Ms. Marvel

Disney+ series 'Ms. Marvel,' premiering June 8, stars Iman Vellani as Kamala Kahn, the beloved Muslim American comic book character.

Until whatever that reveal might be, though, watching Kamala try to finesse her skills in an echo of “Spider-Man” scenes past proves satisfying, in large part thanks to Vellani’s palpable enthusiasm and easy chemistry with Lintz’s Bruno, Kamala’s steadfast wingman. Before Kamala formally becomes Ms. Marvel and gets subsumed into something greater than herself, she just gets to be herself, and that’s more than enough. Also, and more frankly: This wouldn’t be the first time we got a preview of a Disney+ Marvel show that then became something else in the following episode. Still, it’s undeniably refreshing to see an origin story from the perspective of a Muslim Pakistani American, whose only role in the first wave of Marvel movies might have been handing Captain America a sandwich from behind a bodega counter. As for the actual birth of a new superhero … well, it’s hard to say without seeing beyond the second episode, which ends on a narrative cliffhanger that could go any which way. Like the comic books that inspired it, the on-screen MCU has officially become old enough to spawn a literal new generation of superheroes who grew up watching the Avengers shoot through time and space and back again to stop the bad guys.

Ms. Marvel — coming to Disney Plus on June 8th — finally brings Kamala Khan into the MCU with a heartfelt, all-new origin story that does the hero justice.

It’s rare that either of the big studios putting out comic book movies manage to get their ducks lined up just so, but all of that time, care, and attention shows in Disney Plus’ Ms. Marvel. Like in the comics, Kamala’s faith and ethnicity are important aspects of her identity, and the show explores how and why kids of color like her don’t always feel like the world sees them as people meant to become champions. Ms. Marvel goes a bit further, though, and essentially gives Kamala a wholly new set of abilities that are only able to approximate the flashy aspects of what was originally a nuanced metaphor in the comics. Those ideas are present in Ms. Marvel, and the show slows down in moments when it’s addressing them as parts of its story relating to the people around Kamala. Ms. Marvel herself, though, moves through her series with a momentum that telegraphs how soon she’ll be blasting off to deal with bigger, more VFX-heavy business in space on the big screen. You can’t help but notice all the different ways Ms. Marvel alludes to The Marvels, and that’s to be expected. The Ms. Marvel comics’ commitment to thoughtfully digging into those types of substantive ideas is part of what made the series such a hit with fans. Ms. Marvel’s well aware that it opens up at a time when the MCU’s become a narratively complex place, both for its characters and for Marvel Studios itself. Ms. Marvel still takes time to address Kamala’s self-esteem issues and some of the deeper reasons why she looks up to someone like Captain Marvel. But the show doesn’t go nearly as far with its hero in terms of using its conceit to explore ideas like internalized racism or the pressures Western (read: white) beauty standards put on people of color. Though Kamala Khan’s only been running around Marvel’s comics as Ms. Marvel since 2013, she’s quickly gone on to become one of the brand’s most celebrated heroes who perfectly illustrates how new spins on legacy characters can lead to poignant, refreshing storytelling. Ms. Marvel tackles Kamala’s origin story a little differently than the source material, and its connections to the larger cinematic universe are somewhat nebulous. When we meet her, Kamala’s biggest challenge is getting through high school with her best friends Bruno (Matt Lintz) and Nakia (Yasmeen Fletcher) by her side. Obsessing over superhero fan theories is just the sort of thing Kamala — a nerd — and all of the other students at Coles Academic High School do, though, because they’re kids who grew up watching costumed vigilantes save the world from destruction on a regular basis.

Regardless, Ms. Marvel is absolutely as good as it is thanks to the seemingly effortless, fully grounded, and unabashedly fun lead performance by Iman Vellani.

Some of it will likely prove too silly for Marvel hardcore fans and, judging from early Rotten Tomatoes audience reactions to a series that has yet to premiere, the knives are out for poor Ms. Marvel. But I challenge audiences to watch the entire series before weighing in on it. Here’s hoping audiences will embrace the series for what it aspires to be. To think that such an infectiously joyous presence as Iman Vellani is likely to face the recent racist attacks experienced by Moses Ingram feels incredibly depressing. So far, what we know is that Kamala Khan (Vellani) is an Avengers-obsessed teenage girl whose life goals consist of attending Avengerscon in the perfect Captain Marvel cosplay. Those hybrid Marvel projects tend to be on Disney+ where the stakes are slightly lower. The most successful Marvel Cinematic Universe television series, in my opinion, are the ones that strive to break free from the formula.

