Ms. Marvel has finally arrived and this brand-new Disney+ series aims to not only tell a coming of age and superhero origin story for Pakistani American teenager Kamala Khan, but it also looks to reimagine the source comics that first brought Kamala to life in 2013.
In the series, Kamala’s powers come from a more ancestral place rather than a cosmic one (aka the Inhumans), and this was paramount in shaping this series. Now, Kamala’s powers bring her even closer to her family and put them more center stage than ever before. Adapting a comic is no easy feat, but the team behind Ms. Marvel was ready for the challenge. Read on for everything they had to say, from the influence Spider-Verse had on the show, to its "palate cleanser" aspect, the importance of family to Kamala Khan, and much more.
Iman Vellani, who is starring as Kamala Khan in Ms. Marvel, is very excited about the changes from the comics that allow her character to explore her roots and being more than “just Muslim or just Pakistani or just any one thing.”
“The themes of the comics have always been about identity and about marrying all the things that make Kamala Kamala, because you cannot just be labeled as just Muslim or just Pakistani or just any one thing,” Vellani said. “We're a combination of so many different things and that's really the arc that Kamala follows.
“And her powers are definitely a metaphor for that, as they were in the comic books. Although now, instead of it being about puberty, it's more about reconnecting with your roots and culture. I'm really excited for people to kind of see that journey and also just reconnect with their own roots themselves.”
Now, instead of it being about puberty, it's more about reconnecting with your roots and culture.
Those worried about Ms. Marvel straying too far away from the comics should rest easy knowing her co-creator Sana Amanat is a producer on the series. While she acknowledges that it was a challenge to adapt it in a way that would please comic book fans and newcomers alike, she was also excited with how the scripts described a show that put the story of Kamala, her family, and her heritage front and center.
“One of my favorite things when I first read the scripts from our writers, and the thing that I think that [head writer] Bisha [K. Ali] and her team did really well, was capitalize on the story that was in the comics about Kamala and her family and her background,” Amanat said. “There's a few moments in the history of Kamala's family that I think were really beautiful, and really tell a lot about who [Kamala's mom] Muneeba is, and who the family was before Kamala came into the picture.
“When I first read the script, I was like, ‘Oh, well, this is the show. The show is about these women, this ancestry, and this lineage. I think that's incredibly important for us to share that story.’ As much as we had that in the comics, it was fully expanded and fleshed out from the writers of the show.”
Series directors Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah and head writer Bisha K. Ali agree that although Ms. Marvel's powers may have come from a different place, they are very connected to who she is as a person.
“The thing with the powers in the comic books is that her powers are directly connected to how she feels about herself in the world,” Ali said. “They're directly connected to her psychology and her internal world, her character, and that connectivity was so important. And in the television show, I think we're honoring it.
“Otherwise, what's the point? Who cares if the powers aren't connected?”
Speaking of her powers, the team behind Ms. Marvel had to work just as hard as Kamala to figure out the best way to use her abilities. Director Meera Menon said the journey Kamala goes on is not so dissimilar to that of the crew.
“The fortunate part [we had in establishing Kamala’s powers is] we could, like Kamala, be figuring it out a bit as we went,” Menon said. “I think for example, in Episode 2, when she's figuring out her powers, that montage where she's trying all different kinds of things, we also tried all kinds of things. We just came up with different ideas of how she could use these powers, different shapes she could make, what would her thought process be after that moment at AvengerCon as to what to do with this power.”
Another exciting aspect of diverging from the comics was allowing the team the freedom to experiment with how this new story of Ms. Marvel will be told.
“The animation is going to be totally different. It's something that we never saw [before] in the MCU,” Arbi said. “And it's something that was not really present in the comic book or in the concept. We were like, our biggest inspiration is Spider-Verse. And we really want to make a live-action version of that. Also Scott Pilgrim.
“And so we said to really capture the mind of Kamala Khan, to be in her mind and see her dream world and her fantasies, through that animation you can really tell that. And so we were a bit afraid that Marvel wouldn't like it. But we made a presentation and showed YouTube videos and eventually Kevin Feige just loved it and said, ‘Okay, I love it, do it. But don't do it too much. Just do it for a good reason.’”
An example of the type of animation Arbi is referring to would be the illustrations that appear on buildings behind Kamala which convey to the audience in a bright, fun way what the character is thinking or how she is feeling.
