KREE CARRY-ALL CYLINDERS
Classification:
Extraterrestrial
(Kree) technology
Creator: Unspecified Kree technicians
User/Possessors: Captain Mar-Vell (deceased);
Captain Tar-Rell; many other
Kree spies (unidentified)
Aliases: "That strange briefcase of yours" (Carol Danvers); "A funny-looking
suitcase" and "That funny-shaped suitcase of his" and "this odd suitcase" (Jeremy Logan)
First Appearance: Marvel Super-Heroes II#12 (December, 1967)
Powers/Abilities/Functions: The Carry-All Cylinders are portable hard-sided
containers that Kree operatives have been known to use during covert missions on alien and/or hostile
planets. These containers are typically about two feet in length and one-third as wide, but there may be
some variation in their dimensions. Hinged along their lengths, they open into two equal half-cylinders,
with their handles being attached at one edge of the opening. Aside from that single rounded rigid handle
located not quite midway along its length and a strange-looking (to humans) lock located just behind
(or under?) the handle, each carry-all is essentially a featureless cylinder and, when closed, even
the seams between the two halves aren't visible.
Since they are meant to be secure, these cylinders are presumably
fairly durable, but exactly how resistant to damage they are has never been revealed. They are equipped
with locks that cannot be opened by crude implements like screwdrivers. However, more advanced technology,
like a Skrull maser gun, may be able to either force the locks or simply cut open the cylinders.
Kree operatives on covert missions generally use their carry-all
cylinders to hold items that they either might need to have close at hand or can't afford to leave lying
around for others to find. An infiltrator will usually arrive wearing their uniform but have simulated
local clothing in their cylinder and, when wearing the local clothes, will have their battle-suits,
helmets and gloves in their cylinders so that they can easily be donned if needed. Other items often
carried in the cylinders are other weapons, local currency, tools needed to modify their weapons and
other equipment, tools needed to forge appropriate identification papers, capsules of the
breathing potion,
prosthetic makeup needed to disguise themselves as non-Kree, and possibly other, more specialized
tools like a cell transmuter
for altering fingerprints.
Some (or all) such cylinders are also equipped with an additional
security feature. Any attempt to tamper with such a cylinder will activate a timing device attached to
a miniature nuclear bomb inside, apparently built into the case, that will cause the bomb to detonate
two (Earth) hours later. The bomb can only be deactivated if someone with Kree fingertips physically
manipulates the lock, and this can occur even when only moments are left before the detonation. In
those final moments, the cylinder will begin to emit an audible hum, one that ceases instantly once
the bomb has been deactivated. If a cylinder with an activated bomb is dropped from a great height,
it will not explode on striking the ground. In order to function, this nuclear booby trap presumably
requires both sensors and a small on-board computer built into the cylinder.
Some (or all) such cylinders are equipped with an internal light source
that can be switched on if a cylinder has to be opened in a dark area. This light can be useful if the
owner is a spy who has to apply the elements of a disguise that were carried within the cylinder. However,
given that they were meant for use in covert operations, those lights can presumably be switched off so
as to avoid unwanted attention when in hostile territory.
History: The carry-all cylinders are hard-sided containers that Kree operatives
sometimes use while infiltrating alien planets.
(Captain Marvel I#2 (fb) - BTS) - Some Skrull warriors (like the first Super-Skrull)
came to learn that the Kree often used carry-all cylinders.
(Marvel Super-Heroes II#12 (fb) - BTS) - Before beginning his mission to infiltrate Earth,
Captain Mar-Vell packed some simulated Earth clothes and the proper currency for the area of Earth where
the infiltration was to take place (the United States of America) into his carry-all cylinder.
(Marvel Super-Heroes II#12) - As the Kree starship that had brought him to Earth briefly
landed, Captain Mar-Vell, holding his carry-all cylinder in his left hand, used his air-jet belt to fly
out of the exit hatch and down to the planet's surface. Once on the ground, he continued to hold onto his
carry-all with his left hand as he began to travel cross-country, presumably towards some unspecified
population center. Soon stumbling upon an isolated missile base and realizing that the radiation factor
built into his battle suit might be picked up by their sensitive radiation detectors, he tried to quickly
leave the area, still holding his carry-all in his left hand. However, the presence of the radiation had
caused a just-launched missile to go off course, and Mar-Vell was spotted leaping away during the subsequent
search for the source of the radiation. Security units that were sent after "some nut in a space suit
makin' like a bird" soon caught up to Mar-Vell who, after putting down his carry-all, adjusted the settings
on his Universal Beam Blaster and then fired a wide-angle "black light" beam that temporarily blinded the
soldiers, thus giving him the time to escape, again holding his carry-all in his left hand.