The latest television show set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe marks the screen debut of a new hero: Kamala Khan, a.k.a. Ms. Marvel.

“Maybe you cover, maybe you wear clothes a certain way, you have to be very conscious of how you are with men and all these rules that come with it—I struggled with that a lot,” she says. “When you actually have people who are from the region tell the stories, It’s a very different way of storytelling.” Pakistani audiences in particular will be familiar with the music, movies, fabrics, and food included in the show. “I look out at the world, and there’s all these images that either don’t look like me, or they look like bad versions of me.” In the comics, Kamala receives her powers after being exposed to terrigen mist, which gives her the ability to stretch and compress her body. “[Kamala] came about in a very specific time within the comic-book continuity. She is now coming into a very specific time within the MCU continuity. In the comics, Kamala first appears in a storyline with Carol Danvers, Captain Marvel’s civilian identity, but is seen as a voiceless character in the background. The bangle unlocks the powers that were already within Kamala, Amanat says. The show’s pilot hinges on Kamala trying to cosplay as her favorite superhero at Avenger Con. While her parents initially shut down the idea, they later warm up to it, under certain conditions that she, as a rebellious teen, chooses not to follow. Why can’t I be a part of it?” Amanat says. Kamala sets up the show’s premise in the first episode, telling her best friend Bruno Carrelli, “Let’s be honest.

A review of the new Disney+ series Ms. Marvel, premiering on June 8.

Employee 1, hesitantly: “To what degree is the superhero a Marvel fan? Executive, coldly: “Is this your first day on the job? We are using a marginalized culture as a crutch to get a new demographic of viewers. Employee 3: “I say we—hm, we need older viewers too, so ... let’s say her grandmother, in Pakistan, sends the family a box of old clothing and jewelry, because the superhero’s brother is getting married. Employee 3: “No need to reinvent the wheel. They share a will-they, won’t-they dynamic, at least in the first two episodes, the only ones we’ll make available to critics.” Employee 2: “Won’t the artwork make each frame too cluttered? Employee 3, scoffing: “What piffle! It should be normal for our audience to hear other languages, just as they’re spoken in households around the country.” Employee 3: “Even if Fox and Newsmax go hard on our performative inclusion, we can sell a young Muslim woman as the newest iteration of superhero. Employee 2: “Describing women that way is incredibly demeaning. This would be a good time, I think, to adapt Ms. Marvel.”

Ms. Marvel's surprise mid-credits stinger has big implications for the new hero and her MCU future.

If Cleary is affiliated with Fury closely enough to know his current whereabouts, then perhaps the DODC took notes from Fury on how to recruit new heroes in his absence. Considering that’s the only experience that MCU audiences have with Agent Cleary so far, many fans are likely going to take his appearance in Ms. Marvel as a bad sign for the new high school hero. Fans can gather from the post-credits scene that Cleary and his team were already on the lookout for super-powered people, but it isn't clear why. With that in mind, all fans have seen Cleary do thus far is gather information the same way SHIELD does: efficiently and effectively with a dash of intimidation. Few fans were expecting Agent Cleary’s surprise appearance in the Ms. Marvel series, which has presented a handful of new MCU questions. Ms. Marvel's first episode has already given audiences some new MCU insight into how the Avengers are viewed by fans like Kamala Khan. Much like Spider-Man is portrayed in the MCU, Kamala spends her days marveling at the thought of becoming a young superhero.

"Ms Marvel" is the newest Marvel Disney+ series to be coming to the streaming platform, and it will introduce the franchise's first Muslim superhero to the ...

- Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings - 2024 "I cannot tell you off the top of my head because I would butcher it. - The Falcon and Winter Solider - 2024

Kamala Khan is already attracting some unwanted attention. Here's what Marvel fans should know about the surprising MCU cameo included in the post-credits ...

