Mind-swapped heroes take on the Jackal in Marvel Team-Up No. 3
By Alex Widen
Can Spidey and Ms. Marvel handle being each other?
The first arc in this latest relaunch of Marvel Comics’ seminal team-up series is stuck in one of fiction’s oldest routine plots — the mind swap! In attempting to stop the Jackal from stealing a generic super-science thing from Dr. Yesenia Rosario at Empire State University, Spider-Man and Ms. Marvel wound up getting their minds transferred into each other’s bodies. Initially triggered by stress and with brief periods of normalcy due to a “chip” that Peter Parker installed into himself as a failsafe after his Superior Spider-Man debacle, their switch has been permanent as of late!
Image by Marvel Comics
While spending time in each other’s bodies — and lives — has given both Peter and Kamala Khan understanding (along with a closeness they lacked before), both of them are tired of being each other. Being a teenager once was enough for Peter, especially as he’s now living it from a girl’s perspective. And while Kamala is wise beyond her years, she’s not used to the rigors of adult life, such as endless emails. Yet the most curious part of this is Peter’s newfound love of lip gloss!
Image by Marvel Comics
Peter Parker has managed to take the mind-swap with a degree of grace and stability due to experience, while Kamala is freaking out. She’s worried about being trapped in a form not her own forever. It makes a degree of sense as when she first gained her shape-altering powers in Ms. Marvel, she subconsciously transformed into a double of Carol Danvers before learning how to assert her own will and identity over her powers in a show confident identity. And despite her own conflicts of consciousness, that has never left her since.
Image by Marvel Comics