Plot: Marvel Studios’ “Ms. Marvel” is a new, original series that introduces Kamala Khan, a Muslim American teenager growing up in Jersey City. An avid gamer and a voracious fan-fiction scribe, Kamala is a Super Hero megafan with an oversized imagination—particularly when it comes to Captain Marvel. Yet Kamala feels like she doesn’t fit in at school and sometimes even at home—that is, until she gets superpowers like the heroes she’s always looked up to. Life gets better with superpowers, right?
Review: Marvel Studios’ latest Disney+ offering is far different than any of their series to date. Ms. Marvel, which follows the origin of Captain Marvel superfan Kamala Khan, is completely embedded in the everyday life of a teenager who lives in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. She goes to school, has challenges with her overprotective parents, crushes on boys, and the pressure of deciding what her future will hold. When her life is turned upside down thanks to newfound superpowers, Kamala’s life changes forever. A beloved character in Marvel Comics since her debut in 2013, Kamala Khan’s introduction to the MCU is a charming and lightweight entry into the realm of live-action that doesn’t quite have the same stakes as the other Disney+ series thus far but still manages to be a charming change of pace from what has come before it.
In the two episodes made available for this review, Ms. Marvel is fairly light on superhero action. There are a couple of sequences that showcase Kamala’s enhanced abilities, but the focus is more on character building and introducing us to the Khan clan. Kamala is an artist at heart and the on-screen title graphics and text message visuals play into her style. She lives at home with her older brother, Amir (Saager Shaikh), and her parents Muneeba (Zenobia Shroff) and Yusuf (Mohan Kapur). Kamala’s mother is very overprotective of her daughter down to the way she dresses and criticizes her obsession with Captain Marvel. Yusuf is more sympathetic to Kamala’s desire for personal freedom but still keeps his daughter protected and sheltered. Kamala has two close friends, Bruno (Matt Lintz) who is a technological genius, and Nakia (Yasmeen Fletcher). Kamala often runs up against classmate and social media influencer Zoe Zimmer (Laurel Marsden).
A lot of the first episode established Kamala’s home and school life and her love of superheroes which is set to come to a head when she and Bruno plan to attend Avengercon, much to her parents’ dismay. It is in the process of trying to make her costume representative of herself and her culture that Kamala comes into possession of a magical bangle that turns her into a superhero. Once she and Bruno figure out she has powers, the series brings in the expected training montage as Kamala begins to embrace her new abilities. Rather than shift the focus entirely to those powers, Ms. Marvel shows how Kamala cannot keep the powers under control which leads to potentially awkward situations. It is clearly a metaphor for puberty as Kamala’s powers seep out when she is around Kamran (Rish Shah), the new boy at school that she has a crush on. Much like Pixar’s Turning Red, Ms. Marvel does a nice job of showing how being a teenage girl is hard enough without being superhuman but how embracing those powers can truly transform you.
The stakes in this series, at least in the episodes I have seen, are relatively low compared to other MCU series so far. The focus on the life of a teenager may turn off some older viewers, but the series is never handled like a Disney Channel show. There is a maturity in the writing of this story that never talks down to the younger cast members or the audience. Everyone feels like an authentic teenager, even more than in the MCU Spider-Man films. Much of that is a kudos to Iman Vellani who is perfectly cast as Kamala. Iman has excellent comedic timing and delivers her lines with confidence but also a sharp wit that would hold up opposite Tom Holland or Robert Downey Jr. Iman is on screen more than most characters but I also enjoyed Matt Lintz and Yasmeen Fletcher, both of whom compliment Iman on screen but also create characters interesting on their own. Zenobia Shroff and Mohan Kapur are also quite good as Kamala’s parents who may or may not know more about where their daughter’s superpowers came from. The second episode concludes with a tease that a big reveal will be coming in the third episode and I am curious how comic book fans will respond.
The series also does a great job of not treating the religion of the Khan family as foreign or different. Rather than draw attention to their Muslim faith as a curiosity, Ms. Marvel tackles it as a part of their lives and a very normal one at that. Similar to Matt Murdock’s Catholic faith in the Daredevil series, Kamala’s attendance at her local mosque and Nakia’s involvement with the leadership group there is portrayed realistically and respectfully while also informing audiences unfamiliar with Islamic customs without overtly parading it as any sort of virtue signaling. Series creator Bisha K. Ali does a nice job of bringing a sense of humor to the series while also giving viewers an honest look at modern teenage life. Directors Adil El Arbi & Bilall Fallah (Bad Boys for Life), Meera Menon (Farah Goes Bang), and Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy (3 Bahadur), each of whom helm two episodes of the six-episode series, all maintain the consistent MCU visual style while allowing Ms. Marvel to showcase its own quirky personality.
In terms of action and comic book set-pieces, Ms. Marvel does not have very many spectacular moments in the first two episodes. These hour-long opening chapters are great at establishing Kamala Khan’s unique slice of New York life and give a new perspective on being a teenager in the MCU that is far different than even Peter Parker’s experiences in Spider-Man: Homecoming. Without having seen where this series is headed, which I am sure will feature a cameo appearance from either Monica Rambeau or Carol Danvers to set up Kamala’s inclusion in Marvel Studios’ film The Marvels, there is not a lot in these early episodes that will impress those looking for big-scale heroics. But, if you are good with solid characters and developing a distinct point of view with a lead actress who is surely going to be a big star, you will find a lot in Ms. Marvel to keep you entertained even if it doesn’t raise the bar compared to some other Marvel Studios projects. Oh, and stick around until the very end of the premiere episode for a post-credit sequence that directly connects this film to a recent MCU movie.
Ms. Marvel premieres on June 8th on Disney+.