Ms. Marvel Tumbles Stylishly Into the MCU

It’s not easy, being Captain Marvel’s biggest fan when your parents would rather you stay home and study during your chance to miss the world’s first Avengercon. Kamala Khan is not about to let that stop her — but when a family heirloom grants her powers, Kamala finds that she might just be closer to the world of superheroes than she ever dared dream.

Armaan Babu: Hey, Adam! A new month, a new Marvel show to review, but I’m happier to report that everyone’s a lot more upbeat than they were in Moon Knight. I had a lot of fun with this first episode, and think it’s doing a pretty great job of adapting the comic to the MCU. It’s not perfect, but it’s fun, and I’m dying to see what comes next. What are your first thoughts?

Adam Reck: There was so much hemming and hawing about this show changing Kamala’s powers that overshadowed the conversation leading up to the premiere. The fact that Ms. Marvel nails the tone and energy of the book makes it one of the most solid MCU TV Show premieres yet. I’m excited to talk about it!

The Captain Marvel Fangirl

Armaan: Uniquely animated exposition dumps are becoming increasingly common in new shows, but I don’t think I’ve seen one that does a better job of letting us know what kind of person the protagonist is, and that is, above all else: a fan with a lot of energy to go around. This was a great opening, and definitely great prep for what frame of mind we should be in for the show. What’d you think?

Adam: I loved the opening. Kamala’s fan take on Endgame and the animation throughout the episode reminded me of the meme cutaways in The Mitchells vs the Machines (a very good movie if any of our readers haven’t seen it). It’s a delightful way to introduce how creative she is, and also what a loser she is when we realize she’s put in all this work and only five people have watched her magnum opus on YouTube.

Armaan: I missed that! Poor Kamala.

I also gotta say, I do appreciate that while the show references Endgame, it completely ignores the effects of the Blip. Maybe it split their family apart, maybe New Jersey just got lucky and no one there was blipped and a few million Skrulls across the galaxy were taken in their place, I don’t know, but I think it’s really something that would distract from the story’s focus, here.

Adam: Probably a good thing they ignored the Blip. The goal here is to very quickly drop us into this world (as a Jersey resident I am psyched the show stuck with the locale from the books) and adding that baggage wouldn’t really help add anything. Even in the second Tom Holland Spidey it was played mainly for laughs. Here it serves no purpose.

Armaan: We get through the show’s necessary introductions at a pretty quick pace — who her family is, who her friends are, and what Kamala is like. She’s not the most popular girl in school, but she’s got friends who care about her, and people worried about her future. Kamala is a bit of a daydreamer, a fact that’s not lost on her parents or her guidance counselor (I do not like Mr. Wilson, no, not one bit). A lot of responsibility is hovering above Kamala’s shoulders, poised to fall, and she doesn’t seem quite ready or willing to take it all on yet. Not when it’s all so clearly an antithesis to joy, a quality she embodies like none other.

I like this setup, because, and I don’t think I’m spoiling anything here, Kamala is going to suddenly have a lot of responsibility thrust on her when she becomes a superhero. Having to take on responsibility is an inevitable part of growing up, but Kamala gets to get there via something that brings her joy.

As someone who was constantly lectured about daydreaming too much back when I was in school, I found this all to be extremely relatable.

Adam: I’m right there with you, Armaan. As a kid who was doodling the margins of every notebook, I relate a lot to the head-in-the-clouds, daydreamer that Kamala represents. She’s obviously talented and creative artistically, but what do those skills mean in relation to her world? Where I think the show really excels is matching the comic’s sense of place within the Jersey City Pakistani-American community and its expectations for her.

Parents Just Don’t Understand

Armaan: So, while I may not have grown up with a family like Kamala’s, I do recognize a lot of my friends’ experiences in her life. Trying to navigate your parents chokehold on your life, their insistence you do them proud and hold to values that are familiar to them but utterly unfamiliar to you, and finding out where you find balance between the two…it’s hard, and every one lands in a different place.

I especially enjoyed the passive-aggressive, dramatic, over-the-top guilt tripping Kamala’s mother employs at the drop of a hat. The little hints that dreaming has been a part of the family line, from Kamala’s grandmother, but Kamala’s mom had to put her dreams aside to make some very difficult sacrifices. It’s an instantly recognizable story — not a new one, but one that rings strong.

Especially familiar is the double standard that Kamala is subject to. We don’t see explicit instances of this, but I can guarantee you, if Aamir was the same age as Kamala and wanted to go to Avengercon, the Khans would absolutely have let him.

Fortunately for Kamala, she’s got Bruno in her corner.

Adam: There are definitely notes of Turning Red in Kamala’s mother’s reaction to seeing the bracelet, suggesting a generational passing down of the powerset. But everything about Kamala’s relationship with her family is perfect – the confusion about her identity and what her goals should be, the sibling double standard, the gender double standard – and it’s what elevates the show from standard superhero origin fare. This is not just Marisa Tomei popping in to say hi and leaving the room. The scene where Muneeba and Yusuf surprise Kamala with the Hulk costumes is so loaded. They want to allow her a smidge of freedom on their terms, through the lens of their community, and Kamala’s rejection of both tells us how hard this relationship is to maintain. I think many of us can relate to these kinds of difficult negotiations.

