CBR Live! Archive
Top 50 Marvel Characters #51
Here's Marvel's top character who was on the outside looking in....
51. Captain Marvel (Mar-Vell) - 126 points (1 first place votes)

Created by Stan Lee and Gene Colan, Captain Mar-Vell was a Kree warrior sent to spy on Earth. However, he grew to dig Earth, so helped defend some humans from a Kree robot. They heard the robot call him Captain Mar-Vell, so presumed he was a new hero called Captain Marvel.
He fought the good fight for awhile before Roy Thomas and Gil Kane revamped him as basically a cosmic Captain Marvel (the Fawcett one). Rick Jones put on some nega-bands, and when he clanged them together, he would switch places with Mar-Vell, while the other one would be stuck in the Negaverse.
This was the status quo for awhile, until Jim Starlin split the two up, and had Captain Marvel become the Protector of the Universe. This was how things went for awhile until Mar-Vell ultimately died, due to cancer that he developed after being exposed to "Compound 13" by the villain Nitro.
Recently, Mar-Vell was plucked from the time stream, seemingly healthy, but in actuality, he was taken from time AFTER being exposed to the Compound, so Mar-Vell knows that he only has a finite amount of time left before the cancer takes him, so he is making the most of his renewed time living.
Here is why my pal Cayman voted for Mar-Vell...
I have to be honest, a good part of my love for Captain Marvel comes from my appreciation of his most memorable costume. Mar-Vell cuts a fine figure in the bold red and blue, combined with the iconic image of his star emblem and the shining Nega-Bands. He just looks damn cool and heroic, like the best superhero ever.
Beyond that, I think he reflect a nice evolution in the space or "cosmic" character, beyond the pulpy Adam Stranges and Flash Gordons of the past.
Finally, I love him because he's not a freakin' Skrull. Boo-yah!
Thanks, Cay!
- Posted on September 26, 2007 @ 07:42 PM






25 Comments
The Mutt
September 26, 2007 at 8:05 pm
Please, oh please, back-track to 100!
Andrew
September 26, 2007 at 8:09 pm
Yep, I concur with The Mutt.
taylor
September 26, 2007 at 8:26 pm
That would be interesting, but by the time we got to the 90's, we'd be looking at some pretty crummy characters. (Hmm...a list of the worst characters of all time might be cool)
km
September 26, 2007 at 8:32 pm
At least backtrack to #60? Pretty please?
Omega Alpha
September 26, 2007 at 9:40 pm
Back track to 100, like Mutt suggested.
Tyson
September 26, 2007 at 9:44 pm
I'd like to see it backtracked to every character submitted, to tell you the truth.
Even the ones that only got one 10th place vote...
Chris Coke
September 26, 2007 at 10:03 pm
Well, there's certainly somebody who deserved to be in the top 50. Almost there, Cap!
And just because they didn't make the top 100 in votes doesn't mean they're crummy.
I vote for backtracking to infinity and beyond.
I want to see where Human Fly placed!!
Anybody else cast votes his way?
jazzbo
September 26, 2007 at 10:49 pm
I would love it if he backtracked all the way back. I've been enjoying this whole list thing way more than I really think is healthy. I need more!
Graham Vingoe
September 27, 2007 at 12:43 am
Devil Slayer, Man-Wolf , Scorpio/Jake Fury and Simon Garth were in my top 10 list so it would be interesting to see which characters were voted for. It occurs to me that I had imagined that Norman Osbourn/Green Goblin was going to be quite high in the chart and I've just noticed that Venom didn't make the 50 either- He cant be top 4, surely?
Rohan Williams
September 27, 2007 at 2:27 am
I'm amazed by the absence of Venom and the Goblin, but it's understandable (and not that surprising) when you think about who was voting.
Danar
September 27, 2007 at 5:16 am
Man, I'm not really surprised that he didn't make the top 50 list, but I am surprised at how close he came. He only missed out by 2 points. There have been a really large number of very close races.
Marvel had 3 ties, 18 more that were within 3 points and 8 more that were within 10 points. That's 29 of the 50 ranks that came down to a single person's vote.