(Marvel Super-Heroes II#12 (fb) - BTS) - Some minutes later, after reaching a distant
highway, Mar-Vell opened his carry-all, removed the Earth clothes and quickly put them on while placing
his battle suit and helmet within the carry-all. He also removed the Earth currency and put it in the
pockets of his Earth clothes.
(Marvel Super-Heroes II#12) - Holding his carry-all in his right hand, Mar-Vell was
able to wave down a passing truck and told the driver that he had been on a hunting trip when his car
broke down and that he just needed transportation to the next town. The driver of the truck agreed and
Mar-Vell and his carry-all were soon dropped off in the (unidentified) town where he quickly sought lodging
in a hotel. Mar-Vell rented a room, signed the register as "C. Marvel" and then went to his room where
he was soon temporarily paralyzed so that a Wrist Monitor could be transferred from the starship directly
onto his left wrist. Seconds later, he received a signal from the Imperial Minister on the home planet,
advising him that he must succeed in his mission--or die!
(Marvel Super-Heroes II#13 (fb) - BTS) - Later that night, Mar-Vell, presumably using
tools he had brought with him in his carry-all cylinder, modified his jet-belt. He also began to modify his
Uni-Beam blaster because it was too bulky to carry if he intended to disguise himself as an Earthman.
(Marvel Super-Heroes II#13) - After he had completed transforming his Uni-Beam
hand-gun into a wieldier and more powerful Uni-Beam wrist-blaster, Mar-Vell put the blaster's now-empty
pistol-frame into the carry-all cylinder where he could keep it, just in case. After noticing that he had
only one capsule of breathing potion left, Mar-Vell decided to take it and then return to the Kree starship
for a fresh supply.
(Marvel Super-Heroes II#13 - BTS) - Before leaving his hotel room, Mar-Vell removed his
battle suit, put both it and his helmet into his carry-all, and donned his Earth clothes.
(Marvel Super-Heroes II#13) - A few minutes later, Mar-Vell carried his cylinder in his
right hand as he walked through the lobby, ignoring the night clerk who asked if he was leaving in the
middle of the night. The night clerk was a bit offended by the fact that Mar-Vell had acted as if he hadn't
even heard him and noticed that the guest was taking "that funny-looking suitcase of his" with him. The
clerk then wondered what kind of a bag it was, anyway, since it sure couldn't hold any fresh-pressed suits.
Thinking to himself that Mar-Vell was a strange one and wondering if he worked at the Cape, the night clerk
checked the register, saw that the guest had signed in as "C. Marvel," and wondered what kind of a name
that was for an honest man to have.
(Marvel Super-Heroes II#13 (fb) - BTS) - While walking through the town, Mar-Vell contacted
the Kree starship and arranged for them to rendezvous with him at a location outside the town.
(Marvel Super-Heroes II#13) - Later, a short distance from the town and with the full Moon
just above the horizon, Mar-Vell tested his Uni-Beam wrist-lens to see if he'd modified it properly and found
that it functioned perfectly. Then, after sensors in his Wrist Monitor warned him that the starship was fast
approaching, Mar-Vell removed his Earth clothes, donned his battle suit and helmet, and placed his Earth
clothes within the carry-all cylinder which he then buried beneath a thin layer of soil because no Earthman
must ever find it, for their own sake as well as his. Mar-Vell then used his modified jet-belt to fly up to
meet his fellow Kree in the hovering starship whose Aura of Negativism made it invisible to the eyes of
Earthmen. However, when he was a mere three deutrons (less than an Earthly mile) away, the treacherous
Colonel Yon-Rogg fired the starship's
destruct-laser at him, intending that Mar-Vell should be killed in "an unfortunate accident." Mar-Vell
would have been killed by the laser-beam except for the fact that, only seconds earlier, a small private
plane had emerged from a nearby cloud bank and happened to be directly between Mar-Vell and the starship
when Yon-Rogg fired. The plane took the brunt of the laser-beam and was torn apart by an explosion while
Mar-Vell was only momentarily stunned. As Yon-Rogg had the starship return to its planetary orbit, leaving
Mar-Vell behind to die, Mar-Vell landed and went to the crash site where he searched the wreckage for the
pilot. After finding the pilot's dead body, Mar-Vell wondered who he was and examined the identification
papers he had found on the body. Learning that the pilot had been one
Walter Lawson, an expert on missile
guidance systems who had been heading for the nearby base on reassignment, Mar-Vell realized that, if
he were to alter those papers slightly, he could gain entrance to the so-called Cape itself. The one
problem was that, with his breathing potion gone, he could survive less than another hour without his
life-giving helmet.