The Inverse Analysis — The Ms. Marvel premiere isn’t too interested in setting up any of the future threats that Kamala Khan will have to face throughout the show’s remaining five episodes. If there’s anything that Episode 1’s post-credits scene does make clear, it’s that Kamala Khan’s days of living as an anonymous no one are about to come to a quick end. That will make Cleary, Deever, and the rest of Damage Control anxious to track Kamala down and possibly cut her superhero transformation short. The first episode of Ms. Marvel takes its time getting to Kamala Khan’s (Iman Vellani) superhero transformation. The scene begins with a Damage Control agent named Sadie Deever (Alysia Reiner) watching a video of Kamala’s game-changing AvengerCon moment on her phone. The latter agent made his MCU debut last year in Spider-Man: No Way Home, which included a sequence where Peter Parker (Tom Holland) and his loved ones are all arrested by Cleary and other members of his organization.

Kamala Khan is your average teenage girl living in Jersey City, New Jersey. She loves video games, fanfiction, and frequenting her local convenience store ...

With the exception of MS. MARVEL AND WOLVERINE (hitting comic shops this August), all comics mentioned here can be read on digital comics super-service Marvel Unlimited! However, Kamala, as Ms. Marvel, chose in CHAMPIONS (2020) #1 to continue her hero work, regardless of her outlaw label and without consulting her teammates. Even though Kamala eventually returned and kicked reptilian (and amphibian) butt in issue #28, the Kamala Corps put up a good fight. In OUTLAWED (2020) #1, a battle broke out at Kamala’s high school, and it led to her being majorly injured. She is an inaugural member of the next-generation Champions and its leader. The Marvels eventually reconciled in MS. MARVEL (2015) #28. In her second volume, MS. MARVEL (2015), Kamala goes from being Captain Marvel’s number one fan to falling out with her over the subject of predictive justice. It’s at this party that Kamala is engulfed in Terrigen Mist (from the Terrigen Bomb released in 2013’s INFINITY #6 by Inhuman king Black Bolt), unlocking latent supernatural abilities. Well, she can alter her size and appearance, which includes not just transforming into a perfect copy of other people, but into inanimate objects as well. One night, she sneaks out of her room to attend a party. Kamala is also the polymorphic Ms. Marvel! She broke ground in 2014 by becoming the first Muslim Marvel hero (and Pakistani American) to headline a series. With almost ten years in the game, she knows a thing or two about being a hero.

The future is in her hands. Stream the premiere on Disney+ now!

Episodes are directed by Adil El Arbi & Bilall Fallah, Meera Menon, and Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy. Kevin Feige, Louis D’Esposito, Victoria Alonso, and Bisha K. Ali are the executive producers. Life gets better with super powers, right? - "Star Spangled Man" — The Star Spangled Singers

Ms. Marvel is finally here, and our favorite fangirl Kamala Khan is ready to take the world by storm. That is, after she's done with her homework. Kamala is a ...

Still, Damage Control doesn’t seem like they’re going to be a fun part of Ms. Marvel’s life at any point throughout this series. The most obvious choices are The Inventor, Ms. Marvel’s first villain in the comics and a human-bird hybrid (it’s complicated), or Kamran, Kamala’s first crush who ends up having secret Inhuman abilities. Given what we know about the series so far, it seems unlikely that Damage Control will act as Ms. Marvel’s major foil throughout the series. As for who Ms. Marvel’s true villain will end up being, there are a lot of options! They’ve also partnered with Stark Industries in the past, working to collect powerful alien tech. Oh yeah, and that partnership with Stark Industries lost Adrian Toomes his job, meaning they’re basically responsible for the Vulture’s origin. His colleague Sadie Deever (Alysia Reiner) is making her Marvel Cinematic Universe debut here in Ms. Marvel, but we don’t expect she’ll be much more pleasant to deal with. Ms. Marvel is finally here, and our favorite fangirl Kamala Khan is ready to take the world by storm. Damage Control kicked things off as a subsidiary of S.H.I.E.L.D. (someone’s gotta clean up after those Avengers). After the Chitauri invaded, Damage Control shifted from S.H.I.E.L.D. to report under the executive branch of the United States government. Kamala also happens to be one of the few Marvel characters without any kind of arch nemesis, so there’s a chance that this is less of a sweeping series villain kind of scenario and we will see something a little bit closer to flavor of the week type baddies. Let’s talk about that Ms. Marvel mid-credits scene. Kamala is a normal teen girl with normal teen problems — she is loved but misunderstood by her family, she’s got her head in the clouds, and she’s expected to know what she wants to do with her whole life while she’s in junior year of high school.