“I think that makes it so original and distinctive from all the other Marvel shows," continued Arbi. "And then they fall in love with the family and the friends, because at the end of the day, the love that she has for them and they for her, that's the real superpower of Kamala Khan.”
Family is at the heart of Ms. Marvel, but so is a groundedness that makes these characters in a fictional world feel real by following the rules set by the MCU. Kamala herself is a huge fan of the Avengers, as many in our world are, and that is the first of many touchpoints fans will have when watching the show. Additionally, the series, according to Vellani, is a bit of a “palate cleanser” after Moon Knight and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.
“The show's so heartwarming and colorful and grounded in its characters, and so we just really wanted to lean into our actors and bring out everything that makes them so great, and into their characters, and into the storyline,” Vellani said. “And on top of that, the show really goes and embraces fan culture in a unique way, and that kind of elevates Kamala's story even more.
She's a 16-year-old kid with superpowers, fine, but she's also a fan of all the other heroes within the MCU canon.
“She's a 16-year-old kid with superpowers, fine, but she's also a fan of all the other heroes within the MCU canon, and I think that's so special because that excitement of the Avengers and the admiration for them is really shared with real-life Marvel fans, and so hopefully they can see themselves in Kamala.”
Vellani is also proud of how Ms. Marvel is showcasing children of immigrant parents who are proud of their Muslim background and where they come from.
“All the type of Muslim teens that I saw growing up, they had to separate themselves from their religion and their culture in order to become an individual, and that just was not true for a lot of people,” Vellani said. “Not to say that it doesn't happen, but it doesn't only happen, and so we really wanted to kind of lean into that loving, close-knit family relationship because that's the case for so many South Asians.
“My family is very similar to Kamala's. I also have an older brother. And so we were just channeling the relationships that we had with our own family in real life into the Khans. I think we've done a really great job because her family, they are her rock and they do guide her and act as a moral code and really just support her throughout her entire hero's journey.”
Menon also thinks the universal concept of family in the show will be relatable for those from all walks of life.
“The storytelling potential of that is really exciting because I think it will be able to touch people that don't necessarily have a relationship to other characters within the MCU or with the superhero genre in general,” Menon said. “By making it such a personal origin story for Kamala, and by connecting it to her ancestry, people can take away from the story some sense of feeling that their own family, their own background, where they come from is the source of what makes them special.
“And I think that's the lesson of the show and that's certainly the theme that's being explored in terms of her origin story with these powers. So basically, I think that what's nice about it is that hopefully it'll make more people relate to her than already do.”
While this all sounds like a light-hearted story, there are still moments of seriousness that Marvel doesn’t want to shy away from as they happen in our world as much as they do in the MCU.
“It's really hard to tell a story about Islamophobia in a very nuanced way,” Amanat said, referring to a moment shown in Episode 2. “Especially doing it in the MCU, because oftentimes things can feel kind of tropey and expected. But there's also the reality of these things happening. There is a reality that the Muslim community is being surveilled. So, let's just talk about it, and let's hint at it at least.
“That's something we didn't necessarily want to shy away from, but we wanted to make sure that we didn't have necessarily mustache-twirling agents.”
While important issues will be addressed, don’t expect Ms. Marvel to make any political statements. That being said, there is still so much to take from it and relate to, according to Yusuf actor Mohan Kapur.
“Those who don't [relate right away] are going to warm up to the fact that this is a damn sweet story," Kapur said. "Why do stories only have to only be about Americans or X, Y, Z? Everybody has a story, and this story has an underlying theme of the Partition of 1947, where India and British India were divided. There's a lovely undercurrent to that. This is a great story to tell. And Disney+ is a great platform for a new superhero to take off.”
“I hope that the same way that we were charmed by [those] characters in the comics, we hope that they get charmed by that character in the live-action TV show,” Arbi said. “That even though it's a Pakistani Muslim girl in Jersey, and it's something very specific about that identity and culture, there is a universal story that everybody can relate to because she's a teenager searching for herself, a bit awkward, trying to be cool in high school without really knowing how to do it. And she does it in a very clumsy, geeky way and the struggles with the parents and the struggles of just growing up and finding yourself, that is something that everybody can recognize.”
For more on the show, check out our review of the premiere, our explainer of the Ms. Marvel post-credits scene, and how Tom Holland spoiled Spider-Man: No Way Home for Iman Vellani.
Some quotes were edited for clarity.
