How is “Ms. Marvel”, the Disney + series that has the first Muslim superheroine?

The only episode of Ms Marvel premiered in Disney+ shows that it is a different series from what was seen in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Not only by focusing the story on the life of the teenager Kamala Khan (played by Iman Vellani), a Muslim girl from New Jersey who is a fan of Captain Marvel, but also because of the funny tone reminiscent of the animations Spider-Man: a new universe either The Mitchell family vs. the machines.

Kamala Khan’s arrival in comics is fairly recent. In fact, when the first installment of The Avengers (2013), this character had not even reached newsstands. Her first appearance was just that year, making her one of Marvel’s newest characters, and part of a generation of powerful and ethnically diverse women who have risen to prominence; is the case of she hulkwhich will premiere its own series in August, or Elektra.

Kamala is the first Muslim superheroine. Also Muslim are her creators: G Willow Wilson, an award-winning comics writer who converted to Islam as an adult, and Sana Amanat, Marvel’s current director of character development.

The magazines of Ms Marvel they became a bestseller – they were even presented at the White House to then-President Barack Obama – and represent an editorial shift that includes younger heroes.

They are characters who also made it to film and television from the studios, with Kate Bishop (Hailee Steinfeld) in the series hawk eyeAmerica Chaves (Xochitl Gomez) in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madnessor Yelena Romanoff (Florence Pugh) in black widow.

In both the comics and the series, Kamala’s conflicts are not just with supervillains, but with her spirituality, family duties, and traditions. The opening chapter of Ms. Marvel, in fact, focuses on the young woman’s relationship with her parents and her friends, and only at the end is it known how she obtains her colorful abilities.

“This is not evangelism,” Wilson told the New York Times of featuring the family life of a young Muslim woman. “It was very important for me to portray Kamala as someone who struggles with her faith.”

Kamala is not the hegemonic image of a white woman that Marvel has shown in characters like Captain Marvel, The Wasp, Wanda Maximoff or Black Widow. Of course there are exceptions (Okoye, Storm, Valkyrie), but so far they are not the protagonists of the stories.

Ms. Marvel will have just six episodes, premiering Wednesdays on Disney+.

The first episode was directed by the Belgian duo of Moroccan descent Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah, responsible for bad boys forever and whose last movie, Rebel It premiered at Cannes last month. This year and within the world of superheroes they will also premiere batgirlbut it will be for the competition, DC Comics, and on HBO Max.

Here, to give a youthful and relaxed tone, El Arbi and Fallah incorporated drawings, text messages, emojis, as well as dreams and other fantasies of Kamala to Ms Marvel.

At just 19 years old, the young Iman Vellani lands in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which for this fan of comics and especially Ms. Marvel, seems like a dream come true. In one of the shorts that accompanied the series premiere, she said that her parents gave her a $20 allowance and she spent it on comics.

In an interview with Variety, Vellani said that his first approach to Ms. Marvel was when he saw a young brunette on the cover of one of the magazines. “That was incredibly eye-opening for me, because I hadn’t realized there was room for someone like me in the industry, and I know that sounds super cheesy or whatever, but it’s so true. Beyond the on-screen portrayal, see ethnic names in the credits is very important. I didn’t know what I wanted to do in high school, I just wanted to try everything behind the camera, because I was really in love with technology, so seeing these people thrive working at Marvel was very inspiring” said the actress.

Fortunately, the story of Kamala and how she acquires and masters her superpowers is not limited to the series, as Marvel has more plans for her. For now, she will be in theaters with the marvels, which will be released next year and will be the continuation of Captain Marvel; It will once again feature Brie Larson and Samuel L. Jackson as protagonists and Nia DaCosta as director.

Currently, Ms Marvel is the Marvel Cinematic Universe series with the best reviews on the Rotten Tomatoes portal, with 95% critical acceptance. As for the audience, it has 86 percent.

On the contrary, it has the lowest score on the IMDB portal, according to the star rating given to it by users. It remains to be seen what fate awaits the following chapters.