Comics Explained: Morbius, the Living Vampire

Recently, the movie trailer for Morbius has been released, so we'll be seeing the live-action debut of Morbius the Living Vampire. One of Spider-Man's foes, and an anti-hero as well, he has been an interesting character in the Marvel Universe. Although vampires do exist in the Marvel Universe, Blade being the most famous of Marvel's vampire, Morbius isn't really a vampire - that's why he's the 'Living Vampire'. 

Creation

Morbius debuted in the early-1970s when the now infamous Comics Code Authority started amending their draconian rules; fearing that the big publishers would abandon the Code, something which happened anyway, they started reforming some of their rules. One of the rules they amended was lifting the ban on featuring the walking dead, vampires, ghouls, zombies, and werewolves. Marvel decided to jump straight into the supernatural genre - after all, Stan Lee had worked on the supernatural comics of the 1940s and 1950s which were killed off by the Code. As Lee was working on a movie screenplay, and Spider-Man creator Steve Ditko had moved on by the 1970s, the task of creating a vampire antagonist for Spider-Man fell to one of Marvel's biggest writers - Roy Thomas. Years later, Thomas would be quoted as saying 'We were talking about doing Dracula, but Stan wanted a costumed villain. Other than that, he didn't specify what we should do'. Teaming up with artist Gil Kane they ended up creating Morbius the Living Vampire. Thomas was inspired by a movie he had watched years ago, and Kane modelled their living vampire off of actor Jack Palance. As a result, Morbius made his debut in The Amazing Spider-Man #101 in 1971 becoming one of the earliest vampiric characters in comics for decades.

Origins

Morbius debuted in The Amazing Spider-Man #101, but his origin was explained in the next issue through flashbacks. Dr. Michael Morbius was a Greek scientist specialising in biochemistry; he was such an expert in his field that he even won the Nobel Prize. However, he began developing a blood disorder which was slowly wasting him away. Not wanting to slowly die he began trying to find a cure, and he relied on a mixture of vampire bat DNA and electroshock therapy - if you notice a similarity between Batman's Man-Bat it is no coincidence. DC similarly wanted to take advantage of the Code's reforms, so also introduced their vampire-like villain in the comics of one of their most popular characters. Just like DC's Kirk Langstrom, Morbius's experiments went wrong and made his situation worse. Although he no longer suffered from his debilitating disease, his body underwent changes. He gained the ability to 'psionic glide', rapid health regeneration, super-speed, super-agility, and super-strength. However, at the same time, he became reliant on drinking fresh blood to survive, became injured by sunlight, became pale, grew sharp canines, and his nose flattened to resemble of bat's. Unlike actual vampires, he was a 'living vampire'. Morbius was still alive and lacked some of their weaknesses - he is unaffected by garlic, religious icons, and he cannot be killed by sunlight. When he does bite someone, and doesn't kill them, he too can create other living vampires - he can control these new vampires and he is far stronger than they are.

Now to his debut - in typical Spider-Man and Marvel fashion it is over-the-top. In The Amazing Spider-Man #100 Spider-Man grew four extra arms - finally he was a 'Spider-Man' having eight limbs. Wanting to reverse this he tried to find the Lizard - a scientist who, just like Morbius, tried to use animal DNA to help his body, but ended up turning him into an anthropomorphic lizard. Morbius moved to New York hoping that it could offer a place for him to research a cure for his condition. However, in his blood thirst, he slaughtered the crew of the ship which brought him to New York - just like Dracula slaughtering the crew which brought him to Britain. Unlike Dracula, with his blood thirst cured he is guilt-ridden, so tries, and fails, to kill himself. Secluding himself in what he thinks is an abandoned building, it is actually where Spider-Man and Curt Connors (the human form of the Lizard) are working on the cure for their conditions. When it fails, a frustrated Spider-Man smashes their test tubes waking up Morbius. Powered by blood-lust he attacked and almost killed Spider-Man unlike Connors, now transformed into Lizard, stopped him. During the battle Morbius bites Lizard partially transforming him back to Connors. Realising that Morbius holds the cure the duo track him across New York, and eventually extract his blood curing him - Spider-Man permanently, Connors wasn't as lucky.

Other Appearances

Since his debut Morbius has periodically appeared in a wide range of comics - sometimes as a villain and sometimes as an anti-hero. In Marvel Team-Up #3 his fiance Martine Bancroft tracked Morbius to the United States. One of the reasons why he travelled across continents was through the fear that he could lose control and kill Martine. She was adament that she could help Morbius, in fact she would be one of the regular occurring characters associated with Morbius. Naturally, she knew the smartest people around could help the vampire, so she tracked down the Fantastic Four. Together the Human Torch and Spider-Man tried to capture Morbius, but he was too strong and managed to flee. In 1973, to get around the Comics Code Authority Marvel started publishing magazines with maturer content and one of these was Vampire Tales. Among the stories to find its way into the 11-issues were those including Blade, and an adaptation of one of the earliest vampire novels - The Vampyr. Morbius was featured in most of the issues, and this would pave the way for his regular appearance in Marvel's Adventure into Fear which began publishing in 1974. He would periodically appear until 1992 when he gained his own title which lasted for 32 issues. This was to tie into the Midnight Sons. Dr Strange regularly formed temporary teams to act as hit squads into the wider Multiverse - when a supernatural threat appeared he could send them to swiftly deal with it. The same year Morbius debuted, one of Strange's teams also debuted - The Defenders. The Midnight Sons were formed to stop demonic and supernatural threats seemingly by the Ghost Riders Johnny Blaze and Danny Ketch in Ghost Rider Vol.3 #28, but behind the scenes it was due to Dr Strange. Morbius fought alongside the Ghost Riders, Damien Hellstorm the Son of Satan, sorceress Jennifer Hale, and Werewolf-by-Night. Among their foes have included the Mother of Demons Lilith and zombies from the Marvel Zombies universe. Of course, Morbius has had run-ins with Blade - during Civil War he even registered with the government in an effort to get Blade to.

Morbius has had a sporadic history, and often with other bigger characters - most notably Blade or the Midnight Sons - so that's where we will leave it for today. I hope you found it interesting, and for future blog updates please see our Facebook or catch me on Twitter @LewisTwiby.

Comics Explained: Mysterio

Mysterio in Spider-Man/Deadpool #2

One of Spider-Man's major, and memorial, villains Mysterio is a prime choice for the upcoming Spider-Man: Far From Home. Once ranked the eight-fifth greatest comic book villain by IGN he has been a recurring foe for New York based superheroes. Today we'll be looking at some memorial moments from the main Mysterio's appearances (there has been more than one Mysterio) to see why he is such a high-regarded Spider-Man foe.

Real-World Origins

The Amazing Spider-Man #13

As can be expected Mysterio first appeared in a Spider-Man comic: The Amazing Spider-Man #13 from 1964. That year was a big year for Spider-Man seeing the introduction of: Electro, the Green Goblin, Kraven the Hunter, Mysterio, and the Sinister Six. Like most of Spider-Man's comics he was created by the Steve Ditko-Stan Lee partnership; quite likely Ditko was more behind Mysterio. Ditko was very much interested in surreal characters and imagery which Mysterio fits perfectly. Evidentally Ditko was proud of creating Mysterio stating on the front cover: We've done it! We've created the greatest villain of all for 'ol Spidey! However, Mysterio's first appearance was later retconned to the earlier The Amazing Spider-Man #2 - in this story a villain called the Tinkerer had used realistic alien costumes and props as a way to take control of New York. This was retconned so Mysterio was the one who made the realistic aliens.

