Peter
Parker arrives at the Port Authority bus terminal to meet Harry and Liz but a
tall, attractive African American woman walks by and Pete’s Spider-Sense starts
tingling. Seeing that he’s early for his friends’ bus, he decides to follow the
woman discretely; when she walks into a shady neighborhood, Pete heads to the
roof to change into Spider-Man. Two muggers harass the lady and trap her in an
alley; she takes them both down with martial arts moves. Spidey approaches her
from behind and she delivers an energy blast that knocks him flat. Realizing
she’s made a mistake, she changes into a silver costume and vanishes in a bolt
of lightning. Spidey sees this last bit and thinks he’s dreaming—but the Empire
State Building is all lit up. The woman, Captain Marvel, surveys New York City
and her mind goes back to her home in New Orleans and recent events….
Lieutenant
Monica Rambeau of the Harbor Patrol confronted her commander, angry at being
passed over for promotion to captain and insinuating that it’s because she’s a
woman. Rebuffed, she storms out and heads to her office. There waiting for her
is Professor Andre LeClare, who served in the War with her grandfather. He
tells Monica his story: He is a physicist who devised a method for drawing
energy from other universes and dimensions. He was hired for a project by South
American dictator Generalissimo Ernesto Ramirez but when he learned Ramirez
wanted to use his discovery as a weapon, Le Clare quit and fled for his life.
Ramirez then hired LeClare’s assistant, Felipe Picaro, to continue the project
on an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico. And now LeClare wants Monica to convince
the authorities to stop Picaro. She decides to investigate so, off-duty, she
takes a fishing boat out to the oil rig, telling LeClare to stay out of sight
below deck. LeClare responds, “Oui, mon capitaine,” which she appreciates. She
boards the rig in a skimpy bikini, claiming the rig’s previous occupants let
her sunbathe. Monica meets Picaro who is smitten with her and boasts about his
big project—and then LeClare who, against Monica’s orders, crept aboard the rig
and was caught. Picaro reveals that the superweapon is ready to be tested—by
destroying Fort Benning, Georgia. Monica tries to destroy the central grid with
her fists and there is an explosion….
Monica
finds herself back in the city and suddenly inside a radio station. She
broadcasts a message for help to the Navy, which comes through with astounding
force. Realizing she is wearing only a bathing suit she finds a rack of Mardi
Gras costumes in the warehouse and puts together a silver outfit with a mask.
By the power of thought she is back on the oil rig where she sees Picaro shoot
LeClare; he warns her that the portal to the other dimension is expanding,
threatening the universe. Monica stands in the portal absorbing all the energy.
She saves the Professor’s life and defeats Picaro, leading a Mexican guard to
say, “Captain est maravilla.” “The Captain is a Marvel.”
Two
days later, Professor LeClare tells Monica that her body was changed by the exposure
to the extra-dimensional energy and she can now turn herself into any form of
electromagnetic energy. He presents her with a copy of her costume made of
unstable molecules and shows her the newspaper: “Captain Marvel,” as the guard
called her, is being hailed as a hero. LeClare persuades her to use her
newfound powers to become a superhero. She agrees and so quits her job with the
Harbor Patrol and begins a new life….
But
the energy level in her body continued to rise, so Monica has come to New York
to find scientific help in reducing the threat. Spider-Man reaches the
observation deck just as Captain Marvel vanishes in a streak of light. Spidey
must borrow a quarter from a kid (whose family has told him Spider-Man is a
hoax invented to sell newspapers) to look through the binocular viewer to see
what the lady was looking at and so he heads for the Baxter Building (and the
kid’s parents don’t believe he met the real Spider-Man)….
Captain
Marvel arrives at the Baxter Building to find the lab wrecked (from FANTASTIC
FOUR #242). She meets the Thing and explains the problem viz. she could
explode. Reed and Sue are out of town so he suggests the Avengers. Ben calls up
the Mansion and Monica flashes through the radio signal, burning out the
device. Spidey then arrives and takes Ben’s casual mention of her exploding to
mean she’s a menace and he heads for the Mansion before Ben can explain….
Captain
Marvel emerges from the other side of the communicator and accidentally burns
out Iron Man and the Mansion’s defense systems. Shellhead asks for a spark to
jump-start his system but Monica can’t control her powers that closely so Iron
Man resigns himself to a wait. Then Jarvis walks in, mistakes Captain Marvel
for a villain, and runs shouting for help. Spider-Man arrives and Jarvis
reinforces his misguided notions and when he encounters Cap M, he first tries
to web her up and then, when she burns through his webbing, he knocks her out.
Iron Man arrives with Wasp, who was able to jump start him, and he explains how
Cap M came for help, not mayhem. Iron Man and Spidey rig a means of Shellhead
draining her excess energy and routing it through his armor and into the sky,
while Spidey insulates him in webbing. Spidey and Jan take cover and Iron Man
triggers the energy transfer and there is a massive ka-boom….
Thing
arrives at Avengers Mansion to find Captain Marvel hanging out with the
Avengers (and Spidey) and getting acquainted. And then Spidey remembers he was
supposed to meet Harry Osborn and Liz Allen at the bus station. He hurries over
and finds them just arriving, having taken a later bus.