[ Up ] [ New Universe, New Threats! ] [ Prelude to disaster! ] [ Being a hero ]

His father was the greatest of Heroes, saving the entire universe from subjugation time and time again! Now he must continue that tradition , his powers are the same, but his outlook is different. He wields the mighty Nega bands and has the Celestial insight of Cosmic Awareness. The universe is his inheritance, for he is its Protector as he struggles to find his place amidst the Heavens, his buds call him Genis, but he's known and feared by his enemies as....

The Sensational Captain Marvel !

The spectacular and amazing 100^th issue of Captain Marvel, Protector of the Universe entire!

New Universe, New threats!

By Ralph L. Angelo Jr!

Captain Marvel streaks from the Helicarrier's deck, a gleaming , glowing, glittering photon trail marking his wake, as he grimly sets his jaw, and rockets towards New York and Avengers mansion.

In his mind, he replays the events of the past hour...

A resounding crash and Quasar bursts through the hull of the Helicarrier , sheathed in Quantum energy, but beaten and wounded!

"Genis! You have to stop her, she's insane." The words burn in Captain Marvels mind as he begins to set down on Avengers mansion lawn.

"Who Quasar? Who?" Genis asked

"My girlfriend. Kayla. Kayla Ballantine."* As Captain Marvel sets down, instantly, huge metal tentacles leap from the ground and ensnare him.

*See last issue, Ragin Ralphy.

"Who?" Genis asked, wide eyed, as nearby, Nick Fury barked orders for another medic for Quasar.

Genis rips the metallic tentacles from the mansions lawn with a mighty, herculean heave!

RAAAKKTT!

"She was my girlfriend, a few years ago." Wendall Vaughn continued, as the MD's began to check his numerous wounds.

Captain Marvel blasts several tentacles with his photonic power, decimating them, then he flies towards the front door of the mansion, as a ghostly hand reaches through the door to stop him from plowing through it.

"Hold Captain Marvel, I have shut down the defensive systems that were alerted by your presence. You may enter our home without further incidence." The Vision passes his face through the heavy oaken door as he speaks to Genis. "Come inside, Captain. Join us."

Genis open the door and enters the home of the Mighty Avengers. Yellowjacket is there to greet him, along with Ms. Marvel.

"Hello Captain, what can we do for you?" Yellowjacket asks.

"Hi Genis, how are you, it's been a while." Ms Marvel smiles warmly at the young hero.

"I've been better, Ms M. I need your help, guys."

"Come inside and tell us about it Captain." Answers Yellowjacket.

Minutes later, the Avengers on premises sit at the round table with Captain Marvel in their midst.

"Now what can we do for you, Captain?" The Vision hollowly intones.

"Guys, there's this barrier around the Earth, that's keeping me here, and Quasar just informed me of a major threat out in space, on another Earth."

"Yes Captain," Yellowjacket answers grimly, "Nick Fury called us a few seconds before you appeared at our doorstep, actually."

"So, can you help me? I have to get through that barrier, somehow."

"I do not think we can be of help to you, Captain, but perhaps we know of someone who can."

"Yes, good idea, Vision." Ms Marvel almost smiles, as she stands quickly. "I'll take him over to the Doctors now."

"Doctor's?" Genis asks as both he and Ms Marvel streak away from the Mansion and a few blocks downtown.

"Yes, someone you haven't met yet. A man who is as important as you are to the all of things, sweety."

"You mean as I used to be, Carol."

"What are you talking about, Genis?"

"These cosmic entities stole my greatest power, my cosmic awareness, and trapped me here. But if this threat is as big as Quasar says, then I have to get to this other Earth."

Both Marvels land at the doorstep of an old mansion on Bleeker street, as Ms Marvel knocks upon the door. A moment later a bald headed oriental man answers the door.

"Greetings Ms Marvel, Captain Marvel. Mistress Clea will see you both . Please follow me."