Origins

An example of Mysterio's powers in Amazing Spider-Man #66-67

Mysterio, Quentin Beck, was a special-effects master and stunt-actor from Hollywood but wanted to be so much more. Unfortunately for Beck, he lacked the talent to be an actor, and lacked the patience to be a director his attempts at fame were snatched from him. Jokingly, a friend suggested that to become famous quickly you had to be a costumed superhero, however, Beck realised that with his skills at special effects he could become a villain. Developing his famous fish-bowl helmet, a hallucinogenic gas, and state-of-the-art robotics he moved to New York to see if he could take down, and then replace, Spider-Man. After helping the Tinkerer he decided to adopt his own identity - Mysterio. In Amazing Spider-Man #13 reports emerged that Spider-Man had been robbing establishments leading Peter Parker to fear that he had developed a disorder at the worst time possible: Aunt May was struggling to find money to cover a mortgage payment. Mysterio appeared at the Daily Bugle in a puff of smoke declaring that he is a new hero aiming to bring down Spider-Man, and as he left in another puff of smoke a note appeared challenging Spider-Man to a duel on Brooklyn Bridge. Spider-Man accepted but was easily defeated by Mysterio's hallucinogenic abilities, gadgets, and a seeming ability to replicate Spider-Man's powers. Heralded as a hero Mysterio agreed to a publicity shoot at the Bugle where Parker managed to place a tracker on the new 'hero'. Spider-Man tracked him to his base where he found out that Mysterio was the true culprit - the two fought again after Spider-Man managed to record Beck's confession, and this time he used his spider-senses to counteract Mysterio's gas. 

Mysterio reappeared later that year in The Amazing Spider-Man Annual #1 as one of the founding members of the Sinister Six - in fact Mysterio coined their team name. Dr Octopus realised that alone he could not defeat Spider-Man, but united with other villains they would be able to beat him so he brought together five other villains - the Vulture, Mysterio, Kraven the Hunter, Sandman, and Electro. Octopus would kidnap Bugle reporter Betty Brant, whom he knew was close to Spider-Man, and Aunt May who was visiting her - the other five villains would distract Spider-Man and, in theory, wear him down. Mysterio was the fourth villain that Spider-Man fought - he built robots versions of the X-Men to battle Spider-Man. However, the robots were defeated by Spider-Man, Mysterio was defeated, and Spider-Man went on to defeat the last two members of the Sinister Six.

Other Appearances

Mysterio's usage of gadgets and the possibility for surreal stories thanks to his hallucinogenic gas made Mysterio a popular character throughout the 1960s and 1970s. Spider-Man replaced the Fantastic Four as Marvel's big publication so Mysterio went from a major Spider-Man villain to a major Marvel villain. One unique storyline was the introduction of Mysterio's alternate life as Dr. Ludwig Reinhart; Mysterio was also a skilled hypnotist which helped with his mind-altering techniques. In Amazing Spider-Man #24 Peter Parker overheard Dr Reinhart telling J. Jonah Jameson that Spider-Man will eventually develop a split-personality: the spider and human half would inevitably clash. When Peter changed into Spider-Man he suddenly saw Dr Octopus, Vulture, and Sandman who disappear just as quickly as they appeared. Fearing these visions might lead him to attacking civilian he decided to finally see Reinhart for help, however, when he arrived the doctor's house had the room flipped upside down. During the consultancy visions of his enemies kept appearing so Reinhart starts convincing him to remove his mask. Jameson, and Parker's bully but Spider-Man admirer Flash, realised that something was up and broke into the house revealing that the furniture was actually nailed to the ceiling. Tackling Reinhart they revealed that it was really Mysterio underneath a realistic face mask.

Mysterio in The Amazing Spider-Man 

There are other interesting stories featuring Mysterio's surreal powers. My personal favourite in in The Amazing Spider-Man #66-67 where he used his hypnotic powers and hallucinogenic gas to convince Spider-Man that he was only six inches high! However, other times Mysterio went into dark territory in order to mentally break Spider-Man, including: faking his own death, faking Aunt May's death, and convincing Spider-Man that his actions caused the death of a bystander. Spider-Man always came out on top with Mysterio's image of a serious threat being dented - especially as other villains, like Green Goblin, had managed to hurt Spider-Man so much more. His reputation was entirely destroyed with Power Pack #55. The Power Pack are a superhero team of children, and when their building was seemingly haunted it turned out that Mysterio was causing it as part of a retail scheme. Being defeated by literal children completely destroyed his reputation until the late-1990s when Marvel wrote a dark tale...

Guardian Devil

Daredevil Vol. 2 #7

In the late-1990s, with Marvel going bankrupt thanks to the comic book crash, Marvel experimented with several new lines of comics. One such was Marvel Knights; instead of focusing on long-term stories Marvel Knights would focus on stand-alone stories. One of the characters to be brought into Marvel Knights was Daredevil which with Daredevil Vol. 2 #1-8 brought two legendary figures together. The first was comic book fan and movie director Kevin Smith, of Clerks and Mallrats fame, and legendary artist Joe Quesada who had worked on everything from Batman to Spider-Man. Marvel Knights proved to be so successful that Quesada became Marvel's editor-in-chief. Anyway, in Daredevil #1 he is given a baby born through immaculate conception, and is told that the child is the Anti-Christ by a man called Nicholas Macabes - something deeply troubling for the recently devout Catholic Matt Murdock. Macabes left a crucifix for Matt, but his life started falling apart soon after. His former lover Karen Page discovered that she was HIV-positive from her time in the porn industry and addicted to drugs, his best friend Foggy Nelson is accused of murdering a woman he was having an affair with, and Matt started becoming uncontrollably violent when people suggested that the infant was not the Anti-Christ. Desperate for help he sought Dr Strange who informed him that the crucifix was emitting a drug, and that the child was not a demon (albeit with the help of the demon lord Mephisto). However, the church where he left the baby was soon attacked by the assassin Bullseye who killed Karen to get to the baby. Devastated, Daredevil almost commit suicide but he opted to track Macabes instead who turned out to be Mysterio. After being released early from prison due to a brain tumour caused by his equipment he decided to destroy a hero. He wanted to destroy Spider-Man but opted against it because he incorrectly believed that Spider-Man was a clone - the Clone saga was confusing even for Marvel characters. Buying information on Daredevil from the Kingpin he had a girl artificially inseminated without her knowing, faked Karen's test, drugged Foggy, and drugged Matt. He then wanted Matt to kill him for what he had done, but Matt refused calling it a 'B-movie plan' and that Kingpin had already attempted to drive him insane. Mysterio opted to copy Kraven - after he had defeated Spider-Man he had killed himself - and killed himself. The dark, and very controversial story which Marvel has tried to forget, did have a happy ending - the baby went to live with a loving family.

