The Marvel Cinematic Universe is ever-expanding. With audiences being introduced to new heroes, heroines and comic-booky concepts every few months, the MCU is a train with no signs of stopping. However, with so many heroes coexisting in the Marvel world, each must be sure to stand out from the others in order to connect with us. With Ms. Marvel coming to DisneyPlus next week and riding a wave of hype, star Iman Vellani explained in a recent press conference how her Ms. Marvel does just that.
How Iman Vellani’s Ms. Marvel Stands Out From Marvel’s Pantheon of Superheroes
“I think Ms. Marvel always understood fan culture on such a cellular level and it just really elevated the storytelling in a really unique way. She’s a 16-year-old kid with superpowers fine. We’ve seen that before. But she’s also a fan of every other hero within the MCU cannon and that fascination and excitement is so shared with real-life Marvel fans so that’s why we relate to her. She reacts how we would when she gets powers and so that’s why I connected with that part of her, that’s why I fell in love with her.”
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Ms. Marvel is a Marvel hero whose love of the Avengers mirrors the love that real-world fans have for the characters. Many of the MCU’s fans are children and teenagers too, so the fact that they will get to see a hero around their age experiencing their powers for the first time will undoubtedly make her relatable to them as well as the inner kid in many an adult Marvel fans as well.
However, that’s not the only thing that makes her introduction a milestone. Kamala Khan will be the first Muslim superheroine within the Marvel Cinematic Universe, a major positive step in onscreen representation for a group that has up until now mostly been vilified in American-produced media. However, Vellani stated that while the character being Pakistani-Muslim is a part of the character, it doesn’t fully define her:
“Culture and religion were never the main thing of her personality, it was just some part of her life, you know how it was for me. It’s like, this is the time I wake up, this is the time I go to school, this is the time I pray, this is the time I eat, it’s just a normal thing. We didn’t want to make the show about a Pakistani-Muslim, it was about, you know this Avengers-loving, fanfic-writing dork who just so happens to be a Pakistani-Muslim and yeah, I think we balance it quite well”.
The Marvel Cinematic Universe has increased its focus on diversity and inclusion in the past few years, starting as early as their Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D television series and continuing with The Falcon and The Winter Soldier, Loki, WandaVision and Hawkeye. On the film side of things, we’ve had Doctor Strange In the Multiverse of Madness, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, and Eternals, with Black Panther: Wakanda Forever coming out later this year.
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Kamala Khan will also star alongside Brie Larson’s Captain Marvel/Carol Danvers and Teyonah Parris’ Monica Rambeau in The Marvels. For now, we can look forward to Ms. Marvel dropping on DisneyPlus June 8, 2022. Personally, I’m excited to see a Marvel heroine who’s just as big of a nerd as the rest of us. May she fly to great heights and entertain us all along the way.
What are your thoughts on Iman Vellani’s comments regarding Ms. Marvel? Are you excited to see what cosmic action awaits us? What’s your favorite Phase 4 MCU outing so far? Let us know in the comments below and on our Twitter.
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