Continue reading...
In the series, Kamala’s powers come from a more ancestral place rather than a cosmic one (aka the Inhumans), and this was paramount in shaping this series. Now, Kamala’s powers bring her even closer to her family and put them more center stage than ever before. Adapting a comic is no easy feat, but the team behind Ms. Marvel was ready for the challenge. Read on for everything they had to say, from the influence Spider-Verse had on the show, to its "palate cleanser" aspect, the importance of family to Kamala Khan, and much more.
Ms. Marvel’s Journey: Reconnecting With Your Roots
Iman Vellani, who is starring as Kamala Khan in Ms. Marvel, is very excited about the changes from the comics that allow her character to explore her roots and being more than “just Muslim or just Pakistani or just any one thing.”
“The themes of the comics have always been about identity and about marrying all the things that make Kamala Kamala, because you cannot just be labeled as just Muslim or just Pakistani or just any one thing,” Vellani said. “We're a combination of so many different things and that's really the arc that Kamala follows.
“And her powers are definitely a metaphor for that, as they were in the comic books. Although now, instead of it being about puberty, it's more about reconnecting with your roots and culture. I'm really excited for people to kind of see that journey and also just reconnect with their own roots themselves.”
Now, instead of it being about puberty, it's more about reconnecting with your roots and culture.
Those worried about Ms. Marvel straying too far away from the comics should rest easy knowing her co-creator Sana Amanat is a producer on the series. While she acknowledges that it was a challenge to adapt it in a way that would please comic book fans and newcomers alike, she was also excited with how the scripts described a show that put the story of Kamala, her family, and her heritage front and center.
“One of my favorite things when I first read the scripts from our writers, and the thing that I think that [head writer] Bisha [K. Ali] and her team did really well, was capitalize on the story that was in the comics about Kamala and her family and her background,” Amanat said. “There's a few moments in the history of Kamala's family that I think were really beautiful, and really tell a lot about who [Kamala's mom] Muneeba is, and who the family was before Kamala came into the picture.
“When I first read the script, I was like, ‘Oh, well, this is the show. The show is about these women, this ancestry, and this lineage. I think that's incredibly important for us to share that story.’ As much as we had that in the comics, it was fully expanded and fleshed out from the writers of the show.”
Series directors Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah and head writer Bisha K. Ali agree that although Ms. Marvel's powers may have come from a different place, they are very connected to who she is as a person.
“The thing with the powers in the comic books is that her powers are directly connected to how she feels about herself in the world,” Ali said. “They're directly connected to her psychology and her internal world, her character, and that connectivity was so important. And in the television show, I think we're honoring it.
“Otherwise, what's the point? Who cares if the powers aren't connected?”
Ms. Marvel’s Powers and the Spider-Verse Inspiration
Speaking of her powers, the team behind Ms. Marvel had to work just as hard as Kamala to figure out the best way to use her abilities. Director Meera Menon said the journey Kamala goes on is not so dissimilar to that of the crew.
“The fortunate part [we had in establishing Kamala’s powers is] we could, like Kamala, be figuring it out a bit as we went,” Menon said. “I think for example, in Episode 2, when she's figuring out her powers, that montage where she's trying all different kinds of things, we also tried all kinds of things. We just came up with different ideas of how she could use these powers, different shapes she could make, what would her thought process be after that moment at AvengerCon as to what to do with this power.”
Another exciting aspect of diverging from the comics was allowing the team the freedom to experiment with how this new story of Ms. Marvel will be told.
“The animation is going to be totally different. It's something that we never saw [before] in the MCU,” Arbi said. “And it's something that was not really present in the comic book or in the concept. We were like, our biggest inspiration is Spider-Verse. And we really want to make a live-action version of that. Also Scott Pilgrim.
“And so we said to really capture the mind of Kamala Khan, to be in her mind and see her dream world and her fantasies, through that animation you can really tell that. And so we were a bit afraid that Marvel wouldn't like it. But we made a presentation and showed YouTube videos and eventually Kevin Feige just loved it and said, ‘Okay, I love it, do it. But don't do it too much. Just do it for a good reason.’”
An example of the type of animation Arbi is referring to would be the illustrations that appear on buildings behind Kamala which convey to the audience in a bright, fun way what the character is thinking or how she is feeling.