My only real question about Kamala’s world is why her parents are so protective but seem totally fine with her spending countless hours unsupervised with a boy. Bruno is definitely considered part of the family, so maybe that’s why their bodega lair isn’t off limits?

Armaan: There are some boys that parents will label harmless. I know because I’ve been that boy. Bruno is very much that boy — he’s even on a texting basis with Kamala’s mom — and as you said, at this point he’s definitely considered part of the family. If they’re sticking with the comics’ origin of their friendship, Kamala and Bruno have known each other since about first grade. I like the friendship, though Bruno himself is kind of a forgettable character for me.

What Bruno brings, more than anything, is a personal space where Kamala can just be herself — and when she gets to be that, she shines. I also imagine that, through the years, she’s dragged him into a lot more trouble than he’s dragged her into…which brings us to Avengercon.

Cosplay Champion

Armaan: So I’ve seen two origins for Ms. Marvel — one is from the comics, but the other one, one I feel grafts well into the show, is her origin from Square Enix’s Marvel’s Avengers game, which begins with Kamala at an Avenger-con like event. Say what you will about that game play, I thought it was a great version of Kamala’s origin in the context of fallen heroes, and I was glad to see that part recreated here.

The plan — both the hyper awesome can’t possibly fail plan — and the way it predictably fell apart right from the getgo? Highlight of the episode.

Adam: I love the Ocean’s Eleven-style setup and Bruno’s immediate dismissal of, “Your plan is to take the bus?” Between this sequence, the animated wall graffiti, and the practical effects text conversation, Ms. Marvel is setting a high bar for visuals in this first episode. I hope they will keep up through the season. As for AvengerCon? I’m of two minds on this: 1. The excitement for the event and the cosplay contest at the center of it perfectly captures the adrenaline rush of going to huge comic book conventions. Unfortunately then there’s 2. What exactly is this event? I’m being nitpicky, but this seems more like a back alley carnival than convention. Luckily, it features a ton of very large props that will come in handy as Kamala wields the bracelet for the first time, takes a brief trip through an alternate dimension, and returns for the show’s big finish. Armaan, what did you think of the show’s final set piece and the reveal of her much discussed powerset?

Armaan: I was disappointed. I didn’t want to be, I don’t want to be the guy that nitpicks a TV show for not looking as good at the movies, this reveal was a let down.

It’s a pretty pivotal moment for the character — one that, I feel I can safely say, changes Kamala’s life forever, and the shot was….crowded. It felt like they had too many people in too small a space at this AvengerCon, and Kamala’s big moment was lost to how crowded it was, and how bad the CGI looked. I can see, now, why they changed her powers — if this is the best they can do with glowy effects, then realistic stretchy human effects are out of the question — but I didn’t expect it to look this bad. Its chaotic effects are well in keeping with the show’s tone and energy, though. I can’t get enough of giant Ant-Man stuff making a mess of things, and I’m glad the show could fit some of that in.

Adam: I feel like my general outlook on what the quality of the CGI effects should be in both MCU movies and TV has calmed somewhat? I didn’t really have a problem with any of the powers or the reveal as much as the weirdness of the setting.

Armaan: I gotta admit — I enjoyed this first episode, but I have no idea where it’s going. I’m happy with the writing, though, and even if the execution can be a little shaky, I’m excited to see what comes next — and am so, so happy this show exists. What about you, Adam?

Adam: I am very hyped to see where they take the character. MCU shows have been a real mixed bag with great highs and boring lows, so I just hope they can maintain the energy, the strength of the family dynamics, and the sense of place.

Armaan: Looks like a hit for the both of us — see you here next week, readers!

Marvel-ous Ms.-cellany

Ms. Marvel’s showrunner is Bisha K. Ali, who also worked on the Loki MCU show. Along with episode directors Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah (Bad Boys for Life, the upcoming Batgirl), Meera Menon, and Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, Marvel is investing in an exciting team of Pakistani and Indian filmmakers to tell Kamala’s story.
The sign outside Kamala’s high school credits creators G Willow Wilson, Stephen Wacker, Adrian Alphona, Jose Caramagna, Jamie McKelvie, Ian Herring, Takeshi Miyazawa and Nico Leon. Notably absent? Ms. Marvel editor Sana Amanat.
A business card holder on Mr. Wilson’s desk sports the letters GWW, a nod to G Willow Wilson
Bruno’s homemade Siri is named Zuzu, which may be a reference to the Exorcist’s demon Pazuzu, as Kamala’s dad says it’s possessed by an evil djinn.
Kamala’s first – albeit forgettable – major villain took great advantage of simple household technology, and a part of me wonders if Zuzu ought to be kept a closer eye on.
AvengerCon is at Camp Lehigh, the New Jersey SHIELD base from First Avenger. In the comics, Camp Lehigh is based in Virginia outside Arlington.
Yes, the familiar looking host of the AvengerCon cosplay contest was indeed Agent M, AKA Ryan Penagos of Marvel PR fame.
A brief post-credits scene shows Agents Cleary and Deever of Damage Control saying they should “bring [Kamala] in.”