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With heightened versions of Carol’s already impressive abilities, Binary could be the most powerful version of Carol Danvers to exist in any universe.
WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for Captain Marvel #34, available now from Marvel.
Few Marvel heroes have undergone as many identity changes as Carol Danvers. Originally taking on the moniker of Mrs. Marvel after exposure to an experimental Kree war machine awakened the latent abilities she’d inherited from her Kree mother Mari-Ell, Carol has changed her codenames several times as her powers evolved, often coinciding with major upheavals in Carol’s life. Following a series of traumatic events linked to the X-Men, Carol’s abilities became more powerful than ever before, altering her physical form and inspiring her to take on the name Binary.
After many adventures in space, Carol would exhaust the immense power that she’d gained and return to Earth, where she would eventually inherit her old friend Mar-Vell’s title of Captain Marvel. However, Carol’s old cosmic identity has recently as an entirely separate entity, and previews for the upcoming Captain Marvel #38 (by Kelly Thompson, Juan Frigeri, and Alvaro Lopez) have revealed that this mysterious doppelgänger is about to take Carol’s place as the new Captain Marvel.
Carol’s transition from Mrs. Marvel to Binary was one marked by deep trauma. Having just escaped an abusive relationship with Immortus’s son Marcus and severed her ties with the Avengers, Carol got into a battle with Rogue, then a member of the Brotherhood of Mutants, and the power-absorbing mutant ended up siphoning not only Carol’s powers but also her personality and memories. After Professor X successfully restored most of Carol’s mental faculties, she became an ally of the X-Men and accompanied them on a space mission, only for them all to be captured by the Brood. In their attempt to mold Carol into an ideal host for their young, the Brood exposed her to radiation that inadvertently enhanced her abilities, altering her physical form in the process. Feeling that she no longer had a place on Earth, Carol renamed herself Binary and joined the Starjammers.
Eventually, Carol exhausted the powers she’d gained from the brood’s experiment and return to Earth, rejoining the Avengers and establishing herself as one of the world’s most powerful heroes after taking on the mantle of Captain Marvel. However, Carol’s old identity made a stunning comeback in Captain Marvel #38 (by Kelly Thompson, Sergio Devalla, Sean Parsons, Jesus Aburtov, and Clayton Cowles) as a separate entity from Carol herself. After discovering that her old foe Vox Supreme had captured all of the past and present Mrs. Marvels, Carol attempted to rescue her friends but was captured by Vox Supreme and sealed within a specialized capsule that was then ejected into space. To escape, Carol drew inspiration from Monica Rambeau and used the energy within herself to create a duplicate of her Binary form outside of the container that freed her. Carol used the same trick after she was captured again, but this time the form continued to exist on its own, helping Carol and the others Mrs. Marvels takedown Vox Supreme.
At the moment, the true identity of this new version of Binary is a complete mystery, but if she’s anything like Carol was during her own time as Binary, then she has the potential to become one of the most powerful beings in the Marvel Universe. As Binary, there were no known limits to Carol’s ability to manipulate energy, and her physical strength allowed her to survive the destruction of entire planets. As if that wasn’t enough, Binary’s lack of a physical form means that she isn’t held back the physical limitations that Carol is, and she’s already proven that she can phase through solid matter. With heightened versions of Carol’s already impressive abilities, Binary could be the most powerful version of Carol Danvers to exist in any universe.
How exactly the events of Captain Marvel #38 will currently play out aren’t clear, but early promos imply that Carol won’t be able to act as Captain Marvel for one reason or another. While Binary would be an ideal stand-in for Carol, it would be yet another example of her agency being undermined by outside forces. Carol has proven herself to be more than worthy of her reputation as a hero time and time again, but this new version of herself could take all of that away.
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