Phyla-Vell
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Phyla-Vell is a fictional character in the Marvel Comics universe. She is the fourth to bear the name Captain Marvel, her brother Genis-Vell being the third, and is now the new Quasar. She was created by Peter David and Paul Azaceta in Captain Marvel (6th series) #16 (December 2003).
Her name is derived from the Scientific classification phylum, one of the levels of organization (taxons) for classifying life. This is a reference to the fact that her brother Genis-Vell's name comes from Genus, one of the other classifications for life forms.
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[edit] Publication history
The character is a retcon — her existence and history conflict with previous published stories and were retroactively established. This is resolved in Captain Marvel (vol. 6) #18 (February, 2004)
The Captain Marvel (vol. 6) series heavily hinted that Phyla-Vell is a lesbian, and in #25 (September, 2004) the character admits that she is attracted to Moondragon and invites her on a tour of the "spiral nebula near Renault VII". Before Moondragon can accept the two wander through a portal. Perhaps coincidentally, Phyla's half-brother Hulkling is also gay.
[edit] Fictional character biography
After Genis-Vell, then known as Captain Marvel, previously destroyed and recreated the universe, the "new" version was subtly altered with Phyla-Vell's existence being one of the changes.
It is revealed that she is the second artificially created offspring of Captain Mar-Vell who was created by her mother Elysius in the "new" universe because her first attempt (Genis-Vell) had been so successful.
She fights her brother Genis-Vell, who was insane at the time[1], in the process helping to restore his sanity. She then tries to lay claim to the "Captain Marvel" title, though her brother refuses to give it up[2].
Phyla next is seen at the trial of Starfox[3].
[edit] Annihilation
Phyla later appeared during Annihilation where she had been visiting her father's grave with Moondragon when the pair were attacked by Thanos who ripped off Moondragon's ear and gave it to Phyla, telling her to go to Drax the Destroyer and how his actions would determine Moondragon's fate shortly before teleporting away with Moondragon. Drax has indicated he will not be stopping his pursuit of Thanos.
Phyla then goes with Nova and Star-Lord to lead a final battle against Annihilus, being saved at the last second by a massive energy wave caused by the just freed Galactus, which left only the three heroes and Annihilus as survivors. Ultimately in the battle, Phyla manages to steal away the quantum bands that Annihilus took from Quasar, weakening him and allowing Nova to finally bring an end to the Annihilation Wave. She is then seen re-united with Moondragon, and deciding it's up to her to become the new Quasar.
[edit] Quasar
Marvel editor Bill Rosenman has stated that Phyla will be getting her own miniseries as the new Quasar, stating "In July through October, we have Annihilation: Conquest – Quasar. That stars Phyla who is the daughter of the original Captain Marvel, a sister of Genis and Hulkling, and successor of the now legendary Wendell Vaughn, the original Quasar who’s missed by a lot of people, both in the stories, and among the fans. Phyla is finding it really hard to follow in this guy’s footsteps and also to follow in the Mar-Vell family’s footsteps. So this story is all about her trying to handle this power, and seeing if she can contain it... That’s written by Christos Gage who wrote Union Jack, penciled by Eric Basaldua from Top Cow, who’s worked on Witchblade and Magdelena, so he’s got a really good, dark, almost gothic style, which really works as we’re approaching Phyla as a sci-fi Joan of Arc. She’s on a quest, and the object of the quest has real importance, not only to her, but to the entire, larger storyline." [4]
[edit] References
- ^ Captain Marvel vol. 6 #17-18 (January-February, 2004)
- ^ Captain Marvel vol. 6 #19 (March, 2004)
- ^ She-Hulk #12-13, 2006
- ^ http://forum.newsarama.com/showthread.php?t=102941
