Hello again, my fellow nerds.
My name is Amanda McKnight and I will be your host for this Top 10 Nerd video where we are
going to learn a little bit more about the Captain Marvel villian, Yon-Rogg.
You may have recently seen the Captain Marvel film and think that you know all there is
to know but trust me there is so much more to this character than the MCU version.
Yon-Rogg has also appeared in comics, video games and cartoons before he even got to the
big screen.
And if you would like to learn more about other smaller but well-loved characters that
exist in the MCU, let us know in the comments below.
I know I wanted to read tons more about Talos after seeing the Ben Mendelsohn’s portrayal
of him in the Captain Marvel film myself.
Alright, let’s get counting.
10 He had Mar-Vell executed for being Un-Kree
Basically at every turn in the original Captain Marvel comics, Yon Rogg is trying to have
Mar-Vell killed.
In Volume #1, issue 10 of Captain Marvel, Yon Rogg thinks he has Mar-Vell for sure when
he ends up ratting on Mar-Vell to Ronan the Accuser, declaring that Mar-Vell has committed
the worst crime, being Un-Kree.
That is he went against a direct order when instead of greeting a potential ally, he defeated
them in order to protect Carol Danvers.
With this evidence against Mar-Vell, Yon-Rogg hopes that Ronan will execute Mar-Vell.
Which Ronan agrees is a fair punishment.
However Mar-Vell is unintentionally saved by Aakon warriors, another alien race who
are an enemy of to the Kree.
And as usual, Yon-Rogg’s plot is foiled.
9 Enemy to Rick Jones
Well sort of.
Who is Rick Jones anyways?
Rick Jones is a fantastically under-appreciated character.
He causes the Avengers to assemble for the first time by sending them a radio warning
about the Hulk, who is out on the loose.
For a time, he was Cap’s sidekick.
But where does fit in with Yon-Rogg and Captain Marvel?
Well he sort of is Captain Marvel.
In a way.
In volume 1, issue 17 of Captain Marvel, he finds Captain Marvel’s nega bands.
After putting them on and clanging them together, he merges with Mar-Vell who is trapped in
the negaverse.
The two immediately take on Yon-Rogg together in the same issue and have a few run ins with
him throughout the comics.
8 Has powers like Carol’s in the comics
Being Kree, Carol Danvers and Yon Rogg share a lot of similar powers.
They are both immune to disease and poison and are considered just generally more durable
than most humans, like many other Kree.
But this isn’t all the power Yon-Rogg has.
After being exposed to the explosion from the psyche-magnitron which grants Carol her
powers, Yon-Rogg is suspected dead.
Later in the comics, when he pops back up, we find out he survived and his exposure to
the psyche-magnitron, making him even stronger.
7 Appeared in cartoons
Yon-Rogg seems to be depicted differently every time he pops up.
While you may be familiar with the comic book iteration of him and the MCU iteration, did
you know that he also appeared in Disney XD’s Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes cartoon
from 2010?
This iteration of him has him looking very different from his screen or comic counterpart.
Yon-Rogg still plays a villian, not really to Carol Danvers but to all of humanity.
He arrives on Earth with Mar-Vale--yes you heard me right, in this cartoon the original
Captain Marvel is referred to as Mar-Vale--and a few other Kree, including Ronan.
The team of Kree are aiming to conquer Earth, of course Mar-Vale declares Earth might make
a better ally and when Yon-Rogg seeks to destroy the planet, Mar-Vale teams up with Avengers
to take him down.
Later Yon-Rogg, Ronan and Mar-Vale return at the behest of the Kree empire and are successfully
defeated and sent to prison after being apprehended.
6 Photonic blasts
Oddly enough photonic blasts are not a common superpower.
In fact only Captain Marvel is really known for this super power.
Photon blasts are also known as being super powerful and can do a lot of damage.
However, Carol and Yon-Rogg are so linked from their transformative experience with
the psyche-magnitron, that he when he returns to comics under the supervillain name, Magnetron
in the Enemy Within story arc, he also has this ability.
Joining the ranks of the very few Marvel characters who can produce a photonic blast.
5 He has two children
In both Captain Marvel Vol 3 and Captain Marvel Vol 4 we see the first appearance of Yon-Rogg’s
kids.
Yeah, that’s right, Yon-Rogg has kids, who end up getting exiled to Earth and who end
up becoming enemies to Captain Marvel, seeking revenge on behalf of their father who they
believe to be dead.
Of course, later we find out Yon-Rogg never was dead.
