While Captain Marvel has been on countless perilous missions throughout her career as a cosmic superhero, it seems as though Marvel can’t help but repeat one particular storyline–and it’s weirdly specific.
Carol Danvers was born to a Kree mother and a human father, and after a Kree device activated her latent powers, she gained amazing and immensely powerful abilities including flight, photon projection/energy blasts, and self-sustaining anatomy–powers that allowed her to become Captain Marvel. Before she took on the title of her former mentor, a Kree warrior named Mar-Vell, Carol Danvers went by Ms. Marvel as she was still coming into her own as a superhero, and it was during that time when she experienced one of the most traumatic moments of her life–and Marvel just can’t seem to let her forget it.
In Avengers Annual #10 by Chris Claremont and Michael Golden, Carol Danvers is attacked by the mutant villain and adopted daughter of Mystique, Rogue, after Rogue is tasked with decimating the Avengers starting with Ms. Marvel. Rogue, having the power to drain people of their life force and absorb abilities from those with super powers, incapacitated Carol with a single touch and simultaneously stole her cosmic power. However, Rogue did more than just absorb Carol’s abilities for a short period, as she also took a piece of Carol’s consciousness and left Danvers in a coma for some time following the attack. Even after recovering in a later Marvel Comics issue, Captain Marvel was never the same after that experience and held contempt for Rogue ever since, even after Rogue’s heroic metamorphosis.
Rogue draining Captain Marvel of her powers is one of the most iconic storylines involving either characters, and unfortunately for Carol Danvers, that wouldn’t be the last time she would be drained of her life force. In Captain Marvel #3 by Kelly Thompson and Carmen Carnero, Rogue re-enters Carol’s life as a villain with a terrifying upgrade. During this storyline, it is revealed that Rogue has the power to drain people without even touching them–making Captain Marvel an easy victim once more. Then, in Captain Marvel #10, Carol is facing a villain named Star who had been stealing Captain Marvel’s powers to use as her own while masquerading as an all-new superhero, a siphoning process that nearly kills Captain Marvel.
When Rogue absorbed Captain Marvel and left her in a coma, Carol was forever scarred by the experience and never fully recovered from it, so the fact that her worst trauma–that of having her life force drained–is constantly being used against her in later storylines is decidedly cruel. However, the fact that Captain Marvel is constantly facing her worst fear and consistently coming out on top just goes to show how impressive she is as a hero, and that nothing can keep her down including the very thing that nearly killed her all those years ago.
Whether it is for her benefit as a hero or simply done as a cruel joke, the one thing that is clear is Marvel can’t help but repeat one weirdly specific Captain Marvel story.