Disney+ projects have been filling the dead air between Marvel’s big theatrical releases for over a year now. We already had WandaVision, Falcon and Bucky, Loki, Hawkeye, and Moon Knight, and we’re getting Ms. Marvel this week with even more titles, like She-Hulk and Secret Invasion to come in the near future.
As you can tell, the hallmark of the platform has become stories based on the Marvel universe, most of which revolve around characters we already know or those that need to have their stories told but can’t be put in the movies just yet. That’s exactly what happened with our teen superheroine — Kamala Khan, aka Ms. Marvel. She first appeared in the Captain Marvel graphic novel in 2013, and in 2014 she got her own solo series.
Kamala Khan is a Pakistani-American Muslim girl from New Jersey, obsessed with writing superhero fanfiction and playing video games. In the Disney+ series, she doesn’t seem to get along with her classmates too well, but this soon becomes less important when Kamala gets her superpowers.
In the comics, Kamala was an Inhuman with sort of an elastic, almost cartoony-style body. She could make parts of her body bigger, a lot like Luffy from One Piece. You know what they say, “if you’re going to steal, steal from the best.” Now, in the TV series, her powers seem to be more alien-tech-based, as we see those energy projections coming off of her arms and body. We still don’t know the complete origins of those powers, but one thing is certain – they do look very cool on the screen.
If rumors and fan theories are to be believed, Ms. Marvel’s new powers come from the Nega Bands — an artifact ripped straight from the pages of the comic. But why were these powerful objects given to a child? We will find out all in due time.
Critics are already pointing out that Kamala’s debut could be a turning point for Marvel because much like Peter Parker once was, Ms. Marvel is a realistic teenager who, in addition to saving the world, may have to deal with more mundane and relatable problems, including school bullying and probably some religion-based comments.
A young but very promising actress, Iman Vellani, will be playing Kamala Khan, but even before we see if the show flops or not (it won’t), Iman has already been booked for the 2023 Marvel movie — “The Marvels.” Can you guess who else will be in it? Here’s a small hint: Kamala’s greatest idol is Captain Marvel, who in the comics used to have the “Ms. Marvel” title before Kamala. Not only that, there was another Ms. Marvel years before that that later rebranded herself as Photon.
This is pretty much all but confirmed that Monica Rambeau, aka Photon, aka Captain Marvel, who we’ve seen getting her powers in WandaVision, will indeed be the third “Marvel.” Who knows, maybe we’ll get to see Mar’Vell one day just to make things really confusing for the casual viewers.
Either way, the upcoming Ms Marvel show looks very promising, and as a fan of the character, I really want it to be good, even though it will be nothing like the comics.