The Other Mysterios

The Second Mysterio

In 1975 with The Amazing Spider-Man #141-142 a second Mysterio was introduced. After Quentin Beck seemingly died in an attempt to escape prison J. Jonah Jameson decided to use it to bring down Spider-Man. Hiring a stunt-man called Daniel Berkhart, who had worked with the original, and obtaining the original suit he wanted Berkhart to 'haunt' Spider-Man as the ghost of Beck. However, Spider-Man soon defeated the second Mysterio who, possibly, lied about being given Beck's costume and decided to get revenge for his predecessor's imprisonment. The comic ended with Berkhart demanding Jameson get him a lawyer or he would tell the police about the editor's involvement - something writers forgot about and still haven't mentioned since. After the original's actual death Mysterio kept appearing and fans wondered, is it Berkhart? It has since been confirmed that Berkhart was the second Mysterio, however, he also took up the mantle of Jack O'Lantern. Unfortunately for Berkhart, the newest Jack O'Lantern in 2012's Venom Vol. 2 #11 said that he killed all the past Jack O'Lanterns meaning that he is likely dead. A third Mysterio, a mutant able to teleport called Francis Klum, appeared in the very controversial Spider-Man/Black Cat: The Evil that Men Do (due to Klum being sexually abused and then forced to be involved in drugs, all by his older brother). Like Berkhart, after his initial appearance he rarely featured in comics and was seemingly killed off. The fourth Mysterio is still nameless - an unnamed African-American man bought Mysterio's costume before changing it to become Mysterion. 

The Original's Return

The Return of the Original

In The Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #12 the original Mysterio returned back from the dead with half his head missing from his gunshot to confront the second and third Mysterios attacking Peter Parker's school. However, in The Amazing Spider-Man #618 when he re-adopted his old moniker he claimed that he had faked his death - comics can get confusing. Even more confusingly he managed to find an entrance to a parallel version of his world - Earth-1610, the Ultimate Universe. Utilising an android resembling himself he sent it into the Ultimate Universe to create a footing in the New York underworld. He even murdered the Ultimate version of Kingpin in order to take over his former territory but he was constantly defeated by the Ultimate Spider-Man - regardless of reality Spider-Man also bested him. That is, until Spider-Man was killed. This brings us onto Spider-Men.  With the Ultimate Peter Parker dead he hoped to properly muscle in on the underworld. The mainstream Peter Parker saw Mysterio up to something in his original universe, and was accidentally transported to the Ultimate Universe where he clashed with the new Spider-Man. After the initial clash, and Peter trying to understand that he's dead in the new reality, they had to deal with Mysterio. With his Spider-Man in the Ultimate Universe he planned to trap Parker there. He would have succeeded if not for his own hubris - assured of victory he briefly opened the portal to check where Parker was allowing him back through. Since then Mysterio has remained a constant villain against Spider-Man.

Beck did retire for some time. After he was defeated by both Spider-Man and Deadpool in 2016's Spider-Man/Deadpool #5 he decided to retire to Las Vegas stating: I'm done. Mysterio is dead, and may he rot in Hell. God knows I've done it before. His retirement didn't last long. In Ben Reilly: Scarlet Spider he was caught up in a plot where his daughter planned to sacrifice him in order to obtain the power of Cyttorak - a demon/god entity. Such a popular villain of Marvel's most popular hero could not stay retired permanently though. The story is still ongoing, it only started mid-2018, but we may finally get to see who revived Mysterio from the grave. The Amazing Spider-Man Vol. 5 #1 showed just how powerful Mysterio is: he managed to create images of an alien invasion so convincing that every major hero came out to fight them. He wanted to be more than just a street-level villain constantly beaten by Spider-Man - after all he had almost took over the New York of a parallel reality - and wanted to be treated in the same light as a villain like Dr Doom. His lawyer, the Beetle a.k.a Janice Lincoln, told him to claim insanity. He was only convinced when he saw his master in the corner...

Thank you for reading and I hope you found it interesting. For future blog updates please see our Facebook or catch me on Twitter @LewisTwiby.

Comics Explained: Captain Marvel (Carol Danvers)

As of writing this week Marvel released the trailer for Captain Marvel marking the debut of Captain Marvel into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Carol Danvers has had a long, and complicated, history in the Marvel universe. For decades she has been an integral part of the Marvel universe constantly being regarded in the top spots of the most important Avengers being referred to as 'quite possibly Marvel's mightiest Avenger'. Due to her having a long history in Marvel we won't go over everything that has happened in her publication history so we'll go over the major parts of her history.

Debut

Carol Danvers appeared in 1968 in Marvel Super-Heroes #13 where she worked for the US Air Force coming into contact with the secret identity of the Kree hero Captain Marvel. The Kree Empire had sent Mar-Vell to Earth to check if the human race was a potential threat but while on Earth he became enamoured with the planet. Seeing him as a hero and mishearing his name the people of Earth named him Captain Marvel. Danvers had left the Air Force and became the head of security at NASA where this brought her into contact with the internal power feuds of the Kree Empire which spilled over onto Earth. In a short story in Captain Marvel #16-18 Captain Marvel fought his rival Yon-Rogg resulting in Carol being thrown into a device called the Psyche-Magnitron. The Kree's technology comes almost straight out of fantasy and the Psyche-Magnitron is an example of this - it can rewrite DNA on the fly and give people superpowers. As Carol had been in contact with Mar-Vell it rewrote her DNA so she became half-Kree, and later giving her superpowers. Until she finally became a superhero afterwards she would make bit appearances in the comics. 

Before we go onto how she became a hero we should go over her childhood and other aspects of her life. Most of her life was revealed in the Ms. Marvel comics, mostly volumes one (in the 1970s) and two (in 2007). Carol was born to a former US Navy officer and a current construction worker who was controlling, abusive to his three kids and very misogynistic. Despite being strong, independent, and smart he preferred her brothers to her, even though that didn't prevent him from beating her brothers, so much so that he paid to put her brother through college but not her despite Carol having superior grades. With no other choice she joined the Air Force on her eighteenth birthday as it was her dream to fly and see the stars. In several prequel comics it was revealed that she took up a few contracts with Nick Fury meeting the pre-X-Men Wolverine. Fastforward past her encounter with the Psyche-Magnitron. In Ms. Marvel 1-5 it was revealed that she did wrote an expose on NASA and started working for the Daily Bugle's feminist publication, Woman Magazine. 

Ms. Marvel

In 1977, during a new feminist wave, Carol Danvers became Ms Marvel - Ms. magazine was one of the most popular feminist publications so Marvel wished to create a connection. Written by Amazing Spider-Man's Gerry Conway and later by X-Men heavyweight Chris Claremont Ms. Marvel became a quick hit. The Psyche-Magnitron had not just changed Carol biologically. By mixing her DNA with that of the Kree Mar-Vell she developed a second personality: that of a superpowered Kree warrior. Carol would experience black-outs where she would become a Kree warrior with the ability to fly and have super-strength. She adopted the name Ms Marvel in reference to Captain Marvel who gave her the powers she now had. In later comics her black-outs would come under control with the help of the Kree Ronan the Accuser. In her other life she would be one of the major feminist figures in New York campaigning for equal pay and rights for women. In Ms. Marvel #16-18 in a story by Chris Claremont she would come to blows with a mysterious woman called Raven Darkholme who could change her appearance. We found out that Darkholme really had dark blue skin, amber eyes and red hair, and she would later become one of the X-Men's major opponents: Mystique. Issue #20 also changed Ms Marvel's costume to her iconic costume, her original costume was often voted the Worst Female Super Hero Costume. She did repeatedly team-up with other heroes until she became an official member of the Avengers in Avengers #183 when Scarlet Witch briefly went on a leave of absence. Ever since Carol Danvers has remained one of the most powerful and integral members of the Avengers. Ms. Marvel #23 would be the last entry in her solo publication until the 2000s through a mixture of sales dropping and the fact that she was now an Avenger.

