15 Captain Marvel comics you need to read before seeing the movie

Ms. Marvel #1 (Cover image via Marvel)

9. Ms. Marvel #1 (2006)

If that first version of Ms. Marvel #1 didn’t quite do it for you, then you should try skipping ahead a few decades and reading the new series featuring Danvers, also titled Ms. Marvel #1. This not-quite-a-reboot still features that rather undignified bathing suit costume that was the bane of nearly all big-name female superheroes for a long, long time. Even then, the story itself has some interesting points that help to build on the Ms. Marvel character.

It also requires a bit more understanding of Carol Danvers’ backstory, thanks to the three decades of comics that built up between this issue and her first solo appearance in 1977. After the deeply traumatic episode with Marcus Immortus, Carol breaks ties with almost everyone. She eventually teams up with the X-Men, gains cosmic powers, and becomes Binary (more on that later).

Eventually, she rejoins the Avengers as Warbird, then sort of meanders back to the Ms. Marvel title. That’s where we find her in this issue, the first of a series featuring Ms. Marvel that would run from 2006 to 2010.

In the first issue, Ms. Marvel flies through New York City, defeats a villain known as “Stilt Man”, and meets with a friend, Jessica Drew, to discuss her situation. Carol is apparently in contact with a public relations agent, Sarah Day, to help refine her image.

Before things get a little too mundane and we are plunged in a world of soul-killing PR appearances, we are saved by a strange green object that streaks across the sky. Ms. Marvel follows up on the matter, obviously concerned about yet another glowing celestial object crashing on her planet. What comes out of the object and the story that follows makes for a pretty good reintroduction to a character that really needs some fun adventure at this point.