"Umm, you misunderstand, Wong, we're here to see Dr Strange. " Ms. Marvel answers, as Genis merely stares around the strange mansion almost like a child in a candy store.

The three people walk into a study, where Clea stands, with a book floating in the air before her. She looks up and smiles warmly, but with an air of sadness to her eyes.

"Hello my friends, how are you?" She asks as the book closes and places itself back on a bookshelf.

"Clea, we're fine, but where's Dr Strange?" Ms Marvel asks.

"I-I would rather not say, Ms Marvel."

"Would not, or cannot?" Genis asks.

Clea smiles again."You are intuitive, young man. I assume you are the new Captain Marvel?"

"I'm not that new anymore, Clea. I've been around a while now. But I've never had the pleasure of crossing paths with you, until now that is. My name's Genis." He extends a hand, and Clea takes it.

"Ah, you are the new Universal protector. And you need to get to another Earth, half a universe away. Interesting." She continues to hold his hand, as her own glows slightly. "And you need my help in getting you there, but a barrier is separating you from the stars. Much like the Silver Surfers barrier in years gone by. But you are trapped on Earth, and if you are going to another Earth, the laws of this barrier may be circumvented . Open your mind to me, Captain. Show me what you know of this world."

"Uhh, I've never been there. I don't know anything about it." He answers.

"No, I see you do not. But there is one who does." Suddenly a wall of energy engulfs Clea and Captain Marvel at her slightest gesture.

"Wait, what are you doing?" Genis asks, but as soon as he does ask, the wall drops, and he finds himself and Clea back aboard the Helicarrier, and inside Quasars sickroom.

"Whoa, and I thought I was fast." He murmurs aloud.

Clea meanwhile, places her hands on the sides of Quasars sleeping head. Then she continues holding his head with her right hand and touches Genis' face with her left, as energy engulfs Captain Marvel.

"Go Captain Marvel, and go with care. I feel you are facing a threat here unlike any you have ever beheld. This threat may be to much for even you."

"Thanks Clea, and thanks for the words of encouragement."

Even as Genis speaks, the world fades around him and is instantly replaced by what seems to be the same world. Captain Marvel finds himself floating miles above the Earth.

"Did I go anywhere?" He muses aloud. "Seems like I just left the Helicarrier. She probably screwed up, and dumped me a few miles from the carrier. I better try to find it."

He flies away, but finds nothing. Then he remembers the device Fury gave him upon his wrist.

"This thing Fury gave me is supposed to be a super GPS unit, with a stealth field. I used the stealth field under water when I helped Namor save Atlantis, but I never tried the GPS out of sea. It helped me pinpoint where I was going when I was looking for Namor's home. Now lets see if I can find the carrier."

Captain Marvel activates the wrist unit, and finds...

"Nothing. No trace of the Helicarrier. Like it vanished off the face of the Earth, or like it was never here." He thinks to himself, as he flies across the night sky.

"She did it. She really got me here. I'm using the super GPS to hone in on a few landmarks I know of on Earth, and it can't find them. It's locked into the satellites above, but it can't find what I'm looking for. The topography has changed. A lot."

Genis circles above. But nothing looks the same from his vantage point as it did mere moments ago.

"Okay, maybe I don't have my cosmic awareness, but if I play my cards right, I can use this Super GPS to hone in on Miss Ballantine." As Captain Marvel thinks those thoughts, an image forms in his mind of this woman he has never met, an exact image of her long red hair, and striking beauty, a sash-like headband wrapped around her head, and a black body suit with a symbolic star across her chest, with the sides of her stomach and waist bare, only a thin strip attaching the top of her costume to the small bottom section, which ends as a bikini bottom, while black thigh high boots complete her outfit.

"Whoa! I guess Clea placed that image in my head, so I know who I'm looking for." He thinks. "And, she's a babe too. Figures, another woman who's trouble. Just what I need."

