Captain Universe: Where Do I Start?

1There’s room in the Marvel U for more than one captain, so step aside Steve Rogers; step aside for Captain Universe!

Originally created back in the late 70s as a Marvel-owned addition to the licensed title The Micronauts by Bill Mantlo and Michael Golden, Captain Universe is now experiencing his moment in the sun as one of the featured players in Jonathan Hickman’s Avengers run. In these latest appearances, Captain Universe is woman named Tamara Devoux who was revived from a coma with the powers and mantle of Captain Universe and looks to be a bellwether for an impending cataclysmic event called the White Event. Filled with immense cosmic powers, the Captain Universe mantle is at its best a life-altering force and at worse a hackneyed McGuffin. Writers, readers and hosts of the Uni-Power — choose your path wisely.

But before you go into the future with Captain Universe in the pages of Avengers, you can get to know this star-sparkling hero in this week’s Where Do I Start?. From its immense powers to the various hosts over the years, Marvel’s Captain Universe is like Quantum Leap meets Dr. Manhattan from Watchmen – a potent combination.

Captain Universe Power UnimaginableAvengers, Vol. 1: Avengers World: As previously mentioned, this first collection of Hickman’s Avengers run puts Captain Universe squarely in the Marvel big leagues for the first time. Although her appearances are relatively minor early on in the series, the new Captain Universe proves to be the deciding factor in the team’s conflict with the alien Ex Nihilo. Also included in this is Avengers #6, a one-off origin story for the new Captain Universe by Hickman and guest artist Adam Kubert. In this story, it taps into a very sympathetic and humanistic vibe to off-set the potential nebulous powers of the Captain Universe mantle.

Captain Universe: Power Unimaginable: Out-of-print but still relatively inexpensive on the second-hand market, this collection pulls together the stray Captain Universe stories from the 80s and early 90s including a great three-issue run in Marvel Spotlight by co-creator Bill Mantlo and Steve Ditko… that’s right, Steve Ditko. Those stories, and the other issues included in here, show the Captain Universe mantle floating around to take over the lives of various people from superheroes to average Joes  from a college professor, to an astronaut and even a burglar. There’s even a very young Dan Slott in here, writing a story way back in 1994.

What If #31What If…? #31: This standalone issue from 1991 by Glenn Alan Herdling and a very young (but very great) Scott McDaniel picks up on the time Spider-Man was possessed with the Captain Universe powers during the “Acts of Vengeance” storyline. In this one-off issue, Spidey caves into the temptation and keeps the ginormous Uni-Power to do good — or so he thinks. Reminiscent of the way the Phoenix Force subverted the good intentions of Cyclops in the recent Avengers Vs. X-Men, Spider-Man attempts to do good deeds finds him at odds with himself and the cost of saving the world in a superhero-style morality tale.

The Amazing Spider-Man: The Gauntlet Vol. 4: In issues #627 through #629, Roger Stern and Lee Weeks return to the Amazing Spider-Man title during “The Gauntlet” storyline and bring Captain Universe in as a vengeful widower looking to take down the Juggernaut. Spider-Man is merely a spectator in the massive carnage when the unstoppable force meets the avenging angel. I don’t want to spoil the twist here, but this is a great story arc not only for Captain Universe but the Juggernaut as well.

Comments

  1. You forgot Annihilation Conquest – Starlord mini-series.

  2. You know what would be cool? If, after he left its host, a little bit of its power got left behind.

  3. I really like Hickman’s Captain Universe. The bit about the pie still gets me chuckling. Also, the WTF-ness of the character fits pretty well with what Hickman is doing in Avengers.