Captain Marvel’s Best New Villain Joins Marvel’s Main Timeline

Warning: contains spoilers for Captain Marvel #26!

The latest issue of Captain Marvel finally returns the displaced Carol Danvers to her own time, but she doesn’t go alone. In an exciting twist, the villainous Ove, Captain Marvel’s newest adversary and one of the best new Marvel characters, is also transported back into Marvel’s main timeline, ready to wreak havoc on the past.

Kelly Thompson’s ongoing Captain Marvel series has had Carol Danvers stuck in an apocalyptic version of Marvel’s future for the past several issues. Shortly after arriving and uniting with the likes of Thor’s daughter, Brigid, and several other now-grow children of heroes past, Carol was introduced to Ove, the son of Namor and ruler of New Atlantis. However, it was eventually revealed that Ove’s mother is actually the Enchantress, an evil Asgardian sorceress and one of Thor’s most dangerous villains. From his mother, Ove inherited both the desire to rule and the power to make that desire a reality. After capturing Carol and her companions, Ove revealed that his plan is not to rule over the future, but to conquer the past – and he knows exactly how to do it.

The key to both Ove and Carol traveling in time is Magik, the X-Men’s top sorcerer. Previously, Magik was able to convince Ove that Carol’s power was necessary for the time travel spell to work, but in issue #26, Enchantress discovers that she has been lying. “Any powered individual should be more than enough to power Magik’s spell,” she tells Ove after reading Magik’s mind. Ove lets out one final blast to keep the heroes at bay long enough for Enchantress to send him back in time – sacrificing her own life to power the spell. Talk about motherly love.

Carol is eventually able to return to the past as well after Spider-Woman sacrifices her life, enabling Magik to send her home. Unfortunately, Ove was sent back to an earlier point, meaning he’s had a sizable head start to get situated in Marvel’s main timeline. As troubling as this is for Captain Marvel, it’s pretty exciting for readers. Ove is just one of the many interesting new characters that were introduced during this arc, so the fact that he was able to make the jump to the main timeline means that he won’t be confined to this one possible future, but is now a full-fledged and pretty iconic villain – something Carol lacks compared to her Avengers contemporaries.

Ove is a worthy inclusion in the core Marvel universe, and in all likelihood, his journey to the past was only the beginning. An aristocratic psychopath able to take one of Captain Marvel’s mightiest blows in stride, Ove is a great foil for Carol going forwards, but he also has links to other characters that fans are eager to see explored, such as a confrontation between Namor the Sub-Mariner and the future son who killed him. Hopefully, Captain Marvel can prevent Ove’s plans, but like it or not, he’s likely to be a recurring thorn in her side from here on out.

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