This Superhero Stuff is Hard in Ms. Marvel Episode 2

Kamala Khan is working to figure out her new powers, but life gets in the way. A new boy at school, supporting her best friend as she runs for the Mosque Board, finding out the secrets of her family and the true origin of her powers — all covered here, in Night Light, episode 2!

Wait, that’s not right. Did we mention that Kamala has a bit of a branding problem as well?

Armaan Babu: Hello, Karen! Welcome to this week’s discussion of the show! I am glad you could join me for the week that contained that one Eternals Easter egg casually slipped in there, as one of our resident Eternals experts. Easter eggs aside, though, I thought this episode was leaps and bounds better than the pilot – something I already enjoyed – and I’m excited to get into it with you. What are your first impressions?

Karen Charm: Hi Armaan, it’s a joy to be writing one of these with you! You know, the Eternals called and I had to respond. I completely agree with you about this episode. My experience of the pilot was overshadowed by my grumpiness towards “Avengers propaganda,” I couldn’t find the heart or motivation for the show other than once again reiterating to a captive audience how great the Avengers movies are supposed to be. With that out of the way, this episode is ALL HEART. My tune is completely changed, and it sounds like a triumphant song by Ma$e. Let’s begin!

A Khan-Do Attitude

Armaan: So, the pilot episode had to cram a lot in — who Kamala is, what’s her central theme, who her family and friends are, and how she fits into the MCU as Captain Marvel’s biggest fan. With all that out of the way, though, we get to focus on just Kamala and her day to day life, albeit one with superpowers thrown into the mix.

I’ll be honest, though, I enjoyed the non-super parts of this episode so much that I would absolutely have watched a non-powered Kamala Khan show on its own. This is, however, still a superhero show, and damn if we don’t get to our training montage pretty quick.

I was pretty down on the show’s first reveal of Kamala’s powers last episode, but I’m warming to them. She’s more a Green Lantern with better looking constructs, now, but I do appreciate that the show also has some of the energy expanding around her body, giving us some connection to her original powers. What do you think of them?

Karen: I really like what they’ve done with the powers, with the full disclosure of having not yet read the Ms. Marvel series and have no strong connection to her origin story. That aside, I quite enjoy the visuals they’ve cooked up, and feel they fit the otherwise expressive animated tone of the show. I certainly appreciate the Green Lantern comparisons, but I was getting strong hints of Iceman here, especially with the slides she was making to slip around on. Shawn Ashmore never really got to do much of that so I’m happy to see it now. The training sequence overall was very cute.

Getting back to that slice-of-life stuff, let’s talk about the beginning of this episode, huh? Kamala’s buzzed on hero juice and stomps into school like she owns the world. This was just so fun and won me over instantly. It also leads our hero right into what I felt was most missing from the first episode – the hot new kid at school.

Armaan: Kamran, yes! Kamala needed a bit of romance in her life, and though there’s been a lot of will-they, won’t-they with Bruno in the comics, television Bruno and Kamala have zero sparks between them so far. Kamran brings in a little romance into Kamala’s life — and, by the end of the episode, a little intrigue, but we’re getting ahead of ourselves.

I was skimming through the original Ms. Marvel comics earlier today, looking for a specific reference, and I gotta say, I am impressed by how well they’ve brought the comics to life, without feeling like the show is too beholden to the source material. The casting is pretty spot on for some of my favorite characters (Marvel. I’m going to be asking this every week: can we please, please have a Nakia spinoff?), but some other stuff gets brought in as well. Kamala losing control of her powers, and hiding in the bathroom stalls. Her time at the mosque. Spending this early time in Carol Danvers’ costume — and I gotta say, between Miles Morales in Into the Spider-Verse and this series, I’m coming to really enjoy legacy characters wearing ill-fitting versions of their heroes’ looks, only to later put their own spin on a classic look, making it theirs.

I gotta ask — as someone who hasn’t read the comics but is enjoying the TV show, how much of the comics stuff would you want to know about? There’s definitely some very exciting stuff being foreshadowed here, and while the show is clearly putting its own spin on things, I’m wary of spoiling things even slightly for people who may only be watching the show.

