10 Iconic Captain Marvel Nicknames You Need to Know About
Captain Marvel is a mantle that was, at some point, worn by many Marvel characters. There are a lot of names attached to Captain Marvel, but the one that stands out is Carol Danvers. Danvers herself changed her superhero name several times and picked up some iconic nicknames along the way.
In fact, even the name Carol isn’t her real name! From Ace to Captain Whiz Bang, here are the ten most iconic Captain Marvel nicknames from the comics and the MCU. The list is not ranked but rather in alphabetical order.
Ace
Before being Captain Marvel, Carol Danvers became a US Army pilot after she enlisted so that she could get a degree. Her father didn’t want to pay for her college tuition, saying they only had the money for one, and they’ll give it to her younger brother, Steve.
The nickname Ace stems from her piloting days, but it kind of stuck even after she got her brilliant powers. We saw it appear multiple times in the comics, but I believe Uncanny X-Men #237 was one of the first.
Binary
For a while, Carol Danvers had virtually unlimited powers, and they went beyond the scope of what she had as Captain Marvel. She had cosmic precognition and even slite time and matter manipulation abilities whose limits weren’t even explored. At that time, she went by the name Binary (Uncanny X-Men #164).
It happened after an alien race called the Brood experimented on Carol, and she connected with a cosmic energy called the white hole, pulling any amount of energy she wished. The connection faded with time, and Carol returned from Binary to being her old Captain Marvel self.
Captain Whiz Bang
This is one of those mocking nicknames you give your buddies during a friendly banter. It happened between Monica Rambeau and Carol Danvers, two friends who were both known as Captain Marvel at some point. They were also both known for a million different names, though, and they sure let each other know in Captain Marvel Vol. 7 #7.
First, Carol told Monica she has, like, fifteen alternate code names, Monica-Photon-Pulsar-Captain-Marvel-Rambeau, to which Monica responded she won’t be judged by Ms-Captain-Warbird-Binary-Marvel… and then called her Captain Whiz Bang, mocking her hairstyle. I loved the moment, although it wasn’t as friendly as you’d think.
Carol
Believe it or not, Carol is actually not Captain Marvel’s real name. You see, her father, Joe, fell in love with a Kree woman, and they had a baby together, calling her Car-Ell, meaning Champion in Kree. They changed it to Carol to make it more fitting for life on Earth. Essentially, Carol Danvers is actually Car-Ell Danvers.
We learn this in Life of Captain Marvel Vol. 2 #4, where we learn a lot about Carol’s revised origin story. Her mother reveals to her that she is Half-Kree, as you can see in the panel above.
Cheeseburger
Carol got the nickname Cheeseburger for in the army. It was her call sign as a US Air Force pilot, kind of like Tom Cruise is known as Maverick in Top Gun. Only, she got her nickname after going into a G-Force simulator… right after lunch… where she had a cheeseburger. Yeah, not so glamorous, right?
One of the first times we heard the nickname, though, was in Ms. Marvel Vol. 2 #11. After Carol stopped being a pilot, obviously, the nickname kind of disappeared, but we still heard some people who knew her back then call Carol Cheeseburger.
Kirk
This was kind of an inventive one and hilarious if you ask me. In Captain Marvel Vol. 1 #0, Carol returns to the hem of her Alpha Flight as a commander, and they call her Kirk, referring to Captain Kirk from Star Trek.
The story, however, is not as funny, as Carol Danvers struggles to grasp who she became as Captain Marvel and feels like she doesn’t recognize herself anymore. It was an epic story that was years in the making, and it marked the comics debut of the New York Times best-selling author Margaret Stohl.
Kitten
I’m not sure if this nickname appears more than once, but I know it did appear. It was Carol’s father, Joe, who called her Kitten as a pet name – although I’m not sure Carol enjoyed it. He called her Kitten in one particular situation that was the beginning of the end of Carol’s family.
When she told her father that she saved a lot of money doing part-time work, but still needed a loan for college tuition, he refused her and told her they only had the cash to pay college for one child – and it wouldn’t be her. That’s when Carol decided to enlist and pursue her dreams of being an astronaut through the military.
Ms. Marvel
When Carol Danvers got her powers, she was known as Captain Marvel, but over time, she chose to be called Ms. Marvel several times. It started, of course, with Ms. Marvel #1. Don’t get it twisted, though – it’s not the new teenage Ms. Marvel that just got her MCU show.
Several characters have been called Ms. Marvel over the years, but for me, it’ll always be Carol Danvers.
Vers
This particular name is, as far as I know, exclusive to the MCU. It was given to Carol in the Captain Marvel movie by Yog-Ronn and the Kree. After the explosion that caused severe memory loss in Carol but also gave her the powers she has, only a shard of her dog tags remained with the letters ‘VERS,’ broken off of DANVERS.
They called her Vers for a while before she realized who she was and what her real name was. It was short-lived but was a cool nickname if you ask me.
Warbird
Last but not least, Carol took many mantles over the years, and one of those mantles was Warbird. It was her name for a while after she was Binary. As her extra powers faded, Carol retained the powers close to what she had as Captain Marvel, with the addition of slight energy manipulation.
In that period, she called herself Warbird and decided to work for the Avengers for a while, but it didn’t really catch on, so they switched it back to Ms. Marvel, with the costume and all. The moniker Warbird came in Avengers Vol. 3 #4.
