Contributed by Michael McDermott
Phyla-Vell is the genetically-constructed daughter of the original Captain Mar-Vell, and the younger sister of the current Captain Marvel, Genis.
She suddenly appeared in our timeline as a result of the universe being destroyed and rebooted. Genis was manipulated by the cosmic entities Entropy and Epiphany, into destroying and recreating the universe. However, when he did so, he disrupted the timelines causing discontinuity in the universe as fragments of both timelines overlapped each other.
In the other timeline, Genis’ mother Elysius used the same process that created Genis to create a daughter–Phyla. This timeline now got integrated into our own, bringing Phyla into our universe.
Another consequence of Entropy and Epiphany’s manipulations were that Genis was driven insane by his cosmic awareness. For months, Genis became a growing threat to the universe at large. Finally his family stepped in to intervene and restore Genis’ sanity. Elysius named Phyla the new Captain Marvel, and sent her to confront Genis.
This was, technically, the first meeting between Phyla and Genis, although upon seeing her Genis immediately began to experience memories of growing up with Phyla in the other timeline. The two of them battled, and finally Phyla, along with Elysius and Starfox, managed to overwhelm Genis and snap him out of his delusions.
Even though Genis was now sane, Phyla still thought he should cede the title of “Captain Marvel” to her so that she could redeem the family title. However, Genis kept the title and intended to redeem it and himself for all his actions while insane. Phyla decided to tag along and assist.
Their first mission came when they discovered a threat to Marlo Chandler, the wife of Genis’ partner, Rick Jones. They were attacked by Marlo’s super-powered, animated corpse from the future, who then disintegrated. While Genis and Rick travelled into the future to find out what happened to Marlo and find a way to prevent it, Phyla was sent to Earth to bodyguard Marlo.
When she got there, she met Marlo and the inactive Avenger Moondragon, who was living with Marlo at the time. Phyla was immediately attracted to Moondragon, but Moondragon was still involved with Marlo at that time. The Magus, a powerful villainous sorceror, attacked Marlo at the apartment. Phyla managed to fight off the attack, but then evacuated Marlo to Titan where she had more resources to defend her, while Moondragon remained at the apartment to confront the Magus.
After the crisis with the Magus had been resolved, and Genis and Rick returned to the present, Marlo left Moondragon to return to her husband. Now that Moondragon was available, Phyla told her how attractive she found her, and invited her to join her to the Spiral Nebula by Renault VII. Moondragon was pleasantly surprised, and agreed to join her. Before they could leave, they came across a spatial portal to an unknown destination. They decided to investigate it together.
Phyla possesses superhuman strength, and the ability to fly, both through air and space. She is armed with nega-bands, similar to those of the previous Captain Marvels, which seem to give her the same photonic energy manipulating abilities they have, to project and absorb energy, and create shields with it. At one point, Phyla was described as an “energy sponge”, who is powered by energy directed at her. However, that description can’t be entirely accurate, since on one occassion Phyla projected an energy beam without anyone having hit her first.
Phyla was introduced in Captain Marvel #16 (vol 4) and confirmed as a lesbian in #25. She is now affiliated with the Guardians of the Galaxy and is based on Knowhere though previously she was located at both the moons of Titan and Hyperion. Originally known as Captain Marvel (the fourth Marvel character to use this name), she inherited the name Quasar. Recent events have led her to go by Martyr, a hopefully temporary name.
Please read the current entry for Phyla-Vell and the Moondragon profile.
Art by Matt Wilson from the cover of Annihilation: Conquest Quasar #4
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