His thoughts go immediately back to Angie Bourdelex, his first real love, and the most painful he ever had.*

*See issues 92-94

But he shakes his mind clear of the distraction as he seeks out his prey, the woman known as Kayla Ballantine.

He doesn't have to look far...

"Why do they always have to build themselves castles???"

Below him, near the mountains of Utah a glittering , golden castle stands and shines brightly , with giant effigies of Kayla, or Starbrand as she's known now surrounding the castle.

"Well, at least this one is a good looking castle, not like Thanos'."*

*See the Revisionist war to understand what Genis is talking about.

Captain Marvel streaks downward, landing outside the golden fortress, and walks up a golden path towards its door.

"Might as well try this the right way, and see if we can do this without the usual fighting. Yeah, right." He thinks sarcastically.

Genis knocks on the door, and a moment later, a hulking, huge man answers it. Bald of head, with a full beard.

"Yes, can I help you?" The man intones in a deep rumbling voice.

"Uh, yeah," Genis answers, I'm here to see Starbrand.

The big mans eyes go wide. "You cannot see the mistress, no one can. It is not allowed. You must go!.Now!" He grasps Genis by the shoulder as he speaks.

"I don't have time for this , you gorilla."

Genis grabs the mans hand, and peels it off his shoulder, to the big mans surprise!

"You're strong, for a shrimp." The giant states, wide eyed, "But you're no match for me, and my names not Gorilla, it's Mastodon!"

As he speaks he punches Genis with his powerful right hand!

Thoom!

Captain Marvel tumbles through the air, then rights himself in mid air, anger covering his face like a dark cloud .

"Okay Mastodon . Nice punch. Now it's my turn, and FYI, the name's not 'shrimp' it's Captain Marvel! Remember it!"

Genis punctuates his words with a catastrophic punch that smashes Mastodon through the front of the castle, and lands him in a heap on the gold floor, forty feet inside the walls.

Stunned, the big man shakes his head, as a thin smaller man comes running from around a corner.

"Mastodon! Are you alright?"

"Get him, Randy!"The big man intones

"Right!" The thin man answers, as he suddenly looks Genis' way, and narrows his eyes, and dozens of small , black duplicates seem to leap from his body, to swarm all over Captain Marvel.

"Oh man." Genis moans, as he's buried under small pummeling fists, "This is ridiculous."

He rockets skywards, smashing through the ceiling of the castles foyer dragging his silent attackers with him. Then once above the castle he begins to spin around faster then the eye can follow, hands to his sides. Spinning off the miniature 'Randy's' like bullets from a machine gun.

Then he dives, blazing a photon trail back down towards Earth, and the Castle.

"Okay, no more fooling around." he barks as he crashes through the ceiling yet again. "Where is she? Where's this Kayla? Tell her Captain Marvel wants-"

Then he stops in mid sentence, and his eyes widen in amazement, as a veritable army of super beings stand in his way.

A small, black shrouded teenager walks forward and begins speaking.

"I am Nightmask, and you will surrender."

The youth steps forward and hand outstretched , as if to touch Genis.

"I don't think so, geek-boy."

Captain Marvel grabs the hand of Nightmask, and throws him away, into the crowd, and flies above the heads of everyone there.

"I've got to put that nonsense behind me, for good." He thinks to himself as he rounds a corner and is stopped in his tracks immediately by what he sees.

"Starbrand." He speaks aloud, as before him, Kayla Ballantine stands, hands crossed upon her breast, staring indignantly at him.

"What have we here?" She asks haughtily.

He lands in front of her, staring her in the eye, meeting her gaze with a steely glare.

"I'm here to talk some sense into you. My name's..."

"Your name's Captain Marvel, yeah, I know. What do you want, Captain?"

"I want to know why you attacked Quasar, especially since you two were close once."

"That little whiner sent you? What are you , his older brother or something? Come to beat up the block bully, only now you find out the bully is a girl?"

"That's not what this is about, Kayla."

