The Death of Adam Warlock and Captain Marvel
Two Heroes, Two Deaths, Two Very Different Stories
Recently, I read two graphic novels that both dealt with death, but in incredibly different ways. Interestingly, they were both written by the same author, Jim Starlin.
If you've never heard the name “Jim Starlin”, you have undoubtedly heard of his most famous creation, Thanos. Starlin is one of the many not-Stan-Lee comic creators hardly acknowledged by Disney1, despite his creations featuring in their highly successful films.
However, for Thanos to be all Starlin is known for, as great a character as the Mad Titan is, would be huge disservice to him. Over the many decades he worked at Marvel he became one of the most respected creators in the industry, almost single-handedly mapping out the cosmic spaceways of the Marvel Universe, outside the pages of Fantastic Four at any rate.
Starlin’s stories were often of a much larger scale than those of many other creators, rivaling that of Steve Ditko in their strange and other-worldliness (interestingly, Starlin would also do a stint on Doctor Strange2, which is where I first encountered his work). Most famous for his immense space operas, such as The Infinity Gauntlet on which much of Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame were based, many of the characters he created are space fairing heroes, such as Drax the Destroyer, Nebula and Gamora. He also co-created Shang-Chi with writer Steve Englehart.
However, neither Adam Warlock nor Captain Marvel are Starlin’s creations, yet the stories he wrote for them, in particular those of their deaths, would have a lasting echo throughout the Marvel Universe to this very day.
Captain Marvel was created by Stan Lee and Gene Colan in 1967 and first appeared in Marvel Super Heroes (1967) #12. A soldier of the alien Kree race, Mar-Vell came to Earth as part of a scouting missing as the Kree were looking to overthrow the planet. However, Mar-Vell found humanity to be endearing and began to question his race’s war-like ways, eventually disavowing the Kree.
As an interesting aside, Marvel’s Captain Marvel came about because they wanted the copyright to the name. Previously, Fawcett Comics published a Captain Marvel title from 1940 to 1953. When Fawcett stopped publishing comics in 1953 and their trademark on the name lapsed, Marvel quickly took advantage of this, securing the name for themselves. 3
Adam Warlock first appeared in Fantastic Four #66 by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. Originally known only as “Him,” he was given the name “Warlock” by Roy Thomas and Gil Kane in Marvel Premier #1. This new adventure saw Warlock saving Counter-Earth, an artificial facsimile of Earth created by the High Evolutionary, from the evil Man-Beast. It was here that Warlock would receive the Soul Gem, one of the six Infinity Gems (or Infinity Stones, as they are known in the MCU) from the High Evolutionary. This would prove to become one of the defining elements of Warlock’s character.
Starlin started on Captain Marvel with the 25th issue of the character’s first solo series. Initially only pencilling, be started plotting the series the following issue. He would add several key elements to Marvel’s status quo, such as donning him with the title of “Protector of the Universe” and his “Cosmic Awareness,” an ability that allows him to sense things on a cosmic level and thus perceive more than other heroes.
While Captain Marvel would fight against Thanos in a large portion of these issues, it was actually issue #34, Starlin’s last, that would prove to be, arguably, the most important. A new villain known as Nitro has stolen an experiential gaseous biological weapon from the US military. Marvel seeks to retrieve it, but during the battle the cylinder the weapon is stored in is cracked. Quickly dispatching Nitro, Captain Marvel rushes to seal off the leak. He is successful, but in doing so is exposed to the gas. Initially it seems he is unaffected, but concern about his exposure lingers.4
It would be eight years before Starlin returned to Captain Marvel, this time to tell the tale of the hero's death. It is revealed that the gas he was exposed to during the fight with Nitro did indeed affect him, but that his powers, in particular his Nega-Bands, had been delaying the effects of the gas. Those effects have caused a cancer to grow within Mar-Vell and despite the best and brightest of the Marvel Universe searching no cure can be found.
The story that is presented in The Death of Captain Marvel5, Marvel’s first ever graphic novel, is one of a man accepting his fate. While he hopes for a cure, Mar-Vell knows that the chances are incredibly slim, and so the story follows him saying his goodbyes to the many friends and loved ones he has come to know over the years.
While Mar-Vell is, for the most part, resigned to his fate, those around him refuse to accept it. Rick Jones becomes furious on learning of Mar-Vell’s seeming complacency toward his predicament, and vows that, somehow, he will find a cure. His friends in the Avengers, too, work tirelessly to find a cure, refusing to accept that a hero such as Captain Marvel can succumb to the disease.
As Mar-Vell grows weaker many he has known come to say their goodbyes. Friends, team mates and even old enemies pay their respects to the dying hero. However, for all his power, the cancer finally claims him. In the end, Mar-Vell hallucinates that his oldest and greatest foe, Thanos, who himself had died not long ago, has come to take him to his final destination. Joined by the Marvel Universes’ personification of Death, Thanos explains that this is not the end.
“She will lead us on our journey. She will show us that this is not the end…only the beginning!”
With these words from Thanos, Mar-Vell in the waking world closes his eyes, and is gone.
It is a somber yet somewhat hopeful end for the hero. The story recounts his many adventures and the impact he had on the lives of those in the Marvel Universe. It is an interesting way to close off a hero’s story; not with a gigantic, epic battle, but via a sadly common demise that so many people have faced. In fiction we expect our heroes, if they are to die, to do so with the proverbial sword in their hand. Yet here our hero goes quietly, and The Death of Captain Marvel is all the more powerful for it.