The debut of her most well known costume

This brings us to one of Marvel's most controversial moments which they've tried to sweep under the rug. Comic book historian Carol Strickland described Avengers #200 as 'The Rape of Ms. Marvel' and there is no other way to describe it. A character called Marcus, implied to be the son of the villain Immortus, kidnapped Ms Marvel and took her to a different universe where he brainwashed, 'seduced', and then impregnated her before sending her back to Earth. Back on Earth she went through a rapid pregnancy and gave birth to a boy who rapidly aged into Marcus who revealed that this was his attempt to escape his realm. The two then returned to his universe. This was rightly criticised as Carol Danvers was literally raped and the Avengers did nothing. Chris Claremont loathed this so much that he tore apart the story as soon as he could. Avengers Annual #10 revealed that returning to his universe did not stop Marcus's rapid ageing and he aged so much that he turned to ash; Carol then used that to escape. Returning to Earth she ended up chastising the Avengers saying: You screwed up, Avengers. That's human. What is also human is the ability to learn from those mistakes. To grow. To mature. If you do that -- even a little -- then perhaps what I went through will have a positive meaning. It's your choice.

Powerless, X-Men, Binary and After

In Avengers Annual #10 the unconscious body of Carol Danvers fell from the Golden Gate Bridge until saved by Spider-Woman and given to the X-Men as all of her identity had been removed. At the same time the Avengers were attacked by Mystique and her Brotherhood of Evil Mutants where manages to roundly defeat several of the team, Rogue. You may recognise Rogue from the X-Men movies but she actually started out as a villain; she was originally meant to debut in Ms. Marvel #25 but the comic was cancelled beforehand. Rogue had the ability to absorb an individual's powers and memories on touch, and too much contact could result in Rogue taking them all. However, when trying to use Carol's powers the memories of her victims clouded her mind allowing the Avengers to defeat the Brotherhood. Going to the X-Men Mansion the Avengers handwaved what happened to Carol rightly enraging her so she quit to remain with the X-Men. With Claremont writing Uncanny X-Men Carol became a key player in the X-Men despite being powerless since Uncanny X-Men #150. Carol would remain with the X-Men until #163 when she encountered a new alien race: the Brood. The Brood are an insect species that uses hosts for their spawn and the X-Men were given to the Brood for that reason. The Brood accidentally sparked the latent augmented genes in Carol's body granting her superpowers again: linked to a white hole she could generate heat, light, radiation and access all other forms of energy as well as control gravity, to an extent. In #174 she decided to leave Earth to join a team of space adventurers called the Starjammers.

The return of her own solo series

Eventually, Carol would lose her connection to the white hole and return to Earth with her old powers returned. Rejoining the Avengers she would adopt a new title in Avengers Vol. 3 #4 called Warbird. During this time she would also develop alcoholism as a way to cope with what had happened to her and her losing her powers once again. By the time of the Avengers Disassembled story in 2004 she was back to being Ms Marvel, and during that story she would help the Avengers try and resist the reality warping effects from an emotionally and mentally broken Scarlet Witch. Although she would not later join the New Avengers she would regularly fight alongside them. Then we come to House of M; in this story Magneto convinced the broken Scarlet Witch to warp reality where now mutants were in control. Despite this Carol became loved acting as Captain Marvel and being the world's most loved hero even though she was a human, not a mutant. An underground resistance against Magneto's rule 'awakened' her to the original reality so she joined the resistance. When reality was restored to normal, albeit with the world's mutant population largely depowered, she missed the prestige she had in the House of M world. As a result her new solo series, Ms. Marvel Vol. 2, revolved around her trying to be one of the world's major heroes. It was during this period that she went from one of Marvel's 'B-heroes' to its 'A-heroes'. During Civil War she would side with the government becoming one of the major pro-registration fighters and after she would lead the Mighty Avengers in New York. Again, she would prove to be a key figure in World War Hulk, Secret Invasion and Siege joining the New Avengers afterwards.

Captain Marvel

In Amazing Spider-Man #9 she would finally don the moniker of Captain Marvel. After seeing a resurrected Captain Marvel sacrifice himself she knew that she had to become the new Captain Marvel. Since then she has become one of Marvel's key characters alongside Captain America and Iron Man having her own title as well as being a major figure in several key stories, including Secret Wars. She also led one side during Civil War II. An Inhuman called Ulysses has the ability to predict the future with a certain degree of accuracy so Carol wanted to use Ulysses to neutralise threats before they emerged straight out of Minority Report. However, Iron Man disagreed viewing this as being dispensing justice before someone has actually done something wrong, and although accurate Ulysses's visions aren't entirely accurate. Things came to ahead and the superhero community became divided which escalated further and the two sides fought. She fought Iron Man and thanks to the fight he went into a coma. In July a new series entitled The Life of Captain Marvel started so I would advise keeping an eye on that.

As Captain Marvel has had a long publication history here's a reading list if you want to get into her stories:
-Ms. Marvel Vol. 1
-Ms. Marvel Vol. 2
-Uncanny X-Men #164
-Captain Marvel (2012-2014)
-The Life of Captain Marvel

Thank you for reading and I hope you found it interesting. For future blog updates please see our Facebook or catch me on Twitter @LewisTwiby.

Comics Explained: Bushmaster

Bushmaster

The new season of Luke Cage is now out on Netflix with a new villain stealing the scene: Bushmaster. Bushmaster is a perfect main antagonist for the second season and today we'll look at the two individuals who have claimed the moniker of Bushmaster. There won't be any spoilers for the Netflix show ahead; mostly as I have only watched the first two episodes of the second season as of writing.

Real World Origins

Iron Fist #15 where he debuted

Bushmaster isn't a major Marvel villain and he never became one of Marvel's major villains, like the Kingpin. As a result his publication history is fairly simple and straightforward compared to other comic book characters. He first appeared in Iron Fist #15 in 1977 in an issue written by X-Men titans Chris Claremont and John Byrne. Like with Luke Cage, which you can read about here, Bushmaster was born thanks to the Blaxploitation of the 1970s. In fact, Bushmaster's first appearance combined two aspects of the crazes of the 1970s: Blaxploitation and martial arts. Bushmaster was from the Caribbean and appeared in Iron Fist who was a martial arts expert combining the two together.

Origins

John McIver grew up in the Caribbean, although not Jamaica as he is in the Netflix series, with his younger brother Quincy. Growing up in poverty the brothers were forced to steal from shopkeepers and merchants, although John had far greater street smarts so managed to evade capture far more easily. However, John had a homicidal streak to him as shown when once Quincy ratted him out to a shopkeeper who had caught him. Furious John savagely beat Quincy and then went on to murder the shopkeeper. Eventually John managed to get a job with the Maggia, an international crime syndicate, and through that got Quincy a job with them which ended in disaster. Revealed in Captain America Annual #10 John and Quincy went on a job and to avoid the police Quincy hid underwater. However, this brought him dangerously close to a boat's propeller which resulted in Quincy's limbs being cut off. John later visited Quincy only to laugh at his brother's misfortune. Years later John, now changing his surname to Bushmaster, managed to become the head of the European branch of the Maggia but wanted to expand his criminal syndicate to New York. This brings us to his debut in Iron Fist #15. Bushmaster was visiting New York in order to begin his criminal empire there attracting the attention of Interpol and the FBI. Misty Knight was sent undercover with the name Maya Korday to see what Bushmaster was up to. He warmly greeted her and was completely oblivious that she was an undercover agent, so much so that he openly stated that he was putting a hit on her boyfriend, the Iron Fist, in front of her. Angered Misty used her bionic arm to attack Bushmaster resulting in him calling the hit off but also vowing revenge.

