The following contains major spoilers for Captain Marvel #44, on sale now from Marvel Comics.
Carol Danvers has made some astonishingly powerful enemies over her decades-long career as a superhero, not to mention just as many amazing allies. Of course, for someone who has been around as long as Captain Marvel, the line between friend and foe is one that has frequently become blurred beyond recognition. In fact, that is exactly the case when it comes to Carol’s most iconic rival, and she has finally decided that it is time to simply let go of the past along with her once-burning hatred for the X-Men’s very own Rogue.
After journeying to the stars alongside several of her mutant allies, the titular hero of Captain Marvel #44 (by Kelly Thompson, Sergio Dávila, Sean Parsons, Arif Prianto, and VC’s Clayton Cowles) is left confronting the recently returned threat of the Brood. Worse still, Rogue has already fallen victim to the Brood’s insectile machinations, transforming her into a monstrous hybrid of the two. Surprisingly, Carol decides against taking any sort of lethal action against the transformed Rogue, even in spite of every part of herself, and her history, that wants to unleash nothing less than that.
Rogue and Carol first encountered one another in the former’s first appearance in 1981’s Avengers Annual #10 (by Chris Claremont and Michael Golden). At the time, Rogue was a member of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, who were going through a spate of run-ins with Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. Upon their initial confrontation, Carol and Rogue became fast rivals. After exposing Carol to the full might of her powers, however, things took a far darker turn.
Not only did Rogue steal Carol’s powers and memories, but she also did so seemingly permanently. Somehow, his didn’t deter Carol from further heroics but rather drove her to fight alongside the X-Men as an unofficial member of the team for years. This in turn would inadvertently lead to her first encounter with the Brood, which would subsequently lead to her becoming Binary as her full potential was unlocked by their torturous experiments. After everything she went through, Carol had nothing but a burning hatred for both Rogue and her alien tormentors, albeit one that has been tempered in the years since then.
No matter how much her past self would have enjoyed tearing through both the Brood and Rogue, — especially a Brood-infested Rogue, Carol doesn’t find any joy in subjecting either of them to harm. There is certainly something to be said about her not wanting to do any unnecessary damage in general, but that is hardly as impactful as Carol’s innate desire to use her powers for anything other than hurting people.
Carol notes, “growth sucks,” proving just how much she has grown as a hero and a human being in the past four decades. People such as Agatha Harkness might have their doubts, but Carol is unquestionably one of the most empathetic and endearing figures the Marvel Universe has to offer. If anyone were going to be imbued with the kind of impossible power she wields as Captain Marvel, Carol is absolutely the right person for the job.