"You know my name, Captain? I see you did your homework."

"That's not all I did, Kayla. Tell me why the cosmic Unity fears you? Tell me why you hurt Wendall? I know how powerful he is, by the Great Pama, he almost killed me a while back. But you beat him like a dog. Was he even trying to stop you? Did he make any effort at all?"

She stares at him, her face showing a gamut of emotions from anger to sorrow to rage. Finally she speaks.

"He d-didn't fight back. He kept trying to talk to me. But I was so angry with him for him leaving me here. I-I still am. I hate him for abandoning me. He used me, and left me here. Tossing me aside like an old shoe. Just like men do. Like you would do to me if you had the chance."

"Lady, you have no idea who you're talking to. This is NOT a subject you want to breach with me. Now tell me why the Unity is afraid of you?"

She sighs, then meets his gaze. "Because I am now beyond their power. I've driven the Starbrand to levels no one ever had before, not Quasar , when he wielded it, not the Connell."

"Who?" Genis asks.

"Never mind, Captain, it doesn't matter."

"What matters is that you made these cosmic deities feel something they never have in eons of existence. They fear you."

"They should. They trapped me here. At least one of them did. Now , when I break through the last barrier, I'm going to kill them all. One at a time."

"O-kay," He shakes his head while speaking, "So you're certifiable too. I guess I already knew that. Look, Kayla, you can't go around killing cosmic Gods because you're PO'd at them. These guys, who I have no love for, by the way, are what hold the universe as we know it together. Killing any of them would be catastrophic, and I don't even know if 'killing' them would be the right term for ending their existence. They exist on wholly different terms then us. Heck, we may wield god-like powers compared to everyone else, but these guys are the real deal. They're probably one step down from the big guy himself , in the scheme of things."

She turns back to stare at Captain Marvel, a vicious gleam in her eyes.

"I-DON'T- CARE!" she growls

"Well you should!" he counters angrily, his patience wearing thin.

"Men." she grunts under her breath. "All the same. Your response to everything is anger when you don't get your way."

"And you women are any better? YOU'RE all the same! You lie, you manipulate, you play your little black widow spider web games of drawing in your pray, then killing them."

She spins, unleashing a wave of energy from her outstretched arms, smashing Captain Marvel through her castle, and out the far wall!

Ba-ROOOM!

"Unnngghh!!!" He rights himself in mid air, "That hurt! Damn, she's powerful."

In a blast of photon particles, Captain Marvel is streaking back towards the castle, as a comet-like figure races through the sky from the castle to meet him head on!

Ta-KOW!

Starbrand grabs him by the throat as they tumble through the sky.

"I'll kill you!" She shouts insanely

Genis smashes her arms away from underneath with both his arms, then he throws a hammerlock around her head and neck, seeking to immobilize her.

"Enough, Kayla. Stop this nonsense. These guys put the same barrier around Earth, our Earth, trying to stop me from leaving. They stole my greatest power form me. But that doesn't mean I want to send the universe into some kind of crazy downwards spiral by killing the forces that hold it together."

She releases a blast of energy through her body, smashing him from her, like a star gone nova!

SHOOM!

"I don't care what you do! Get away from me!"

Genis streaks back a few hundred yards , and catches his breath a second.

'This isn't working.' He thinks. 'She's ridiculously powerful, and just doesn't want to talk this out reasonably.' Then he smiles. 'Good.'

Suddenly he rockets through the sky, to smash her with both fists forwards in a collision full of sound and fury!

Ta-KOOM!

Elsewhere... The cosmic unity watches the strange battle.

"Captain Marvel has broken our barrier against him, and has gone to battle the Starbrand."Infinity speaks.

"Yes." answers Lord Chaos

"But he now does our work." Agrees Master Order.

"It does not matter." Eternity somberly interjects. "He broke our cordon , and must pay the price."

