In issue #5, Ms. Marvel fights Vision. Only it’s not Vision. It’s a fake, made by MODOK.
We also get a full origin story. Carol Danvers got hit by a blast of Kree radiation way back when she was just a side character in the Captain Marvel comic. The side effects lay dormant until her shrink hypnotized her and she transformed like Shazam into Ms. Marvel. We also learn that her costume gives her some of her power, due to “sophisticated electronic webbing.”
This is all great, but as I mentioned, it’s just the first issue of an arc starring my favorite villain….MODOK!
Yes! Modok is set up to be her main villain!
MODOK uses Grotesk, an old X-Men villain, against her.
Ms. Marvel is captured by MODOK’s AIM faction, who strip her out of her costume but at least are polite enough to put another outfit on her. They want her costume because it augments her Kree DNA powers, not because they’re perverts…
…Or are they?
An AIM patsy is put into Ms. M’s costume, but she is unable to duplicate Ms. Marvel’s abilities because, earlier in this same story, the circuity “burned out” during a battle.
MODOK then starts torturing and brainwashing Carol Danvers, trying to make her love him. It’s very, very creepy. OK. So yeah, they are perverts.
This is very interesting. I don’t know how aware of all this Brian Bendis was when he made Carol the best friend of Jessica Jones, who was turned into Purple Man’s love slave, but clearly Chris Clarement knew about it when he mind-wiped Spider-Woman in Avengers Annual #10-one of my favorite comics, ever-and had Carol Danvers befriend and counsel Spider-Woman in the aftermath of that trauma.
Eventually, though, she breaks free of his control and we learn that she no longer needs her costume to have powers. This is great, because it means she can get a more feminist-appropriate costume next issue.