What to do with Monica?

[Imraith Nimphais]

I quite like her support of T'Challa during CW...I would have her join Wakanda's forces against Doom (for wot he did to BP) and the Dark Illuminati...then have her stay as part of Wakanda's defense/strike force...after the dust settles.

[Comet Man]

Put her back in her classic and very good looking black and white costume, give her back the Photon name, and put her in Avengers where she belongs.

[Matt Linton]

I haven't checked out The Initiative post-Secret Invasion, but is it possible she could fit there?

[Umbra]

I quite like her support of T'Challa during CW...I would have her join Wakanda's forces against Doom (for wot he did to BP) and the Dark Illuminati...then have her stay as part of Wakanda's defense/strike force...after the dust settles.

I would like to see here LEAD the Wakanda super human force that was alluded to in SI.

[Laminator_X]

I haven't checked out The Initiative post-Secret Invasion, but is it possible she could fit there?

Nextwave is the 51st State Initiative.

[Imraith Nimphais]

I would like to see here LEAD the Wakanda super human force that was alluded to in SI.

Yes...I agree.
As much as the Avengers are her home team...I've always seen her attitude and character as somewot closer to T'Challa's...Honour, truth, justice, and absolute defiance in the face of all that is wrong...and as such, they make a good pairing.

[Wind Rider]

I have to read up more on her as I've only come across her from a couple of BP appearances and she seemed so concerned about when Storm was coming which gave me a vibe that Monica had a thing for T'Challa. Her powerset is really nice though and from some scans I looked at recently, I'll have to check out more of her past appearances as an Avenger and in Nextwave.

Understanding her powers, which are kick azz, I can see her being out on cosmic adventures as probably the best use of her or back on the Avengers.

[AZPolaris]

Put her back in her classic and very good looking black and white costume, give her back the Photon name, and put her in Avengers where she belongs.

Ditto! Loved Nextwave, but Monica (and Tabitha) belongs elsewhere. I would like Slott to write her in MA, but I could also see her supporting the NA. And with Ms. Marvel on the way out, Monica would fit nicely. I just want to see her in a regular Avengers book.

[vitruvian]

Monica is just as powerful and interesting as any character in the Mighty Avengers lineup. Yet she gets no love from none of the writers on either Avengers book. IMO, Monica Rambeau deserves her props. She was the chairwoman of the Avengers back in the eighties. Since that time she languished on the border of obscurity appearing in a few titles here and there but nothing steady (if you want to count Nextwave). I hope Monica gets a place on the Avengers in the foreseeable future.

Absolutely agreed that she should be active and on an Avengers team. However, I'd prefer her on BuckyCap and Cage's New Avengers, rather than Mighty Avengers. Especially with Carol's upcoming death, they could use some more power on their side.

[Dermie]

Monica can also work in a cosmic setting but for some reason I don't like her being in space for extensive periods of time as I'd rather see her on earth with a team like the Avengers or Nextwave.

Agreed. I love seeing Monica in space for cosmic adventures, but only on a temporary basis. I'd love to see her guest star with the Guardians of the Galaxy for an adventure...but then return to Earth and the Avengers (preferably the Mighty Avengers).

[weapon-smith]

Spectra, you failed.

You didn't read my sentence correctly, because you totally missed the point.

I said, "Monica really is a problem for writers, because her power is one that doesn't lend itself to big fight scenes. Either she can effortlessly deal with the current threat, often at light speed, or she is completely useless, and it's difficult for a writer to find a middle ground."

So yes, Monica is extremely powerful. I would rank her in the top five most powerful Avengers. In fact, she should be able to take out most villains in one second, with a huge energy blast. And most of them can't do anything to her once she is in energy form.

Now here's the problem... read carefully. She is too powerful to ever have a good fight scene. Either her opponent is one of the vast majority of villains that she could waste with a big energy blast (or maybe several blasts), or it's one of the few villains who could handle her. And to properly handle Monica, they would need to be really fast, really powerful, and capable of extreme measures like mental attacks or canceling her powers or something similar. Neither of these possibilities makes for a good fight scene.
And without good fight scenes, your hero (Monica in this case) might as well be Sentry, who is widely scorned by Marvel fans for his lack of great fight scenes.