"NO!" Shouts Love, as all turn to face her. "He does this out of his sense of right, he is a true hero. We are wrong to have trapped him upon the Earth in the first place. He has no reason to defend us from this woman, this woman one of our number trapped upon this duplicate Earth. Perhaps she should not have been trapped there as well. Are we not to blame for her madness?"

"Watch your place, Love." Eon scolds, "You are all about emotion, is that not what you are practicing even now?"

"No Eon," the Stranger answers from the shadows, "Perhaps the embodiment of Love is correct. Perhaps we did indeed act hastily in the past."

Eternity stands silently and watches the argument around him. Mulling over in his mind what is being said and argued.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch...

Ba-FOOOM!

The photon blast sends Kayla Ballantine through ten blocks of decimated city, as the place that was once the Denver of this world collapses under the assault brought upon it.

"Gleaming Galaxies! I gave that blast everything I had! She should have been immolated." Genis shouts allowed, as Starbrand streaks back towards him, unharmed

He rockets under her clumsy attack, punching her in the stomach as she passes above him, sending her tumbling.

Toom!

"Give it up, Kayla. You can't outfight me. I can beat you just by outlasting you."

"You stupid Idiot," She roars, "I never tire, I never weaken. The brand sees to that. I'm unstoppable, a true juggernaut, and I WILL destroy you, and then that damn barrier overhead."

She fires energy from her hands, in a wide swath, obliterating everything around her , turning the abandoned streets and buildings to liquid with her power. All the while Captain Marvel manages to stay one step ahead of her.

' I can't beat her, and I can't bluff her. What can I do?' he mentally questions, as he streaks in, and hammers her again and again and again!

Bam! Thoom! Ka-KOOM!

Suddenly she catches his right fist and leers insanely at him.

"Uh uh uh." she motions, wagging her finger back and forth before his eyes, then she crushes his fist, like old wood!

Crunch!'

"Arrgghh! " Genis shouts painfully.

"Shut up, fool." She slams him across the back of his head with the back of her hand, knocking him unconscious easily.

"You said these cosmic yo-yo's trapped you too, on my Earth? Lets see what happens when I use your body to breach the barrier they put here on this world."

She rockets straight upwards, the limp body of Captain Marvel held above her. Almost instantly she is upon the barrier and in a cosmic light show, she is through it!

Badada-BOOM!

The Unity holds its collective breath

"By all we encompass!" Blurts out Infinity in total disbelief, "She has not only defeated Captain Marvel, she has broken from her prison, using his body."

"You fools!" Shouts Chaos angrily "If Captain Marvel was whole, he would have had a chance of defeating her, but you maimed him with your foolishness. He IS the Universal Protector, it is his heritage, and birthright!."

"Calm yourself, my brother." Master Order offers calmly, "We will deal with this upstart woman."

"No Order." Eternity begins in a low voice. "We will not. She would cause a battle that would rip reality asunder. We can defeat her, yes. But the results would be catastrophic upon all reality. We need our universal protector, and Quasar is wounded. The events call for a second, powerful Universal protector, a cosmic guardian. You were correct Lord Chaos. I have erred in allowing Captain Marvel to have his powers stripped. A mistake I now rectify."

Across the universe... Captain Marvel hangs motionless in space, as Starbrand begins to fly away, presumably towards her own Earth, when suddenly Genis- Vells eyes sweep open wide in astonishment. Astonishment as his face suddenly grows dark ,and begins to reflect the universe, the cosmos itself. And then , Captain Marvel smiles. As he does, his body begins to glow with healing photonic power.

Starbrand flies, arcing through the stars, as her mind works feverishly. "The Starbrand is incredible, I'm ordering it to take me home, and then, zoom, I'm flying towards my Earth. Once I get there, I'll find Wendall, and kill him. Then I'll find these cosmic pain in the butts, and finish them off one at a time. Then I'll control the universe."

"And what are you going to do with it, red? Turn it into a shopping mall?"