But we didn’t know that yet.
This was an interesting time in the Marvel storyline, the early 2000s.
It’s never explained who their mother is in the comics and although the brother and
sister duo, Zey-Rogg and Una-Rogg, seem somewhat random in terms of comic lore and story, Una
is an especially interesting character.
We are introduced to her shortly after she arrives on earth and watch her zap a human
of their energy with just one kiss, feeding off their life force for sustenance.
The pair also seem like they have cybernetic enhancements with the way they are drawn in
the comics.
Think Nebula in the MCU.
Captain Marvel vol 4, issues 12 & 13
4 He has a telepathic connection with Carol
Danvers
As both characters were almost killed by the psyche-magnetron and both survived, it appears
the two have been linked.
In fact after his reappearance in Captain Marvel volume 7, Yon-Rogg, aka Magnetron attributes
his survival to this psychic link, clarifying that it was Carol Danver’s strength that
gave him strength.
As he powers grew, so did his.
It also appears that he knows her memories and as a result of the accident that granted
them both their powers, their minds have been melded for quite some time.
Carol can break the hold Yon-Rogg has on her by creating a brain lesion she was diagnosed
with to burst.
The lesion has appeared as a result of her brain seemingly being overworked from activating
her flight powers.
And in using her flight powers, she sacrifices her own memories, giving herself brain damage,
in order to sever the tie between her and Yon-Rogg.
3 Was part of a plot to take down the supreme
intelligence... sort of
Yon Rogg was inadvertently part of a plot to take down the supreme intelligence.
Okay so the story goes like this.
Zarek the Kree Imperial Minister and Ronan the Accuser both second and third in rank
to the Supreme Intelligence respectively, plotted to make Yon-Rogg jealous.
Yeah, that’s the main part of their plot to take over the Kree empire…
Weak plan, I know.
If Yon-Rogg worked under Mar-Vell they knew he would become jealous of his commander and
his jealousy would lead him to betray Mar-Vell and hopefully have him named traitor to Kree
empire.
This of course, comes to pass, as Zarek and Ronan apparently knew it would.
Then they could basically create a catastrophe in Hala and blame that it on Mar-Vell so that
they would be named “public heroes.”
And then I guess they would just be handed the keys to the Kree empire?
I mean weren’t they already revered as public officials anyways?
I don’t know.
But that’s the story of how Yon-Rogg was used to try and conquer the Kree empire.
Oh, the silver age of comics.
Whatta weird time.
2 He tried to drop a Kree city on top of New
York
When Yon-Rogg returned from the dead, one of his main goals was to get revenge on Carol
Danvers.
Part of this plot involved conquering Earth and giving it as a gift to the Kree empire.
However, when Yon-Rogg made a collect space call home, the Kree declared that they didn’t
really want Earth and didn’t really care about Yon-Rogg either.
Annoyed, Yon-Rogg then came up with a better plot to turn New York into New Hala by literally
calling a replica Hala into existence and dropping it on top of New York.
Fortunately, his plot was foiled by Captain Marvel and the Avengers but you got give him
props for thinking big on that one.
1 Yon-Rogg’s Villianous Motivation?
To Get A Date
That’s right.
Yon-Rogg really only became a villian due to some unrequited love.
When Mar-Vell and Yon-Rogg first came on their mission to Earth there was another member
of their crew, Una.
She was the medic of the crew.
Kind of weird to crew to begin with but anyways, Una fell in love with Mar-Vell but Yon-Rogg
loved Una.
And it was Una’s love for Mar-Vell that made Yon-Rogg jealous of him in the first
place.
It was due to the fact that he wanted Una for himself that he tried to so hard to get
Mar-Vell killed so many times.
Una eventually died in the comics but at this point Yon-Rogg was established as a villian
to Captain Marvel and so his jealously and spite for Mar-Vell simply just grew and was
later inherited by others who took up the mantle or worked alongside his nemesis.
But really I think Yon-Rogg just needs more hugs.
Well friends, that was our list.
I hope you learned something new about our villainous friend, Yon-Rogg.
What did you think of Jude Law’s portrayal of him in the MCU?
Do you think we might get to see Una-Rogg or Yon-Rogg in Endgame or elsewhere in the
MCU?
Let me know in the comments below.
I know I would love to see the two team up on the big screen myself.
But who would play Yon’s daughter, Una?
Hmmm.
I have ideas.
Thank you so much for watching!
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I’m Amanda McKnight and from all of us at Top 10 Nerd, you stay nerdy, YouTube.