Growing up as the only daughter of a large family, Carol Danvers was always a bright and capable young lady who was also fiercely independent. While her father would have had her find a husband and settle down, Carol defied him by joining the United States Air Force after she graduated from high school. She grew to become an extremely skilled fighter pilot which caught the eye of the CIA. She was recruited and trained as a field agent. During her time within the agency, she undertook several missions that saw her teaming with Canadian agent Logan (prior to him becoming Wolverine) and Ben Grimm (before he became the Thing). During what would be her final mission, Carol was captured and interrogated by KGB operatives. She was held in a prison until Logan led an operation, against government orders, to rescue her. Upon her return, Carol left the CIA. Her accolades to this point were impressive enough that she eventually became the head of security for the NASA base at Cape Canaveral. There she met Dr. Henry Lawson who was actually the human alter-ego of Mar-Vell or Captain Marvel, a hero of the alien race known as the Kree. During a battle between he and an alien foe named Yon-Rogg, Carol was knocked into an alien device known as the psyche-magnitron. This rewrote part of her DNA to match that of a superhuman Kree.

With new superhuman abilities, Carol took on the name of Ms. Marvel. Carol would assist the Avengers and Defenders as well as several sole heroes while fighting villains on her own as well. Most notably she is attacked by Rogue who uses her mutant powers to absorb the abilities and memories of Carol. With the help of Professor Xavier, Carol is restored to her former self. Following the ordeal, she decides to stay on with the X-men for some time. During this period she accompanies them on a mission in space where she is captured and experimented on by another alien race known as the Brood. She is empowered even further as she gains the ability to draw upon the power of a cosmic white hole. This new power allows her to manipulate various forms of energy on an interstellar scale. With her new powers, Carol changes her superhero identity to become Binary. These powers would serve her well until she exhausts them during Operation: Galactic Storm. Carol then took on the name of Warbird for a time as well as a different costume before returning to her Ms. Marvel identity. During the Civil War, she sided with Iron Man and Mr. Fantastic as a supporter of the Superhuman Registration Act.

As a result of the psyche-magnitron, Carol initially only possessed superhuman physical attributes including strength durability and stamina as well as flight and a precognitive sense that warned her of impending danger. When she developed her “Binary” powers, Carol could tap into a white hole allowing her to travel at the speed of light and manipulate various forms of energy while also increasing her physical abilities to astronomical levels. Although she can no longer connect to the white hole, Carol still maintains her ability to absorb and redirect energy; however it is at only a fraction of the level it once was. Beyond her superpowers, Carol is a highly trained pilot and espionage agent with outstanding skills in hand-to-hand combat and marksmanship. She is also a strong, capable leader and tactician.

Personally I have found Ms. Marvel to be one of the most underrated characters in the first Marvel Ultimate Alliance. She had both the might and flight abilities and could play a strong role as either a tank or ranged character. Her Luminous power was a little difficult to use because of its charge time, but in later levels it was a devastating attack. Prism was an awesome beam attack that could do great damage at less amounts of energy and would splinter off to hit multiple targets upon making contact with the first enemy. Also her Cosmic Awareness power was one of only four in the game that could slow down time. I really hope that Activision makes the most of Ms. Marvel’s powers in Fusion because I think she could really stand out and be a strong addition to just about any foursome.