(Marvel Super-Heroes II#13 (fb) - BTS) - Mar-Vell dug up his carry-all cylinder, and
returned to town. In order to get to his hotel room, he had to remove his uniform and don his Earth clothes
from the cylinder.
(Marvel Super-Heroes II#13) - With the carry-all cylinder open on the floor of his hotel
room, Mar-Vell was just about to put on his helmet when he saw a capsule of breathing potion appear within
a glowing circle of light on a desk and realized that it must have been sent by Una.
(Marvel Super-Heroes II#13 (fb) - BTS) - Again presumably using tools he had brought
with him in his carry-all cylinder, Mar-Vell altered the dead Earthman's credentials so that he could
use them to get onto the missile base.
(Marvel Super-Heroes II#13) - The next morning, after having taken a taxi to the base,
Mar-Vell (as "Walter Lawson") held his carry-all cylinder in one hand while the sergeant on duty inspected
his papers, being extra careful because "some mighty funny stuff" had gone on around there "last night."
The sergeant ultimately decided that "Lawson" could pass. Noticing that Lawson's "bag" looked heavy, the MP
asked if he needed help, but "Lawson" replied that he'd rather do it himself.
(Marvel Super-Heroes II#13 - BTS) - For the next week, "Lawson" brought his carry-all
cylinder with him every day when he went to work at the Cape.
(Marvel Super-Heroes II#13) - Exactly a week after he had begun his
masquerade, "Lawson" was holding his carry-all cylinder in one hand when he was greeted by
General Bridges as he exited the
taxi that had just delivered him to the Cape. "Lawson" continued to carry the cylinder with him as Bridges
escorted him to and into the reinforced hangar that was one of the most secret, heavily guarded areas in
the Cape. Within the hangar, "Lawson" was shown an inert 30-foot alien robot which he recognized as the
supposedly-destroyed Intergalactic Sentry #459.
Bridges introduced "Lawson" to the missile base's Head of Security, Carol Danvers, who mentioned that
she had advised the general to not let Lawson see the robot. When "Lawson" asked her why, Danvers
replied that his dossier was still being examined by her security division. She also mentioned that
Lawson had always had a reputation as a recluse, even an eccentric, and she implied that she felt that
reputation had been substantiated "after seeing that strange briefcase" of his.
(Marvel Super-Heroes II#13) - That night, after Yon-Rogg had secretly and remotely
reactivated Sentry #459 and it had begun to rampage through the missile base, General Bridges tried to
contact "Lawson" to see if he, as a robotics expert, might be able to figure out how to deactivate the
robot. However, when Bridges called the hotel, the night clerk said that they had nobody by that name there.
When Bridges insisted that Lawson must be there because it was the only hotel in town, the night clerk
realized that he might be talking about that strange guest, and asked, "Is he about six feet...real light
hair...with a funny-lookin' suitcase?" Once Bridges had confirmed that that was who he was trying to contact,
the night clerk put the call through to Lawson's room, surprising Mar-Vell because, since he wasn't registered
there under the name Walter Lawson, no one should know to call him there. As he thought to himself that
that was something that he would have to take care of, Mar-Vell answered the phone, and a distressed Bridges
informed him that the giant robot was alive and on a rampage. Since the Sentry's rampage endangered his
mission to carefully study Earth to help the Kree decide if the planet should live or die, Mar-Vell donned
his battle suit and flew to the missile base to stop the Sentry.
After Mar-Vell had left through the window, the night clerk, whose
suspicions about "Marvel" had been increased after learning that his real name was Lawson, began to
wondering if he was spying on the Cape. Becoming convinced that Lawson was an enemy agent, the night clerk
used his pass key to enter Lawson's room in order figure out what his game was. Finding the room empty,
the night clerk realized that Lawson had sneaked out and decided to look around a bit to see what he could
find.
