Kamala Khan is one of the most immediately likable characters in the immense catalog of Marvel Comics, and her on-screen debut will undoubtedly be a big moment. The MCU isn’t glued to the source material, but they do love to recontextualize and recreate some fan-favorite panels, pages, and lines to create new from the old.
Khan was introduced to Marvel Comics by G. Willow Wilson, Adrian Alphona, and Jamie McKelvie in 2013, and though her history isn’t long, it is fascinating. Khan wasthe first Muslim heroto headline a Marvel Comic book, and she has quickly become a fan favorite.
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Ms. Marvelis coming to Disney+ in her own limited series before joining the big-screen MCU inThe Marvelsdown the road. Only a couple of trailers have dropped so far, but it’s clear that some big changes have been made. Herpowers do not resemblethose of her comic book counterpart, but her life and circumstances seem ripped from the page. The radical change in her superhuman abilities almost guarantees a very different origin for her powers. While most of her big moments occur alongside other comic book heroes, her solo debut will likely be light on other MCU mainstays. With that in mind, theMs. Marvelseries is designed to be a setup for thebigger things that Marvel hasbeen happy to tease. That shouldn’t stop it, however, from being a personal story about a lovable hero.
Ms. Marvel’s Mom
Like every other high school superhero, one of the most important and most difficult aspects of Kamala Khan’s life is hiding her double identity from her parents. Kamala’s father Yusuf and mother Muneebaare immigrants from Pakistanwho raise their daughter with a fairly strict traditional upbringing. Kamala’s father is extremely protective of her, often to the point of feeling overbearing, but her relationship with her mother is unique and different. After acquiring her superpowers, Kamala makes the decision most in her position find themselves making: she crafts a secret identity and tells almost no one. For years, her only confidant is her best friend Bruno, but when the world threatens to end, she finally tells her mother her secret and is shocked by her response.
Muneeba explains to her daughter that not only is she happy to see her take on a hero’s mantle, but that she’s known all along. It’s a hugely emotional moment that recontextualizes ateenage hero’s relationship withone of the most important figures in her life. Although in the comics, this only occurs at the end of a tremendous storyline and the world’s final hours, Kamala’s heartfelt confession and her mother’s wholesome response would be moving regardless of the fate of the world. This would be a great moment for a hero’s introduction, perfectly suited for the big third act high point before the final confrontation.
Red Dagger
Awkward teen romance is a staple of Kamala’s life, both as a hero and as a normal teen. She’s had a number of love interests over the years, most of which have not gone over very well. Her normal identity undergoes traditional high school romance, ripped straight from the plot of the average John Hughes vehicle. But, her Ms. Marvel identity has a love interest of her own. Kamala regularly finds herself torn between a crush at school, her childhood friend, and the mysterious Red Dagger, with whom Kamala shares her first kiss.
Thetrailer for the seriesprominently showed off Kamran, the boy Kamala admires in secret, but only let the Red Dagger appear for a moment. Kareem, the Red Dagger, appears suddenly in Khan’s native New Jersey and completely shows up the veteran hero, pushing her to briefly quit. The love triangle is often an overdone trope, but Ms. Marvel’s take on the concept is one of the best.
Kamala’s Bracelets
Ms. Marvel seems to be getting her powers from acharacteristic pair of glowing wristbands. While that’s a far cry from her original gimmick, theInhumanshave a bad track record in the MCU, which may have caused Marvel to deviate from the comics. Though Kamala doesn’t wield energy blasts or hard light constructs from a pair of wrist-mounted weapons, her comic book counterpart does wear a set of bangles that are important to her backstory.
Kamala’s signature bangles in the comics can be used to store items in a hidden hollow compartment. She mostly uses it to keep her phone safe,since her suit seemsto lack pockets, but it has many other uses. They were originally a set of jangling bracelets, but her best friend Bruno fused them into one distinct bracelet. That bracelet holds a great deal of sentimental value for her, as it was revealed later that they were an important tool for her grandmother, who used them when she escaped the partition of India by moving to Karachi. Whether this interesting item and its eventual significance will pop up remains to be seen, but Kamala’s heritage and her friend Bruno are both key to her depiction.
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