Marvel ends Black History Month by showcasing and celebrating some of their top Black characters. The top two books from the week—Black Panther by Ta-Nehisi Coates and Daniel Acuña and Marvel’s Voices: Legacy by various creators—feature two dozen prominent Black heroes. Several characters, such as Ironheart, Shuri, Storm and War Machine, appear in both books which scored a combined 118 points. Black Panther returns from nearly a year-long hiatus caused by the pandemic delays in 2020. It features the most characters, 24, as the battle begins for the soul of Wakanda’s future. New Black characters added to the Fantasy Comic League tracking system include Rage and Vibraxas from Black Panther, and Battlestar, U.S. Agent’s former partner. Cosmo and the Collector also guest in the latest Symbiote Spider-Man book and get added to the system as well.
Book the Week – Marvel’s Voices: Legacy #1 (Review score: 60 points; 17 Characters). Voices is the third entry in Marvel’s anthological Voices series meant to showcase the talents of a diverse lineup of creators and characters. The short stories in this issue feature Ironheart, Spectrum, Domino, Blade and Storm and deal with a variety of topics from the less serious—the need to decompress from superhero life, preparing a family dinner—and the more heavy, such as a hero’s guilt over innocent bystanders being hurt and the End SARS social movement in Nigeria.
Hero of the Week – Captain Marvel (Review score: 20 points; 10 Pts/App). Carol Danvers is the latest, and final, character to receive the Marvels Snapshots treatment. Like the issues before this one, the viewpoint comes from a civilian observing the world of superheroes. Jenni Saitō stumbles across the Avengers repelling alien scouts and receives not only an inspirational speech for Captain Marvel, but one from Ms. Marvel as well. In Carol’s solo title, she returns from the future timeline, her battle with Ove not yet over, and makes the big decision to end her relationship with Jim Rhodes due to meeting his future daughter from another lover.
Antagonist of the Week – Kang (Review score: 8 points; 8 Pts/App). The longtime Avengers’ nemesis and Master of Time continues to ally himself with Spider-Man, Rocket Raccoon and Spectrum, though his true motives remain unclear. The team succeeds in dispatching the Mr. E symbiote when Kang teleports him into one of the Collector’s confinement cases. Though he professes to want to stop the coming threat of Knull, the Black Knight’s Ebony Blade receives a lot of attention in this series and may be Kang’s ultimate prize.
Performance of the Week – Wolverine (Review score: 12 Points; 12 Pts/App). Wolverine, the top character from February, finishes out the month with a big solo title performance. After rescuing his former Team X ally, Maverick (Agent Zero), from being sold to the highest bidder, they team up to burn the Merchant’s warehouse full of super tech. The latest issue sheds some more light on the C.I.A.’s X-Desk, who was in on the bidding to secure Maverick in the Merchant’s auction. But it seems Maverick may be willing to cut out the middle man and offer his services to the X-Desk directly after turning down Wolverine’s invitation to Krakoa.
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Key: TU – Team-Up; LT – Lead Team; SC – Save Civilian; CD – Character Development; DA – Defeat Antagonist.
| Amazing Spider-Man #60 (7) |
| Doctor Strange – Magic Offensive, Teleport Spider-Man (PP) – Webs Antagonist(s) Mephisto Mysterio |
| Black Cat #3 (12) |
| Black Cat – Claws, Flight, Magic, WIll Power, TU (Doctor Strange), LT Doctor Strange – Artifact, Magic, Teleport, TU (Black Cat) |
| Black Panther #23 (58) |
| Black Panther – Influence, TU (Storm) Blue Marvel – Flight, TU (Black Panther) Cloak – TU (Black Panther) Doctor Voodoo – Flight, TU (Black Panther) Falcon (SW) – Flight, TU (Black Panther) Frenzy – TU (Black Panther) Ironheart – Flight, TU (Black Panther) Luke Cage – TU (Black Panther) Misty Knight – TU (Black Panther) Nick Fury, Jr. – TU (Black Panther) Night Thrasher – TU (Black Panther) Okoye – TU (Storm) Patriot – TU (Black Panther) Power Man – TU (Black Panther) Prodigy – TU (Black Panther) Rage – TU (Black Panther) Shuri – TU (Storm) Spectrum – Flight, TU (Black Panther) Spider-Man (MM) – Webs, TU (Black Panther) Storm – Flight, Lightning, TU (Black Panther) Vibraxas – TU (Black Panther) War Machine – TU (Black Panther) Antagonist(s) Killmonger – Creature, LT Thunderball – TU (Black Panther) |