Captain Marvel’s death is in complete contrast with that of Adam Warlock. Picking up almost directly after the end of the story arc set on Counter-Earth, Starlin sends Warlock on a path of self-loathing, despair and madness. Of this, Starlin said in an interview
I had basically taken Captain Marvel, a warrior, and turned him into sort of a messiah-type character. So when I got to Warlock, I said to myself, 'I got a messiah right here to start off with; where do I go from there?' And I decided a paranoid schizophrenic was the route to take.6
Beginning with the death of an innocent before his very eyes, Warlock is thrust into a universe-spanning adventure in search of The Magus, an evil being who rules over much of the galaxy with an iron fist. The kicker is, it is revealed that the Magus is, infact, Warlock himself! While the Magus represents the darker portion of Warlock’s personality, it is not simply a matter of Warlock “letting go” that caused the Magus’ creation. Rather, Starling weaves an epic story of time travel, altering realities, personal demons and madness.
Known as The Magus Saga, a central part of Starlin’s story is the Soul Gem, the powerful object affixed to Warlock’s forehead. It is revealed throughout the story that the Gem has its own intelligence and lives in a symbiotic relationship with Warlock. This is revealed in a dramatic scene in which the Gem acts of its own accord, not only killing one of Warlock's foes, but stealing their soul in the process. The experience horrifies Warlock, and he reacts thusly;
“How would I ever live with this? Within me I could feel the torment of the spirit that was once Autolycus….Had I lost control of this accursed Gem forever?
Then, as if struck by lightning, it occurred to me the Gem might be responsible for the Magus’ existence!"
Not long after, Warlock tries to remove the Gem from his person, with disastrous results.
“Pain! Emptiness! It flows from me…All that I was…Am…Ever will be…Gone! Gone! Gone! My Gem. My lovely Gem.”
As you can see, it is not unlike Bildo or Frodo trying to give up The One Ring in Tolkien’s classic. The Gem has become, as did the Ring, like a drug for Warlock. The very thing that may bring about his destruction is the one thing he can not be without. And so he succumbs further to guilt, self loathing and madness.
Tortured heroes were not a new idea in comics at the time. Batman, debuting in 1938, blamed himself for his parents’ murder. The Fantastic Four, appearing in 1961, was as much about family dynamics as it was super heroics. Spider-Man, first swinging onto news stands a year later, had to constantly worry about every day things such as his studies, his job and looking after his elderly Aunt May, all while combatting Doc Ock and Green Goblin. No, tortured heroes were not new, but the extreme levels of personal and existential grief that Starlin put Warlock through may have been the most extreme for the time.
As the story continues, we see Warlock forced to accept the madness within him. It is the only way he can come to understand that part of himself that will become the Magus, and hope to find a way to defeat it. A solution is found, but that solution is suicide. Warlock must destroy himself to save the universe he loves.
While The Death of Captain Marvel was a personal, introspective tale, Warlock’s death is one of high adventure and space drama. Apart from Warlock himself having to deal with the Magus, also thrown into the mix are Pip the Troll and Gamora who, for their own reasons, come to aid Warlock. Also entering the fray is Thanos, who also wishes to assist Warlock in destroying the Magus, but of course he has his own plans for the universe. Add in a healthy mix of continuity-heavy storytelling and you have a bombastic, intricately woven tale of death and despair. While Captain Marvel’s passing was quietly humble, Warlocks is loud and - literally - universe shattering.
The juxtaposition of these two character’s deaths is interesting. On the surface both heroes appear quite similar; both are space faring heroes, both have vast amounts of power at their control and both go through a journey of self discovery. However, their paths and eventual destinations are very separate. Captain Marvel’s journey is one of finding purpose, of finding allies and friends upon his adopted planet. His is a story of hope, and his death reflects this.
Warlock, on the other hand, was an outsider who never felt he found his place in the universe. From his first days on Earth known only as “Him” he was ostracised. Fleeing to the stars he found the High Evolutionary who gave him the goal of freeing Counter-Earth, but once that planet was liberated he again felt an outsider. With the revelations of the true nature of the Soul Gem, he was forced to question who he was, what he stood for and if his perception of the universe was real or simply the conjuration of an insane mind. Warlock would not find peace until his death, but that death was loud and violent. A Captain Marvel says at Warlock’s wake
I pity him his lot in life. For even here amidst the heavens, Adam Warlock never truly found a place for himself.7
The Death of Captain Marvel and the Magus Saga are two incredibly different stories, yet ultimately they deal with the same subject; the death of a hero. It is incredibly interesting how Starlin is able to explore this topic in two vastly different ways. The former is about acceptance and the remembering of a friend, the latter deals with the anger of not being able to escape one’s fate, and the violent death that may await those with violent lives. Each story is powerful in its own way, and shows the mastery over the comic book medium that Jim Starlin possessed.
Most telling, however, is that decades later these stories are remembered still as some of the finest Marvel has ever put to print.
Thanos Creator Trolled Marvel When a DC Movie Paid Him More Than Laughably Less Infinity War Salary, by Siddhika. FandomWire, 2023.
Doctor Strange, Master of the Mystic Arts (1973) #23, by Marv Wolfman (W), Jim Starlin (P), Rudy Nebres (I), Andy Yanchus (C) and Gaspar Saladino and Joe Rosen (L).
Slugfest : Inside the Epic Fifty-Year Battle Between Marvel and DC by Tucker Reed, 2017
Captain Marvel (1968) #35 Blown Away! by Jim Starlin (P/W/C), Jack Abel (I) and Tom Orzechowski (L)
The Death of Captain Marvel by Jim Starlin (W/A), Steve Oliff (C) and James Novak (L)
Spider-Man Chronicle Celebrating 50 Years of Web-Slinging by Alan Cowsill and Matthew K. Manning
Marvel Two-In-One Annual (1976) #2, Death Watch! by Jim Starlin (W/A) and Joe Rubinstein (I)
Really enjoyed this read, Joe. It's interesting to reflect on how death is presented in the Marvel universe, and how it has changed over the years.