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Ms Marvel is a hot little number, with tall dark boots and a sash to go with her outfit. But Ms Marvel has quite a history behind her. Imagine my surprise when I heard that Ms Marvel was pregnant, and not by choice. Was Ms Marvel raped, I wondered? This was the controversy that surrounded The Avengers 200 (Affiliate Link), published in october of 1980.
How was Ms Marvel pregnant? Was Ms Marvel raped, really? When I read Avengers 200, this was the question I asked myself, because it did not seem like rape to me. The comic issue begins with Ms Marvel giving birth to a boy, whom she does not know who the father is, literally. She gives a painless birth to a person who grows to full maturity in a matter of hours. When I read this, it seemed very familiar to me. I kept questioning whether or not I had already read the story. And then I remembered: I had heard of it, but not in comics.
The plot of Avengers 200 is remarkably similar to an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation. In the episode, Deanna Troi becomes pregnant by unknown means, and gives birth to a boy whose growth accelerates at incredible speed, until reaching full maturity. The episode, called The Child, was the 27th episode and aired in 1988. However, some research revealed that the episode’s script was written for an earlier series, which was meant to air in the 70s. So who knows if this plot was stolen, or if it was merely a coincidence.
So bottom line: was Ms Marvel raped? I was under the assumption that rape meant forced sex. Was Mary, mother of Jesus, raped by God because she became pregnant? The concept is absurd. This is the way I felt for the majority of the time reading Avengers 200 until it is revealed that Ms Marvel was brought to another dimension (or something, you know how cryptic comics can be) and she was seduced with the help of brainwashing, before being returned to earth. Oops. So maybe Ms Marvel was raped after all.
Raped or not raped, Avengers issue 200 is double the size of other comics from its era, and it is a fantastic read (Affiliate Link). The artwork was done by legendary artist George Perez which, with everything considered, makes the issue an instant collectable. You see, Avenger 200 was published in 1980, well before the 90s industry crash due to the overwhelming amount of worthless crap that was published. So you know this is good stuff.
Fan of Ms Marvel, or the Avengers? Leave me a comment below.