Ms. Marvel, the six-part Disney+ series starring the publisher’s incredibly beloved young, Pakistani American superhero Kamala Khan, is finally here. Before we begin, I must acknowledge I am not a South Asian or Muslim person, but I hope you still find my thoughts as a Marvel fan — who believes Kamala is one of the company’s greatest characters — insightful.
“Generation Why”
Written by Bisha K. Ali
Directed by Adil El Arbi & Bilall Fallah
Kamala (played by Iman Vellani) and her best friend Bruno Carrelli (Matt Lintz) want to attend AvengerCon and compete in a Captain Marvel cosplay contest, but her mother Muneeba (Zenobia Shroff) does not want her to participate in something so crass and immodest. Kamala disobeys, and takes a family bracelet to personalize her outfit, causing her to gain startling and beautiful superpowers as a result.
1. Blinded by the Colors
The MCU’s Disney+ shows have ironically had more saturated and atmospheric cinematography than most of their feature film counterparts, and Ms. Marvel is no different — it also takes the visual imagery to the next level, with dazzling editing and animation from the start, where Kamala presents a cutout stop-motion video explaining her love and admiration for Captain Marvel/Carol Danvers (which gives us a lot of frantic insight into how the public knows about the events of Avengers: Endgame.) It was pretty appropriate the show began with the Weeknd’s “Blinding Lights,” given how bright and colorful the camerawork was.
What’s most intriguing about the show’s storyboarding and animation is that it’s trying to present the world from Kamala’s subjective point-of-view, instead of what many Marvel projects do, which is to give an objective, “factual” window into their world (even the visually similar Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse does this to an extent, as its weirder imagery was still rooted in the multiverse concept.) It’s really refreshing, and I hope it carries over to future films and series, just as you can have numerous comics that take place in the same universe, but are not drawn in the Marvel house style.
2. Familiar Yet Different
I’m not saying every comic adaptation adapts the look of their characters faithfully, but with certain icons, you get used to a certain look, so much so you’d be shocked if you saw Clark Kent or Bruce Wayne or whoever be portrayed with long hair. For me, the look of the characters in G. Willow Wilson and Adrian Alphona’s original “Ms. Marvel” run is so ingrained in how I see them, that it was surprising to see how loose the show’s visual portrayal was: Kamala has long hair instead of a shoulder length cut; her parents Muneeba and Yusuf (Mohan Kapur) look completely different, with Muneeba forgoing a hijab; and Kamala’s older brother Aamir (Saagar Shaikh) has a huge beard and glasses. (I dug that new look in particular, since men with large beards tend to get stereotyped as being aggressive.) Overall, it was an interesting example of how much you can change the letter of the law while maintaining its spirit.
3. Hard Light
On that note, the MCU’s Kamala may not be elastic like her comics counterpart, but her new energy construct powers are a great visual upgrade that maintains the shape of her trademark stretchy limbs and embiggened hands, while still fitting into the stylish world of the TV show. (For what it’s worth, there’s also something really appropriate about having a Muslim superhero’s powers resemble traditional geometric tilework.)
I think the bigger question is whether Kamala is still an Inhuman, or if her powers come entirely from her grandmother’s bracelet: I wouldn’t be surprised if the former concept was left ambiguous at the end of the season, but I can’t imagine her being totally dependent on the bracelet (although it would give her an interesting weakness). Regardless, Muneeba’s behavior towards the heirloom definitely implied someone else in the family had superpowers, and hopefully it’ll provide a way for the Kree heritage Kamala shares with Carol to still play a role in the MCU.
4. Whoa Kamala and Zoe, Are You OK?
Forgive me if I sound stupid for even bringing up realism in the MCU, but this episode blurred the line between fiction and reality so successfully — with a few rewrites, it could’ve been about a fangirl in the real world — that a couple of unrealistic moments did jar with my suspension of disbelief. Kamala breaking the tree branch sneaking out and landing in the pile of leaves unscathed wasn’t so ridiculous, but when Zoe Zimmer (Laurel Marsden), the mean girl who isn’t so mean, started getting swung around by the Mjolnir prop, I couldn’t believe she wasn’t knocked out by the darn thing! I suppose them being little girls didn’t help either: it is inherently more shocking to see them get bumped and bruised than the usual MCU lead.
Continued below5. Sympathetic Muslim Rep, But…
Ms. Marvel is one of the most positive depictions of a Muslim family I’ve ever seen on TV: sure, there’s Ramy, which is also broadcast by Disney, but this is a family show on one of the world’s biggest streaming services, so it has a much greater capacity to reach out to those who might be suspectible to Islamophobia. However, I should share that before the show’s release, there was gentle criticism from reviewers who saw the first two episodes, who felt the show falls into a trap (or at least cliche) a lot of projects about South Asians and Muslims do, which is to present their heritage as something they struggle against.
Maryam Ahmad, of The Wellesley News, states “the series seems to be setting up the big conflict as that of Kamala with the norms of her community. But it’s too close to the ‘Muslim girl just wants to be free of rules’ for my liking. I would like to see more nuance there as the series progresses.” Swara Salih, reviewing the show for io9, pointed out how in the comics, Kamala’s feelings of isolation come from her unconsciously xenophobic peers, whereas here it’s caused by her family. I imagine Kamala’s arc will see her come to proudly embrace her heritage as much as her powers, but it’s an important distinction between the print and screen versions of her, one that’s far more significant than the change in superpowers, and another reminder that, bold as they may be, comic book TV shows will always be one step behind their source material.
Bonus Thoughts:
– It’s cool that Kamala clearly loves Ant-Man as much as Captain Marvel at the start, and that the rolling model of his helmet is what causes her first big superhero moment.
– Kamala’s counselor, Gabe Wilson Jr. (Jordan Firstman), is the G. Willow Wilson (Khan’s real world co-creator) listed on Coles Academic High School’s plaque.
– Couple of comments about Zoe: first, it’s pretty cool how her cosplay homages Carol Danvers’s Ms. Marvel costume(s) from the comics. Secondly, why does she not like the Avengers? Does she blame them for the Snap?
– Loved seeing all the Captain Marvel artwork from folks like Kris Anka and Terry Dodson on Kamala’s walls: here’s hoping they got compensated.
– I missed Mr. Clarke in Stranger Things 4, so imagine my delight when I saw Randy Havens playing Kamala’s driving instructor!
Well that’s all for now folks, and sorry if I sounded so harsh with that last thought, because this was a truly fresh and delightful addition to the MCU. See you all for Episode 2 next week!
