Disney+ Marvel Series Stands Out In Post-Endgame MCU

Ms. Marvel, in the span of six episodes that run approximately 45 minutes each, introduces Kamala Khan, a 16-year old girl obsessed with The Avengers. Her favorite Avenger of all is Captain Marvel, or Carol Danvers.

Because Kamala is an artist who loves creating fan fiction graphic novels that tell of her imagined adventures as a superhero, the audience is treated to comic-book style animation that breaks into various scenes. 

Ms. Marvel, at its heart, is about a girl and her family, though. She lives at home with her parents, an overbearing, overprotective mother, Muneeba (Zenobia Schroff) who is both bullheaded and deeply loving, and a more laid-back father, Yusuf (Mohan Kapoor).

Her brother, Aamir (Saagar Shaikh) is already grown, out of the house, and planning his wedding. Kamala also has her best friends, Nakia, who is Muslim, like Kamala, and attends the same mosque and is part of the same community, and Bruno, a white boy from school who has a crush on Kamala. 

As the Ms. Marvel begins, Kamala is dressing up for AvengerCon, sneaking behind her parents’ backs, and finds a golden bangle in her mother’s old junk. She puts the bangle on and suddenly is able to project cosmic energy.

Of course, she has no idea how to handle these newfound powers and they wreak havoc on the venue. In a moment of redemption, Kamala is able to save a classmate of hers from damage Kamala caused, and the whole thing is captured on smartphones and broadcast. 

Now, we have a budding superhero on our hands, and she doesn’t even know how or why. Still, our developing Ms. Marvel does what she can to understand her powers. She calls her grandmother, Sana, in Pakistan to ask about the bangle, and we see flashbacks of the grandmother as a young girl during partition between India and Pakistan.

Sana is separated from her father but is mysteriously reunited with him at a busy train station. Meanwhile, in the present, Kamala and Bruno start training to wield Kamala’s powers, and a new boy, Kamran, arrives at school. 

What makes Ms. Marvel so wonderful is that Kamala is at once entirely relatable as a young girl developing and maturing into womanhood. She rebels against her parents, has conflict with her friends, and makes bad choices.

At the same time, an entirely new culture for many Americans is introduced in the form of the Muslim communities here, the immigrant parents and their American-born children, and the struggle to both belong to their community and to fit into the larger American society. 

GFR SCORE

As the show unfolds, audiences are immersed in Kamala’s world, both as one of the only superheroes of color and as a Muslim American teenager. We also learn a lot about Indian and Pakistani history.

Add to this story adventure, romance, and thrills galore, and you can’t help but love Ms. Marvel. I cannot say that The Marvels is one of my favorite Marvel films, but I will say that Kamala’s character, thanks to Iman Vellani, is one of the highlights within it. I truly hope we see more of her, either on the big screen or the small one.