First Muslim Superhero Show, Ms. Marvel Is Stretching Her Way Into The MCU

Kamala Khan has stepped foot into the Marvel Cinematic Universe with her brand-new show, Ms. Marvel.

For those unaware of Kamala, in the comics she’s an inhuman who looks up to the superhero Captain Marvel.

Now there are some slight changes from the comic in the MCU version, for a start, it’s unclear if they’re taking the inhuman root.

By now, everyone’s seen the Blackbolt cameo in Doctor Strange: MOM which confirms that there are Inhumans somewhere within the MCU; but does that make Kamala one of them?

We’ve only seen a snippet of her powers towards the end of the episode, but it appears that her powers come from the bracelet more so than anything inhuman related. I have a theory that Kamala is still inhuman, but the bracelet somehow amplifies her powers instead of the Terrigen crystals that are commonly associated with the Inhumans.

So, let’s talk about the show, shall we?

Right off the bat I love the little animations that pop up all throughout the episode, it makes the whole thing feel youthful and fun. It’s insanely creative and makes me think of movies like The Mitchells Vs The Machines and to an extent Into The Spiderverse.

The camera angles are just beautiful, I thought I liked a lot of shots from Moon knight but so far Ms. Marvel is really taking the cake. In just the first episode alone, I’m extremely excited to see how they’ll physically portray fight scenes and more scenes with her powers.

I really love how they handle texting too, every coming-of-age story has at least one scene where two kids are texting, and you physically see their messages on the screen. Most of the time it looks pretty generic, but here they make it really interesting.

By using the background and the characters surroundings and incorporating that into the whole text dialogue, it provides some crazy looking visuals that I adore.

Moving onto the characters, I can’t say I know Kamala that well. I’ve obviously heard of her, and I’ve seen her in other forms of media like animations and games, but I’ve never actively gone out and read her comics.

I understand enough about her character to say I think they’ve done a great portrayal and I genuinely do believe that Iman Vellani does a great job as the character. You feel this weird connection to Kamala without truly knowing who she is, just the first scene alone tells you what kind of person she is.

Kamala is a fangirl and in the best way possible, she isn’t a crazed psycho like how most media portray fangirls. Instead, she’s fun and witty, she takes pride in her art and embraces what she likes and defends who she is.

I love the way the show embraces fandom, I wouldn’t be surprised if in any of the Avenger’s Con shots there are actually Marvel cosplayers there, and actual fanart used. I love it when companies embrace their fans, of course, too much can ruin a project but when done just right it can come out amazing.

The side-characters are a lot of fun too, although we mainly just stick with Kamala and her family, we do see how some of her relationships with others play out. Matt Lintz is great as Bruno, he’s fun and witty like Kamala but doesn’t feel like a clone copy of every other superhero sidekick.

I love the interactions with him and Kamala’s family, you truly get the sense that they’re very close-knit and have known each other for a while.

And with that, I’m interested to see how the family dynamic will change. It’s fascinating to see Kamala interacting with her mother, it’s very relatable for people who see themselves in that situation.

Of course, Kamala is the first Pakistani superhero to grace out television screens. I can’t speak on the reputation but from what I’ve gathered online, the general consensus is that it’s pretty good. I’m glad more superheroes from anywhere other than the USA are getting some light.

Just like the Scarlet Scarab, I can’t wait to see Ms. Marvel working alongside someone like Captain America and Kate Bishop.

Ms. Marvel was a great surprise, I wasn’t really excited for it when the project was announced nor was I excited when the first trailer came out. But the show surprised me, and I ended the episode excited and entertained.

I can’t wait to see how the series will shape up, hopefully it only gets better from here.

Ms. Marvel gets 3 out of 5 Hulk Smashes from me.

Ms. Marvel is streaming on Disney+ with new episodes out every Wednesday.