DC had 5 ties, 10 more that were within 3 points and another 16 that were within 10 points. That's 31 of the 50 ranks that came down to a single person's vote.
Patrick Zircher
September 27, 2007 at 5:38 am
Devil Slayer?
Somebody go out and make about 20,000 clones of Graham so we can get a Devil Slayer book.
Love that character.
The Captain Marvel above, silver hair, drawn by Kane, was the shizz. When I was a kid, I cribbed more poses from the Giant Size annual than just about any other book.
avengers63
September 27, 2007 at 6:22 am
I really liked Captain Marvel when I was a kid in the 80's. I even had a sense of reverence for him in the 90's. Then I was finally able to get the full run of the series in one fell swoop on eBay. After reading it, I wasn't so enamored with him anymore.
The character itself is just fine. Cosmic protector, wrist bands with all his power, cosmic awareness... no problem. The stories didn't flow, even when Starlin was on the series. Granted, he & Roy Thomas had the best stories of the bunch, but there was too much bad between & after to make the series as a whole good. It's a wonder he lasted to issue 60-something.
FWIW: The Death of Captain Marvel GN was one of the best stories written. Marvel's leadership are bastards for bringing him back.
Ian
September 27, 2007 at 7:09 am
Yes, more backtracking. DO OUR BIDDING!
I'm not sure I would have even guessed Captain Marvel would rank as high as 51. Maybe its because for most of my life Captain Marvel was Genis-Vell (or "Legacy") or one of those 'forever dead' characters.
I don't know much about the character, but I like him. Although I do like his original costume much better. You don't see the green and white color scheme used often and the planet made for an interesting, if cliched, look.
Dasbender
September 27, 2007 at 9:23 am
You don't need to spend a lot of time writing up giant entries like this for each character, but I'd love to at least see a list of all characters you received votes for.
I'd also love to see a poll like this done for the "Top 50 Most Disliked Characters". I'd bet some characters that were most liked, would also show up as most disliked (e.g., Wolverine, Hal Jordan, etc).
avengers63
September 27, 2007 at 9:29 am
Yea... to top 50 most hated characters would be a lot of fun.
Gambit, Rob Liefeld, Cable, Rob Liefeld, Apocalypse, Rob Liefeld, Venom, Carnage, Rob Liefeld.....
Here's a thought. The top 50 characters became almost all heroes. (go figure... duh) How about a top Villians list? I'd be all for a top teams list as well, though the list would be considerably shorter.
Dasbender
September 27, 2007 at 10:46 am
Yeah, it's funny how there was all this discussion at the start regarding whether or not you could vote for which team, but none of them made the top 50.
Although I'm not sure I could come up with 10 Marvel teams and 10 DC teams I liked
Mark
September 27, 2007 at 11:32 am
I'm already working on my most hated character list...which would actually be completely different from a worst character list.
Andrew Collins
September 27, 2007 at 2:27 pm
I would like to see as much of the list as possible too.
km
September 27, 2007 at 4:16 pm
Hey, I figured I'd make the target easier by shooting for plausible. Poor Brian's probably about dead sick of the numbers game right now.
That said, if he's not, then all bets are off...
Ian Astheimer
September 27, 2007 at 5:06 pm
I could, but the lists would get obscure in a hurry.
Which would be half the fun, really.
What do you say, Brian? Top 50 (or 25 or 10) Teams?
Bully
September 27, 2007 at 7:17 pm
I’m already working on my most hated character list
I call Gambit!
Chris Coke
September 27, 2007 at 8:59 pm
Most of the people I hate, I don't hate. It just annoys me that they're more popular than I think they should be.
I assume that's where the Gambit haters fall.
I tend to hate all symbiotes, but it's mostly due to their excessive popularity (or what I perceived as excessive; I notice none made the list)
I really don't know if I have 10 hated marvel characters. I might though. I hate the Tarantula.
Mark
September 28, 2007 at 12:24 pm
My hat's off to Chris--"hate" probably is too strong but I'd like to see a list of least favorites.
Ultram er.
January 8, 2008 at 4:17 pm
Ultram er.
Ultram er.