Since its inception, the course of Marvel Studios’ cinematic universe has been mapped out. Iron Man promised that a team of heroes would come together, and The Avengers proved that they could. The 2012 movie promised that they would return, with the real big bad behind it all still to come. The saga is now concluding with Avengers: Infinity War and its 2019 sequel, leading us to ask: What next?
I can’t deny I’m a little intrigued by the possibility of further sequels or another crossover event (Secret Invasion is a safe bet), but they can do better than that. If they want to make the most of their dominant position on the blockbuster scene and keep things feeling fresh and new, they really need to broaden their horizons and bring in new characters.
Characters like Kamala Khan, aka Ms. Marvel.
Her first appearance sold out seven times over in print, became Marvel’s #1 digital seller, and the first volume became the top-selling graphic novel of the month. One needs only look at the ‘Kamala Korps’ assembled at comic cons across the world to see that this is a character people care deeply for.
Fans have been pining for her to make an appearance at some point, but this passion was reignited when President of Marvel Studios Kevin Feige explained that a Ms. Marvel movie is “definitely sort of in the works,” once Captain Marvel is released next year. So what’s all the fuss about?
Ms. Marvel: The Next Phase
Kamala Khan’s Ms. Marvel made her debut in 2014, and she immediately established herself as one of Marvel’s best characters. Comics are full of various mantles being passed down, and Ms. Marvel is no different. Carol Danvers first took on the title, before shedding it to be the new Captain Marvel – a name she is keeping for her movie debut – and leaving the name up for grabs.
Kamala is able to both to stretch, change her size (“embiggen” as she calls it), and alter her appearance. Inspired by Captain Marvel, she takes up her former name and decides to fight crime on her turf – that of Jersey City.
What makes Kamala compelling is not her powerset or her origin story – but the way it intersects with her personal life. Kamala is a sixteen-year-old Pakistani-American, growing up in a Muslim household, and her family life is as much a part of her stories as her superheroics are.
The night she discovers her powers, she sneaks out of her house to attend a party, only to be humiliated when she only finds jokes at the expense of her family and culture. On the way home, she is subjected to the Inhumans’ ‘terrigen mist’ released on the city, activating dormant super-powered genes in her body.
Soon after, she finds the same girl that mistreated her earlier that evening is in peril. Kamala is faced with the choice to risk alienating herself even further from her peers, or save the life of the person who has belittled her time and time again. Before she acts, she thinks back to a verse from the Quran that her dad often quotes when he sees something terrible happen on TV:
“Whoever kills one person, it is as if he has killed all of mankind.
“And whoever saves one person, it is as if he has saved all of mankind.”
Kamala Khan is not just a great hero, but a historic one too.
No Normal
A Ms. Marvel movie is an obvious draw for misrepresented and marginalised groups, offering a glimpse into the life of a culture rarely seen in movies. As a Pakistani-American Muslim, even the mundanities of her everyday life would be enlightening for most white audiences, especially in a time where the Western world is rife with misunderstanding, racism and xenophobia.
Kamala isn’t happy about her parents’ strict rules or her brother’s dogmatic views, but she isn’t ashamed of her culture either. Her uniform is an updated version of the original Ms. Marvel costume, fashioned out of South Asian clothes.
The superhero logo emblazened into her kameez, her salwaar tucked into her combat boots, her dupatta worn more like a cape than a headscarf – she becomes her own kind of hero, after realizing that not everyone needs to look like Carol Danvers or Steve Rogers to save the day.
America, and a lot of the world for in recent years, has become inundated with Islamophobia. It doesn’t help that Hollywood only offers very specific representations (if any) in fiction. Who better to address this than the first Muslim (and the first South Asian) to headline a mainstream American superhero comic?
For people like Kamala – who are stereotyped, disrespected, and thought of as an invading enemy – there isn’t much out there in popular entertainment to change the tide of misguided public opinion. Seeing a girl whose superheroics are absurd yet whose family life is normal and relatable is a powerful in itself.
The comic tackles the warped body image that the medium often sells, and challenges narrow standards of beauty and acceptability – all without taking itself too seriously or becoming too didactic. Kamala is allowed to make mistakes, to be vulnerable and confident, to rebel and to come to an understanding of her parents. It’s a new perspective, but one that is universally relatable. It’s fitting that the first story arc is named ‘No Normal’.
Generation Why
I don’t think I’ve ever been more excited than when, as an eight-year-old boy, I saw Spider-Man on the big screen for the first time. The whole point of Spider-Man’s conception was to create a hero that teenagers could relate to – one that had homework and crushes, was bullied and frustrated by the limitations placed on them. It worked for me then, and Kamala Khan offers something similar for others.
Peter Parker is now on his second reboot, with Spider-Man: Homecoming focusing on his role within a world changed by the Avengers. We’ve seen his story told, sometimes masterfully, sometimes terribly, but there’s an alternative just waiting to be adapted. And while the Spider-Man movies attempt to adapt the decades-old character for a younger audience, Ms. Marvel was born that way.
Just as the first arc of the comic explores her personal and cultural identity, the second arc (‘Generation Why’) examines the worthlessness teenagers feel today. The idea of a superhero origin coinciding with the challenges of growing up in a dangerous world is a familiar one, but the specifics change with each cycle. Kamala is a superhero fangirl, a Tumblr blogger, a fan fiction writer, and she is also one dealing with problems specific to her generation.
These important topics are weaved into Ms. Marvel, but while they are undeniably a significant part of its DNA, it is never overwhelmed by them. There’s a reason why Ms. Marvel is beloved, and it’s not just because of what it represents – but how entertaining it is. Her first meeting with Wolverine (now actually a possibility with the Fox-Disney merger) is an all-timer, not to mention moments like God of Mischief Loki being mistaken for a hipster from Brooklyn.
Most importantly, just by telling its story, Ms. Marvel can educate kids (we shouldn’t forget who the primary audience of this genre are) on the normality of what’s happening next door. The prospect of an eight-year-old hearing the word ‘Muslim’ and thinking ‘like Ms. Marvel’, and the millions who would see something akin to their lives on the big screen for once, seems like too good an opportunity to pass up. Hopefully Marvel’s “definitely sort of” is upgraded to something more concrete soon.
What other characters do you think should turn up in the MCU next?
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