Ms. Marvel episode 1 is a shot in the arm for the MCU: an irresistible sugar rush with good vibes to spare.

Though the series delivers a large helping of effortless charm from the entire cast, Vellani is the star of Ms. Marvel, and much of this episode’s success rests on the 19-year-old’s shoulders. As fellow Den of Geek editor Alec Bojalad quite succinctly put it, Ms. Marvel is “a fun superhero origin story for MCU fans, about MCU fans, and starring an MCU fan.” Kamala collects merch and yearns to attend the very first Avengers Con. She idolizes Captain Marvel and can’t get enough of Scott Lang’s tall tales. Watching this was like drinking the combined end credits sequences of Jon Watts’ Spider-Man trilogy and the spirit of Into the Spider-Verse in a big ol’ Slushie – just an irresistible sugar rush. For my money, this was the best Marvel Disney+ pilot of the lot. Then, the Disney+ arm of the MCU round-housed us with the ambitious-but-divisive Moon Knight earlier this year, and even some hardcore Marvel fans started wondering if Phase 4 was getting a bit messy. MCU Phase 4 has been a time of experimentation for Marvel Studios. After a slam dunk Phase 3 climax with Avengers: Endgame, there was a shift as Marvel seemed to understand that in a lot of ways they had to start from scratch by building new corners inside their established universe.

The Disney Plus superhero series boasts a representation of Islam we rarely see onscreen.

What that heritage is will no doubt be one of the central plot points this season, especially as it seems Muneeba is reluctant to discuss her mother or family in any great detail. “I can’t wear a shalwar kameez to AvengerCon, okay, and you can’t come with me, not dressed like that because it is so humiliating.” And then, silence, as we feel the weight of those sentences settle in. But school and Aamir’s wedding are all a distraction from Kamala’s goal of getting to AvengerCon. Despite her initial reluctance, Muneeba agrees to let Kamala go, on a couple of conditions. This scene—as the horror drifts over Kamala’s face at the realization of what she’s said, as her father tries to hide his hurt over his daughter’s rejection, as her mother expresses her disappointed in a quiet, controlled voice—is the most powerful in this episode, because it feels so true. The change in powers won’t make everyone happy, but I’m willing to hold out before I judge, especially as it’s clear that in the show Kamala’s powers are in some way linked to her family and heritage. It’s only by tying a scarf around the waist and donning her grandmother’s bracelet (stolen from the box in the attic) that Kamala can go on stage at AvengerCon, after she and Bruno sneak out of the house and make it there despite a series of small disasters. The only thing more cringy was Kamala’s guidance counselor Mr Wilson, although his proclamation that in Kamala he sees “a girl divided” is spot on. Islam is woven into the fabric of my life, not something that lives separately to me; it manifests in different ways at different moments; and it’s always there, like it is for the Khans. From the moment Kamala calls her mom ammi and rolls up a paratha for breakfast, it’s clear this show has thought about the little touches needed to present the Khans as authentically as possible. Could that be a cuff Kamala spots in a box her grandmother has sent over from Pakistan? Definitely, since Muneeba confiscates it right away and is acting very sus about the whole thing. This is a representation of Islam we rarely see onscreen: subtle but not hidden, and one that feels realistic to me. Or do you want to be some cosmic-head-in-the-clouds person?” Those words from Muneeba Khan (Zenobia Shroff), directed at her daughter Kamala (Iman Vellani), come at the close of the first episode of Ms. Marvel and tidily sum up the premise of the series: Who is it that Kamala Khan actually wants to be?

'Ms. Marvel's premiere sets up a teen sitcom-meets-cosmic superhero origin story.