Karen: Don’t hold back on my account, I’d hate to deprive you and our readers of that distinct pleasure. I am glad to hear so much is making its way to the screen in any form, and I have to agree that Nakia rules. Bruno on the other hand… I cannot muster a care. Apologies to that actor but his Caltech subplot was a flatline for me.

The real middle ground for me is Zoe. Those influencers sure know how to milk a crisis, don’t they? I am glad that she’s portrayed more dimensionally than her archetype might suggest – she’s a pain but not completely malicious. Anyway, she wants to celebrate the fragility of life and the boon to her follower count by having a house party. That’s where we get our first big excitement of the episode.

First, the mosque scene. As Kamala and Nakia rush to their mosque, we’re given a concise view of their lives as young Muslim women. I thought this played out well even as I’m conscious of my position as an outside cultural observer. I’m not inclined to believe anything I see as exactly authentic, especially from Disney, so if anyone were to tell me this is all way off the mark, I’d believe them. That said, what we’re getting feels human and is rougher around the edges than I’d expect otherwise. We’re shown a lot more sides of our main character and her kick-ass best friend who is about to begin a career in politics. Not to mention introducing us to a whole shoe mystery that will come back up later in this episode, believe it or not.

Armaan: As far as the Islamic aspects of the episode go, I’m a cultural outsider myself as well, but there’s enough familiarity for certain things that warms my heart to see on screen. If you ever have the opportunity to go to an Eid celebration dinner, Karen, absolutely take it, for the food alone. The general sense of celebration, family, and cultural celebration doesn’t hurt either.

One thing that I was especially excited to see was the quick primer we had this episode about the Partition. It’s a huge part of Indian and Pakistani history, but it’s also a huge part of Ms. Marvel’s as well. It’s revealed relatively late in the comics (we don’t see the story show up until Ms. Marvel Vol. 2, #8), but in the comics, Kamala’s bangles were passed down from her grandmother Aisha, with the money she saved hidden inside the bangles helping to fund the family’s new life as they were forced to move to Karachi. The bangles were passed down to Kamala’s grandmother, then to Kamala’s mother, then finally down to Kamala herself, and came to represent the travels that that matriarchal line had made.

In the comics they were simple bangles, but they seem to be taking on a much larger role here in the show. I loved that story so much (best thing that ever came out of Civil War II, honestly), it meant a lot to see it come up here. In fact, that appears to be central to the storyline.

A Little Romantic Kamra-derie

Armaan: Buut before we get more into that, let’s talk a bit about Kamran. Kamala bumps into him at school, but the two get their first proper meeting at Zoe’s party. Kamala and company pile into his car when the cops arrive to bust the party up, the two bond over a shared love of Bollywood — later slipping on that delightful Kingo reference, and all in all have a pretty charming early romance here.

I don’t know if you’ve ever seen Heartstopper, but I don’t know if it’s because my friends just got me to watch the show, but I’m getting very similar vibes — just swapping out queerness and Britishness for South Asian culture and superheroes. We’ve got the joyful protagonist with a radiant smile, the high school dynamics, the sappy synth music upping sweetness levels to just this side of saccharine, and the animations overlaying reality. Speaking of the last two — I’m enjoying the hell out of how much the music and animations are adding to the show. The music especially — it’s a perfect fusion mix that really evokes the kind of worlds that Kamala’s life is a fusion of, and it keep the energy of the show up magnificently. The animations so far are constantly surprising and entertaining me — I especially enjoyed the comics-like titles we get for the different groups we find at the Eid celebration.

Karen: The stylized animations surrounding Kamran as he steps out of the pool toward Kamala were so completely perfect. The visuals of this show are wonderful and wrap you up in the blanket of Kamala’s emotions. The party scene ends in an extremely cool fade out of focus where the bokeh dots all turn to hearts – I don’t think I’ve seen that trick done before in live action and I’m impressed! I haven’t seen Heartstopper but it did make me think of the anime Only Yesterday. The illuminated approach to this scene also builds up our sense that Kamran is just too good to be true. He’s hot, cool, is into Kamala, likes all the same things, lets her drive his fancy car… You want it for Kamala as much as she does, and obviously Bruno is just jealous but…

Anyway, Kamala gets home after this night of her dreams and as she closes the front door to her house, we hear the distinctive, stomping beat of the Ronette’s “Be My Baby.” I screamed. The music all throughout the episode is amazing, but this was the high point for me. I’ve listened to this song a lot recently after the sad news of Ronnie Spector’s life, but it’s just one of the most perfect pop songs of all time and it plays beautifully here. Kamala erupts into a fully choreographed lip-synch performance of the song as it plays, giddily dancing throughout her house before collapsing into bed. What’s this? Texts from Kamran? Amazing.