So that leads to the other serious problem for Monica, which is so serious that you can't dismiss it by just waving your hands around: writers don't like Monica. Sure, she's a really nice person, with a very heroic personality, though possibly a little boring the way most really nice people are a little boring. But writers don't like her because she really is hard to write. She is too bland to have interesting personal problems, and her powers only lend themselves to finishing fights and resolving crises in one page or less. That doesn't work in comics.

As for Monica beating up Erik Killmonger, that's just crap writing, a complete disservice to both characters.

she is no harder to write in a fight than flash or silver surfer. she is no more boring than originakl cap or superman ...big boy scouts. writers are just too damn LAZY.

comicbook writers are supposed to have big imaginations, so being a little creative with the character shouldnt be beyond them. a character is only as 'bland' or fascinating as the writer makes them.

there is no way you can say she is harder to write power-wise than say FLASH.

[Patrick Hultquist]

Personally, I think Monica should go to the cosmic side of Marvel, like Nova did. I mean, that's where most uber-powered characters go to be interesting...

Monica Marvel deserves a place on a space-Avengers team... Guardians of the Galaxy, etc.. I want to see her take on entire space armadas... She deserves to strike fear into the heart of the Shi'Ar empire and others..

Put her in space - leading a team of Avengers! Once Dark Reign is over, someone in charge will have to see that there needs to be a front line in the future AWAY from Earth. Putting a team of Avengers in space makes sense.

[Alphaxman]

I don't see the problem with BP working with Monica. She is powerful and can help him when he needs it. And they both were Averngers. They may not have worked together on the team at the same time but they could have been friendly off panel when the Avengers had those big meetings.

Now back to Monica. I think she should be on a major team and every leader should want her on their team. Tony should have tried and use her in Mighty and Clint should reach out to her now. Remember she was one of the few who really represents what a Avenger really is back during the restart with Kurt and George.

[Dermie]

I absolutely have no problem with two black characters interacting. What I objected to was Monica suddenly being portrayed as having a crush on T'Challa. These are two characters who have never had any kind of prior relationship--they've rarely been together on-panel and I'm not sure if there was ever a line of dialogue exchanged between them prior to this. But suddenly, she has a crush on him, some Wakandans are saying perhaps she should have been T'Challa's wife instead of Storm, etc. It is completely out of nowhere, and the only common bond between the characters to justify it is that they're both black.

By all means, show Monica and T'Challa teaming up. I am all for that. But don't have her suddenly have a crush on a guy she's never had any feelings for before.

Just for the record, back when Monica first appeared in Hudlin's BP book, it was part of an arc where Hudlin said flat out in an interview that he was taking T'Challa around to interact with various black heroes (Monica, Luke Cage, Blade, Brother Voodoo, etc). So yes, the original reason Monica was brought into the book was *because* she was a black character.
Again, I do NOT have any problem with black characters interacting (on the contrary, I was eager to see Monica interact with Triathlon after he joined the Avengers). However, I do have a bit of a problem with having characters interact for no other reason than because they're black--it seems a bit forced.

[GalactaSurfer]

I absolutely have no problem with two black characters interacting. What I objected to was Monica suddenly being portrayed as having a crush on T'Challa. These are two characters who have never had any kind of prior relationship--they've rarely been together on-panel and I'm not sure if there was ever a line of dialogue exchanged between them prior to this. But suddenly, she has a crush on him, some Wakandans are saying perhaps she should have been T'Challa's wife instead of Storm, etc. It is completely out of nowhere, and the only common bond between the characters to justify it is that they're both black.

By all means, show Monica and T'Challa teaming up. I am all for that. But don't have her suddenly have a crush on a guy she's never had any feelings for before.

Just for the record, back when Monica first appeared in Hudlin's BP book, it was part of an arc where Hudlin said flat out in an interview that he was taking T'Challa around to interact with various black heroes (Monica, Luke Cage, Blade, Brother Voodoo, etc). So yes, the original reason Monica was brought into the book was *because* she was a black character.
Again, I do NOT have any problem with black characters interacting (on the contrary, I was eager to see Monica interact with Triathlon after he joined the Avengers). However, I do have a bit of a problem with having characters interact for no other reason than because they're black--it seems a bit forced.

You know if you was given the chance to write a marvel comic, you'd want to write characters that you've always wanted to play with especially if their underused. So why can't Hudlin? Because there's some comic book law against have more then 3 black superheroes interact?

Hudlin gets bashed for putting those characters together but a lot of them were in limbo.

And why can't Monica have a crush on Tchalla? Dudes a KING!! Women like dudes with power especially when they're a hero.