If you had told me five years ago that Kamala Khan was going to join the Marvel Cinematic Universe, I wouldn’t have believed you. If you had told me 10 years ago, I would have assumed you were talking about Carol Danvers, because Kamala didn’t exist yet; Marvel’s first Muslim superhero to headline her own series was created in 2013 by G. Willow Wilson and Sana Amanat. But young actor Iman Vellani has arrived as the titular superhero.
We didn’t get much footage of Vellani as the Pakistani-American teenager, but what we did get sets up the Ms. Marvel series nicely. Right now, the only way to view the new clips is if you already subscribe to Disney+. For those who don’t, we’ll describe what we can for you. We see Kamala at some sort of Captain Marvel museum or display, looking up in awe at a shiny flying statue of the hero—she’s clearly a big fan of Captain Marvel. Interestingly, in a scene reminiscent of the one in which Carol Danvers received her own powers, Kamala is blown backward by some sort of energy while she’s standing in a crowd. Presumably this is where she gets those stretching and “embiggening” powers—or something slightly different, if rumors are to be believed. We also hear a bit about her internal struggle as she believes “it’s not really the brown girls from Jersey City who save the world.” (If you’ve read the comics, you know better.) There’s also a very quick shot of what may be a four-person villain gang hanging out in a lot of smoke and, as her friend cheers her on, Kamala makes a giant leap off a building and we can see her flying in a reflection of another building.
Honestly, Vellani looks perfect as Khan. Amusingly, we didn’t get a look at her in her official outfit, just a cheap Captain Marvel costume. Some paparazzi shots from the filming of the show leaked last year, meaning we already knew what she was going to be wearing and how incredibly accurate to Ms. Marvel’s comics costume, originally designed by Jamie McKelvie, it would be—right down to the stylized lightning bolt across her chest. Which is admittedly a little weird, since it was inspired by Carol Danvers’ Ms. Marvel outfit, which Carol has never worn in the MCU.
Ms. Marvel also stars Matt Lindt as her best friend Bruno, Zenobia Shroff as her mother Muneeba, Mohan Kapur as her father Yusuf, Saagar Shaikh as her brother Ami, and Aramis Knight as Kareem, aka the Red Dagger. The six-episode series will serve as a prequel to the Captain Marvel sequel movie The Marvels, starring Brie Larson as Carol Danvers/Captain Marvel, Teyonah Perris as Monica Rambeau, and Vellani, and will premiere in 2022.
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DISCUSSION
I’m a die-hard Marvel nerd, though generally don’t mind when they take creative liberties as long as they capture the essence of the characters they’re adapting, but leaked marketing assets point to Kamala’s powerset being completely changed and I really don’t understand why.
I can see her MCU powers functioning in basically the same way as her comic powers, but the change just doesn’t make sense and completely removes one of the key aspects of the character.
Kamala is a great and I hope the show kicks ass, but I’m worried they may have changed too much and won’t have any justification for it.