Warning! Spoilers ahead for Captain Marvel #25
Captain Marvel’s newest adversary, Ove, was one of the best new Marvel characters of the past year, but he’s just getting started. In fact, the previews for Captain Marvel’s next issue show that the villain of Marvel’s dystopian future has his sights set on the past.
The current arc of Kelly Thompson’s Captain Marvel has brought Carol Danvers into the future, where most of Earth’s heroes have perished. A ragtag team of survivors and children of heroes past accompany the displaced Captain Marvel to New Atlantis, a settlement ruled by Ove, the son of Namor. However, issue #24 revealed that Ove actually takes more after his mother - Enchantress, an evil Asgardian sorceress and one of Thor’s deadliest villains. Using her mind controlled minions, Enchantress has Carol and her cohorts taken prisoner, but to what end?
In the previews for Captain Marvel #25, Ove unveils his evil plot in classic super villain fashion. “Well, to put it simply,” Ove explains, "now that we have pulled you forward in time, we can send me back…to rule.” With this, it seems that Ove is taking after upcoming MCU villain Kang the Conqueror, with plans to go back in time and take over the past, though how exactly he hopes to accomplish this has yet to be revealed. On paper, going back to a time when there would be way more heroes to fight seems like a bad idea, but if Ove has proven anything, it’s that he’s no fool. Rather than oppose the heroes, perhaps he plans to masquerade as a friend from the future who has come to warm them of the coming catastrophe, thereby putting himself in a better position to eventually take over.
Ove may have the upper hand for the time being, but the preview also shows that Brigid Thorsdottir, daughter of Thor, hopes to change that. With help from Rhodey’s daughter, who has the ability to phase through objects, Brigid gets free from her shackles and sets out to rescue Carol from captivity. However, she’ll likely have to go through the mind-controlled Luke Cage, who already proved he can take down the strongest Avenger - Captain Marvel herself - in the last issue. Based on all this, it looks like an epic showdown is brewing for the next issue.
Regardless of the outcome, hopefully Marvel has more in store for this future timeline. These few issues have introduced a rich cast of new characters that, with a little more development, could potentially do for Marvel what Future State is doing for DC.