The Avengers' worst comic will never escape Marvel's hall of shame. For every groundbreaking and beloved storyline like Civil War or The Infinity Gauntlet, there are many others that have either faded into obscurity or remained controversial. The Avengers have often been a reflection of Marvel’s best and worst storytelling moments.
Across Marvel’s long continuity, the Avengers have fought more battles than Marvel's sliding timescale could ever realistically contain. This narrative flexibility has allowed heroes to age slowly and mistakes to be quietly forgotten. Yet some stories are too shocking to erase, no matter how much time passes. Chief among them is a shameful chapter where Earth’s Mightiest Heroes stood by while one of their own was victimized.
Avengers #200 Is The Creepiest Marvel Comic Of All Time
Carol Danvers Infamously Gives Birth To Her Own Abuser
Despite being written by some of Marvel’s biggest names of the late ’70s, Avengers #200 is famous for all the wrong reasons. Marvel's celebration for the Avengers' two-hundredth issue centers on Carol Danvers, who suddenly becomes pregnant and gives birth in a matter of days to a rapidly aging child named Marcus. Marcus soon reveals he's a grown man who manipulated Carol into conceiving him while trapped in Limbo, to put it in less graphic words.
Even judged by the looser logic of Silver and Bronze Age comics, Avengers #200 is indefensible. The Avengers accept Marcus’s story at face value and even celebrate his ensuing "romance” with Carol Danvers, ignoring the clear ethical and psychological implications of the assault. Carol then departs the team without much to discuss with her team as she pursues a relationship with Marcus.
Avengers #200 never acknowledges Carol’s lack of consent or the trauma she endures. The Avengers themselves become complicit, as they do and say nothing as Carol willingly leaves with her abuser. In the end, one of Marvel’s most empowered heroines becomes a tool in someone else’s evil plans. Decades later, Avengers #200 remains an object lesson in how important it is to give each story idea a second thought before publication.
Avengers #200 Doesn't Make Sense On Any Level
Marcus Shouldn't Exist In Any Version Of The Marvel Timeline
From a logical perspective, Avengers #200 collapses under the weight of its own contradictions. The story attempts to build off Marvel’s complex time-travel mythology by linking Marcus to Immortus, the future version of Kang the Conqueror. However, at that point in continuity, Kang had already been killed, meaning Immortus, and by extension Marcus, should not exist. Avengers #200 ignores this entirely. Instead of exploring the paradox, it treats Marcus’s existence as a given.
The time loop surrounding Marcus' birth is equally incoherent. If Marcus impregnates Carol Danvers in order to give birth to himself, then he should be a very different person altogether after birth. He shouldn't exist since his father never existed and because he was only born after his plan worked. Marcus is the son of two fathers and two mothers; one of his fathers is himself and one of his mothers is the mother of his son, himself.
Limbo is also treated like a conveniently accessible dimension, as it allows Carol to re-enter it effortlessly to find Marcus. In reality, Limbo is supposed to be an unstable, shifting void outside time, where no one can simply travel back to its "present". Yet Carol runs after Marcus to find him rapidly degrading. Although time-travel stories are often full of paradoxes, Avengers #200 introduces one that serves no purpose other than to try to justify Marcus' twisted plan.
Marcus Is The Avengers' Worst Villain
Marcus Is Boring And Disturbingly Human
Marcus Immortus is one of the most revolting Marvel villains, not because he’s powerful or physically terrifying, but because his actions are portrayed with a shocking lack of moral awareness. Inexcusable villains like Red Skull and Carnage are at least entertaining, whereas Marcus’s manipulative and predatory behavior is too close to reality. What's worse, there’s no real condemnation of his actions. It’s a rare case where a villain isn’t sympathetic or even detestable, just sickeningly hollow.
Beyond his disturbing behavior, Marcus fails as a character. He’s a bland man who commits a sinister act, goes unpunished, dies of old age, briefly reunites with Carol, and gets promptly forgotten by everyone involved. There’s no ideology or metaphor. Marcus’s lack of punishment is a victory for him.
Avengers #200 Is An Insult To Carol Danvers & The Whole Team
There's No Hint Of Heroism In Avengers #200
Avengers #200 takes time off Ms. Marvel and the Avengers' battles to force Carol Danvers through a horrifying experience. Even if Carol doesn't immediately react to it, the psychological effects of birthing a man she doesn't know must be life-changing. In their milestone 200th issue, the Avengers stand around witnessing their fellow hero be the victim of a heinous crime.
Avengers Annual #10 retconned this story and allowed Ms. Marvel to confront her teammates for abandoning her and failing to see through Marcus’s manipulation. Years later, editor Jim Shooter later expressed regret for the issue. Carol Danvers' story has since moved on, and Marcus remains forgotten and lost to time.
Post a Comment