(Captain Marvel I#1) - While Captain Mar-Vell was at the Cape battling the Sentry in an
attempt to prevent it from destroying the missile base by detonating the atomic warheads stored there, the
nosy night clerk, Jeremy Logan, searched Lawson's room, looking for the "funny-shaped suitcase" that he
believed held the answer to what the supposed "foreign agent" was up to. After finding nothing in the
closet, Logan looked under the bed and found it there. Logan inspected the case and didn't see a name
anywhere on it, leading him to suspect that "Walter Lawson" was just as bogus a name a "C. Marvel." Logan
decided that it was his duty to just take the case to the military but couldn't resist the temptation to try
to find out if there were stolen missile-plans inside. However, while using a screwdriver to try to open
the "strange-looking lock" failed, it did seem to cause a loud clicking sound that Logan dismissed as
something that couldn't have been important.
Totally ignorant of just how important at that fateful click was, Logan
got dressed and took the cylinder with him in his car as he began to drive towards the the Cape. Although
hearing a radio report about how the Cape was under radio silence, Logan was sure that they'd let him in
once he told them that one of their precious scientists had been using a fake name. He thought to himself
that they would probably give him a medal, "one of them kind a fella can't wear in public!"
(Captain Marvel I#2) - After defeating Sentry #459, Captain Mar-Vell returned to his
hotel room to change his clothes so that "Walter Lawson" could make an appearance at the Cape. However,
when he removed his battle-helmet, Mar-Vell found that he could hardly breathe and remembered that, since
he had received the phone call from General Bridges about the rampaging Sentry almost an hour after he had
last taken a dosage of his breathing potion, the effects of that dosage had run out while he had been wearing
his helmet. Since his helmet needed a chance to recharge, Mar-Vell was forced to quickly sneak down the
hallway in his Kree uniform to reach the bathroom where he was able to use tap water to dilute the pure
breathing potion into a less-concentrated form that he could use. Once he was able to breathe again, at
least for another hour, Mar-Vell stealthily made his way back to his room and reached under the bed to
retrieve his carry-all cylinder but was shocked to find that it was gone. Instantly realizing that someone
must have entered his room and stolen the cylinder, Mar-Vell feared that that person might have tampered
with the case, thereby activating a timing device attached to the miniature nuclear bomb inside the case
that would detonate in two hours. Without the clothing in his carry-all, Mar-Vell was forced to wear a
trenchcoat to hide his costume while he carried his helmet and gloves in a paper bag. After noticing there
was a different clerk on duty in the hotel lobby, "Lawson" asked about the regular night clerk and was
told that Mr Logan had just called him up to fill in for him because he had some urgent business to take
care off, causing Mar-Vell to realize that Logan was the thief.
Meanwhile, a mile from the Cape, Logan's car was stopped at a check point.
Determined to reach the Cape so that he could show them the "odd suitcase" that he believed contained proof
that one of the hotel guests was an enemy spy, Logan accepted when an MP on a motorcycle offered to escort
him to the gate but could not guarantee that he would get to see "the old man." As the guard began leading
Logan's car towards the base, a starship carrying the Super-Skrull landed in the rocky hills just outside
the Cape.
(Captain Marvel I#2 - BTS) - Suspecting that the clerk may have headed to the base, the
trenchcoat-wearing Mar-Vell hired a taxi to drive him there.
(Captain Marvel I#2) - After his starship's Oscilloscope, a device specially designed
to locate Kree by means of the radiation factor built into their battle-suits, registered that a Kree
was quickly drawing nearer, the Super-Skrull left his starship to observe the nearby road. Spotting the
motorcycle and the car as they approached, the Super-Skrull discounted the motorcyclist because he wasn't
wearing a Kree uniform and deduced, incorrectly, that Mar-Vell must be riding in the car. The Super-Skrull
then used the stretching power of Mister Fantastic to first knock out the M.P. on the motorcycle and then
grab Logan, who was firmly holding on to the cylinder, and yank him out of his car. Realizing that Logan
was not who he sought but knowing that the Skrull instruments could not have made a mistake, the Super-Skrull
dropped the human on the rocky ground overlooking the road and, deducing that his ship's sensors must have
reacted to what Logan was carrying, he inspected the container, recognizing it as "a carry-all cylinder...such
as used by the infernal Kree!" Asking the "Earthling" how he had come to possess the cylinder caused Logan
to realize that the Super-Skrull and "Walter Lawson" were both aliens. As the Super-Skrull was wondering
if he could use the maser gun on his ship to open the cylinder, a miniature Kree-detecting device on his
belt began to react.