Other Incidents

After his debut Bushmaster would become determined in taking down Misty Knight or drawing her over to his side. In Marvel Team-Up #63 she even faked a relationship with him in order to take him down. Bushmaster also was the one who brought Luke Cage and Iron Fist together, other than the real world drop in popularity of martial arts and Blaxploitation stories. In Power Man #48 Bushmaster claimed that he had evidence that the heroin found on Luke Cage had indeed been planted and that he was willing to give it to Cage for a favour. In return for the evidence Bushmaster wanted Cage to capture Knight for him. To make him more compliant he also captured two friends of Cage: Claire Temple and Dr. Noah Burstein (who gave Cage his powers). Cage's attempt to capture Knight brought him into conflict with Iron Fist but the three teamed up to take down Bushmaster. However, part of this story, Power Man #49, saw Bushmaster making Dr Burstein repeat the experiment he had done on Cage on him. This resulted in Bushmaster receiving the same powers as Cage: super-strength, durability and stamina. However, this did not help him and he was even paralysed thanks to the fight and procedure.

Death

Bushmaster before his death

In 1981's Power Man and Iron Fist #67 Bushmaster met his end. In an attempt to end his paralysis his was subjected to a process which turned his body into a liquid metal like substance. He knew that he had to have Dr. Burstein reverse the procedure he had done to him so had his agents capture Burstein, his wife, and Cage. Taken to Seagate prison Burstein started the procedure until Iron Fist arrived and destroyed the equipment before Bushmaster could kill Burstein's wife. This resulted in Bushmaster being reduced to a metal skeleton and Cage briefly losing his powers. When Cage got his own title again in Cage #1 in the early 1990s Bushmaster made a return with his son, Cruz. Cruz wanted to rebuild his father's fortune and he believed that to do so he needed the powers his father once had. In Cage #12 Cruz managed to obtain his father's skeleton and captured Cage with the intention of Luke being his shield. Cage would receive the negative effects of the procedure which had resulted in his father's paralysis and death. However, the process revived Bushmaster who then proceeded to kill his son and start draining the energies of Luke Cage and Iron Fist, who arrived too late to stop the procedure. However, in doing so he absorbed Iron Fist's chi energy which was too much for his untrained body which then exploded from the energy overload. Bushmaster now permanently died.

Quincy as Bushmaster

The second Bushmaster

In 1985 in Captain America #310 we were introduced to Quincy McIver. In Marvel there is the Roxxon Oil Company, a multinational conglomerate infamous (although the general public are unaware of this) for funding supervillain activity or aiding Hydra. The reason for this is that they can later use villains to distract heroes from their other shady deals. The Oil Company gave the quadriplegic Quincy and gave him a bionic suit in the shape of a snake. Adopting the name 'Bushmaster' after his deceased brother he joined the Serpent Society, a group of snake themed criminals, and would fight MODOK for the organisation A.I.M. The second Bushmaster would be like his brother and many other Marvel villains where he would appear as a minor antagonist for other heroes, and even then he would appear alongside other villains fighting the Avengers and other heroes. He wouldn't have a big role until Civil War and even then it was alongside other villains. Bushmaster and a few other villains working for Baron Zemo were defeated and left for the authorities at the very start of the Superhero Civil War by Captain America's group; despite being underground and fighting the government they still wanted to fight crime. After Civil War Bushmaster would continue his bit parts appearing in various criminal groups including Kraven's zoo - a team of animal themed villains working under Kraven the Hunter. However, Bushmaster was seemingly killed by Kraven who left him beaten and face-down in some water just before the Punisher attacked in Punisher War Journal Vol. 2 #15. It later turned out that he survived and has again continued in bit parts including being in Purple Man's Villains for Hire in X-Men: To Serve and Protect #2-4.

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Comics Explained: Luke Cage

As of writing the second season of Luke Cage has just begun on Netflix. Cage is one of Marvel's major characters and his debut in 1972 represented trends of the time. He is also extremely important in the history of comics as although he is far from the first black comic book character, Black Panther as one example appeared in 1966, he is the first to have his own comic. Born during Blaxploitation he has had his own identity since then and remains one of Marvel's biggest characters.

Real World Origins

During the 1970s as a new genre came to prominence following the end to legal racism in the United States during the 1960s. This genre featured African-Americans as protagonists with majority African-American casts, quite often heavily featured African-American Vernacular English, was originally for an urban African-American audience (although this soon changed) and looked at issues still plaguing the African-American community which the Civil Rights Movement failed to address. Junius Griffin of the NAACP coined a phrase to describe this new genre: Blaxploitation. Some have argued that Blaxploitation was empowering while others have argued it reinforced white views of African-Americans. Marvel soon took part in Blaxploitation with the creation of Luke Cage. Created by Roy Thomas, Archie Goodwin, and John Romita Sr. Cage debuted in his own comic, Luke Cage, Hero for Hire #1 in 1972.

Comic Origins

Cage's debut in Hero for Hire #1

Cage's backstory has periodically been explained over a course of around four decades in various stories, The Defenders Vol.5 #3 is a good example which showed us a lot of his backstory. Luke Cage was born to a family in Harlem, New York and was originally called Carl Lucas. The young Carl joined a gang with his friends called The Rivals and you may recognize a few of them from the Netflix show, such as Shades but he is different to his comic counterpart. His best friend was Willis Stryker who will become important later. Carl decided to leave the underworld seeing how it was hurting his family and he decided to lead a legal life, but Stryker became very involved with the underworld becoming powerful. However, when Stryker was running fowl of the mob he planted drugs on Carl and called the police; this could eliminate the drugs and get both the police and mob off his back. This brings us to Hero for Hire #1. Taken to Seagate Prison Carl declares his innocence earning the hatred of a racist warden called Albert 'Billy Bob' Rackham who decided to make his life hell. Then Marvel's figurehead's legacy came into play. A recurrent theme in Marvel's history is people trying to recreate the Supersoldier serum which gave Captain America his powers; Weapon Plus which gave Wolverine his adamantium is one example of this. Dr. Noah Burstein wanted to test his new serum in Seagate and Carl volunteered. Burstein left the machine he was using alone as Carl was undergoing the procedure so Billy Bob Rackham decided to tamper with it. Instead of killing him it made his skin super durable and expanded his muscle mass giving him super-strength and making his skin unbreakable. Carl literally punched his way through the prison walls and escaped; the prison saying he drowned as he escaped. Arriving back in Harlem he changed his name to Luke Cage and decided to adopt a new life course.

