Warning! Spoilers ahead for Captain Marvel #27
The Avengers have failed their young heroes, specifically one in particular, by not learning from the X-Men. The latest appearance from Jennifer Takeda A.K.A. Hazmat in Captain Marvel’s newest comic is the best fans have seen her in terms of having control over her powers. When Hazmat was enrolled in Avengers Academy, a veteran member of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes tried everything in his arsenal to help her gain control but to no avail. One thing the Avengers didn’t try while doing what they could to help Hazmat is what Charles Xavier teaches his students from day one.
In Captain Marvel #27 by Kelly Thompson with art by David Lopez and Triona Ferrell, it is safe to say that Carol Danvers is in a pretty bad way. Captain Marvel is back from a dystopian future where she had broken up with James Rhodes A.K.A. War Machine even though she still loved him. At the start of the issue Carol is depressed, bed ridden, and overall not taking care of herself so Spider-Woman swings in to save her as if Danvers was just tossed off the Golden Gate Bridge. Jessica Drew helps Carol by forcing her to have some fun with friends who include Danvers’ half sister and current Kree Accuser Lauri-Ell, Monica Rambeau, and, as if on cue, Jennifer Takeda, better known as Hazmat.
As the group is about to make their way out the door and onto the scene of a speed dating roulette, Lauri-Ell and Takeda first have a brief yet revealing conversation. Hazmat is asked by the Accuser about her powers and how it is that she is able to control them, to which the Young Avenger replies, “Meditation. Well, I think. I also have this theory about flaming hot Cheetos consumption, but it's probably the meditation.” Jokes aside, Hazmat is able to curb her unintentionally lethal powers through will power alone, something the X-Men teach all of their members when working to control their powers, and something the Avengers evidently never even thought of.
Because of her powers, Hazmat produces various deadly substances from her body without meaning to. To her advantage, her powers give her the ability to create different forms of blasts through the radiation within herself, and allow her to inflict harm on nearly any enemy the Young Avenger encounters. Unfortunately, while she can repel basically all of her enemies, she is cursed to do the same to her friends. If people hang around Takeda for too long, the prolonged exposure will cause them to fall ill, or worse. When Jennifer first enrolled in the Avengers Academy, Hank Pym did everything his genius mind could think of to limit the negative impacts of her powers. In the end, the solution was sticking Takeda in a suit that blocked her powers from everyone else, suppressing her powers instead of accepting them, highlighting a deep-rooted issue within the Avengers themselves.
Proven true by the handling of Hazmat’s powers, the Avengers see superpowers, while useful, as unnatural and something that should be used when needed but suppressed when not. The X-Men fully accept their powers, no matter how potentially dangerous, and learn to control them instead of just using then suppressing them. Rather than locking her powers away in a suit, Hazmat discovers she can live a normal life without causing anyone any harm through meditation, something she could have learned from the X-Men if she joined their ranks rather than the Avengers. Hazmat is just one example, and if Earth’s Mightiest Heroes don’t change how they teach their new members how to use their powers, the Avengers could fail many more young heroes if they don’t learn from the X-Men.