I finished up Ms. Marvel a few days ago and what a delight it was. I have so many things to say about this show, so I will just jump right in. I'll spare you the requisite "I've read the character since she came out, blah blah blah".
Before I dive into other stuff, I really like how Marvel is getting creators from the ethnic backgrounds their shows are representing. Furthermore, we get to spend times in those locations as opposed to New York. For Moon Knight, it was Egypt with an Egyptian showrunner. For Ms. Marvel, we spend time in Pakistan with actors and directors from Pakistan. Furthermore, it delves into the everyday life of a Muslim. Portrayed in a positive light, which as you can imagine in America, is not common. Let's be honest about that. Each of these shows had a unique, authenticity that is new for main stream TV. I'm glad that a wide audience will be able to watch these shows and potentially learn something.
If Marvel plays it's cards right, it still has many more teen super heroes they can follow and how they exist in their own spaces. Anyone can relate to a coming of age story, even if the ethnic background does not match your own. This show followed Kamala Khan as she gets new powers and learns how to use them while also trying to be a teenager. The main cast is all likeable and for a while, it was hard to determine who would be the villain because everyone had their own level of goodness about them. Fortunately we get, "the man" as a villain to allow some faceless soldiers to be punching bags.
I'll say again, the cast is very likeable. Iman Vellani is instantly charming as Kamala Kahn. She has an infectious energy about her and everything about her feels authentic. You can almost feel how she is enjoying the role. I can imagine that there is a lot of weight on her shoulders carrying the culture of South East Asia.
In the trailers and in the first episode, I was afraid that all the cutesy writing on the screen would appear throughout the show. Thankfully, they rein it in. It's fun at first, but it is something that was going to get old real quick.
I also thought the pace of the show was good. Like all Marvel shows, you won't see the character in their uniform until the very end, but the journey to get there was fun. Also, the costume looks pretty good. They also restrained themselves and didn't have any cutesy cameos show up. There were also no other Marvel characters really getting introduced here outside of Kamala. This way the focus stayed squarely on her.
The big thing they changed here was her origin. At first I didn't like it, but as it went on, it made way more sense in the context of this story. To summarize for those that don't know. In the comics, Kamala is revealed to be an "Inhuman". What's an Inhuman? The poor man's X-Men. Or "The X-Men type of characters when we don't have rights to the X-Men.". Anyways, when a specific (called "terrigen") mist hits an inhuman, they get special, random powers. That is where Kamala's stretchiness comes from in the comics.
Here, they do away with all that Inhuman nonsense and just give her a magical item. I initially didn't like that her powers come from an item, but they explain that only SHE can really use it like that, so I can forgive it. They also find a way to approximate her powers to look like the comics, but use it in ways that make it smart for the story. Again, I'm completely okay with it. If you rolled your eyes through her original origin above, you are right to. When I say it out loud, it sounds real dumb. Welcome to comics. I'm glad they tie this into the Djinn and explore that here. This is something we never see in American shows. A very different take than what we get in anything Marvel and I welcome it.
The fighting isn't great in this show, but that is not it's strength. The interpersonal relationships are what shine here and that is a good thing. If we didn't care about the characters, none of this would work.
I think the other thing this show secretly teaches us about is the partition that happened between Pakistan and India. I will be honest that I was never aware of it before a Doctor Who episode a couple of years ago. It is an event we should talk about more in history class and this show doesn't shy away about how harrowing it was. They don't go into the finer details, but you get enough to feel it.
I'm so glad that even though Marvel is stumbling around in the dark on all their phase 4 stuff, good stuff is coming out of it like this show. We know we'll see more of Kamala Kahn and that is a good thing. Here's hoping that will spill into a second season. They have it all set up to do so.
I highly recommend watching this show!
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