The X-Men's new space team S.W.O.R.D. reveal a Captain Marvel moment from Marvel's huge 2020 event Empyre wasn't what it seemed.
Warning: contains spoilers for S.W.O.R.D. #1!
Marvel have released the much-anticipated S.W.O.R.D. #1, and alongside the trippy excesses of the X-Men's boundary-busting space program, they also dropped a nugget of information that twists a pivotal moment from Empyre: Avengers Aftermath and reveals just how much of a badass Abigail Brand, the once and now returned head of SWORD, truly is.
2020 saw the massive Marvel event Empyre sweep its books, with the alien species the Cotati becoming a major threat. While Earth's heroes fought back the invasion, uniting the Kree and Skrull races in the process, the celebrations were interrupted by a blow-up between Captain Marvel, aka Carol Danvers, and Abigail Brand. Brand expressed immense frustration at the Avengers for keeping Alpha Flight out of the loop despite the agency's remit to protect the Earth from alien attack, finding Carol's explanation so infuriating that she struck the Avenger with her fire powers, quit her position, and stormed out.
It was a shocking moment for Brand, who has rarely taken the spotlight since her creation by Joss Whedon and John Cassaday in 2004's Astonishing X-Men #3, but S.W.O.R.D. #1 makes it clear that the moment wasn't what it seemed. In Brand's personal log about the incident, she reveals she made a scene and struck Captain Marvel in order to make her more likely to accept leadership of Alpha Flight. "Danvers was the obvious choice -- she's got the experience, she's got the contacts, she's half-Kree, and I was hoping our little set-to at the Kree/Skrull Emperor's wedding would nudge her toward taking the post when they offered it," Brand writes, "The rank and file lapped it up, at least -- drama at the feast, fortune on the field, the old Kree saying. I can use that."
It's implied that what looked like Brand losing her temper was actually a tactical move to ensure that even though she'd given up on leading Alpha Flight, it went into the right hands. This calculating decision actually makes much more sense for Brand's character, given that she's someone used to making huge choices without becoming flustered, having negotiated to keep the Earth safe from the alien Breakworld and captained the Shield in Secret Wars: Siege; a vast living structure designed to hold back the combined forces of Ultron, Annihilus' insect army, super-powered zombies, and more.
Brand is the kind of person able to make hard decisions in moments, prepared to sacrifice herself or her loved ones for the greater good. While she was certainly frustrated by being left out of the events of Empyre - and admits as much in her log - Brand's savvy nature allowed her to recognize she couldn't save Alpha Flight and channel that into an act designed to give Captain Marvel control and allow the organization to do the maximum amount of good while Abigail pursued alternatives. The plan failed, and Alpha Flight went to frequent Avengers antagonist Henry Gyrich, but Abigail did her best to make her exit a tactical move. That Brand is now in control of SWORD, funded and supported by the X-Men's impressive mutant nation, should be a relief to anyone who values the safety of the planet. Hopefully that includes Captain Marvel, even if she does realize she got hit with Brand's mutant power as part of a scheme that didn't quite pay off.