Nearby, Mar-Vell asked the cabbie to stop and let him out, claiming that
he wanted to walk the rest of the way to the base because he needed the exercise. Once the cabbie had left,
Mar-Vell removed his trenchcoat and donned his helmet and gloves so that he could reconnoiter as "Captain
Marvel" so he could see if the clerk had caused the military to suspect his double identity before he tried
to enter as "Walt Lawson." Hearing a cry for help, Mar-Vell flew off towards the cry and within seconds
reached the clifftop where the night clerk was being menaced by a Skrull. Deciding to let gravity kill the
human, the Super-Skrull swung the cylinder, using it to knock Logan off the clifftop, and then used it to
also bash Mar-Vell in the face to delay his attack. Despite being staggered by the blow, Mar-Vell managed
to fly under the night clerk in time to break his fall with his own body, and then immediately went for
the cylinder (which the Super-Skrull had apparently dropped). Seeing how eager the Kree was to regain the
cylinder, the Super-Skrull became convinced that it must hold some shattering secret. Now recognizing the
Skrull as the rumored Super-Skrull, Mar-Vell continued battling him but his anxiety about retrieving his
cylinder, now that one of the two fatal hours had already elapsed, led him to make a mistake that allowed
the Super-Skrull to regain the initiative.
Now inside the missile base, the Super-Skrull continued to battle "Captain
Marvel" and, using his superior powers, was able to batter him into unconsciousness. Having obtained what
he had sought, the Super-Skrull flew off with his defeated foe, forgetting the cylinder that lay on a ridge,
a few hundred yards outside the base, a cylinder that would soon explode, forging both countryside and base
into one blazing nuclear inferno!
(Captain Marvel I#3) - Too weak to do anything, the battered Mar-Vell allowed the
Super-Skrull to believe he was unconscious. As he was carried about the Skrull's hidden spacecraft, Mar-Vell
thought of how, within the hour, his carry-all cylinder was set to explode in an atomic blast that might
kill them all. When the Super-Skrull used his Psycho-Probe on him, Mar-Vell hoped that the machine would
register his dread of the impending nuclear explosion but it didn't. After being rendered truly unconscious
by the Psycho-Probe, Mar-Vell awoke in time to use his Uni-Beam wrist-lens to free himself and delay the
Super-Skrull long enough to retrieve his helmet so that he could breathe more easily. Realizing that he
was too weak to face his foe, Mar-Vell fled, flying upwards into the sky. Mar-Vell considered warning the
Super-Skrull about his booby-trapped cylinder but knew that the Skrull would dismiss the warning as a
trick of some kind. As Mar-Vell continued to fly up through the outer limits of Earth's atmosphere, the
Super-Skrull, unaware of the hidden presence to the Kree survey vessel Helion in orbit, broke off
his pursuit, believing that the Kree was choosing to commit suicide in the void to avoid being captured.
Despite the fact that Yon-Rogg refused to provide any help, Mar-Vell managed to reach the starship and
so Yon-Rogg was forced to let him board.
As the Super-Skrull flew back to Earth to find the mysterious
cylinder, hoping that it might contain the secret behind Mar-Vell's purpose on Earth, Mar-Vell
attempted to convince Yon-Rogg to allow him to return to the Cape to stop the atomic threat. When
Yon-Rogg denied his request, Mar-Vell invoked his right to personally contact the
Imperial Minister (Zarek). Although the Kree
official was also not interested in saving any "primitives" from nuclear death, Mar-Vell's reference to
desiring revenge upon the Skrull who had defeated him led the Imperial Minister to grant his request.
(Captain Marvel I#3 (fb) - BTS) - Back on Earth, the Super-Skrull had no trouble
retrieving the cylinder but, rather than blasting it open, decided instead to use what he had learned
(from the Psycho-Probe) of Mar-Vell's recent activities to impersonate "Dr. Walter Lawson" in order to
infiltrate the missile base so that he could find and capture the Sentry for study.