She turns towards the voice, stunned at the sound of it. "YOU?!? Don't you ever give up? I guess I'm going to have to kill you too."

Captain Marvel smiles , and his face again begins to reflect the cosmos. "Give it your best shot, girly girl."

She sweeps her arms forwards from her sides, splashing horrible energies at Captain Marvel, and instantly, easily he avoids the blast, to fly down and up from underneath, faster then the eye can follow to smash her under her chin with a flying right, hard. Very hard.

Pa-KOOM!

She spins backwards, totally taken unawares, as she slaps the space he was in a nanosecond earlier, but he is gone, his face eerily calm, and showing the stars ,as he flits around behind her. Then he immediately kicks her in the side with a powerful roundhouse from behind, doubling her over.

Ka-KOW!

"You kicked me from behind?" She howls in pain. "You'd attack a woman like this?"

"Right now you're just an enemy, babe." He answers sarcastically. "Not a woman, not a man. Just the bad guy."

She suddenly rockets towards him, and he spins around as she does, sidestepping through space and pulverizing her with a spinning wheel kick, that sends her tumbling yet again.

She screams, more in rage then real pain, and streaks towards him yet again. "I'll kill you!"

"C'mon cutie, give it a try. Lets see if you can do what Yon-Rogg, what Black Sun, what Thanos couldn't do. Give it your best shot, babe. Then you better run like hell."

"AAAARRRRGGGGGG!!!" She howls as she screams towards him through blackest space, hands outstretched in pure unadulterated rage!

He stands his ground in mid space, his face again showing the stars. Merging with the shining blackness, as Starbrand closes for the kill.

Then she is there, hands acting like claws, seeking to rend his face from his very skull with glowing claws!

But again Captain Marvel is not there! Suddenly he is behind her, again moving with blinding speed, placing a powerful hammerlock around her head and neck once more.

"Now, lets see where you hid that brand?" he grunts as she tries to fight free

Before she can react, His face once again shows the stars and he smiles.

"Ahh, that figures." He reaches down to her right butt cheek, and tears the fabric of her costume free, and there,. On her skin is the Starbrand itself.

"Say goodbye to your extra juice, babe."

Genis palms the brand, using the power of his Nega-bands to strip it from Kayla Ballantines flesh in a searing display of cosmic light and fury!

"AAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!" She screams as the brand is totally, irrevocably removed! Something that has never been done to a  user of the powerful weapon.

Then Kayla goes limp, and unconscious. A quick sweep of cosmic awareness reveals she is truly unconscious, and not faking it.

Genis grabs her, and begins to head back to the New Universe Earth, when suddenly a hand lands on his shoulder, as a man in a black body suit and mask , with a Starbrand emblem on his left chest, looks at Genis, then begins to speak.

"Hello , Captain, I'm Starbrand. The real Starbrand, and I want to reclaim something that I lost a while ago. Something that belongs to me."

"No, you're not Starbrand," Genis answers, "Your Ken Connell. The real and rightful holder of the Starbrand. The complete one. Not the small piece you have, that's allowing you to be here." Again Genis' face shows the stars momentarily.

He shakes Ken Connells hand, and transfers the brand back where it belongs.

"Ah, that feels about right." Starbrand states, smiling as he lifts off his mask.

"Yes it does, Ken." Genis agrees. "Good luck to you, your world needs you now. You all have a lot of rebuilding to do. And I would assume those below that she had some kind of mental thrall over are free now. Go, help your world. And if you need any help , call me, and I'll be there, I promise."

"Thanks, Captain." Starbrand begins to swoop down to his own world, disappearing from sight.

"Finally, this is over. All of it." Genis thinks to himself. He smiles, and looks at the unconscious woman in his arms, then speaks, "I have to get you some help, I have a feeling you're going to need a lot of it. But what ever you need should be on your home world, where you belong."

Then , in a burst of photonic power, and star warping energy, Captain Marvel streaks away, towards Earth.

Next: An Epilogue of the Gods!