Andy
JOSEPH DANVERS
Real Name: Joseph Danvers
Identity/Class: Human
Occupation: Foreman of a building crew; former U.S. Navy officer
Group Membership: Plumm International; formerly U.S. Navy
Affiliations: Andy and the rest of his crewmen, Louis Lee
Enemies: Maxwell Plumm (Steeplejack)
Known Relatives: Marie Danvers (Mari-Ell, wife), unidentified wife (deceased), Richie Danvers (brother), Carol Danvers (daughter), Steven J. Danvers (son, deceased), Joe Danvers Jr. (son), Carol (aunt)
Aliases: None
Base of Operations: Beverly, Massachusetts, USA;
Harpswell Sound, Maine, USA (Danvers family summer home);
formerly Bar Harbor, Maine, USA;
Cape Cod, Massachusetts, USA (see comments);
formerly Boston, Massachusetts, USA
First Appearance: Ms. Marvel I#13 (January, 1978);
{prima apparizione in Italia: i Fantastici Quattro#228
Editoriale Corno (14 gennaio 1980)}
Powers/Abilities: Joe went through military training at the U.S. Navy and is therefore trained in armed combat. He is also a capable foreman, knows his way around a construction site and is capable of building his own home.
History:
(Life of Captain Marvel II#2 (fb) - BTS) - Joseph Danvers served in the military.
(Mighty Captain Marvel#0 (fb) - BTS) - Joe was a bowler.
(Ms. Marvel I#13 (fb)) - Joseph Danvers was a self-made man. Starting from nothing, with his work and his arms built a prosperous business in the building trade field, until the crisis in the '76 (see comments) left him with few more than nothing. In the meanwhile Joseph had married his first wife, and they had two sons.
(Life of Captain Marvel II#4 (fb) - BTS) - Joseph's wife died and he was left alone with their two sons.
(Life of Captain Marvel II#4 (fb)) - Joseph was on his way to Boston in his brother's boat when he pulled Mari-Ell, a Kree warrior that had come to Earth looking for war, out of the water. She hid her true identity using the Amulet of Pam'a that contained a cloaking device and also a translator, but even without the translator she recognized Joe's kind tone. He handed her a jacket to keep her warm that night.
Joe and Marie grew closer fast over Joe's big heart and family. They went bowling, but Marie accidentally destroyed the pins with her Kree strength and they got into trouble. Marie reported to Kree High Command that Joe was only her cover. During a baseball game Joe noticed Marie floating when she caught a ball. Soon after she told Joe who she actually was, which was the point when Marie realized that she was in love with Joe. They were both not sure where their relationship should go, but Joe wanted to make it to work for his boys. Marie tried to break it off.
(Life of Captain Marvel II#1 (fb) - BTS) - Joe wrote a love letters to Mari-Ell because she didn't want to lose her.
(Life of Captain Marvel II#4 (fb)) - Joe just wouldn't give up and they got married soon after Marie got pregnant. That day Joe didn't marry the woman he had fallen in love with though, but one that was willing to give up past to life a normal life on Earth with a family.
(Life of Captain Marvel II#4 (fb)) - Joe became the happy father of a daughter even though he would've like to have another son. Marie named her Car-Ell and the baby nearly crushed Joe's finger the day she was born with her already impressive strength. Joe believed Marie named his daughter after his aunt Carol. Joe promised that Marie and Carol would never have to fight again because he would protect them.
Marie returned home with the baby and handed her Kree tracker over to Joe to turn it off so her people could never find her and their daughter.
(Life of Captain Marvel II#3 (fb)) - Joe secretly kept the Kree tracker and the letters he had written to Mari-Ell.
(Ms. Marvel I#13 (fb)) - The family moved to Boston.
(Life of Captain Marvel II#1-2 (fb) - BTS) - Joe always had a drinking problem and was a mean drunk.
(Life of Captain Marvel II#2 (fb) - BTS) - Marie often asked him to quit drinking.
(Life of Captain Marvel II#4 (fb)) - He became paranoid when Carol began talking about becoming an astronaut and his drinking became worse.
(Mighty Captain Marvel#0 (fb)) - Joe and his sons cared a lot about baseball and bowling. They often went to Boston Red Sox games at Fenway Park and Carol tagged along even though she wasn't much into baseball.
