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Cosmic Powers #4

Jun 1994
Ron Marz, Ron Lim

Cosmic Powers #4 cover

Story Name:

(no title given)


Synopsis

Cosmic Powers #4 synopsis by Rob Johnson
Rating: 4 stars
Legacy (Genis) and his mother Elysius have returned to her home in the moon Titan after years of hiding. He's reviewing the battle with Nitro (in Captain Marvel #34) which exposed his father Captain Marvel (Mar-Vell) to the gas which eventually killed him. It was only recently (Silver Surfer Annual #6) that Genis learned who his father was and was given a copy of his Nega-Bands, thus gaining some of his powers. He has only now learned the details of his death, and was ignorant when he accidentally met Nitro (Secret Defenders #14). Now he swears revenge.

Elysius tries to talk him out of it and convince him that his father wouldn't do this and wouldn't want him to. But the young man is pig-headed. His foster-father Eros tries to sway him with his pleasure-stimulating power but his 'son' is wise to that and flies away from Titan. Eros' father Mentor assures him that it was best to let Legacy go to learn by experience, rather like Eros himself did.

Now we move from the moon of Saturn to a moon of Jupiter where Jack Of Hearts is recovering from the beating Thanos gave him when he and Terrax abducted Ganymede of the Sisterhood. He now sets out to rescue her and make the villains pay. Said villains are on Thanos' spaceship Demeter hoping to get information from the last of the Sisters about their sworn enemy Tyrant - info which can help them when they attack him. When she awakes Ganymede refuses to help them.

Later Genis is recording in an audio-diary as his father did. He says he's travelling by spacecraft because he hasn't yet learned how to navigate space by himself. He's been following Nitro's trail through interstellar low-life and it's brought him to Hala, once throneworld of the Kree Empire but now devastated like the Empire by the Nega-Bomb (powered by CM's own Nega-Bands) (at the end of the Operation Galactic Storm crossover event). He understands that the Kree gave Nitro his exploding power as 1 of their Lunatic Legion (as part of a story that CM#34 is an episode of).

Legacy lands on Hala and confronts the villain, who admits his guilt and that he recognised the youth's resemblance to Mar-Vell when they met earlier. He says he never thought much about his fight with CM (liar, he sought him out for revenge) but was faintly pleased to hear that he'd caused his later death from cancer. Angry Genis rushes in and Nitro explodes at him. Legacy fights back but his foe taunts him that like all 'heroes' he won't kill him. Genis strives to prove him wrong and the fight gets more vicious. The holes they blow in walls eventually lead to a military museum which includes weapons that Nitro utilises. But Legacy wades through everything to beat his enemy to a pulp beneath a memorial to Captain Mar-Vell. As Genis is about to power-punch through Nitro's head he sees a plaque with a quote from his father "Defeat your enemy, do not become your enemy." and he realises that Elysius was right.

So Genis takes Nitro a prisoner back to Titan. Elysius slaps the face of the murderer of her husband before he's thrown into a special cell. Then Mentor says he wants him, Elysius and Eros to meet a visitor. It's JOH who tells them what happened last issue. He's come to Titan for help because Mentor is Thanos' father. Eros offers to go with Jack to free Ganymede. But Genis says *he*'ll do it. Mentor thinks that wise because Thanos knows his brother Eros well enough to defeat him but Legacy is an unknown. So Genis bids farewell again to his mother and he and Jack fly off into space using their own powers.


 

Review / Commentaries


Cosmic Powers #4 Review by (August 19, 2023)
This issue features Legacy.

The previous 2 issues' cover stars were last seen in backup tales in Silver Surfer Annual #6. That whole comic was written by Ron Marz and in the main tale he introduced new guy Legacy. The youth named Genis believed he was the son of Titanian Eternals Elysius and Eros and made his living as a card shark. Then his mother told him his real father was the Kree hero Captain Mar-Vell (and he was conceived from dead Captain Marvel's DNA and speed-raised to adolescence and given false memories of childhood), and she gave him copies she'd had created of the Nega-Bands that gave CM some of his powers. Coincidentally Genis already wore a costume with hints of his father, and his 1st fight was to save his mother and the Bands from the Kree Ronan The Accuser.

Marz then took his creation through 3 other issues:- In SS#89-90 Surfer tracked Genis down to where he was using his new powers selfishly. This was the 1st time he was directly referred to as Legacy. Then in Secret Defenders #14 SS and Legacy accidentally rescued 5 minions who had been abandoned to their fate by Thanos, 1 of whom was Nitro who Genis didn't know was the cause of his father's death. But Nitro noticed the resemblance.

Which brings us here. (And so far Genis hasn't expanded his given name to Genis-Vell.)

Several chars continue in this issue from the previous and several will continue into the next issue.
Nitro, Mentor and Eros were in SecDef #4 mentioned above, and Eros was later in Quasar #59 with Thanos.
Elysius was last seen in SS An #6 as above.
All these were written by Ron Marz.

Those 4 will now leave this series.
Elysius & Eros will rejoin Legacy in SS An #7 (RM again).
Mentor will join him and them in Captain Marvel (1995) #2.
Nitro won't be seen again until Heroes For Hire #2.



> Cosmic Powers comic book info and issue index

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Main/1st Story Full Credits

Ron Lim
Bob Almond
Tom Vincent
Ron Lim (Cover Penciler)
Bob Almond (Cover Inker)
Unknown (Cover Colorist)
Additional Credits
Letterer: Ken Bruzenak.
Editor: Craig Anderson. Editor-in-chief: Tom DeFalco.

Characters

All stories. Listed in alphabetical order.

Jack of Hearts
Jack of Hearts

(Jonathan Hart)
Legacy
Legacy

(Genis-Vell)
Starfox
Starfox

(Eros)
Plus: Elysius, Ganymede, Mentor (A'Lars), Nitro.

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