(Captain Marvel I#3) - Bringing the cylinder with him to the missile base shortly before
dawn, "Lawson" was allowed entry when General Bridges happened to be nearby and countermanded his orders
not to let anyone without a pass enter. After the general and Danvers had briefed "Lawson" on recent
events, the Super-Skrull asked if he might examine the Sentry, but requested that he be allowed to do
so alone, using the instruments in his carrying-case, and the general granted him permission. As dawn broke,
"Lawson" was walking through the Cape when Captain Marvel attacked from above and pulled both him and the
cylinder up into the sky, trying to carry the Skrull and the cylinder as far away from the Cape as possible
so that only their two lives would be lost in the coming blast. As the Super-Skrull reacted by flaming on,
Mar-Vell noticed that he had dropped the cylinder, but, knowing that it wouldn't explode upon striking the
ground, he concentrated on defeating his foe in the few minutes that were left. After a brief battle,
Mar-Vell managed to manipulate the Super-Skrull into using his power of super-hypnosis on him, but the
Kree, as he had planned, was able to use a blast from his Uni-Beam to turn the solar mirror that the
Super-Skrull was holding to face him, causing him to be affected by how own super-hypnosis. With the
Super-Skrull now entranced, Mar-Vell was able to reach the cylinder with moments to space, and turned
a switch with his Kree fingertips, the only way in which the bomb could have been deactivated. Holding
the now-harmless cylinder in one hand, Captain Marvel ordered the Super-Skrull to flee in his spacecraft
to the farthest reaches of space, and the mesmerized Super-Skrull flew away.
BTS - Captain Marvel presumably made sure that no humans saw him carrying Lawson's
cylindrical case.
(Captain Marvel I#4) - A few days later, the carry-all cylinder was on the floor of
the hotel room when Mar-Vell became upset after realizing that he was conflicted over the idea that his
duty as a Kree warrior might lead to the destruction of Earth. Seconds later, Hal Logan, who was taking
care of the hotel's clerking duties while his uncle Jeremy was in a coma at the county hospital, arrived
to let "Lawson" know that they'd received a phone call from the Cape that "Lawson" was to go there right
away. After Hal left, Mar-Vell recalled how it was Jeremy Logan's theft of his carry-all cylinder that
had led to him encountering the Super-Skrull whose attempt to kill him had been thwarted by Mar-Vell but
had left the innocent man in a coma.
Later, dressed in his Earth clothes,
"Lawson" (as usual) brought his carry-all cylinder with him when he
hailed a cab to take him to the Cape. "Lawson" (and his case) arrived
at a bunker at the Cape just in time to join General Bridges and Carol
Danvers in watching the launching of the new Argos III missile. Bridges
revealed that the missile was transporting metallic cylinders
internally lined with test-tubes filled with various deadly bacteria
that were to be automatically ejected into space once the Argos III
went into orbit so that scientists could observe and record their
reactions to cosmic rays. However, thanks to secret interference by
Colonel Yon-Rogg, the missile changed course and crashed into the ocean
just outside New York Harbor. Upon learning where the missile had
crashed, General Bridges had Danvers and "Lawson" (still carrying his
case) follow him onto a hastily-requisitioned jet plane to take the
three of them to Kennedy International Airport in New York City. Once
the plane was in the air, the general revealed that, since the Argos
III had been carrying various new photographic equipment that the
military wanted back, a second jettisoning device had been attached to
the germ-carrying vials, one that would, if the first device failed,
activate independently five hours later and eject the deadly bacteria
into outer space. However, since the Argos III had crashed before it
ever entered orbit, those germs would instead be fired into the
atmosphere.
After arriving in New York City, Bridges, Danvers and "Lawson" (and his case) were
quickly brought to a U.S. Navy destroyer (511) that soon brought them to the general area of the ocean
where the missile had crashed. When Namor the Sub-Mariner was spotted in the area, Yon-Rogg sent a signal to
Mar-Vell via his Wrist Monitor, causing "Lawson" to slip away from the others and go to a secluded area
of the destroyer where he changed into his Kree uniform. Then, while holding his carry-all cylinder in
one hand, Mar-Vell received a message from Yon-Rogg ordering him to not allow anyone to touch the missile
because the Kree had arranged the crash as an experiment through which they would gauge the nearby city's
susceptibility to germ warfare. With less than an hour before the germs were to be released, Mar-Vell hid
his carry-all cylinder somewhere aboard the destroyer and then dove overboard to carry out his orders by
preventing Prince Namor from interfering.
(Captain Marvel I#4 - BTS) - Later, after having secretly (or so he hoped) maneuvered
Namor into destroying the missile and the bacteria while seemingly trying to stop him, Captain Marvel flew
away from the destroyer.
BTS - However, in order to preserve his "Walter Lawson" identity, Mar-Vell must have then
covertly returned to the destroyer, boarded it and recovered his cylinder so that he could retrieve and
change back into his Earth clothes that he had stashed within it.
(Captain Marvel I#7) - Later, after having seemingly used the deadly Virus-Z-3 to wipe
out an entire Earth community (who were actually animatronic robots designed to look like humans) to
prove his loyalty to the Kree Empire, Captain Mar-Vell brought his carry-all cylinder with him as he
returned to the orbiting Kree starship in order to replenish his breathing potion.
