The 12-Step Avenger

Dissension In The Ranks

When resentments and disagreements boil over,

even allies can turn against each other in fierce battle that can bring the house down.

(And often does!)

FEATURING:

Warbird and Captain America

Given the camaraderie we know this pair once enjoyed between them, it's hard to imagine there ever being a time when they butted heads. But Carol Danvers (a/k/a "Warbird," her code name at this time) hasn't always had the best of times with the Avengers. After all, it isn't every team that watches one of their own become mysteriously pregnant and not lift much of a finger to investigate the circumstances. Eventually, it was discovered the pregnancy was caused by "Marcus," who had attempted to use Carol as a means of escape from Limbo--and, failing that, subsequently ended up desiring her and convincing her to return there with him. Yet the Avengers overlooked the fact that Marcus was using technology to control Carol's will to an extent. And once she freed herself and returned, her reunion with the Avengers led to a painful confrontation:

Between then and later when the Avengers reformed their group after the threat of Onslaught had been dealt with, Carol (as "Binary") had travelled the stars and used the time to recover her identity. And after responding to a call from Captain America (along with a virtual truckload of other heroes, Avengers and otherwise) to meet another threat, she decided to stay and petition for active membership. Yet she'd developed another problem, which made Iron Man wary of accepting her back into the fold:

Iron Man was reluctant to discuss the details of his suspicions with his fellow Avengers, and so, lacking evidence, withdrew his objections, and Carol became an Avenger again. But in addition to the stress she was feeling of not revealing the loss of her "Binary" powers to her teammates, her alcoholism began to hamper her fighting ability and her decisions--and since Captain America was leading the group, and Cap isn't exactly the type to let sleeping dogs lie when it comes to the effectiveness of his team, the tension between himself and Carol was building:

And building:

And building:

Until, finally, her recklessness reached the boiling point, and Iron Man could keep silent no longer about why. And that led to a hearing in front of a formal tribunal:

Once all the evidence had been presented--with Carol not exactly helping her case with unhelpful outbursts--it came time for each Avenger to make the call:

Yet before a formal decision could be rendered, a crisis arose on the moon (which is something we don't exactly hear every day, to be sure, but the Avengers take it in stride), and the Avengers began to scramble to handle it. Unfortunately, Warbird's reluctance to stay behind ended up making the Avengers' decision about her status moot:

Almost two years (on our calendar) pass before Warbird, with Iron Man's help, gets her act together enough to begin cleaning up her life and taking responsibility for her past mistakes. It begins with a hearing, which includes the extraordinary step of revealing her secret identity to the government:

(Gee, hanging with Iron Man seems to make heroes go blabbing about their civilian identities, for some reason.) Subsequently, when Iron Man sponsors her for Avengers membership during (another) membership drive, her friction with the Avengers (and with Cap in particular) becomes a thing of the past, as she's restored to active membership and her new history with the Avengers begins.

Let's hope no one proposes a toast....