The Khan family is so wonderfully humanized in the following scenes – meeting Aamir’s fiance Tyesha, Aamir’s Hot Topic phase, the Khan parents’ love of Bon Jovi as good New Jerseyans, and of course their Partition story as you talked about above. You really feel the love between everyone, or at least I do. Also, Iman Vellani has never felt more real to me than when she whines a little to her mom about trying to find out more about her great-grandmother Aisha.

Armaan: I got a lot of “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” vibes from that last bit.

Superheroes, Speculation, and Shoe Thieves

Karen: It’s cool to learn more about the comics’ significance of the bangles, I’m very curious to see where things go with them here. My very first thought, before the show began, was they might be some MCU version of the Nega-bands. Based on the Muneeba’s story of the Partition, I’m wondering if they are some sort of Kree artifact, if that’s at all a part of Kamala’s family history, or if this may feed into the upcoming Secret Invasion show. Speculation is a dangerous game but I’m happily prepared to be 100% wrong. There is something going on here, though…

Armaan: So here’s where I’m bringing my comics speculation into things for the next frew paragraphs. Comics Kamran was also the perfect boy. The two got along just great, and they both really got where the other was coming from. In the middle of an emergency, Kamala learns that they have even more in common…where Kamran reveals that he’s working for the Inhuman criminal Lineage.

What’s significant here is that Lineage’s powers give him the ability to manifest his ancestors — anyone directly up his family tree shows up as a face on his shoulder, whose knowledge he can draw upon.

A few times this episode, Kamala starts seeing visions of another, older woman as she uses her power. An older woman who shows up at the end of the episode, as Kamran (once again) saves Kamala from the cops after a rescue gone bad. There are also several hints made about her great-grandmother, Aisha, to whom the bangles originally belonged, about whom Kamala is trying more about. The bangles only unlocked power within Kamala, after all – which means that there’s a secret to be uncovered in Kamala’s family line…her lineage.

My speculation is that the lady we see at the episode’s end is the MCU’s version of Lineage — and I can’t think of a better villain for a show about Kamala’s own navigation with lineage and legacy.

Karen: Fascinating! I recognized the woman at the end, Kamran’s mom, as being the same woman in Kamala’s visions. It’s hard to get a clear look at the latter, but I feel pretty sure it’s the same actor (cast news states this is Nimra Bucha playing “Najma”). That could mean that Kamala and Kamran actually are cousins, and not just a funny ruse to keep her out of trouble with her brother. If that were the case, why does she look so relatively young? Your Lineage theory could explain that. It’s very intriguing!

Of course, Kamala is dead set on figuring it out for herself. She spends most of her Eid plying the Illumin-aunties for information about her grandmother with hilarious results. The ‘aunties don’t have a very high opinion of Aisha (“I heard she killed a man”). Specifics are still elusive when the festivities are interrupted by crisis! A little boy decides that the highest point of the mosque is the best place to take a killer selfie, only he tips out of the window as he reviews his filter options. He’s dangling perilously by a curtain, but it won’t hold him for long!

Kamala dips out in classic hero fashion, reappearing in her Captain Marvel cosplay outfit to save the day.

Armaan: This was a great rescue scene, it really shows what sets Ms. Marvel apart as a hero. Not the costume, or the powers, so much — she’s yet to come into her own as a superhero. But to see her there, in full view of her community, making sure the kid doesn’t panic by talking to him about ice cream pizza as she’s rescuing him. Ms. Marvel’s a real street level hero. She doesn’t just save people and fly away, she lets them know she has their back.

Unfortunately, her first rescue didn’t work out quite as well as she’d have liked — a vision of Najma causes her to lose her concentration, and drop the hard light construct holding the boy up. It’s a botched rescue, though the boy had at least a little retribution coming his way, considering the thing you caught with impressive attention to detail.

