Traditionally, people look to doctors as heroes. Somebody they can trust. Someone who can save them. However, in the comic world this is not a hard and fast rule. One such comic doctor that ventured far away from the “do no harm” mentality was Doctor Minerva. How much do you know about her?

Created by Scott Edelman and Al Milgrom, Minn-Erva made her comic debut in Captain Marvel #50 in 1977. Born in Edelix, on the planet Kree-Lar, Minn-Erva later became a gifted geneticist and formidable agent of the Kree Empire. Stationed on a Kree science cruiser, she orbited the Earth and observed the original Captain Marvel – otherwise known as Mar-Vell. After luring Mar-Vell aboard her spacecraft, Minn-Erva proposed her theory that the two of them could produce superior offspring. Although the science council ordered her to abandon this mission, she refused and was neurologically overpowered. Mar-Vell came to her aid and brought her to Earth, where she spent many years trapped with no way home. She later learned of Mar-Vell’s death and the creation of superhuman heroine Carol Danvers/Ms. Marvel.  

Doctor Minerva later discovered the Psyche-Magnetron machine used to give Danvers her genetically altered Kree powers. Using the machine on herself, Doctor Minerva gained superhuman strength, durability and the power of flight through the conscious manipulation of gravitons. She also possesses heightened intuitive faculties and the ability to pilot various Kree starships and operate high Kree technology. Doctor Minerva eventually met Kree Captain Att-Lass, who was sent to retrieve her, and became instantly attracted to him. The pair later attempted to rob an AIM Weapons Expo to recreate the powerful nega-bands used by Captain Mar-Vell, but were quickly bested and banished from Earth.

During the Civil War II storyline, Doctor Minerva returned to Earth and fought against Danvers – now acting as Captain Marvel – and her Alpha Flight team. Captain Marvel failed to stop Doctor Minerva from unleashing a mutagenic virus, that saw inhabitants transformed into crustacean-like creatures. Teaming with the Ultimates, Captain Marvel and Alpha Flight were able to stop her from releasing an updated virus and Doctor Minerva was arrested and imprisoned.

Currently, Crazy Rich Asians star Gemma Chan is suiting up to bring the geneticist to the big screen in Captain Marvel. She joins the star-studded cast of Brie Larson as Carol Danvers, Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury, Jude Law as Yon-Rogg, Clark Gregg as Phil Coulson, Lee Pace as Ronan the Accuser, Djimon Hounsou as Korath the Pursuer, Ben Mendelsohn as Talos, and Lashana Lynch as Maria Rambeau. 

The film arrives on March 8, 2019.