When Carol Danvers, the longtime occupant of the superhero name Ms. Marvel, rose to embrace the role of Captain Marvel instead, it was quite a to-do, complete with her own, new ongoing series and a fair bit of press attention.Particularly coming as it did at a time when there was a lot of discussion of the way female characters and creators were being treated in the comics industry, the ascension of Carol Danvers to a role previously occupied by one of the most respected and significant characters in Marvel’s history was such cause for joy that almost everybody overlooked the fact that there had already been a woman–and a woman of color for that matter–in the role before.Filling the Ms. Marvel role, then, demanded something special. For a while, it seemed as though the name may simply fall into disuse, since having a “Ms.” on the front of your superhero name has become unfashionable these days anyway and after all, it’s not as though Marvel has to worry about keeping the trademark alive on the character.They didn’t even have the original Captain Marvel and they’ve over time managed to force DC to stop using that name.
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“Captain Marvel represents an ideal that Kamala pines for,” Wilson said. “She’s strong, beautiful and doesn’t have any of the baggage of being Pakistani and ‘different.’ “
Series editor Sana Amanat, who came up with the concept along with Steve Wacker, told the newspaper, “It’s also sort of like when I was a little girl and wanted to be Tiffani-Amber Thiessen,” from Saved by the Bell.
So, yes, being Muslim will play into the book, something that may affect its perception, both positively and negatively, with critics and fans.
“Her brother is extremely conservative,” Amanat said of the character. “Her mom is paranoid that she’s going to touch a boy and get pregnant. Her father wants her to concentrate on her studies and become a doctor.”
Besides the obvious fact that the new character is a Muslim and a woman of color, it’s arguably notable that Marvel has her living in Jersey. This is yet another title in the context of Marvel NOW! that takes the lead character out of New York, something that the publisher has resisted for years. With Daredevil recently having announced a cross-country move and Venom currently residing in Philadelphia, the Marvel Universe seems to be getting geographically bigger, even while uber-team-ups dominate the publishing line and almost every title has a direct tie to the X-Men or the Avengers.
