Marvel Releases More Details on New, Muslim Ms. Marvel

Yesterday seems a world away now, before Marvel Studios and Netflix announced their blockbuster [...]

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Yesterday seems a world away now, before Marvel Studios and Netflix announced their blockbuster deal and the whole day became about TV talk--but it wasn't long ago that the House of Ideas was making waves with a new Ms. Marvel, set to launch this spring from writer G. Willow Wilson and starring a teenage Muslim girl in the lead role. At the time, there was just a piece of concept art to show for the idea, and later in the evening a cover, but some more details became available earlier today from the publisher. Ms. Marvel will center on 16-year-old Kamala Khan, a Muslim-American teenager living in Jersey City, New Jersey.  Like any teenager, all of her opportunities are in front her and she is full of potential, but her parents' high expectations come with tons of pressure and has led Kamala to carve out a future that she has little interest in. "At her core, Kamala is just a 16-year-old girl, exploring the many facets of her identity when she is suddenly bestowed with super-human powers that send her on the adventure of a lifetime," said Marvel Comics Editor In Chief Axel Alonso. "The inspiration for the new Ms. Marvel series stemmed out of a desire to explore the Muslim-American diaspora from an authentic perspective and yet, this story isn't about what it means to be a Muslim, Pakistani or American," said series editor Sana Amanat. "Those are just cultural touchstones that reflect the ever-changing world we live in today.  This is ultimately a tale about what it means to be young, lost amidst the expectations bestowed upon you, and what happens when you get to choose." "I wanted Ms. Marvel to be true-to-life, something real people could relate to, particularly young women," said series writer G. Willow Wilson. "High school was a very vivid time in my life, so I drew heavily on those experiences--impending adulthood, dealing with school, emotionally charged friendships that are such a huge part of being a teenager. It's for all the geek girls out there, and everybody else who's ever looked at life from the fringe."

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