  (Silver Surfer III#5) - Years later, after having been assigned to confirm the
Supreme Intelligence's deduction that the Skrulls had lost their shape-shifting abilities, Captain
Tar-Rell of the Kree Primary Espionage Unit was carrying a carry-all cylinder in his right hand when
he used his air-jet belt to fly out of the exit hatch of the Kree starship that had secretly brought
him to the Skrull planet Tarakar.
Once safely on the planet's surface, Tar-Rell opened his cylinder and, illuminated by its internal
light source, used its contents (including prosthetic makeup for his face, padding to make his torso
look bulkier, simulated Skrull clothing, and makeup [or false flesh]) to disguise himself as a
slightly-paunchy male Skrull. Once disguised, Tar-Rell continued to carry the cylinder when he
stood beside a roadway and caught the attention of a passing
motorist. Tar-Rell claimed
that he had been on a hunting trip when his speeder broke down and he needed transportation to the
capitol. The friendly Skrull didn't suspect anything and, happy to help a fellow Skrull-brother,
transported Tar-Rell and his cylinder to the city. However, soon after arriving in the city, a
biobeam exposed Tar-Rell as being a
non-Skrullian lifeform, prompting him to grab his cylinder and exit the vehicle in an attempt to escape.
Unfortunately for Tar-Rell, he was stunned by the biobeam and captured within seconds by the two Skrull
security agents who had been
operating the beam in that expectation that a Kree spy would soon be there. |
Comments: Created by Stan Lee, Gene Colan and Frank Giacoia.
On the face of it, it might seem that such unassuming items as
these carry-all cylinders might not merit their own profile. However, they are alien technology; one of
them appeared in the first six Captain Marvel stories; and Mar-Vell's cylinder contained a MINIATURE
NUCLEAR BOMB that came within moments of destroying the Cape. So, worth a profile.
That being said, I do have some issues with the idea that these
carry-all cylinders would be used by Kree spies on covert missions. For one thing, its shape was
unusual enough that it attracted attention by the humans who saw it. While it may have aided Mar-Vell
(slightly) by causing Carol Danvers to be inclined to regard him (as "Lawson") as just being as
eccentric as the real Lawson's reputation said he was, it had the opposite effect of Jeremy Logan,
making him even more suspicious of the hotel's new guest. Plus, the fact that some Skrulls were
able to recognize the cylinders as being items used by the Kree meant that they could act as
indicators that Kree were in the area. For example, if that Skrull motorist on Tarakar had known
about those cylinders, then maybe he would have quickly realized that the hitchhiker he had picked
up was actually a Kree spy in disguise.
Another problem I have with these cylinders being used by covert
Kree agents was the rather EXTREME nature of the anti-tampering safeguard. I mean, it would be one
thing for such a container to be booby trapped with something like an incendiary self-destruct device
that would burn everything within the cylinder to ash before hostile agents could seize them, and it
would be (relatively) discrete. In contrast, while a mini-nuke would definitely destroy contents that
had to be kept out of enemy hands, the presence of such a massively-destructive explosion in a place
where no such explosion should ever take place would serve as undeniable evidence that something VERY
significant had occurred there, thereby bringing unwanted attention to that location, something that
would be counter-productive for spies trying to infiltrate that area. Of course, in this particular
case, a nuclear explosion near the Cape would not have been that out of place since Mar-Vell had, less
than two hours earlier, stopped Sentry #459 from destroying the Cape by detonating the atomic warheads
stored there.
A third problem I have with these cylinders being used by covert
Kree agents is the fact that they apparently contained the same type of "radiation factor" that were
built into Kree battle-suits. This was problematic because the Skrulls had created a specially-designed
sensor (the Oscilloscope) that could locate Kree by the radiation factor built into their battle-suits.
Of course, if there weren't any Skrulls on whatever planet the Kree spies were infiltrating, then that
shouldn't have been a problem.
Chronology Notes:
The events of Marvel Super-Heroes II#12 and the first ten pages of Marvel
Super-Heroes II#13 take place during a single evening/night and lead directly into events beginning the
following morning, when Mar-Vell first gains entry to the Cape by posing as Dr. Walter Lawson on page 11.
