Ms. Marvel is the name of several fictional superheroes appearing in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character was originally conceived as a female counterpart to Captain Marvel. Like Captain Marvel, most of the bearers of the Ms. Marvel title gain their powers through Kree technology or genetics. Marvel has published four ongoing comic series titled Ms. Marvel, with the first two starring Carol Danvers and the third and fourth starring Kamala Khan.
Carol Danvers
Carol Danvers, the first character to use the moniker Ms. Marvel, first appeared in Marvel Super-Heroes #13 by writer Roy Thomas and artist Gene Colan as a non-superpowered officer in the United States Air Force. After being caught in an explosion with the Kree superhero Captain Marvel in Captain Marvel #18, Danvers resurfaces in Ms. Marvel #1 with super powers as result of the explosion which caused her DNA to merge with Captain Marvel's. As Ms. Marvel, Danvers becomes a mainstay of the superhero teamThe Avengers, beginning in The Avengers #171. Danvers goes on to use the codenames Binary and Warbird. In July 2012, Danvers assumes the mantle Captain Marvel in honor of its dead, original holder, Mar-Vell, after Captain America tells her that Mar-Vell would want her to have it.
Sharon Ventura, the second character to use the pseudonym Ms. Marvel, first appeared in The Thing #27, by Mike Carlin and Ron Wilson, as a stunt performer with the Thunderiders, where she met The Thing. In The Thing #35, Ventura volunteered for Power Broker's experiment to receive superpowers in order to join the Unlimited Class Wrestling Federation with The Thing, taking the name Ms. Marvel. Ventura later joins the Fantastic Four herself in Fantastic Four #307 and, after being hit by cosmic rays in Fantastic Four #310, Ventura's body mutates into a similar appearance to that of The Thing and receives the nickname She-Thing.
Dr. Karla Sofen, the supervillain known as Moonstone, first appeared as the gun moll of Doctor Faustus, in Captain America #192 by Marv Wolfman and Frank Robbins. In The Incredible Hulk #228, Sofen becomes the psychiatrist of the villain Moonstone, also known as Lloyd Bloch. Sofen tricks Bloch into giving her the meteorite that empowers him, and she adopts both the name and abilities of Moonstone. During the "Dark Reign" storyline, Sofen joins Norman Osborn's group of Avengers, known as the Dark Avengers, as the doppelganger of the previous Ms. Marvel, Carol Danvers, receiving a costume similar to Danvers' original. Sofen becomes the title character of the Ms. Marvel series beginning in issue #38 until Danvers takes the title back in issue #47.
