10 Superheroes Who Changed Identities For The Better
2. Carol Danvers
An officer of the US Air Force, Carol Danvers was a close friend of the original Captain Marvel and, after being given similar powers to him by a machine called the Psyche-Magnetron, joined him as the superhero Ms. Marvel.
Ms. Marvel went on to star in her own series where she proved herself an outspoken feminist, fighting for the rights of women to be as equally respected as men.
Famously, Captain Marvel eventually died after a battle with cancer (the disease, not the zodiac crab-man), leaving a pretty big pair of boots to fill. Carol seemed like the obvious choice to replace him, but was constantly passed over for other heroes and seemed to fade away into the background, only making sporadic appearances thereafter.
The character had a resurgence though in the past decade, becoming a core part of the Avengers after suffering a great deal of hardship in the eighties and nineties. This culminated in her finally taking up the mantle of Captain Marvel, proving herself as a true successor to the role and an equal to the original.