Muneeba's mother sends the family a box of old trinkets, one of which is the bangle that later in the episode gives Kamala her powers. And with the post-credit scene featuring Spider-Man: No Way Home's Agent Cleary (Arian Moayed) interested in investigating this thus-far-unknown superhero that has emerged in New York, it seems likely the lines between Kamala's real life and superhero life are about to grow very blurred. Kamala Khan holds the distinction of being the MCU's first Muslim superhero, and the Khans are all practicing Muslims. An interesting choice made in the first episode shows the varying degrees to which each family member practices their faith. Besides serving as an introduction to Kamala herself, the episode also does a wonderful job setting up all those around her who play a part in making her who she is. But with Ms. Marvel, the newest superhero series on Disney+, Marvel is taking a step back into the more grounded, with an origin story that feels far more relatable and real than anything they've done lately. That fact becomes especially important throughout the episode, whose driving tension seems pulled right out of a teen sitcom: sneak out and get to AvengerCon without the parents finding out.

In "Ms. Marvel," Disney Plus's latest Marvel series, a Pakistani American teen juggles high school, superpowers and a family secret.

And yet I can’t be the only bystander to Marvel’s reign over pop culture made cranky by its burgeoning insularity. In her Captain Marvel costume, Kamala sports plastic blond “hair” glued to the top of her helmet. Here, the (rather promising) season-long mystery seems to be the source of Kamala’s powers, which appear to relate to a great-grandmother’s unexplained disappearance during Partition, when, following British colonial rule, Pakistan broke away from India to form its own country in 1947. And because she is a fantasy-prone doodler, her bike rides with Bruno are full of her brightly colored artistic musings plastered as murals on the buildings behind her. “It’s not really the Brown girls from Jersey City who save the world,” sighs Kamala to her science-geek friend Bruno (Matt Lintz). The point of the show is, of course, that it absolutely can be, and that there’s no reason a budding “enhanced individual,” as emerging superheroes are called by the bureaucrats who track them, can’t incorporate their cultural heritage into their super-identity. Such is “Ms. Marvel’s” clever spin on the age-old Asian American narrative formula of straddling dual worlds.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe's Ms. Marvel show on Disney Plus makes some big changes to Kamala Khan's embiggening powers.

And it also still has the essence of how her fight choreography was in the comics too.” At this point in the series, the audience is learning just as much about Kamala’s powers as she is. In some ways, these new bangle powers are replicating the most iconic moves of a stretchy superhero, just without all the gross stretching flesh. “We want to make sure that we still retain the essence [of the character],” Amanat said, “but still evolve, and make it relevant to the stories that we’re telling in the MCU at that moment in time. This put her in the long-standing class of stretchy characters, whose bodies behave more like chewing gum than flesh and bones, but Kamala added her own style on top. In the first episode of her Disney Plus series, Kamala is just beginning to get in touch with her superpowers, but you might be wondering what they’ll look like when she masters them.

The superhero is Pakistani-American teenager Kamala Khan, Marvel's first Muslim headliner, whose solo comic book series made its debut in 2014. The miniseries ...

There’s a nice twist by the end of the second episode that promises a satisfying development of this element, but it is the domestic scenes and familial relationships that are the greatest strength of the opening instalments. The bangle allows her powers to be tied to Kamala’s Pakistani heritage and the trauma of Partition in particular. Eventually, and with the help of her best friend, Bruno, (Matt Lintz) – who is also, handily, a tech genius – Cinderella gets to the cosplay ball.

'Ms. Marvel' boldly cherry-picks what worked in the comics while remixing the character's lore to fit into and stand apart from the rest of the MCU.