Two panels on that page then show Lawson spending "work-filled days" at the missile base, The last panel
on that page takes place on a morning "exactly a week" after Mar-Vell had begun his masquerade, when
General Bridges introduces himself to "Mr. Lawson" as he's getting out of the cab that had just delivered
him to the base. This scene leads directly into the next two pages where Mar-Vell discovers that
Intergalactic Sentry #459 hadn't actually been destroyed by the Fantastic Four and meets Miss Danvers
who is the head of security for the missile base. The last seven pages of that comic and all of Captain
Marvel I#1-3 take place during the following night, as "Captain Marvel" battles first the Sentry and
then the Super-Skrull (three times).
The timing of these events seems a bit problematic. Midway through
Captain Marvel I#1, nosy night clerk Jeremy Logan is shown unknowingly triggering a two-hour countdown to
a nuclear explosion that will only be averted, with "moments" to spare, on the last page of Captain Marvel
I#3. Worse yet, Logan is immediately afterwards shown driving towards the missile base but the Super-Skrull
manages to intercept him just before he reaches it. This means that the Skrull emperor learned of Mar-Vell's
defeat of the Sentry, summoned the Super-Skrull from the outer edge of the galaxy to the home planet and
briefed him on his new mission, and then the Super-Skrull traveled the 2.5 million light-years to Earth...all
in less time than it took Logan to drive from the hotel to the missile base. The fact that the carry-all
cylinder was going to explode "within the hour" at the beginning of Captain Marvel I#3 indicates that those
intervening events all took place in little more than one hour.
Also, the fact that the bomb in the cylinder was deactivated just
after dawn means that Logan found the cylinder and unknowing triggered the timing device less than two
hours before dawn. This indicates that the Sentry's rampage did not begin in the middle of the night,
but in the early morning hours.
The missile/rocket base that Mar-Vell was so determined to infiltrate
was referred to only as "the Cape" during the early issues of the first Captain Marvel series. Although
a NASA logo was visible on one of the base's buildings in Captain Marvel I#12, it would not be until
Captain Marvel I#40 that the Cape was finally confirmed as being Cape Canaveral. However, the earlier
Avengers I#89-90 did strongly imply that the Cape was Cape Kennedy.
In 2019, just over fifty years after Mar-Vell last posed as Lawson, the
real Walter S. Lawson turned up, alive
and well and seeking vengeance against the Kree, in Marvel Team-Up IV#4-6.
Profile by
Donald Campbell.
CLARIFICATIONS:
The carry-all cylinder has no known connections to
- any other portable container with a handle
images: (without ads)
Marvel Super-Heroes II#12, page 11, panel 4 (main image)
Marvel Super-Heroes II#13, page 3, panel 1 (main image)
Marvel Super-Heroes II#12, page 5, panel 2 (Mar-Vell on Earth)
Marvel Super-Heroes II#13, page 2, panel 3 (carry-all cylinder is open)
Captain Marvel I#1, page 12, panel 4 (KLIK!)
Captain Marvel I#2, page 12, panel 3 (in the hands of the Super-Skrull)
Captain Marvel I#2, page 13, panel 4 (used as a bludgeon)
Captain Marvel I#3, page 20, panel 4 (deactivated)
Silver Surfer III#5, page 16, panel 2 (Tar-Rell on Tarakar)
page 16, panel 3 (disguise kit open)
Appearances:
Marvel Super-Heroes II#12 (December, 1967) - Stan (The Man) Lee (writer/editor), Gene (The Dean) Colan
(penciler), Frank Giacoia (embellisher)
Marvel Super-Heroes II#13 (March, 1968) - Roy (The Boy) Thomas (writer), Gene (The Dean) Colan (penciler),
Paul Reinman (embellisher), Stan (The Man) Lee (editor)
Captain Marvel I#1 (May, 1968) - Roy Thomas (writer), Gene Colan (penciler), Vince Colletta (inker), Stan
Lee (editor)
Captain Marvel I#2-4 (June-August, 1968) - Roy Thomas (writer), Gene Colan (artist), Vince (or V.) Colletta
(inker), Stan Lee (editor)
Captain Marvel I#7 (November, 1968) - "Super Nova" Arnold Drake (writer), "4th Dimensional" Don Heck
(artist), "Solar Swinger" John Tartaglione (inker), "Speed O'Light" Stan Lee (editor)
Silver Surfer III#5 (November, 1987) - Steve Engelhart (story), Marshall Rogers (pencils/colors), Josef
Rubinstein (inks), Michael Higgins (editor)
First Posted: 07/31/2024
Last updated: 07/31/2024
Any Additions/Corrections? please
let me know.
Non-Marvel Copyright info
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Reserved. If you like this stuff, you should check out the real thing!
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