| Captain Marvel #26 (16) |
| Captain Marvel – Durability, Energy, Energy Offensive, Flight, Melee, Strength, TU (Emma Frost), LT, CD (Breaks up with War Machine) Hazmat Spider-Woman – TU (Captain Marvel) War Machine – TU (Captain Marvel), CD (Breaks up with Captain Marvel) |
| King In Black: Namor #4 (28) |
| Andromeda Dorma – Flight, Magic, TU (Attuma) Kharsa – Claws Offensive, Flight, Melee, DA (Imperial soldiers) Namor – Flight, Melee, Strength, TU (Attuma), LT Sycorax – Creature, Flight, Magic, Magic Offensive, DA (Imperial soldiers) Antagonist(s) Attuma – Flight, Melee, TU (Namor) Krang – LT |
| King in Black: Return of the Valkyries #3 (40) |
| Hildegarde – Blade, Creature, Weapon, TU (Valkyrie), LT, SC, DA (Symbiote dragon) Mirage – Artifact, Creature, Projectile, Sense, TU (Valkyrie), DA (Symbiote dragon) Sentry Storm – Elements, Flight, Lightning, Melee Valkyrie (Brunnhilde) Valkyrie (JF) – Artifact, Blade, Flight, Sense, Teleport, TU (Hildegarde), LT, DA (Symbiote dragon) Valkyrie (TT) – Blade, Melee, Strength, Weapon, DA (King Vanlandi) Antagonist(s) Knull – Artifact, Flight |
| Maestro: War and Pax #2 (5) |
| Maestro – Creature, Durability, Melee, TU (Pantheon) |
| Magnificent Ms. Marvel #18 (7) |
| Ms. Marvel – Durability, Grow, Melee, Morph, Stretch, TU (Amulet) |
| Marvel’s Voices: Legacy #1 (60) |
| Blade – Blade, Melee, Weapon, SC, DA (Vampires) Cyclops Domino – Gun, Melee, Probability, Weapon, DA (King of Lowtown) Emma Frost – Telepathy Hulk (JW) – TU (Spectrum) Ironheart – Computer, Energy, Flight, Suit, TU (Shuri), DA (Fast Four) Jubilee – Energy, TU (Spider-Man) Marvel Girl Ms. America – Flight, TU (Spider-Man) Ms. Marvel – Stretch, TU (Ironheart) Shuri – Flight, Intellect, TU (Ironheart) Spectrum – Flight, Morph, TU (Thor) Spider-Man (MM) – Melee, Webs, TU (War Machine) Storm – Flight, Influence, TU (Spider-Man), SC Thor – Flight, TU (Spectrum) War Machine – Flight, TU (Spider-Man) Antagonist(s) Hobgoblin (RK) – Blade, Melee |
| Marvels Snapshots: Captain Marvel #1 (51) |
| Captain America – Melee, Shield, Shield Defensive, Shield Offensive, TU (Ms. Marvel), DA (D’Max’lans) Captain Marvel – Durability, Energy, Energy Offensive, Flight, Influence, Intellect, Strength, TU (Ms. Marvel), DA (D’Max’lans) Human Torch – Flight Invisible Woman Iron Man – Durability, Energy, Flight, TU (Ms. Marvel), DA (D’Max’lans) Mr. Fantastic – Stretch Ms. Marvel – Ensnare, Grow, Influence, Melee, Size, Stretch, TU (Captain Marvel), DA (D’Max’lans) Spider-Man (PP) – Ensnare, Melee, Webs, TU (Ms. Marvel), DA (D’Max’lans) Thing Thor – Blunt, Flight, Lightning, Melee, TU (Ms. Marvel), DA (D’Max’lans) |
| New Mutants #16 (37) |
| Anole – Reality, TU (Scout) Cosmar – Claws, TU (Scout) Cypher Eye-Boy – Sleuth Karma – Artifact, Creature, Sense Magik – Blade, Teleport, Teleport Defensive, LT Merlyn Mirage – Creature Prodigy – Sleuth Rictor Scout – Heal, Water, Will Power, TU (Anole) Warpath Wolfsbane Antagonist(s) Monarch – Business, Reality Shadow King – Influence, Telepathy |
| Symbiote Spider-Man: King in Black #4 (36) |
| Cosmo – Telepathy, Telepathy Offensive, SC Rocket Raccoon – Gun, Precision, Weapon, TU (Spider-Man), DA (Mister E) Spectrum – Energy Offensive, Flight, Morph, TU (Spider-Man), LT, DA (Mister E) Spider-Man (PP) – Melee, Strength, Webs, TU (Rocket Raccoon), DA (Mister E) Uatu the Watcher Antagonist(s) Collector Kang – Energy, Energy Defensive, Energy Offensive, Teleport Offensive, TU (Spider-Man), LT, DA (Mister E) Spider-Slayer Ulik – Melee |
| U.S. Agent #3 (8) |
| Battlestar – Melee U.S. Agent – Shield, Shield Defensive, Strength, Whip, LT |
| Union #3 (16) |
| Choir – Melee, Whip, SC, DA (Robber) Kelpie – Water Offensive, TU (Union Jack) Snakes – Melee, Morph, TU (Union Jack) Union Jack – Melee, Strength, TU (Snakes) |
| Wolverine #10 (23) |
| Agent Zero – Espionage, Flames, Gun, Melee, Suit, Weapon, TU (Wolverine), LT, CD (Declines to join Krakoa), DA (The Merchant) Wolverine – Agility, Claws, Claws Offensive, Creature, Durability, Espionage, Suit, Weapon, TU (Agent Zero), LT, DA (The Merchant) |
| X-Men #18 (17) |
| Darwin – Biokinesis, Morph, Sense Synch – Absorb, Flames, Heal, Morph, Sense, CD (Gains the ability to absorb non-mutant powers), DA (Children of the Vault) Wolverine (LK) – Claws, Claws Offensive, LT, DA (Children of the Vault) |
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