Muslim, Jewish… The superheroes did not wait for Miss Marvel to have faith

This is the element that everyone remembers when it comes to evoking the new superheroine from Marvel Studios: Miss Marvel “is the first muslim heroine of the MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe)”. This identity seems the alpha and omega of the personality of this character. A symbol a little too quickly brandished by the creators of the series, the defenders or the critics of the character and, well of course, the haters and some asserted Islamophobes.

For several years, the studio belonging to the giant Disney has paid close attention to the question of the diversity and representativeness of its characters. We remember the event that was Black Panther for the representation of black heroes, the same with The Eternals or the last Doctor Strange and their homoparental families or even Shang Chi for the Asian community.

Miss Marvel is the pseudonym of Kamala Khan (played by Iman Vellani) a teenage girl from Jersey City who is an absolute Captain Marvel fan. Kamala will discover her own powers and the series available on Disney + gives us to see her adventures as a beginner superheroine. But Ms.Marvel also explores the teenage life of our heroine who has to juggle between modern American culture and her traditional family of Pakistani origin. A family in which faith is important. And their faith is Islam.

If Muslim heroes are still rare in mainstream pop culture, it would be wrong to think that Disney and Marvel are only now discovering the religious question. Those who would be surprised by the place of religion in the Khan family and would see in it a misplaced “wokism”, would do well to look at other well-known superheroes. And it is not a question of finding two or three heroes hidden in obscure comics… Heroes who are among the most famous, embodied in cinema and television for years, have faith and do not care. don’t hide.

The omnipresent faith

The blog comicbookreligion has even created a database that references tens of thousands of Marvel or DC Comics heroes. Superman for example was in the Christian faith in the current American Methodist. Batman is Episcopalian, Spiderman protestant, as Captain America. The examples are legion and designers like directors like to recall these biographical elements more or less discreetly: churches, temples, cemeteries, weddings, jewelry… The symbols are numerous.

Other characters make their faith the pillars of their action. The vigilante lawyer Daredevil is Catholic and Magneto is Jewish. His religion is mentioned at many times in the various films X-Men for example. Shis magnetic powers are revealed as he is torn from his family during the Holocaust. The mutant played by Ian McKellen references the tattoo he received in a concentration camp and his younger version, played by Michael Fassbender, even goes on a vengeful hunt against former Nazis in X-Men: First Class.

Religions (or their rejection) always serve to deepen or establish a character’s personality. Tony Stark, for example, is a man of science and doubt, he naturally remains hermetic to religious thought even if the spiritual question sometimes comes to tickle him here or there. Other older or mythical characters follow now extinct cults like Wonder Woman. DC Comics and Marvel therefore did not wait for 2022 and Ms. Marvel to talk about religion.

It remains to know why the media presence of a Muslim heroine causes much more turmoil today than other characters. Obviously, part of the public seems determined to highlight certain elements which, however, have irrigated comics for decades. Aspects that have become more powerful and visible with television and film adaptations: feminism, LGBTQ+ representativeness, ethnic and religious diversity. New ammunition for lovers of politico-cultural contests on social networks.

Season 1 of Ms.Marvel is available on the Disney+ platform, 6 episodes which will be broadcast between June 8 and July 13, 2022.

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Muslim, Jewish… The superheroes did not wait for Miss Marvel to have faith