Hero for Hire

Now called Cage he decided to rent an apartment to operate from owned by a film student called David W. Griffith, (quite ironic considering film director D.W. Griffith, although talented, made the movie seen as reviving the KKK, Birth of a Nation). Cage decided to be a 'Hero for Hire' - if you needed help or needed criminals dealt with you could call Cage with his signature catchphrase heavily rooted in Blaxploitation, 'Sweet Christmas!'. Stryker, meanwhile, became scared that his former friend was alive and out of prison so he ordered a hit on him. At the same time Burstein set up in New York after learning of Cage's innocence assisted by Dr. Claire Temple. When Cage was attacked by Stryker's hitman Claire Temple rushed to help him only to find out that his was fine thanks to his unbreakable skin. In Hero for Hire #2 Cage planned to confront Stryker in order to clear his name with Claire's help which goes wrong as Stryker fell through a skyline killing him. Cage would begin fighting crime to help New York, or to help others, and in Hero for Hire #5 he came across one of his enemies who would later appear in the TV series: Mariah Dillard. A man was murdered and his body taken by a gang called the Rat Pack. His wife came to Cage and taking her job for free in sympathy which would bring him in confrontation with the gang's leader Mariah. Cage would defeat them and they would be sent to prison. In Hero for Hire #8 he would properly come into contact with the wider superhero community in such a fantastic fashion. He would be hired by Dr Doom to take down rouge Doombots and when he skipped town the Fantastic Four took him to Latveria! He then beat up Doom saying 'Where's my money, Honey?'. From issue seventeen the comic would go on to be called Power Man as Cage regularly started interacting with other heroes, including briefly replacing the Thing in the Fantastic Four, as he officially adopted that as his superhero moniker. 

Cottonmouth

Power Man #18, Cottonmouth's debut

A story arc introduced one of Cage's most enduring opponents in Power Man #18 and ending in #20: Cottonmouth. Luke came home one day to see two venomous snakes on his desk. When he had defeated them two men arrived to take him to their boss Cottonmouth. Cottonmouth was one of New York's major bosses and a key figure in the drug trade. He revealed his urge to hire Cage to which he agreed who hoped to trap Cottonmouth thinking he's the one who supplied the heroin used to frame him. After retrieving a shipment of heroin from a rival gang for Cottonmouth he was accepted into it and was introduced to the boss' assistant Mr Slick who was supposed to show him the ropes. Cage hoped to use Mr Slick's accounts to take down Cottonmouth but as he was contacting the police Cottonmouth attacked him. During the scuffle Mr Slick was accidentally knocked from a window killing him and ending Cottonmouth's with it as it was revealed that Slick's photographic memory meant that they had never needed to hold records. With that Cage had taken down another underworld boss but was still no closer to clearing his name.

Power Man and Iron Fist

As the 1970s wore on the interest in Blaxploitation started to dip and it coincided with a dip in interest of martial arts. As a result Marvel decided to bring their martial arts hero, Iron Fist, and place him in Power Man who still remained popular enough to warrant his own series. In Power Man #48 Iron Fist would join with Cage. The criminal overlord Bushmaster had found evidence of Cage's innocence and decided to use this to blackmail Cage - he would give Cage the evidence if he kidnapped investigator Misty Knight. However, Knight was the girlfriend of Iron Fist and the three came together to fight Bushmaster resulting in them permanently joining together and clearing Cage's name. He had his name legally changed to 'Lucas Cage' as the comic itself with issue fifty being renamed Power Man and Iron Fist. Together they would form the Heroes for Hire which remains a key part of Marvel up until today. Like when he was alone the Heroes for Hire would protect people and fight crime if asked by a law-abiding person. Throughout the run the two would become best friends and come into contact with other heroes. One of these, retroactively done, was Jessica Jones. With Power Man and Iron Fist #111 James Owsley (now called Christopher Priest) would take over the comic - he now writes the current run of Deathstroke. Owsley would try and move Cage away from his Blaxploitation roots including limiting how much he said 'Sweet Christmas' and expanding his vocabulary to not just include stereotypical phrases associated with Blaxploitation. Quite shocking in Power Man and Iron Fist #125 in 1986, the last issue, Iron Fist was killed off and Cage got the blame. Owsley later commented 'Fist's death was senseless and shocking and completely unseen. It took the readers' head clean off. And, to this day, people are mad about it. Forgetting, it seems, that (a) you were supposed to be mad, that death is senseless and Fist's death was supposed to be senseless, or that (b) this is a comic book'. Regardless in a traditional Marvel manner the dead Iron Fist was revealed to be a doppleganger five years later and he was brought back.

In 1992 Cage would get his own series again by Marcus McLaurin titled Cage where the front cover had Cage tearing apart his old uniform to show there was a break with the past. Set in Chicago where he would be a Hero for Hire again. He even teamed up with the Punisher in Punisher 60-62 where the two would fight drug dealers together. Eventually when Iron Fist turned up alive former Heroes for Hire lawyer, Jeryn Hogarth, would clear Cage's name. Trying to reconnect with his family he finds out that his brother, James Jr., had been recruited by an organization giving him powers. Now calling himself Coldfire he ended up fighting Cage but the two eventually came together to fight the organization with James sacrificing himself to take them down. Eventually Cage and Iron Fist came back together to reform the Heroes for Hire in 1997's Heroes for Hire #1. A villain called Onslaught had apparently killed the major Avengers, Fantastic Four and Dr Doom leaving a power vacuum in New York which Cage and Fist decided to resolve. They were joined by other heroes including She-Hulk, Hercules, Black Knight, White Tiger, the original Human Torch, Hercules, and the second Ant-Man. During this time Cage would face international foes, like Master of the World, and street level crime.

Jones and the Avengers

Cage and Jones from Alias #28

Cage would later appear in Jessica Jones' mature title Alias. After a sexual encounter as Jones worked as a private investigator the two would begin bonding from Alias #15 when they worked together as bodyguards for Matthew Murdoch, the Daredevil. Later on in the series when we found out about the abuse she was subjected to by Purple Man (partially shown in her own Netflix series) they grew closer until Alias #28 when she revealed that she was pregnant. Moving in together Jones would become a reporter for the Daily Bugle in another title, called The Pulse, which would involve Cage teaming up with Spider-Man to lure out the Green Goblin, who had attacked Jones, and reveal that he was Norman Osborn. We now get to Secret War. Nick Fury had recruited a team of heroes consisting of Cage, Spider-Man, Wolverine, Quake, Daredevil, and Black Widow to take down Lucretia von Bardas of Latveria. However, as Fury had left out that it would involve destroying part of a city he had the minds of the heroes wiped as he knew they would have opposed this. A year later von Bardas blew up Cage's apartment hospitalizing him as although he has unbreakable skin he is susceptible to trauma. Despite this he recovered and married Jessica who gave birth to a daughter called Danielle (named after Iron Fist). He would also form a new team of Avengers. In New Avengers #1 Cage would be one of the heroes to respond to an attempt at mass escape of several supervillains from the Raft prison alongside Iron Man, Captain America, Spider-Man, Spider-Woman and Wolverine. Together they would form the New Avengers.

The new team would face issues. During 2006's Civil War, which you can read about here, the superhero community became divided about the Superhuman Registration Act which would basically turn them into police officers. Cage was one of many heroes to oppose this and unlike the film the act was US only so Jessica went to Canada with their daughter. Cage became one of the key figures in the resistance to the act being second only to really Captain America himself. After Captain America's death at the end of the Civil War Jessica would join him in hiding where he would lead a resistance group called the New Avengers with other heroes, including Wolverine, against the government aligned Mighty Avengers. Cage would continue leading his team throughout the Skrull invasion in the Secret Invasion story and Norman Osborn's rule over SHIELD (which he renamed HAMMER) in Dark Reign. With Osborn's fall, and with it the Registration Act, Cage finally came out of hiding. However, he initially rejected joining the new version of the New Avengers in New Avengers Vol.2 #1 and only accepted when Tony Stark let him run his own team from the Avengers Mansion which he sold to Cage for a dollar (which he borrowed from Iron Fist to buy).