Having her powers be unlocked by a family heirloom — one she adopts as a personal flourish for her costume, but one Muneeba is reluctant to discuss — makes the setup for Kamala’s tale of duality all the more potent. In the comics, Kamala’s abilities were owed to her being an “Inhuman,” an X-Men-esque group born from genetic experiments several millennia ago, allowing her to contort and expand her body (or “embiggen” it, as she says), like blowing up her fist to the size of a wrecking ball. Despite the hidden risks and her mother’s objections, imagination is Kamala’s shot at finally being someone, and in high school, few things are more important. When her school principal, Gabe Wilson (Jordan Firstman) — a fun homage to the comics’ co-creator, G. Willow Wilson — sits her down for a chat about her future and about how her attentions are divided, the unassuming two-shot splits in half, panning toward each character in opposite directions like something out of Godard’s Goodbye to Language. It’s a lofty comparison, and it’s likely unintentional, but there’s more thought being put into each frame and movement than your average Marvel production, without the need to shy away from the source material either. Her mother readily criticizes her height when she tries on an outfit for the baat pakki, and when her parents offer her an alternative to attending the convention alone — she can go, but only if accompanied by a hilariously enthusiastic Yusuf in full Hulk makeup — they present her with a green salwar kameez. When Kamala inadvertently endangers Zoe at AvengerCon, she reaches out and focuses on catching her falling classmate, resulting in an enormous, glowing, kaleidoscopic hand emanating from her body and hardening into tangible material. When she and Bruno text, their messages appear in the lights and environments around them as they move through space, like when Bruno makes his way to his shabby apartment above a cornerstone. Muneeba and Yusuf may have outdated rules (and hypocritical ones, since they offer Aamir a longer leash), but in the ongoing battle between first and immigrant generations, Kamala is hardly an innocent bystander. The upbeat melody of Ahmed Rushdi’s “ Ko Ko Korina” — the first Pakistani pop song — provides some wistful nostalgia as Kamala tries on traditional clothes for her brother’s baat pakki (engagement party). But as the episode progresses, she seems less willing (and able) to avail of these cultural comforts. When she and Bruno discuss alternate ideas for her costume while cycling through Jersey City, those ideas appear on the nearby walls as animated graffiti. It’s a small moment in the grand scheme of things, but it helps transpose a major element from the comics: Kamala’s bodily insecurity and the Western beauty standards to which she’s beholden. For high-school junior Kamala Khan (bubbly newcomer Iman Vellani), the struggle in the premiere is about being able to attend New Jersey’s first-ever AvengerCon with her best friend, Bruno (Matthew Lintz). This means navigating her strict parents, Muneeba (Zenobia Shroff) and Yusuf (Mohan Kapur), and her well-meaning, religious older brother, Aamir (Saagar Shaikh), but what initially seems like a typical South Asian American story — generational conflict born from wanting more capital-F Freedom from a conservative immigrant culture — introduces some intriguing complications, including Kamala’s superhero abilities and where they originate.

The premieres of 'Ms. Marvel' and 'Dark Winds' and the 75th Tony Awards top the TV calendar for June 8-14.

New: Tony Hillerman’s best-selling novels featuring Native American detectives Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee have taken a very long path to the screen, including a few false starts and a pair of PBS films in the early 2000s. First Kill (Friday, Netflix) tracks the romance between a teen vampire and vampire hunter. The character is now the subject of a Disney+ Marvel series, with Imani Vellani playing the title role of a Pakistani American Muslim teenager from Jersey City, New Jersey, who discovers she has superpowers. Season three of Evil opens Sunday on Paramount+. It would be next to impossible to watch everything, but let THR point the way to worthy options for the coming week. Below is The Hollywood Reporter‘s rundown of premieres, returns and specials over the next seven days.

The latest Marvel show on Disney+ will be a game-changer. Here's what to read after you've fallen for Kamala Khan.

The current comics incarnation of Kamala Khan has just finished one series—the multidimensional Ms. Marvel: Beyond the Limit—and is prepping to appear in a three-part story over the summer that will pair her with Wolverine, Moon Knight, and Venom, respectively. Of course, the end of the world wasn’t the end of the story, and years later Kamala has gone missing just when she’s needed the most. It was only a matter of time before Ms. Marvel got to play in the larger Marvel Universe, and All-New All-Different Avengers—a title that launched in the aftermath of the aforementioned Secret Wars storyline—brought her face-to-face with some of the biggest characters Marvel had at the time, including Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, and the Miles Morales version of Spider-Man. Was she too awed by them to earn her place on the team, or does she only prove to be even more amazing as a result of what happens? The answer demonstrates the kind of impact Ms. Marvel—and, separately, Kamala Khan—has had on those around her, and provides an unlikely but entirely charming full-circle moment to her story, as the fangirl gets to reckon with the reality that she’s become the object of fandom herself. The looming comic book storyline Secret Wars is the backdrop for “Last Days,” in which the end of the world really is nigh, forcing Kamala to come to terms with a lot of hard truths, face off against an unexpected last-minute enemy … and meet her hero, Captain Marvel, just to add to her stress. Think of it as an update to the classic Spider-Man formula that stays even more focused on the real person inside the costume.