Showrunner:
Bisha K. Ali
Written By:
Bisha K. Ali, Sana Amanat
Starring:
Iman Vellani, Alysia Reiner, Matt Lintz, Bruno Carrelli, Yasmeen Fletcher, Anjali Bhimani, Rish Shah
Genre:
Action, Adventure, Comedy
Rated: TV-PG
All media used courtesy of Disney, Marvel
Kamala Khan is your average Marvel nerd, who after putting on mysterious bracelets is able to harness superhero powers like her favorite hero, Captain Marvel. The first two episodes officially are on Disney + so let’s talk about this new direction of the MCU and why Kamala is so darn fun to watch!
Kamala comes is a Muslim Pakistani-American teenager from New Jersey. Comes from a traditional household that puts their value on ‘real heroes’. Kamala is a literal MCU stan in this, which is a fun new angle for the MCU to have this growing fandom inside the universe, having their own conventions with things you’d see in our world. I’m not super familiar with the Ms. Marvel comics, so I was going into this fairly fresh. From what I understand some of her powers are visually different, and I’m thinking in Feige fashion Kamala’s origin is more intertwined with the MCU rather than sticking to canon. I don’t really feel they have to be as faithful to the comics for characters that aren’t as widely known, so I never saw changes as a problem as long as it services a better story for it.
I think a lot of the first two episodes’ charm comes from Iman Vellani who is delightful as the lead. I love her character’s vibe and silliness. Supporting characters are all great in their roles, particularly Kamala’s mother. I like the visual style of Ms. Marvel doing more than most films with texts on screen, animation, and visuals around phone storytelling. I think they take notes from Spider-Man: Into The Spiderverse with that style and it translates to live-action well.
The story and superhero tropes might feel a little stale in these first two episodes. Marvel does a lot in this to change its style from your normal MCU films, but it might be that the traditional origin story beats are too familiar to invest in. Whether or not you feel this show is for you or in your age range, it doesn’t matter. When it comes to the great performances, the escapism to the world of Marvel heroes, and a new story and perspective that invites more fans into the ever-expanding universe, it’s completely approachable and fun to watch.
Excited to see where the series goes!
