Warning: Contains SPOILERS for Captain Marvel: Dark Tempest #5In her high-flying identity as Captain Marvel, Carol Danvers is one of Marvel Comics’ strongest heroes. As a veteran hero and the leader of the Avengers, there are very few threats that Carol can’t simply power her way through. But even Captain Marvel has limits, and the one villain she can’t defeat has some pretty personal ties to the Captain Marvel legacy.
Captain Marvel: Dark Tempest #5 by Ann Nocenti, Paolo Villanelli, Java Tartaglia, and VC’s Ariana Maher finds the titular hero facing off against the explosive villain Nitro, a bombastic bad guy ultimately responsible for the death of one of Carol’s predecessors, Mar-Vell. Facing off against Nitro on the home planet of his alien benefactor, Nada, Captain Marvel withstands the full fury of Nitro. As he unleashes a trademark explosive blast, she thinks to herself, “Another blowup? I can’t take another hit. One more and I’m toast…”
Ultimately, Carol defeats her foe with the help of allies like her best friend Spider-Woman, but the fact that a being like Nitro comes so close to defeating her is a shock in and of itself. After all, Captain Marvel’s signature ability is her power to absorb energy – and it’s pretty rare for anyone to dish out more than she can take.
Nitro And Captain Marvel Have An Explosive History
A relatively low-level criminal with the ability to convert all or part of his body into explosive gases, Nitro may not be a household name in terms of Marvel Comics’ greatest villains, but he has a surprisingly strong track record when it comes to causing trouble for Earth’s Mightiest heroes. Aside from detonating the nerve-gas bomb that ultimately gave Mar-Vell cancer, Nitro is also the villain responsible for the destruction of Stanford, Connecticut: the inciting incident behind Marvel Comics’ Civil War that tore the hero community apart. He’s also squared off against heroes like Captain Marvel’s old friend Wolverine, reducing the fan-favorite X-Men loner to little more than an adamantium skeleton.
With a pedigree like this, it’s not entirely implausible that such an energetic enemy could give Captain Marvel a headache. But the fact that he’s generating so much energy that she can’t even fully absorb it shows just how powerful he’s become thanks to the machinations of Nada. After all, Captain Marvel is a flying powerhouse linked to the primal energies of the universe. In other words: if Captain Marvel can’t survive Nitro, very few beings can.
Carol Danvers Should Watch Her Back
Captain Marvel is one of Marvel Comics’ most powerful heroes, but even she has a breaking point. Alone against a dynamo like Nitro, there’s very little that even one such as Carol Danvers can do. And if he ever gets his way, then Carol Danvers will be the second Captain Marvel killed by Marvel Comics’ Nitro.