“I think that makes it so original and distinctive from all the other Marvel shows," continued Arbi. "And then they fall in love with the family and the friends, because at the end of the day, the love that she has for them and they for her, that's the real superpower of Kamala Khan.”
A Marvel Cinematic Universe 'Palate Cleanser'
Family is at the heart of Ms. Marvel, but so is a groundedness that makes these characters in a fictional world feel real by following the rules set by the MCU. Kamala herself is a huge fan of the Avengers, as many in our world are, and that is the first of many touchpoints fans will have when watching the show. Additionally, the series, according to Vellani, is a bit of a “palate cleanser” after Moon Knight and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.
“The show's so heartwarming and colorful and grounded in its characters, and so we just really wanted to lean into our actors and bring out everything that makes them so great, and into their characters, and into the storyline,” Vellani said. “And on top of that, the show really goes and embraces fan culture in a unique way, and that kind of elevates Kamala's story even more.
She's a 16-year-old kid with superpowers, fine, but she's also a fan of all the other heroes within the MCU canon.
“She's a 16-year-old kid with superpowers, fine, but she's also a fan of all the other heroes within the MCU canon, and I think that's so special because that excitement of the Avengers and the admiration for them is really shared with real-life Marvel fans, and so hopefully they can see themselves in Kamala.”
Vellani is also proud of how Ms. Marvel is showcasing children of immigrant parents who are proud of their Muslim background and where they come from.
“All the type of Muslim teens that I saw growing up, they had to separate themselves from their religion and their culture in order to become an individual, and that just was not true for a lot of people,” Vellani said. “Not to say that it doesn't happen, but it doesn't only happen, and so we really wanted to kind of lean into that loving, close-knit family relationship because that's the case for so many South Asians.
“My family is very similar to Kamala's. I also have an older brother. And so we were just channeling the relationships that we had with our own family in real life into the Khans. I think we've done a really great job because her family, they are her rock and they do guide her and act as a moral code and really just support her throughout her entire hero's journey.”
Menon also thinks the universal concept of family in the show will be relatable for those from all walks of life.
“The storytelling potential of that is really exciting because I think it will be able to touch people that don't necessarily have a relationship to other characters within the MCU or with the superhero genre in general,” Menon said. “By making it such a personal origin story for Kamala, and by connecting it to her ancestry, people can take away from the story some sense of feeling that their own family, their own background, where they come from is the source of what makes them special.
“And I think that's the lesson of the show and that's certainly the theme that's being explored in terms of her origin story with these powers. So basically, I think that what's nice about it is that hopefully it'll make more people relate to her than already do.”
While this all sounds like a light-hearted story, there are still moments of seriousness that Marvel doesn’t want to shy away from as they happen in our world as much as they do in the MCU.
“It's really hard to tell a story about Islamophobia in a very nuanced way,” Amanat said, referring to a moment shown in Episode 2. “Especially doing it in the MCU, because oftentimes things can feel kind of tropey and expected. But there's also the reality of these things happening. There is a reality that the Muslim community is being surveilled. So, let's just talk about it, and let's hint at it at least.
“That's something we didn't necessarily want to shy away from, but we wanted to make sure that we didn't have necessarily mustache-twirling agents.”
While important issues will be addressed, don’t expect Ms. Marvel to make any political statements. That being said, there is still so much to take from it and relate to, according to Yusuf actor Mohan Kapur.
“Those who don't [relate right away] are going to warm up to the fact that this is a damn sweet story," Kapur said. "Why do stories only have to only be about Americans or X, Y, Z? Everybody has a story, and this story has an underlying theme of the Partition of 1947, where India and British India were divided. There's a lovely undercurrent to that. This is a great story to tell. And Disney+ is a great platform for a new superhero to take off.”
“I hope that the same way that we were charmed by [those] characters in the comics, we hope that they get charmed by that character in the live-action TV show,” Arbi said. “That even though it's a Pakistani Muslim girl in Jersey, and it's something very specific about that identity and culture, there is a universal story that everybody can relate to because she's a teenager searching for herself, a bit awkward, trying to be cool in high school without really knowing how to do it. And she does it in a very clumsy, geeky way and the struggles with the parents and the struggles of just growing up and finding yourself, that is something that everybody can recognize.”
For more on the show, check out our review of the premiere, our explainer of the Ms. Marvel post-credits scene, and how Tom Holland spoiled Spider-Man: No Way Home for Iman Vellani.
Some quotes were edited for clarity.
Continue reading...