Warning: Spoilers for The Avengers #19!Doctor Doom finally answers why Captain Marvel leads The Avengers instead of Captain America. Dating back to the beginning of The Avengers, Captain America was asserted as the leader of the team, more often than not, specifically the Steve Rogers iteration. For the newest incarnation, Captain Marvel was chosen to lead, despite the fact there's a Captain America (Sam Wilson) onboard. Some fans wonder what makes Wilson the exception.
The Avengers #19 by Jed MacKay, Farid Karami, Federico Blee, and VC's Cory Petit sees Doctor Doom make sense out of Captain Marvel's choice to lead over any of the Captain Americas. The new Sorcerer Supreme makes a small, but significant distinction between the two Captains: Captain America is the captain of a unified world, while Carol Danvers is the captain of a unified galaxy.
While The Avengers treats both Captains as equals to each other, breaking down this key difference allows readers to make sense out of why one has been decided upon as the leader over the other.
Doctor Doom Explains Why Captain Marvel Leads the Avengers Over Captain America
Captaining Different Positions
In The Avengers' last-ditch effort to save the world when the world's oldest vampire, Varnae, possesses Blade and blocks out the sun, Doctor Strange and co. seeks the help of Doctor Doom in the final moments of the Blood Hunt. Doom is happy to help on one condition: he is gifted the title and powers of the Sorceror Supreme. Strange begrudgingly agrees, but Doom refuses to give up his newfound status once Varnae is defeated. The Avengers are forced to accept that a sworn rival is now one of the most powerful beings in the universe.
As they slowly live with this truth, Doctor Doom s The Avengers directly via astral projection. Summoning them to the Graveyard of Empires, Doom intends to make The Avengers justify their existence. With great power comes great evaluation for Doom, who, in becoming all-powerful, ponders aloud why The Avengers have allowed the world to reach the state it is in today without using their power to conquer the world's worst crimes, armies, and diseases. As he makes them fight off projections of dead soldiers, Doctor Doom evaluates who each member of the Avengers are at their core.
Doctor Doom Names the 1 MCU Avenger He Doesn't Respect
Doom always holds himself in the highest regard, and his opinion will outrank all, but now he's revealed which Avenger he has no interest in hearing f
Two of the Avengers that Doctor Doom zeroes in on are Captain America and Captain Marvel. He defines Sam Wilson as a captain of "a captain not of a decrepit union, a dying imperial power ... but of a unified world," a descriptor that could apply to each and every person - Steve Rogers included - who previously held the Captain America mantle. Meanwhile, Captain Marvel is said to be "representing a world brought together, ready to take its place on the galactic stage among equals." Essentially, the former Ms. Marvel captains a unified galaxy.
Does this Mean Captain Marvel is a Greater Fit to Lead The Avengers Than Captain America?
Not Necessarily
One may interpret from Doom's words that he's insinuating that Captain Marvel is a better fit to lead The Avengers than Captain America is. After all, a galaxy is bigger than a nation, yet alone a world. In theory, if Carol's responsibilities are to the entire galaxy, that is a bigger responsibility than to the country of America and thus, that makes her more fit to lead an intergalactic super-team like The Avengers than a Sam Wilson or even Steve Rogers. However, that couldn't be further from the truth.
Not only does no one in the Marvel Universe rank Carol higher than Steve or Sam, all three view each other as equals. The first issue of this series saw an exchange between Sam Wilson, Steve Rogers, and Carol Danvers in which all three captains refer to each other as "cap" as a major sign of respect. This positioned each hero on an equal scale to each other, so it can't be argued that there could be any kind of favoritism in or out of the team that would put Carol in a position above either Sam or Steve.
Then Why Does Captain Marvel Lead the Avengers?
More Experience with The Galaxy
While Captain Marvel doesn't use her responsibility over the galaxy to rank herself above her Avengers peers, it is nonetheless a big enough responsibility to validate why she is The Avengers leader in the first place. As said earlier, a galaxy is bigger than the world. Although both versions of Captain America have experience in facing down intergalactic threats, intergalactic threats are exactly in Captain Marvel's wheelhouse. It's no wonder why her power level is among the gods, it's because she needs to be that powerful to face threats from all sides of the galaxy.
Facing threats from all sides of the galaxy, as well as keeping peace within the galaxy when she's not on Avengers duty, is what Captain Marvel does on a regular basis. As evident in The Avengers' recent recruitment of Storm as a mutant representative, The Avengers wants to do their part to protect all facets of the galaxy and all parts of the goal. Whether it be the human race or the alien race, the planet Earth or the planet Mars, The Avengers needs a leader like Captain Marvel to understand how to tackle that goal, and Doctor Doom understands that.
The Avengers #19 is on sale now from Marvel
