Warning: contains spoilers for Captain Marvel #29!
Captain Marvel may become the new Sorcerer Supreme after the sudden and mysterious death of Doctor Strange. Marvel has recently teased Carol Danvers’ long and arduous journey to learning powerful magic; combined with the upcoming Death of Doctor Strange miniseries releasing this September, this could set the stage for Carol Danvers to take Doctor Strange’s place as the most powerful magical guardian of the Earth. Captain Marvel is already one of the most powerful heroes in the Marvel Universe, and there’s a very good change she’s about to become even stronger.
Kelly Thompson’s run on Captain Marvel has taken the titular character through trying times. She’s seen a terrible future version of Earth in which most of the Avengers are dead, and Ove, the sun of Namor and the Enchantress, rules what’s left of the planet. She’s broken up with her longtime love interest James Rhodes – War Machine – when she found his daughter in the future and realized she wasn’t her mother. She’s stumbled into a quasi-relationship with Doctor Strange after an ill-advised one-night stand, and has since determined that the only way to stop Ove is to learn magic… no matter how many sorcerers try to stop her.
In Captain Marvel #29, a desperate Danvers turns to the Enchantress when all other magic-users have rejected her. Even Doctor Strange refused to teach her, fearing that she might become too powerful – but nevertheless, she persists in her quest to gather enough power to stop Ove. The Enchantress leads her to the ocean floor to retrieve a powerful magical pearl. Against all odds, she defeats a denizen of the deep, collects the pearl, and heroically blasts out of the water. Captain Marvel is confident – as ever – but her triumph could lead to tragedy.
Marvel hasn’t yet revealed the exact cause of Doctor Strange’s approaching death – only that he would be killed and his death would be a mystery within the series itself. Captain Marvel, while supremely powerful in space, is inexperienced with magic. There is a possibility, however unlikely, that Captain Marvel causes Doctor Strange’s death through a spell gone horribly wrong. Strange is a powerful sorcerer himself – but in Carol’s presence, he lets his guard down. Strange’s warning to Carol against overcoming her weakness to magic through magic has already gone unheeded.
If Carol’s actions cause the death of Doctor Strange, she would no doubt become distraught and horrified. But rather than give up the power she desperately sought, she could become a force for good to avenge her friend’s death (or, in a more villainous turn, keep it secret). Hence, the only way for Captain Marvel to appropriately make amends is to use her magical powers to stop Ove and the nightmarish future… and succeed Doctor Strange to become Marvel’s new Sorcerer Supreme.
