Everything Great about Ms. Marvel
The first season of Ms. Marvel just ended and it gave plenty of things to talk about. Warning: spoilers ahead.
Ms. Marvel is a television miniseries that follows the story of a young superhero, Kamala Khan played by Iman Vellani. The show has a lighter theme perfect for families and younger audiences. Although it doesn’t have a big antagonist or cosmic problems, this show addressed many real-life issues.
Muslim community
The show gave a great portrayal of the Muslim community. This broadens the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) world that is filled with American-based enhanced individuals. The rich Muslim culture stands out in the show. All their clothes, traditions, structures, and language are accurate portrayals. Even Kamala’s costume is based on traditional South Asian clothes for women, the salwar kameez.
Prejudice towards the skin of color
One of the antagonists of the show is the Department of Damage Control. They are founded by Tony Stark (Iron Man) to handle damages caused by enhanced individuals or aliens on earth. They have introduced back in Spider-man: Homecoming and they were not the bad guys. However, in this series, they’re treating the enhanced foreigners as criminals. The way they react to Muslims and other skin of color during their hunt for these people shows their prejudice. This was never the case with how they treated Peter Parker’s (Spider-man) case after the Spider-man: Far From Home incident.
Doesn’t fit in
Ms. Marvel gave us a story of a relatable teenager who’s still finding her place in the world. As a Muslim Pakistani-American teenager, she has to deal with her strict parents and common stereotypes thrown at her. She’s also a geek when it comes to superheroes, especially Captain Marvel. This existential problem wasn’t fully solved till the end of the season. But maybe she doesn’t have to fit in and let society fit with her. People have shown support for Kamala in the finale when she finally has control of her powers. Her entire superhero identity was formed by the most important people to her. Her costume was given by her mother, her title given by her father, her mask from her friend Bruno, and her bangle from her great grandmother.
What’s next?
Bruno said that Kamala’s gene has a mutation. While saying this line, the classic X-men soundtrack plays in the background. This strongly hinted that Kamala is a mutant and that X-men is finally coming to the MCU.
In normal MCU fashion, there are credit scenes of what we will expect next. Captain Marvel cameo in a few seconds after switching places with Kamala. This could be a hint that they will team up one day since she’s Kamala’s favorite superhero. Possibly in the Captain Marvel sequel.