Karen: Thank you for that set up. So if we rewind a little bit to the mosque scene, Nakia puts her amazingly cool, chunky sneakers into a cubby before going to prayer. They’re not there when she returns, and we hear that at least 20 other people have had their kicks swiped. When Ms Marvel is saving the selfie kid, we get a close-up of her creating a hard-light platform underneath his feet. For some reason this caught my attention on first viewing, and when I watched it again I noticed how familiarly stylish the selfie kid’s shoes looked. I can confirm they are the same shoes. This kid is the shoe thief!! This show is awesome.

I felt really bad for Kamala here, she tried so hard but you know, maybe if she’d been practicing instead of driving around with Kamran like Bowser… (just kidding). She’ll get better at this, right?

Armaan: I certainly hope so. Then again, picking bad guys up and dropping them, then watching them comically fall from one platform to another is certainly one way to fight crime.

You know who is absolutely going about fighting crime the wrong way, though? Damage Control.

Karen: Oh my god I hate the Damage Control guys! This scene was so infuriating, especially when they’re trying to profile Kamala. They have Zoe Zimmer is an interrogation room, trying to butter her up and then squeeze her for information on “Nightlight” aka Ms. Marvel. This is where I’m really glad that Zoe is not just a caricature of a bully, and she doesn’t snitch. This feels totally illegal to me, like she needed to have a parent there, right? I guess when does legality matter in situations like this… Also, they’re totally using Mysterio drones to chase Ms Marvel. ACAB!

She does her best to get away from them but once again, she doesn’t quite have the superhero thing down pat. It’s only the “lucky” arrival of Kamran that saves her from hot water. Out of the frying pan…

Armaan: ..and into the car of her newest crush and his possibly supervillainous mother, as the saying goes. Heck of a cliffhanger we got there, to end a hell of an episode.

I gotta admit, I was fully prepared to just casually enjoy this series — to not have to get too invested in it, to breeze through the series like I did the Ant-Man movies. I fully expected this whole thing to be merely okay.

If this series keeps up the kind of quality we saw in this episode, I’m deeply, deeply invested in what’s going on. This episode brought me so much joy, and I’m on the edge of my seat for what comes next. Karen?

Karen: I agree! I’m really surprised how dramatically things turned around for me, but I haven’t been this excited about an MCU show since Loki I guess, and maybe even more so than that. I feel like Kamala Khan pirouetting through my apartment to the Ronettes over this show now. Who would have thought, not me! That I got to talk about it with you has only amplified my enthusiasm. I always love your contributions to CXF and the positivity you bring to this crew so I was excited to collaborate. Thank you so much for having me!

Until next time, make mine… Ms. Marvel… 🤦‍♀️

Marvel-ous Ms.-cellany

For the record, with no offense to any Shah Rukh Khan (SRK) fans out there, Kamran and Kamala’s Bollywood bonding feels simplified for American audiences. SRK is about as safe a choice as you can make when talking about Bollywood.
It is funny that they reference Kingo though, as I first encountered Zenobia Shroff (who plays Kamala’s mother, Muneeba) in The Big Sick, by Kingo actor Kumail Nanjiani and his wife Emily V. Gordon based on their life. Shroff plays Kumail’s mother in that as well which is a bit of a stretch age-wise but that’s movies.
Forget Doctor Strange, Illumin-aunties > The Illuminati.
But “Nightlight” is no “Night Monkey.”
“Najma” means star in Urdu — aliens could still very much be in the mix, here.
Nakia really does have the coolest shoes.
Ice cream pizza – when designed as a dessert – is pretty good. This kid, however, with his ice cream mixed in with his cheese and pizza sauce and whatnot, this kid’s tastes are weird.
The ice cream pizza memes were pretty hilarious, I gotta say. My favorite: “WHY ADD THEM TOGETHER? #hurting #inside – @JingyPants23”
Not the first time that the Ronettes’ ‘Be My Baby’ has made a significant appearance in the life of a Marvel-named superhero who loves Bollywood movies (honestly, typed out like that, I’m surprised by how specific that is): Young Avengers’ Marvel Boy declares his love for Earth culture while grooving out to that song with Kate Bishop!
Kamala declaring “I got you!” and then collapsing under the boy’s weight is the funniest superhero wipeout since Robert Pattison’s crash in The Batman.