Luke Cage and the Mighty Avengers

Cage remained a integral part of the Avengers with him initially leading the new Thunderbolts, a team comprised of villains wanting to reform themselves, and he helped the Avengers fight the X-Men in Avengers vs. X-Men where he fought Namor. Eventually, Cage went on to form a new version of the Mighty Avengers who later actually defeated some of Thanos' invading force during the Infinity storyline. Cage has since remained very integral to Marvel's stories including the recent ongoing Hunt for Wolverine story being published as of writing.

Thank you for reading and I hoped you found it informative. For future blog updates please see our Facebook or catch me on Twitter @LewisTwiby.

How can you beat Thanos?

Avengers: Infinity War truly shows how powerful Thanos is. The 'Mad Titan' is perhaps one of Marvel's most powerful beings whose powers aren't into the reality warping scale like that of Franklin Richards or Scarlet Witch. This begs the question: how can you beat Thanos? Today we'll answer that question but we'll make it interesting. We won't be using reality warping abilities - we can't just get Molecule Man to turn him into a chocolate teapot or Scarlet Witch to teleport him to the surface of the sun. We'll also be basing our version of Thanos from the Earth-616 (the mainstream) universe in a pitched battle. 

What are Thanos' powers?

Thanos defeating Thor

Even before he wielded the Infinity Gauntlet Thanos was, and still is, extremely powerful. The Nova Corps even counts him as a Category 1 Life Ender, something he ended up actually doing in the Infinity Gauntlet story. Thanos is a Deviant Titanian, a mutated member of the Titanians from Titan, which gave him enhanced abilities to an already powerful species. Titanians already had enhanced endurance, strength, speed, and agility and as a Deviant these abilities were amplified. As a result Thanos can move at fairly quick speeds despite his immense size, (quite paradoxically his reflexes are actually average for a member of his species), and withstand intense pressure. In Infinity #4 Thanos stood against Black Bolt shouting - to show how powerful this is a whisper from Black Bolt can cause powerful earthquakes. Thanos even was hit by Thor who was wielding the Power Stone and just got a nosebleed! He has intelligence to match his physical abilities as well. His mind is perhaps his most powerful weapon. Thanos is extremely intelligent, most of the ships and devices he uses he made himself, and his intelligence passes that of Earth's smartest heroes, like Bruce Banner. He is a skilled tactician as well. Mid-battle Thanos can form expert plans to change how he fights. Thanos is also a telepath, can manipulate matter and energy, and may even be able to use magic. Overall, even without the Infinity Stones Thanos is extremely powerful.

Thanos has minions as well. For our case study we'll focus on the ones shown in the new movie: the Black Order. A while back I looked at the Black Order here and I would recommend reading it to just know their powers, I will go over some of their abilities later though. Corvus Glaive, Proxima Midnight, Black Dwarf, Ebony Maw and Supergiant (who is not featured in the movie) are all powerful individually and can prove to be a huge challenge before we even get to Thanos.

Fighting Thanos

Corvus Glaive about to kill Hulk

Thanos has been beaten and killed several times - once even against Squirrel Girl but we'll ignore that as she's an intentionally jokey character. First we'll have to defeat the Black Order. For this scenario we'll have to fight the Order and then Thanos although the best way to be to eliminate the Order beforehand and even then individually. The best way to do this would be to eliminate the two non-fighting members of the order: Supergiant and Ebony Maw. Supergiant is a powerful telepath being able to control several individuals at once and even consume their mind; meanwhile, Ebony Maw can manipulate minds and even manipulated Dr Strange into releasing the demonic Shuma-Gorath into the world. For reference it should be impossible to manipulate Strange's mind. These two can defeat our heroes before we even get to Thanos. An easy solution to this is to get someone like Hawkeye to put an arrow through their eyes, or get Cyclops to render them unconscious although these are unlikely to work. Instead we'll have to use magic and telepaths. Dr Strange, Professor X, Jean Grey and Emma Frost can be used to distract these two and then we may be able to get someone like Hawkeye in if possible. Despite their intense mental abilities they are mortal - Supergiant was blown up with bombs for example. Black Dwarf is quite simple to beat. He can be described as the Black Order's version of the Hulk or the Thing. He is slow and his head is a weak spot. In Infinity Black Dwarf was defeated by Black Panther and the Dora Milaje so we can simply use them. Like with Maw and Supergiant Glaive and Midnight will be difficult. At the end of Infinity the two for a while, (and with little input from Thanos), held their ground against the Hulk, Thor, Captain America, Captain Marvel and Hyperion (Marvel's version of Superman). In the end they didn't really defeat Midnight - both she and Thanos were betrayed by Maw and that is how they were defeated. To defeat these two we just need one thing: luck. Midnight's spear never misses a target and through sheer luck in Infinity it hit Captain America's shield which made it rebound and hit Glaive. This in turn gave Hyperion an opening to vaporize Glaive. We would to hopefully replicate that ideally hitting Midnight instead. The final one would still be a challenge but would be far easier to defeat - ideally if Maw or Supergiant (or both) were taken out the ones fighting them could intervene or could distract Thanos.

Now for Thanos. He can be beaten in physical combat but it is very difficult. With his strength, speed, agility and intelligence on top of his energy/matter manipulation it will be a challenge to personally fight him. It would take several heroes working together to take him down and even then there would have to be a mix. Strong, heavy hitting characters like Captain Marvel, Thor and Hulk would be needed, agile characters like Spider-Man, and telepaths/magic users like Dr Strange and Emma Frost. Thanos has a regenerative ability but it is not as powerful as that of the Hulk or Wolverine. During Annihilation Drax actually tore out his heart which killed him. We would need to do that but how we do that is difficult. Drax only managed to kill Thanos as he was distracted and Thanos was defeated during Infinity as at last minute he was betrayed and frozen in an amber like substance. Someone like Dr Strange would have to cast a spell to make it appear that someone, like Wolverine, has been defeated so Thanos would not be expecting them to fight back. Then when Thanos is fighting someone like Captain Marvel our surprise hero can spring out and land the blow. However, they would have one shot to do this. Despite not being an efficient regenerative ability it is still a powerful one so whoever does strike Thanos would have to make sure that they could hit the heart, brain or even decapitate him. Wolverine could be a good option; in an alternate reality What if? story Wolverine did cut of his arm. Wolverine has a chance of decapitating Thanos or cutting through his heart. Similarly, Captain Marvel could possibly punch her way through his body to get to his heart. It is difficult to do but not impossible.

Drax killing Thanos

What if Thanos had the Infinity Gauntlet?

Everything would change if Thanos had the Gauntlet and the simple answer is this: you don't beat him. During Infinity Gauntlet when Earth's remaining heroes go to fight Thanos he demolishes them: Wolverine's bones are turned to rubber, Thor is turned to glass, Captain America is killed by a backhand, Scarlet Witch's hex is reversed onto her, and Cyclops is suffocated when a glass block is placed over his head. Thanos' one hubris is the thing to bring him down. After the defeat of the heroes the Cosmic Entities including Marvel's devil Mephisto, the world-consuming Galactus, and the embodiment of Love all went to face Thanos and were turned to stone. One such beings was Eternity, the living embodiment of the universe, and with Eternity gone Thanos decided to become the new embodiment which meant that his soul left his mortal body. Nebula (currently in the Guardians of the Galaxy movie) then obtained the Gauntlet and reversed all that Thanos did. You do not defeat Thanos, you let him create his own weakness.

