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Captain Marvel #25

Mar 1973

Mike Friedrich, Jim Starlin

Story Name:

A taste of madness

Synopsis

Captain Marvel #25 synopsis by Rob Johnson

Rating:

Captain Marvel is fighting 2 aliens and a robot we've never seen before, and neither has he. He defeats them but the robot sends a report to his Masterlord and teleports them both away. Mar-Vell chats with Rick Jones in the Negative Zone and says that his power level seems halved. Masterlord is still watching and says that's what his robot detected. He wants some info from the Captain and sends Squadron S to begin Operation Kree Crusher.

Operative S-1 disguised as a policeman calls on Prof Savannah and shoots him dead. Captain Marvel flies there because he thinks his power loss may be linked to the photon-ray treatment Savannah used to save Rick's life in #22. The Kree Captain uses the Nega-Bands to trade places with Rick so it is the youth who finds the dead body.

Then the 'cop' accuses him of murder. And Rick's girlfriend Lou-Ann Savannah claims that she saw him do it. The cop slugs and handcuffs him before he can change to Mar-Vell, and Masterlord warns S-2 to get ready. The cop takes Jones to a precinct house and leaves him in a dingy office without a lawyer. Now Rick has the chance to clash his Nega-Bands despite the handcuffs. Mar-Vell arrives and now *he*'s in the cuffs. And they seem strangely strong, but he does break free.

Suddenly the Kree hero is attacked by the Kree Ronan the Accuser (who is supposed to be in stasis in the Kree Empire since the end of the Kree-Skrull War in Avengers #97). But Ronan teleports away before Mar-Vell can hit him. Then Megaton (supposedly killed in #23) smashes through the door and into our hero. And pops away. Next it's the turn of CM's also-dead (#18) nemesis Yon-Rogg. And the Hulk (they fought in #22). Then Kree Minister Zarek (the man behind Zo in #11-16), the Metazoid (#5), an Aakon warrior (#8-9) and Sub-Mariner (#4).

The confused Kree warrior is then confronted apparently by himself and Rick Jones. His mind snaps and he is exchanged for the real Rick. False Rick puts a Psycho-Probe helmet on real Rick. The fakes reveal themselves to be shape-changing Skrulls, the Super-Skrull and 1 named Skragg. They quibble as to whether it was Skragg's plan or SS's strength that won the day.

Skragg reports the success of his plan to Masterlord. He (unnecessarily but for our benefit) explains how it was done. The boss had observed Marvel's periodic weakness and Skragg had deduced that the photon-ray bombardment of Rick Jones had changed the body he shared with the Captain so that it was now solar-powered. Thus at night he had less power. Skragg was the 'cop' and Lou-Ann was under Masterlord's control, Skragg and Super-Skrull tag-teamed as Mar-Vell's foes. And now the Psycho-Probe is extracting the desired information on the Neg Zone.

But Rick Jones has removed said helmet. He had been suspicious (because of the cop's dress uniform and the too-shabby office), and he and Mar-Vell had played along to learn what was going on. Now he brings CM in for revenge for the death of the Prof.

Captain Marvel and Super-Skrull (using his inbuilt powers of the Human Torch and the Thing) have knock-down drag-out fight which ends by bringing the building down on them. The Skrull escapes from the wreckage to meet Skragg. When he says that Mar-Vell is dead Skragg says that Masterlord will be angry at the loss of his source of information. But they teleport back to base anyway.

After they've gone we learn that Captain Marvel escaped too. But now with his energy depleted he's swapped with Rick again. And they swear to get answers about who Masterlord is and why Lou-Ann betrayed Rick.

Review / Commentaries

Captain Marvel #25 Review by Rob Johnson (March 27, 2018)

Next issue we'll learn that Masterlord is Thanos, and this is part 1 of the (1st) Thanos War which will run to #33

Jim Starlin starts to pencil this series and will continue beyond #33 to #34 and #36. He'll write or co-write most of the issues as well. Presumably he had a hand in the plot of this issue because Starlin created Thanos in Iron Man #55. This is only his 2nd appearance. (Actually the Marvel Chronology Project places his cameo in Avengers #118 before IM#55. And also many flashbacks detailing his early life.)

Super-Skrull is a Fantastic Four foe who also fought Captain Marvel (#2-4). CM is a Kree and their races are age-old enemies on the galactic stage.

This series restarted after a 2-year gap with #22. Since #21 Captain Marvel and Rick Jones had been separated by Reed Richards in Avengers #89 at the start of the Kree-Skrull War story arc. At the end of the War in Av#97 Mar-Vell had been physically merged into Rick to save Rick's life. In #22 Rick met Lou-Ann, and his merge with CM caused problems. Lou-Ann's uncle Prof Savannah cured Rick with the photon-ray treatment but also released Mar-Vell. By the end of #23 they were back to the old status quo of swapping places via Nega-Bands, between Earth and the Negative Zone.

CM's solar-based power will continue even after he goes Cosmic in #29.

Next issue we will learn that Thanos' control over Lou-Ann is via a slave disc on her neck, but it will be #28 that specifically names Iron Man's old foe the Controller as the source.

And in #27 we'll find that Thanos doesn't really want to learn about the Negative Zone. He wants the location of the Cosmic Cube which has been implanted in Rick's mind.

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Main/1st Story Full Credits

Mike Friedrich

Jim Starlin

Chic Stone

Unknown

Jim Starlin (Cover Penciler)
Joe Sinnott (Cover Inker)

Additional Credits

Letterer: John Duffy.
Editor: Roy Thomas.

All stories. Listed in alphabetical order.

Captain Marvel
(Mar-Vell)

Rick Jones

Super-Skrull

Thanos

Plus: Lou-Ann Savannah.

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