth, he wore the official militia uniform of the Kree Empire, made of a vibration-distorting fiber that insulated him from physical impact. On his wrist he wore a U-beam projector capable of generating a blinding flash, a darklight blackout cone of energy, or a coherent beam of force. He could also chose to lace the projected beam with magnetic particles, turning anything it struck into a powerful electromagnet, drawing metal objects towards it. The small belt jets he wore on his sides enabled him to fly.

After being exiled from the Kree for sympathizing with Earth, Mar-Vell was approached by the mysterious entity known as Zo, who infused him with exotic radiation that gave Captain Marvel superhuman strength and durability, the power to teleport himself from place to place on a planet's surface or across intergalactic distances, and an illusion-casting power allowing to create convincing visual and auditory projections to fool his opponents. After making his way to Hala, he discovered "Zo" was actually a construct of insurrectionists Zarek and Ronan, attempting to overthrow the Supreme Intelligence with him as a pawn. Instead, Mar-Vell threw himself on a negation grenade protecting the Intelligence. For his bravery, the Intelligence didn't kill him, gave him his classic costume, and sent him on his way back to Earth. On his way, though, Mar-Vell's molecules abruptly reversed polarity (a delayed effect from the grenade) and he was tossed into the Negative Zone. On the Supreme Intelligence's direction, he used his illusion powers to lure young Rick Jones to a hidden Kree outpost on Earth, and beckoned him to place a pair of nega bands onto his wrists. The Supreme Intelligence ensured a psychic link and molecular bond were forged between Jones and Mar-Vell, beginning the most important era of Captain Marvel's life.

Mar-Vell and Rick were in constant mental contact with each other, with one always in the Negative Zone and one on Earth. By banging the bands together, Rick could trade places with Captain Marvel, sending himself into the Negative Zone surrounded by an aura of energy that prevented him from bumping into the anti-matter there and exploding. The nega bands performed a similar relief for he while he was in the positive universe. Mar-Vell could bang the bands together and switch back with Rick, or they would automatically exchange places after he was on Earth for three hours. Everything that had happened since the negation grenade apparently eradicated all traces of Zo's influence on Captain Marvel, removing his superhuman powers. The nega bands, however, gave him a new set of abilities: They enabled him to harness his own psionic energy and utilize it to give himself superhuman Class 15 strength, endurance, reflexes, durability, the power to fly and survive in the vacuum of outer space. Marvel's connection to Rick was temporarily terminated at the onset of the Kree-Skrull War when he had the Fantastic Four use their Negative Zone portal to retrieve Rick, so that they both could exist in the positive universe at once. By the end of the war, however, Rick was critically injured in battle. Mar-Vell sacrificed his own life so that the Supreme Intelligence could physically fuse his molecules with Rick's, enabling Mar-Vell's healthy mass to replenish and fill in the damaged areas of Rick's own body. Captain Marvel was supposedly dead at this point, but months later he made contact with Rick mentally, explaining that his consciousness existed without a body, tied to Rick's own existence.

Working with a scientist he contacted, Rick determined that exposure to solar radiation would bring Mar-Vell back to corporeal form. The theory was correct, and the two of them once more began switching back and forth between Earth and the Negative Zone. Captain Marvel now had new powers thanks to the solar radiation treatments -- he could now absorb sunlight and use it to amplify the nega bands' power, more than doubling his strength and physical levels. He could also radiate blinding flashes of light from the bands or photonic force blasts. At night, away from a constantly replenishing source of solar energy, Mar-Vell operated at roughly half strength.During an extended war with the Titan, Thanos, Captain Marvel was contacted by the entity known as Eon and tapped to become Protector of the Universe. This gave him the power of Cosmic Awareness, which put him in touch with the pulse of the universe. Technically, this power gave Mar-Vell access to all knowledge in the universe, providing he knew where to look for it. In practice, he only employed it in certain ways. he could focus on someone's psi-signature or a residual energy signature and follow it back to its source. His intuitive abilities were enhanced, making his guesswork far more accurate than the laws of probability normally allowed. he also occasionally received flashes of knowledge or inspiration as his subconscious happened to locate information in the universe relating to something he was thinking about, giving him sudden bursts of clairvoyance that told him where a certain person or item was, what was about to happen in his presence or at some other location, etc.

As Captain Marvel and Rick's bond developed, they developed new abilities through the nega bands. The could now trigger the switch at will, without having to bang the bands, and could separate on command as well, splitting from their molecular bonding to operate independently on Earth for as long as they wanted. While they were bonded, though, Mar-Vell was now capable of harnessing Rick's psionic energy in addition to his own, boosting his powers even further. With intense concentration, one partner could even animate the unconscious body of the other, controlling it from across the dimensional barriers as if it were their own. This wasn't meant to last, however, and as Captain Marvel flew by a black hole, it all went down the crapper. The black hole messed up their link considerably, costing them all of their new abilities and preventing Rick and Mar-Vell from even talking to each other anymore mentally. What's more, the positive energy field which protected them in the Negative Zone was on the fritz, and neither of them could spend more than a few hours in the Zone at a time without having to switch out (Captain Marvel's body had readjusted to being positive matter at some point during his adventures). Ultimately, he figured out how to beat this problem by attacking the Super-Adaptoid, getting it to mimic his nega bands, and then banging those bands together, summoning Rick from the Negative Zone while casting the Adaptoid into that anti-matter universe forever. A few years later, however, Captain Marvel died of cancer.