Ms. Marvel’s symbiote-esque enemy Stormranger is getting her own comic book miniseries. Kamala Khan may have been a hit, but until recently her rogues’ gallery hasn’t been especially well-developed. Writer Saladin Ahmed’s The Magnificent Ms. Marvel has attempted to change that with the introduction of Stormranger, who follows a very familiar pattern.
Stormranger is a powerful Kree nanosuit that Kamala discovered while on a mission to an alien world. At first the Stormranger armor seemed like the perfect costume for Ms. Marvel, incorporating everything from light anti-ballistic capacity to configurable environmental protections. Unfortunately, Kamala soon realized there were some key problems. The suit was drawing upon Kamala’s own life-energy for sustenance, essentially acting as a sort of symbiote; and it possessed a rudimentary military-grade artificial intelligence that had been corrupted with age. The Stormranger unit was appalled when Kamala chose not to kill an enemy, and separated itself from her in order to do the deed for itself; as a result, Kamala apparently had to destroy it. Marvel had already promised Stormranger would play a key role in the future of the Marvel Universe, though, so it was safe to assume the suit had survived.
Marvel has announced an official three-issue Empyre: Stormranger miniseries, written by Saladin Ahmed and with art by Steven Cummings. This is part of the Empyre event, in which the Kree and Skrulls are invading Earth under the command of the New Avenger Hulkling, who’s done a heel-turn for as yet unknown reasons. Here’s the cover and solicit:
The cover suggests that, at least initially, Stormranger will go up against the Skrulls. That makes sense; it hails from a time when the Kree and Skrulls were locked in conflict across the galaxy, and will no doubt view targeting Skrulls as a high-priority mission. But this is likely to be just the beginning of the story; after all, Stormranger’s intelligence is limited, and it’s reasonable to assume it would consider Kree working alongside Skrulls to be traitors.
The Kree nanosuit known as Stormranger was once bonded to Ms. Marvel…but after deciding Kamala’s version of justice wasn’t deadly enough, Stormranger rebelled against her. Now Stormranger is charting her own course—just in time for the united Kree/Skrull Empire to engulf Earth in a centuries-old conflict. Whose side is this ruthless space vigilante on, and how much havoc will she wreak before we find out?
But what is powering Stormranger? Kamala Khan was able to defeat the suit when it tore itself off her, because she realized its power supply was limited without a body to attach itself to. Given that’s the case, Stormranger will need to bond to another organic host in order to prevent its power depleting to the point where it becomes vulnerable. Both Kree and Skrulls will have encountered Stormranger units before, meaning they’ll know just how to wear it down.
Empyre: Stormranger #1 will arrive in April of 2020.
More: Everything You Need To Know About Ms. Marvel
Source: Marvel Comics
