Carol Danvers And Surpassing Her Inspirations

Reading Captain Marvel #2, I was struck by Carol's determination to pull Helen Cobb's T6 out of its icy stall without resorting to using her powers. It tied back into something DeConnick had written in the first issue, where Carol mused on how she couldn't compete athletically because her powers give her an unfair advantage. In the cockpit, though, her ability to fly under her own power, or to bench press a tank are irrelevant to how good a pilot she is.

Carol Danvers takes being a pilot as seriously as she takes being a super-hero, and takes a lot of pride in her abilities as both. In the hero biz, Carol may be measuring herself against Mar-Vell, or Captain America, or maybe just her own standard of what a hero should be. As a pilot though, it's Helen Cobb who's the measuring stick, and DeConnick's done a good job already of suggesting that trying to surpass Cobb is something that's driven Carol for years. Carol was impressed by Cobb, maybe even a little in awe of all she'd accomplished when they first met. But not so much that she didn't get a little irked when Cobb suggested she and her contemporaries weren't a patch on Cobb and the women she flew with. That's not such an unusual thing. Old people have been telling young people that their accomplishments or idols aren't shit compared to the previous generations since, well probably forever. But I get the feeling from the fact Carol is still trying to surpass Cobb, that her attempt to show what she could do wasn't as impressive as she hoped.

Which brings us to the T6, where Carol first demonstrates that yes, Helen Cobb could reach 37,000 in a T6, then sets out to go higher. She could simply claim the record for herself (and that may be how it would go down in the record books, since she can only show it was possible Helen could do it, not that she actually did), but she wants to first establish what Helen can do, then use it as something to try and beat. It's just kind of interesting that it's important to support Helen first, then press forward. That's the key to Danvers, I think. She's not content to merely be as good as those who came before her. She feels the only way to truly honor their accomplishments is to better them.

Because Helen wouldn't have had any superpowers, Carol naturally can't use hers when the plane begins to stall. It'd be a cheat, a crutch, even if no one but her would ever know. She'd know. I think in her mind, she figures Helen tried to go higher as well, probably had the same icing issue, but obviously recovered, since she delivered the plane to the Peruvian general. Carol using her powers would be an admission she's not a good enough pilot. That Helen beat her again, and Carol has too much pride to accept that willingly. I'm curious to see how that resolves once she returns to the present. Will she have the chance to pull the plane out, will she have to use her power, or will it be too late entirely?