(Uncanny X-Men I#182 (fb) - BTS) - Joe built his family a summer home at Cape Cod on Harpswell Sound (see comments) with the help of his sons and Carol.
(Life of Captain Marvel II#1 (fb)) - During the summer from June to August Joe always took his family to Maine while he helped his brother Richie with his lobster boat. His sons and daughter loved being there because there didn't seem to be any rules while they were there, but sometimes they still got into trouble with their dad. One time the boys fought over a kite and nearly fell down the cliff and Joe got so mad that he gave them a beating. Marie could barely hold Carol back from interfering, which would've only made it worse according to Marie.
(Life of Captain Marvel II#3 (fb)) - One day Joe took local kid Louis Lee along on the boat with his wife and daughter because their son were off at camp. Carol was allowed to steer the boat (Shooting Star), but Joe told her to go slower even though she wanted to go faster. Marie allowed her to go a little bit faster.
(Life of Captain Marvel II#3 (fb)) - Joe was kissing Mari-Ell next to the light tower while they were floating in the air in an attempt to recapture the old spark in their relationship. They were unaware they were watched by their children, who believed their mother be out of town and believed Joe was kissing another woman.
(Captain Marvel: Marvels Snapshots#1 (fb)) - Joe worked on the lobster boat with his family. He had a beer can in his hand and told Carol to let her brothers steer the boat while she helped her mother with the sandwiches.
Joe had very firm beliefs about what a woman's place was at home and angrily ordered Carol to iron her brother's shirt.
Sometimes he was drunk and beat his younger son. Marie had to hold back Carol because interfering would've only made it worse.
(Ms. Marvel I#19 (fb)/Iron Man III#21 (fb)) - During a meal Carol told her family about her plan to go to college, but needed Joe's financial support because even after working part-time for almost two years she was way short of the tuition fees. Joe Danvers couldn't accept that his daughter wanted to live a life different than the one he had thought for her. He didn't want to help her to go to the college. He could only send Steve, the older brother, and saw Carol only as a good housewife. (see comments)
(Ms. Marvel I#19 (fb)/Iron Man III#21/Captain Marvel: Marvels Snapshots#1 (fb) - BTS) - Even though Carol was smarter than his sons, Joe Danvers didn't consider her as worth of having a college degree. So Steve was sent to college.
(Captain Marvel: Marvels Snapshots#1 (fb)) - Carol angrily confronted her father about sending Steve to college despite her having better grades and he drunkenly told her that her dreams were silly, that a woman could never become an astronaut because they lacked the physique of men and that sending her to college would've been a waste of money. He again told her to just find a husband and let him take care of her.
(Mighty Captain Marvel#0 (fb)) - One time Joe went bowling with Carol and she told him that she planned to go to the University of Massachusetts to study astrophysics because it was the best major for astronauts. Joe made it clear that money was tight for them and that he could only afford one college tuition and that one was preserved for Stevie. He even joked that she could start gift wrapping at Filene's Basement when she offered to get a part-time job. In the end Joe suggested to Carol to just find herself a nice boy, maybe even an astronaut, and settle down. (see comments)
(Life of Captain Marvel II#4 (fb)) - Joe was distraught when Carol ran away from home and never really got over it.
(Ms. Marvel II#31 (fb)) - Joe attended the funeral of his son Steve, who died serving his country in the Sin-Cong conflict (see comments). Joe began to drink heavily and opposed Carol joining the Air Force after what had happened to Steve.
(Ms. Marvel I#13 (fb) - BTS) - Joe didn't like it when Carol enlisted in the US Air Force, nor when she became a reporter. Their relationship was always tense. Even so, he read his daughter's magazine, Woman, not admitting it, of course.
(Ms. Marvel I#13 (fb) - BTS/Ms. Marvel I#14 (fb) - BTS) - Joe worked as foreman of the building crew of the Monarch Plaza, part of the Plumm International. A lot of accidents happened during the building of the skyscraper.
(Ms. Marvel I#13) - Joe had to risk his life to save Andy, one of his men, when a girder sagged. He discovered that the materials used for the skyscraper were of poor quality.
(Ms. Marvel I#14) - That night, during a storm, Danvers went on
the skyscraper to confirm his suspicions. The wind made some rafters fall and
Ms. Marvel saved Joe Danvers from an early death. Without resting, Danvers ran off the
building to call Maxwell Plumm, accusing him of using poor-quality materials and
of building a sure disaster. Plumm menaced Danvers who wasn't impressed at all.
