Marvel’s Kamala Khan iteration hasn’t been around for a long time (less than a decade to be exact) and she’s already one of Marvel Comics’ most popular young superheroes. Created by Sana Amanat (Editor), G Willow Wilson (Writer), and Adrian Alphona and Jamie McKelvie (cast), the character brings the Marvel Universe to a part of the world – South Asia – that is largely new and less- Discovered, and for the most part, seen through an exotic, oriental lens.
Mr Marvel changed it for the Marvel Universe. And Miss Marvel turns it over for the show, the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Centered around a Pakistani-American teenager from New Jersey named Kamala Khan, the story follows her life and adventures as she gains superpowers and becomes a true superhero in the Marvel pantheon.
The series created by Ali of Bisha has so far done a great job of balancing the superhero sensibility of MCU storytelling with a sweet and gripping coming-of-age tale of a young girl searching for her place in the world. This is a story that has been done before, but never quite so well.
Strong writing by Bisha and her team makes the series feel like its own thing, despite some annoying yet expected references to the rest of the MCU (which are comparatively forgivable here, as Kamala Khan was previously a fangirl from Carol Danvers and the Avengers) She became a superhero).
Iman Vellani, our titular superhero, is instantly likable. There probably hasn’t been on-point casting in the MCU for years. She feels like she’s escaped the pages of a comic-book to land the role. He always has that sparkle in his eyes that we tend to associate with superheroes, the hilarity that we get to see, unlike even a little teenage rage. Her character is too deeply written for your standard teenage superhero.
But the best part about the show is that he is extremely happy to discover his superpowers. Unlike some superheroes to my name, Kamala takes delight in her newly found superpowers, even when she is unable to control them. There’s a very Shazam-like sequence in which she and her friend try to figure out what her abilities really are. There are a few references that Shah Rukh Khan fans will love. The portrayal of Pakistani and South Asian culture and values, with both their good and bad parts, is accurate, sometimes uncomfortably so.
Ms. Marvel is the funniest MCU that has been around in a long time.