Libby and Captain Marvel

My daughter Libby is seven, mainly non-verbal, and blind.

A question that I often receive in my fan mail is, “Why does your daughter like Captain Marvel so much?” Most people would assume her favorite superhero is Daredevil. (After all, he was blinded as a child and can do amazing things because his other senses are heightened.)

While I have seen Libby do amazing things with hearing and touch, I still say that Captain Marvel is her favorite superhero. (If my wife Megan is reading this, she is probably rolling her eyes hard– thanks honey, for tolerating my superhero craziness.)

I’ll admit that when we adopted our daughter in 2012 I did read a few more Daredevil comics…and while Daredevil is incredibly awesome, a few years later, Captain Marvel became my daughter’s favorite superhero.

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Are they connected because they both get angry and shoot energy bolts from their hands?

Well, Libby can get pretty worked up when she gets angry and she has thrown some epic tantrums, but to my knowledge, no energy blasts have ever come out of her hands.

So why does she like Captain Marvel so much?

It goes back to the year I got a free, one month trial of Marvel’s digital comics. Usually, I don’t like digital comics–I like to have the book in my hands. (At the same time, digital comics are incredibly cheap and you have thousands of books available– kid in a candy shop.)

It was tough to pick which comics I wanted to read. After a few Avengers stories, I came to the 2012 Captain Marvel series. It immediately started digging into how Carol Danvers got her powers.

(This is where is gets a little comic-technical.)

A bad guy named Yon-Rogg was the reason that Carol got her superpowers. Yon-Rogg was from an alien race called the Kree and he was fighting another Kree named Mar-vell. A device called the Psyche-Magnetron exploded during the fight and Mar-vell tried to protect Carol.

Carol was infused with power from the device and from the Kree DNA of Mar-vell. This infusion of Kree DNA gave Carol the power of flight and the power to shoot energy blasts from her hands.

Hang with me for a little bit more on the comic details.

All that happened a long time ago in the comics. In the more recent story, Yon-Rogg returns. When Carol got her powers that led to her becoming Captain Marvel, her brain developed a new lobe.

In a sense, her human brain could be considered damaged, but the result gave her powers.

When Yon-Rogg comes back, he has a way of causing harm to the Kree part of her brain. If she uses her powers, she risks causing permanent brain damage.

She is becoming weaker and weaker as Yon-Rogg threatens to destroy New York City and then all of the planet. The only way to defeat him is to free herself from the damage that he is causing to her brain.

She sacrifices herself.

She flies into space fully knowing that it will result in further brain damage.

She also knows that this will result in permanent memory loss. In one sense, she shows her strength of character in deciding to make one part of herself weaker.

Through choosing to make herself weak by sacrificing her memory, she saves Earth.

Libby’s brain is damaged, in a manner of speaking. She was born with Optic Nerve Hypoplasia and Septo-Optic Dysplasia. The basics are: her optic nerves don’t work and she has midline brain problems because of the optic nerves. At the core, she has weaknesses because of what’s going on in her brain.

You may be starting to see why I connected her with Captain Marvel.

Now is the fun part.

Libby has superpowers in spite of her weaknesses. It’s amazing, watching her use her senses of touch and hearing. She can pick up on details that the rest of us miss. Even though she has a big weakness, she is also strong.

The most impressive strength is her piano ability.

She’s a little virtuoso– she plays at an incredible level. She plays hymns from church and songs that she hears on the radio.

What does all this have to do with my Christian faith?

In this life, we can all feel weak. Maybe we are struggling with stress, anxiety, sickness, or some other issue. We wish God would take it away. Even the apostle Paul had this in 2 Corinthians 12. He wants God to take away his problems.

God replies in verse 9, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is perfected in weakness.”

God doesn’t take away Paul’s weakness. He points Paul to the power of God’s grace. The greatest strength in the life of the Christians is the power of forgiveness. No matter what makes us weak in this world, we have the power of Jesus on our side and we will inherit heaven.

I also think about how God has blessed Libby.

She doesn’t fully realize her weakness since she was born that way.

She doesn’t even realize her strength.

For her, playing the piano is just fun. She doesn’t realize how good she is. More important than her strength at the piano is her spiritual strength.

God worked in her heart and created faith in Jesus.