We have already seen the first episodes of the series in which we meet Kamala Khan, the first Muslim superheroine of the MCU and an ordinary, charismatic and geek teenager who is looking for her place in the world.
‘Ms Marvel’ is a dream come true for Marvel fans: It is the story of a normal teenager who idolizes superheroes and one day fulfills her dream of becoming one. But Kamala Khan does it according to her own rules, dynamiting the precedents of the UCM and starring in this fantasy, fun, fresh and charismatic series of origins that shines with its own light in its first episodesand that could become one of the best superhero series in recent years.
Based on the comics written by G. Willow Wilson and illustrated by Adrian Alphona, it introduces us to Kamala Khan (Iman Vellani), a teenager of Pakistani parents who is looking for her place in the world. What happens is that she lives more in her fantasies than in her realities, something that drives her mother crazy, who wants her to focus on her studies and her future. Everything will change when Kamala finds a family heirloom charged with unexpected power and turns her into everything she has always wanted to be: a superhero. Her powers are, as she describes them, “like an idea come to life.”– Unlike in the comics, where he can manipulate the size and shape of his body, his powers in the series allow him to solidify the light emanating from his body into shields or rungs or anything else he can think of.
One of the best series of 2022, ‘Ms Marvel’ is a fun teenage vision invaded by the Marvel world where the protagonist writes fanfictionspeaks between laughs of the crush of his mother by Kingo from ‘Eternals’ and has romantic crushes to the rhythm of ‘Be my baby’ as if he were in ‘Dirty Dancing’. It is a series where friends pass tampons over the bathroom door of the institute and faith, religion and customs are relativized from the effervescence of youth and the need to open new paths. It is a series that makes history without being grandiloquent, that is light and relaxed without neglecting its most serious issues, and that speaks of the future without forgetting the past that cements everything.
Your friend and neighbor Ms Marvel
It is impossible not to compare the protagonist of ‘Ms. Marvel ‘with the character of Peter Parker (AKA Spider-Man), with whom she shares in her formative stage a great sense of humor, youthful spirit and normal adolescent problems. Unfortunately ‘Spider-Man: Homecoming’ was somewhat hampered by the already obvious connections of Tom Holland’s character with the UCM (he had made his debut in ‘Captain America: Civil War’), but Kamala Khan is (for now) free of compromises and has a clear path to form a fresh and exciting origin story. The first two episodes confirm that hers will be a fascinating journey, both narratively and visually, as there are plenty of animated inserts that help us understand how the protagonist spends her days daydreaming.
Unlike many other Marvel superheroes, Kamala doesn’t have a traumatic past., a superheroic origin tinged with pain or an absent family that leads her to find her place among like-minded heroes. She is a teenager with parents who love her (even if they are a little overprotective) and friends with whom she shares laughter and hobbies. And it is precisely this free path for new conflicts that allows the series to focus on its present and not drag it down with issues from the past. In addition, she does not play mystery and script twists (as the recent ‘Moon Knight’ did, for example) but offers a direct proposal without half measures: ‘Ms. Marvel’ is a comedy coming-of-age that uses fantasy and mythology marvelite to confront its protagonist with the conflicts of his identity and his decisions for the future.
Muslim superhero, ordinary teenager
The new Disney + series arrives making history: Ms Marvel is the first Muslim superheroine in the history of the MCU. For those wondering if that honor shouldn’t go to Layla El-Faouly (played by May Calamawy in the Moon Knight series and known as Scarlet Beetle in the comics), Marvel makes it clear that Layla is Egyptian, but not Muslim. Be that as it may, it’s clear that Marvel has ushered in an era focused on diversity (finally!) among its leading superheroes, from the increased female presence with ‘Captain Marvel’ (the first female lead in a Marvel movie) and ‘Black Widow’ to its first Asian protagonist (‘Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings’).
Also, ‘Ms. marvel’ reaches the perfect balance between universality and specificity: it takes us into the Muslim culture that is inseparable from the protagonist, from going to pray at the mosque to including words in her language in her daily vocabulary, and at the same time giving weight to feelings universals of adolescence and transition to adult life. For the first, the series is right with a team led by the screenwriter Bisha K. Ali (of Pakistani origin and who already worked on ‘Loki’) and the Belgian director duo Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah, in addition to the original material by creator G. Willow Wilson.
“The first issue of ‘Ms Marvel’ I picked up was when Kamala was celebrating the Breaking Fast Party. And I showed it to my father!”says Imán Vellani in an interview with Guardian. The 19-year-old actress, making her series debut, was born in Karachi, Pakistan before moving with her family to Canada, and she saw in the ‘Ms Marvel’ comics an unprecedented portrayal of her life. she. In fact, those who know her point out that Imán and Kamala could perfectly be the same person. Marvel Studios’ casting choices rarely disappoint.
The team of the series helps to create a realistic story in the sociocultural and tremendously fanciful in the narrative. In the end, and despite the importance of this historic moment for Marvel movies and the global platform it is offering to underrepresented (or misrepresented) cultures in Hollywood, ‘Ms Marvel’ goes far beyond the religion of its protagonist. Week by week we will discover how far Kamala Khan has come to revolutionize Marvel and the world of superheroes, and in the future we will also see her with a very important role in the second part of ‘Captain Marvel’, entitled ‘The Marvels’. for now, his is already (with apologies to ‘Scarlet Witch and Vision’) the best Marvel series on Disney +.
Source: Fotogramas
Camila Luna is a writer at Gossipify, where she covers the latest movies and television series. With a passion for all things entertainment, Camila brings her unique perspective to her writing and offers readers an inside look at the industry. Camila is a graduate from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) with a degree in English and is also a avid movie watcher.