Thank you for reading. If people like this post I'll do others about how you defeat other comic book characters. For future blog updates please see our Facebook or get me on Twitter @LewisTwiby.

Comics Explained: Cloak and Dagger

Marvel has recently released the trailer for their new TV series Cloak and Dagger (above). Since their debut in 1982 this duo has regularly appeared in various Marvel comics, including their own. Due to this we'll not be able to cover all of their appearances. Cloak (Tyrone 'Ty' Johnson) and Dagger (Tandy Brown) are truly some of Marvel's most interesting characters so it is really exciting to see them finally making a live action debut - something which has been in the works for a while now. Before we look at their comic history we first need to look at their real world origin. 

Cloak and Dagger #1

Real World Origins

Cloak and Dagger were created by Bill Mantlo and Ed Hannigan making their debit in 1982's Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #64. Mantlo was writing for Marvel and thought up the duo after a visit to Ellis Island where he said 'They came in the night, when all was silent and my mind was blank. They came completely conceived as to their powers and attributes, their origin and motivation. They embodied between them all that fear and misery, hunger and longing that had haunted me on Ellis Island.' In the 1980s both Marvel and DC were starting to move away from the Comics Code of Authority which often forbade comics dealing with serious topics, and Cloak and Dagger were part of this shift. Even their debut in Peter Parker #64 reflected this: Spider-Man first encounters them when they actually murder a drug dealer. In the 1980s it was common for characters who debuted in Spider-Man to receive their own four-issue title - he was Marvel's biggest seller so little marketing was needed to advertise their new title. Cloak and Dagger debuted in 1983 and soon became extremely popular where in 1985 Marvel gave them a bi-monthly series. 

Comic Origins

Their debut

The origins of Cloak and Dagger were set out in Cloak and Dagger #4. By the looks of the TV series trailer it appears that they've partially swapped the character histories of Cloak and Dagger - albeit their origins are heavily based on stereotypes of the 1980s. Ty Johnson was born into a poor family in south Boston and despite a stutter he excelled at school. That is until aged 17 he and his best friend Billy witnessed a robbery. The police blamed Billy but due to Ty's stutter he was unable to proclaim Billy's innocence and the police shot his friend. Feeling responsible and afraid of the police he ran away to New York. Meanwhile, Tandy was a rich girl from Ohio and her mother was a self-centered model who neglected her. When the only person to show her any affection moved to New York she followed. In New York Ty met Tandy and as he was homeless and hungry he thought about robbing Tandy. He decided against it but when someone else robbed Tandy he got her purse back. That night Tandy bought Ty dinner as a way to say thanks and they became friends. Later on they were kidnapped so a chemist called Dr. Simon Marshall could test out his new drug: D-Lite. D-Lite was supposed to be a mix between 'crack and heroin' and Marshall had been unsuccessfully testing it. The drug happened to kill those it was tested on except for one who would become the villain Mr. Negative. We later find out in 1991's Cloak and Dagger Vol.3 #19 that D-Lite also had mystical origins. A demon called D'Spayre helped create D-Lite as it creates a feeling of despair in those who take it and survive, something which D'Spayre feeds off of.

Ty and Tandy were kidnapped by Dr. Marshall in order to test out D-Lite. Unlike other test subjects they survived and gained powers through it. Here a controversy about them enters the mixture. There is an argument to be made that D-Lite really activated the duo's latent X-Gene making them mutants. Over the years creators have put forward evidence to support or go against this theory. This is not clear cut as well because both mutants and mutates can have powers being both science and magic related. Regardless of what they are it allowed Ty and Tandy to tap into the forces of two dimensions: Tandy could tap into the Lightforce while Ty could tap into the Darkforce. With the Lightforce Tandy can create 'light-daggers' which she can shoot from her hands and later we find out she can cure people with the Lightforce. This can even be done to cure drug addicts. Meanwhile, Ty became intangible thanks to the Darkforce (when disconnected from it his stutter returns), and he can travel through the Darkforce dimension unhindered - something without Tandy's protection can cause people to go insane. However, Ty needs to absorb people into the Darkforce to ease his 'hunger' but Tandy can use the Lightforce to ease this hunger. After gaining their powers they dealt with Marshall's thugs going under the names Cloak and Dagger. Later, in Peter Parker #64 they killed Marshall but Spider-Man befriended them.

As Cloak and Dagger

The duo from their debut

Unlike most heroes Cloak and Dagger did not regularly fight other costumed villains instead going after drug dealers and the drug industry in general. In Peter Parker #69 they returned to assassinate criminal kingpin and notorious drug trafficker Silvermane. Dagger managed to wound him but he would survive and in Peter Parker #81-82 they would try and fail to take out the Kingpin himself. After these failed attempts Dagger would opt for less brutal methods but this would clash with Cloak who required absorbing people into the Darkforce to survive - something which her Lightforce could not always stop. Throughout the 1980s and early-1990s the duo's popularity would skyrocket so they would regularly appear in crossovers with other Marvel heroes; most notably these included Spider-Man, Daredevil, the Power Pack, and New Mutants. It was during their crossovers with the New Mutants that the theory that they were mutants who had their powers activated by D-Lite came about although in this case it was directly stated that they were mutants instead of hinting at it. In fact, Cloak and Dagger Vol. 3 was called The Mutant Misadventures of Cloak and Dagger. It was in Vol.3 that Dagger became one of the few disabled superheroes. Writer Terry Austin made Dagger go blind and had research with the American Foundation for the Blind to accurately write and depict the physical and psychological impact of going blind as well as coping with it. However, this has since been forgotten, especially as by the mid-1990s the duo's popularity had wavered causing their title to be cancelled after nineteen issues.

Other Appearances

The duo at the top left during the final fight in Civil War

Since their cancellation the duo have still regularly appeared in the comics. When the Spider-Man villain Carnage created an army in Maximum Carnage they were two of the heroes to aid Spider-Man in defeating them. They even appeared in Infinity Gauntlet which is one of the comics which the upcoming Avengers: Infinity War is based on. When Thanos obtained all the Infinity Stones he snapped his fingers causing half the universe's population to vanish and Dagger was one of them. Cloak joined the remaining heroes to defeat Thanos and he did swallow Thanos into the Dark dimension. However, he realized that as the Titan has the Infinity Stones he cannot hold him and Thanos literally made him explode. When Thanos' actions were reversed the duo returned to life. Later they also took part in the street-level team Marvel Knights, in the comic Marvel Knights, and they were tricked into capturing the Runaways before trying to help the young heroes. During Civil War they sided with Captain America and were briefly imprisoned in the Negative Zone prison. When Captain America's allies free the prisoners during the final fight Cloak is the one who teleports them all to New York. Since then they've had a few other appearances including a time when Mister Negative, who can use both the Light and Darkforce, swapped their powers so Dagger used the Dark while Cloak used the Light.

Unlike other notable Marvel characters since the cancellation of their comic they haven't had their own major story arc and have largely been confined to guest appearances. They are really interesting characters though and hopefully this new TV series should spark more interest in them. If Marvel ever decides to bring back their darker, more adult MAX imprint a new Cloak and Dagger comic could fit perfectly in. 

Thank you for reading. For future blog updates please see our Facebook or catch me on Twitter @LewisTwiby.