Under pressure, indebted with Dominic Varone, Plumm wore the
suit of Steeplejack and kidnapped Joe Danvers. On the Monarch Plaza's 40th floor, Danvers was at
his mercy and was again saved by Ms. Marvel. The heroine had to knock the rude
man out, before defeating Steeplejack.
The building collapsed during the fight but Danvers and Plumm were saved by Ms.
Marvel.
Unable to accept to be saved by a woman, Danvers had to
thank Ms. Marvel.
(Avengers Annual I#10 - BTS) - Carol disappeared for three months. She was found in San Francisco, almost drowned and without memory. Joe Danvers was deranged. The family flied to San Franscisco to stay close to Carol. With the help of Charles Xavier, Carol reacquired her memories.
(Uncanny X-Men I#171) - Carol Danvers visited Joseph and Marie at their home in Beverly, Massachusetts.
As Carol left, her parents urged her to stay in touch, and to be careful. After leaving
the house, Carol thought about how her mother had always known her so well, recognizing her
as Ms. Marvel, and realizing that Carol's damaged memories meant that she now had
little emotional attachment to her parents.
(Ms. Marvel II#31 (fb) - BTS) - Joe got lung cancer, but his sickness wasn't diagnosed before it was too late for a therapy.
(Ms. Marvel II#31) - Carol was contacted by her brother Joe Jr. and she visited her family in Bar Harbor, Maine. Joe was at home, but he couldn't leave his bed anymore. Connected to machines and medicated Carol saw him lying in his bed, but she still didn't feel anything. She talked to him about their past and then left.
(Ms. Marvel II#34 - BTS) - He died.
(Life of Captain Marvel II#2 (fb)) - Carol attended her father's funeral. As a former soldier he received a military funeral.
SECRET WARS III HAPPENED
(Mighty Captain Marvel#0 (fb) - BTS) - Carol kept her dad's old bowling ball.
(Life of Captain Marvel II#1) - On Father's Day Carol went to her father's grave on Harpswell Sound, Maine to talk to her brother and got into an argument. Joe Jr. left and Carol got so angry that she destroyed her father's headstone.
Comments: Created by Chris Claremont, Jim Mooney and Joe Sinnot.
Mary Danvers recognized Ms. Marvel as Carol. It is very probable that Joe Danvers did as well.
The building trade crisis in 1976 is a topical reference at this point due to Marvel's sliding timescale.
--Markus Raymond
Steve died during the Vietnam War as mentioned in Uncanny X-Men I#182, but due to Marvel's sliding timescale this is too far in the past now. A conflict in Sin-Cong is now used as replacement for this real world war.
--Markus Raymond
Carol went from being the eldest to being the youngest due to the retcon that made Mary aka. Mari-Ell, the second wife of Joe. Joe Jr. and Steve are now the sons of his first wife.
Carol's early history is a bit of a mess and went through various retcons over the years!
In Ms. Marvel I#13 Carol got her college education despite her family. Maybe through an Air Force program, but it wasn't that clear. She graduated first in her class while spending the summer as a salesgirl in Filene's Basement. On her 18th birthday she fully enlisted in the Air Force.
In Ms. Marvel II#31 she enlisted with the Air Force on her 18th birthday some time after her brother Steve's death and her father began drinking heavily.
In Captain Marvel VII#1 Carol was already in Air Force pilot-training while Steve was still alive.
In Life of Captain Marvel II#4 Carol ran away after her father made it clear that he would not pay for her tuition.
In Captain Marvel: Marvels Snapshots#1 in 2021 Steve was already in college when her dad told her that there was only enough money there to send Steve, but it seemed like they already had this conversation a few times before. No timeline was given when she joined the Air Force after this, but Joe was a drunkard pretty much since Carol and her brothers were children.
