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Mar-Vell, better known as Captain Marvel, is a fictional comic book alien, a superhero in the Marvel Comics universe. Marvel's use of the trademark "Captain Marvel", previously that of the highly popular, 1940s Fawcett Comics superhero Captain Marvel, came when the copyright on the original character was up for renewal.
Mar-Vell was created by writer-editor Stan Lee and penciller Gene Colan and first appeared in Marvel Super-Heroes #12 (Dec. 1967).
Mar-Vell is a member of the Kree, a militaristic alien race that is humanoid in appearance. He was born in the city of Rad-Nam on the planet Kree-Lar, in the Kree galaxy (Greater Magellanic Cloud). A captain in the Kree Imperial Militia, Mar-Vell is initially sent to Earth as a spy. After arriving, Mar-Vell takes the identity of the recently deceased Dr. Walter Lawson, a scientist starting a position at Cape Canaveral, Florida.
Mar-Vell's original Kree uniform: Captain Marvel #1 (May 1968). Cover art by Gene Colan & Vince Colletta
Posing as Lawson, Mar-Vell studies humanity's progress towards developing a means of space travel. After living among humans, however, Mar-Vell begins to empathize with them. He appears publicly in his Kree helmet and uniform to battle a Kree robot Sentry, ultimately defeating it. Onlookers, hearing the Sentry call him "Mar-Vell," believe him to be a new Earth-born superhuman adventurer named "Captain Marvel" and proclaim him a hero.
Originally, Captain Mar-Vell had no superhuman powers, although he was somewhat stronger than a human due to his advanced Kree physiology. As a species, the Kree have developed greater strength in order to combat the heavier gravity of their home world. He was equipped with a jet belt that allowed him limited flight, and a Uni-beam weapon.
He temporarily gained the power of teleportation from an entity called Zo (actually Zarek, the Kree Imperial Minister, in disguise).
The Kree Nega-Bands converted Mar-Vell's psionic energy into strength, a high degree of imperviousness to harm, the ability to project force blasts, and the power to fly at faster-than-light speeds. They also allowed Mar-Vell to exist unprotected in outer space without having to breathe.
Dr. Benjamin Savannah's electromagnetic radiation bombardment treatment altered Mar-Vell's genetic structure so that he could absorb solar energy and convert it to various uses, including increasing his already superhuman strength and durability, and giving him the ability of flight. He then relied on the solar power rather than the bands for flight. His abilities would decrease at night or when otherwise shielded from a source of solar radiation. After becoming "cosmically aware", Mar-Vell would leave a glowing trail behind him while flying.
The exact nature and scope of the "cosmic awareness" granted to Mar-Vell have never been clearly defined. In later volumes of Captain Marvel involving Genis-Vell, the power of cosmic awareness is described as an almost immeasurable force that allows the user to know all that has occurred, all that will occur, and all that might occur anywhere in the universe. The sense could also be used for internal scans of Mar-Vell's body which detected the cancer, although he still sought expert confirmation. Without proper experience and a level of control, this sense of all-knowing can drive an individual insane (as it did with Genis-Vell).
Mar-Vell's Kree military training gives him mastery of all forms of Kree unarmed combat, as well as extensive knowledge of the technologically advanced vehicles and devices of the Kree Empire.
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