WARNING: The following contains major spoilers for Captain Marvel #31, available now from Marvel.
Captain Marvel has finally found some semblance of normal in her life after months of dealing with the time-traveling, tyrannical son of Namor and Amora, Ove. Now that the battle is over, Carol can rest easy for a moment and enjoy some time rekindling her relationship with James Rhodes. Unfortunately, as soon as one threat has been averted, another rears its ugly head in Captain Marvel #31, by Kelly Thompson, Takeshi Miyazawa, Ian Herring, and VC's Clayton Cowles.
Now that things have settled down in Carol's life, she and Rhodey are able to take some time for themselves with a much-needed vacation. Before their plane can even take off, however, the couples' plans are cut short by the sudden arrival of Lauri-Ell in need of Carol's help back on Throneworld II. A lab on the planet housing the DNA of deceased Kree warriors has been robbed, and one of the samples that went missing was that of Carol and Lauri's mother.
When the trio enters the lab, they surprise a scientist, causing her to drop several samples. Thankfully there is no need to be concerned as the lab can easily flush the lost samples into the waste system to be consumed by a specially designed micro-organism. As soon as this has been explained to them, the heroes believe that "The Sludge" is the most likely culprit, and upon investigating the sewers their suspicions are horrifically confirmed. Not only has the Sludge evolved beyond a simple bacteria, but it has also grown into a sprawling, towering structure with a voice of its own.
Carol's first instinct to communicate with the Sludge proves to work well enough up until it recognizes her as Captain Marvel and decides to present itself under a more friendly facade. The creature shifts into the form of the long deceased Captain Mar-Vell, Carol's old friend and mentor. Carol tries to explain to the Sludge that she would prefer it take another form while they speak, but talking doesn't seem to be the creature's forte.
The Sludge's tendrils ooze over and inside of Rhodey's War Machine armor as well as Lauri-Ell's Universal Weapon. Try as she might to keep things civil, the Sludge has forced Carol's hand, and she unleashes one blast of energy after another at the living ooze. Once the immediate threat has been neutralized, Lauri contains the remaining bits of Sludge on her own until a permanent solution is found, but that doesn't take away from the unsettling nature of the creature itself.
As something that has apparently been fed a steady diet of Kree DNA and other lab waste, there is no way to tell what forms it might know besides that of Mar-Vell, or what memories it might have other than a basic understanding of who Captain Marvel is.
The Sludge is a science fiction trope come to life, a bacteria that has evolved into more than it was originally meant to be. Still, that only opens the door for it to become a far greater threat in the future. Sentient alien ooze has never boded particularly well for the Marvel Universe before, and there is certainly no reason to assume one would now, either. Hopefully the heroes can get to the bottom of whatever the Sludge really is before it becomes any more of a problem than it has already become.
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