David Cronenberg’s remake of The Fly is one of my favorite love stories. It’s about a weird, very Jewish looking science nerd (Jeff Glodblum) who manages to get a woman way, way, WAY out of his league to fall madly in love with him. And the more she loves him, the more he transforms into a monster. Until, eventually, he’s eating his food by digesting it outside his body and murdering people who don’t get their names above the title, and generally acting like a tool.
In this Avengers arc, the first by the great Walter Simonson, the same story occurs with the genders reversed. Marrina, a wispy little green bobble headed chick, is taken by Namor, the ultramasculine perfect-example-of-a-man (except for the anklewings), to a big fancy party where she eats some bad fish (literally) and transforms into a monster.
And in the end, Namor sticks a sword in her and kills her.
I’m hoping Jeff Goldblum plays Subby in the movie.
It all starts when Marrina’s feral side is triggered while the team is at a black tie event hosted by Mayor Ed Koch of New York City.But this story is hyped as the beginning of the end of The Avengers…
…So there must be more to this, right? I mean, Marrina’s not even a member of the team.
Indeed, the seeds of a grander story are sowed as a backstory, where we see the council of Kangs and, in particular,
a female Kang who is sending an astral projection into Dr. Druid’s dreams, feeding his desire to unseat Captain Marvel as leader of the team. It’s a great way to introduce an arc that will culminate with issue #300. And there’s a cliffhanger: During the battle with Marrina, Captain Marvel turns into lightning in an effort to stop her, and at the end of the battle, she’s lost her powers–and she’s missing.
Dr. Druid really wants to lead the team, and he uses his powers to influence team members’ minds–so he becomes the leader.
This is one of the top 5 Walt Simonson comics of all time.