In her most recent handbook profile from Captain Marvel: In Pursuit of Flight TPB (January, 2013) her early history goes as followed:
Carol Danvers grew up the oldest child of three in a traditional
Boston home, with a contractor father who believed in hard work. When
he built their Cape Cod summer home, Carol insisted on working as hard
as her younger brothers, trying to make herself the equal of both in her
father's eyes. A voracious reader, she dreamed of becoming an astronaut
and visiting distant planets; as a teen she even hitchhiked to watch a
launch at Cape Canaveral. Her father, however, could not accept women
as men's equals, and when financial troubles meant he could send only
one child to college, he chose middle child Steve despite Carol's superior
grades. Having been moved ahead in school as a child, Steve graduated
a year before Carol and chose to enlist in the military at age 17 with his
father's permission; at some point, Steve introduced Carol to one of her
heroes, pioneering pilot Helen Cobb, the two bonded over a kindred
adventurous spirit. When Steve was killed shortly thereafter, the tragedy
initially brought the family closer together, Carol's father blamed himself
for Steve's death and drank heavily, verbally taking his guilt out on Carol.
Carol graduated from high school first in her class and took a summer
sales job. A few months later, the day after she turned 18, Carol turned
her back on her father and joined the Air Force, intending to get a college
degree via the military while pursuing her love of flying.
The above does not yet take into account the retcons from Life of Captain Marvel Vol.2 that Marie Danvers was actually Kree warrior Mari-Ell and Joe's second wife. This retcon changed Carol to become the youngest of the three siblings because her half-brothers were from Joe's first wife.
Post Secret Wars stories also retconned the Danvers family's summer home at Cape Cod out of existence and replaced it with a summer home on Harpswell Sound, Maine.
Thanks to Omegatherion5000 for the summary of Uncanny X-Men I#171 and Markus Raymond for the Ms. Marvel II#31 update.
Profile by Spidermay. Update by Markus Raymond (2008-2021).
CLARIFICATIONS:
Joseph Danvers has no known connections to
Andy has no known connections to
Andy was one of the workmen working at the Monarch Plaza.
One day, while he was working on a vertical girder at the 48th floor, it sagged and Andy remained clung at it. Joe Danvers walked on the girder, suspended on the empty precipice, and pulled Andy through.
--Ms. Marvel I#13
images: (without ads)
Ms. Marvel I#13, p7, pan6 (Joseph Danvers, main image)
Ms. Marvel I#13, p8, pan5 (Joseph Danvers, head shot)
Life of Captain Marvel II#4, p11, pan3 (young Joe with Marie)
Life of Captain Marvel II#1, p7, pan6 (in Harpswell Sound, Maine)
Ms. Marvel II#31, p13 (on deathbed)
Life of Captain Marvel II#2, p3, pan3 (picture used at funeral)
Ms. Marvel I#13, p8, pan5 (Andy)
Appearances:
Ms. Marvel I#13 (January, 1978) - Chris Claremont (writer), Jim Mooney (pencils), Joe Sinnot (inks), Archie Goodwin (editor)
Ms. Marvel I#14 (February, 1978) - Chris Claremont (writer), Carmine Infantino (pencils), Steve Leialoha (inks), Archie Goodwin (editor)
Ms. Marvel I#19 (August, 1978) - Chris Claremont (writer), Carmine Infantino (pencils), Bob McLeod (inks), Jim Shooter (editor)
Uncanny X-Men I#171 (July 1983) - Chris Claremont (writer), Walt Simonson (pencils), Bob Wiacek (inks), Louise Jones (editor)
Uncanny X-Men I#182 (June, 1984) - Chris Claremont (writer), John Romita Jr. (pencils), Dan Green (inks), Louise Jones & Ann Nocenti (editors)
Iron Man III#21 (October, 1999) - Kurt Busiek & Roger Stern (writers), Mark Bagley (pencils), Eric Cannon (inks), Steve Oliff (colors), Bobbie Chase & Bob Harras (editors)
Ms. Marvel II#31 (November, 2008) - Brian Reed (writer), Marcos Marz (artist), Stephen Wacker (editor)
Ms. Marvel II#34 (February, 2009) - Brian Reed (writer), Paulo Siqueira & Adriana Melo (pencils), Amilton Santos & Mariah Benes (inks), Stephen Wacker (editor)
Mighty Captain Marvel#0 (February, 2017) - Margaret Stohl (writer), Emilio Laiso & Ramon Rosanas (artists), Sana Amanat (editor)
Life of Captain Marvel II#1-4 (September-December, 2018) - Margaret Stohl (writer), Carlos Pacheco (pencils), Rafael Fonteriz (inks), Sarah Brunstad (editor)
Captain Marvel: Marvels Snapshots#1 (April, 2021) - Mark Waid (writer), Claire Rose (artist), Darren Shan (editor)
First Posted: 10/10/2008
Last updated: 11/08/2025
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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