Who is teen superhero form of a live-action TV series on Disney+. Since her ground-breaking debut, Khan has become one of the most beloved new additions to the Marvel comics roster, heralding a more forward-thinking era for the publisher as their first Muslim superhero.
Kamala was effectively introduced as the Peter Parker for a new generation – a teenager who finds themselves burdened with the responsibility of incredible powers in a world filled with larger-than-life heroes and villains. Plunging ever deeper into the complexities of the Marvel universe, she struggles to find balance between being an Avenger, a job she's always dreamed of, and being a normal teen who keeps up with her studies and hangs out with her friends.
Having only been introduced in 2014, she may very well be the youngest comic book character to make the jump to live-action, but it's not without reason, as the affectionately dubbed Kamala Korps will surely be out in force for her Disney+ series and beyond. Here's everything you need to know about Marvel's Muslim icon.
Ms. Marvel's Comic Origin Story
Although she made her first legitimate appearance in the anthology All-New Marvel NOW! Point One 1.NOW in January 2014, the real start of Kamala's story came in March 2014's Ms. Marvel #1 by G. Willow Wilson, Adrian Alphona, Jamie McKelvie and Sana Amanat. That's where we got to really know Kamala, her family and friends, and see how she got her powers.
Kamala's family are Pakistani, and her parents and brother moved to America before she was born. Growing up in Jersey City in the 2000s, her heroes were The Avengers, specifically Iron Man, Captain America and Captain Marvel. One night, after a falling out with her friends at a party, Kamala falls prey to an outbreak of Terrigen Mists, a mutagenic substance that creates powers in those with Inhuman DNA.
Miraculously, Khan survives the process and awakens with the ability to modify the size and shape of her body, meaning she can stretch her limbs and distort her features to become bigger or smaller as she sees fit. What's more, she's now wearing a version of the outfit Carol Danvers wore as Ms. Marvel, before she became Captain Marvel.
The early stories of Carol Danvers' new replacement maintain a light-hearted tone, focusing on Kamala trying to find the new normal amid being a hero, a dutiful daughter, good student and worthwhile friend. The overriding plot is a tie-in with the Inhumans, particularly Medusa and Lockjaw, and Kamala learning about her lineage to the strange, quasi-mutant secret species. She partners up with a number of famous heroes, including Wolverine and Spider-Man, until her initial run is ended with the Last Days of the Universe, the direct prelude to Marvel's Secret Wars event that effectively destroys and rejigs the entire Marvel universe.
Ms. Marvel's Powers Explained
Despite inheriting the title from Carol Danvers, Kamala Khan has a very different set of powers. Considered a “polymorph”, Kamala's moves are basically Ant-Man and Mister Fantastic's combined. She can stretch, grow and shrink any part of her body in just about any way conceivable, allowing her to move and distort herself to whatever a scenario requires. The limits of these abilities remain undefined, though in the adaptation they may adhere to the same risks as Ant-Man in the movies when he shrinks down into the Quantum Realm or becomes Giant-Man.
She can also shape-shift, having appeared as her mother and Carol Danvers and imitating Col. James Rhodes' voice. Likewise, she has some form of healing factor, although the healing can only really happen when she restores herself to her original body-shape, and using it drains her powers exponentially.
Her elasticity can be blocked and impeded by an electromagnetic pulse, as discovered during one of her first fights against the Inventor. The effectiveness of this, whether long-term exposure can weaken her indefinitely or not, remains to be seen.
Ms. Marvel's Connection To Captain Marvel
When infected by the Terrigen Mists and locked inside a Terrigen cocoon, Kamala dreams of her three favorites: Steve Rogers, Tony Stark and Carol Danvers. They ask her what she wants out of life, and she responds she wants to be like Captain Marvel. She gets her wish, essentially being given the job Carol left behind in her promotion to Captain Marvel.
Carol and Kamala met in the lead-up to Last Days of the Universe, wherein Carol helped Kamala save her brother and gave her a gift, a medallion with the Hala star and Kamala's lightning bolt. Carol confirmed Kamala's fears that the universe was ending, but instructed her to hold onto hope and keep fighting, information that would become useful in Battleworld during 2015's Secret Wars II crossover event.
Post-Secret Wars II, Kamala was on Carol's side during the Civil War II crossover in 2016, though she wasn't without her doubts as the conflict unfolded. In the event, an Inhuman named Ulysses gains the power to predict the future and sees a dystopian wasteland on the horizon. Captain Marvel wants to safeguard against this information, while Iron Man believes they should react to threats as they happen rather than per-emptively striking, placing the two at odds. Ms. Marvel questions Carol more and more as the event goes on, weary of the lengths Danvers and Stark are willing to go to.
After the conflict subsides, Kamala forms a new team, the Champions, featuring heroes unhappy with all sides of the establishment as reflected in the second superhuman Civil War. The line-up includes Nova, Mile Morales as Spider-Man, Vision's daughter Vivian, Amadeus Cho as the Hulk and a time-displace Cyclops.
Ms. Marvel In The MCU
The likelihood is that Ms. Marvel's show will loosely follow her initial 2014 run of comics: a teen romantic comedy-drama that also features superpowers and ta heroic universe as a backdrop. Some changes will be inherent, such as the characters Kamala crosses over with in her first outings as a Marvel protagonist – Wolverine and Spider-Man, in particular, are very unlikely to make an appearance. Her first year as a fledgling Avenger probably won't be punctuated by a literal clash of two universes, either.
A bigger question is whether her Inhuman back-story will stay intact. She was cultivated in a period when Marvel was going all-in on the Inhuman mythos as a stand-in for the X-Men, whom they were distancing themselves from, and there was intended to be a synergy of sorts between the comics, TV and Marvel Studios movies. In 2014, Agents of SHIELD were laying the ground-work for the alien-human sub-species in the MCU.
Needless to say, a lot has changed since then. The Inhumans became a Disney have now bought Fox, giving them back the rights to the X-Men and mutant terminology. There's huge anticipation around when Marvel are going to integrate the mutants into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Kamala Khan could be a mutant here, side-stepping having to involve anything from the Inhumans in favor of teasing, or even being a backdoor to, the introduction of Xavier's School for Gifted Children. This wouldn't affect her basic story much and makes her even more relevant to the future of Marvel Studios.
Ms. Marvel in live-action will be a momentous occasion for the Marvel Cinematic Universe. There's no better hero to help usher in the franchise's second decade, further diversifying the line-up of heroes and villains along with the likes of Avengers: Endgame future of the MCU shines ever brighter.
