Everything You Need to Know About Ms. Marvel

Marvel Studios has plans to bring Kamala Khan, aka Ms. Marvel to the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

That’s the big news from Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige this weekend. Feige hinted in an interview with the BBC that the studio could be bringing Ms. Marvel into the universe sooner than fans expected, indicating that they’re looking at introducing her after Captain Marvel.

“Captain Marvel‘s shooting right now with Brie Larson,” Feige said. “Ms. Marvel, which is another character in the comic books, the Muslim hero who is inspired by Captain Marvel, is definitely sort of in the works. We have plans for that once we introduce Captain Marvel.”

While the plans are vague, fans of the hero were quick to take to the internet to share their excitement at not only seeing Kamala introduced into the MCU, but at the idea that she might get to share the screen with her mentor, Captain Marvel/Carol Danvers. Others were excited about the prospect of Kamala being introduced or referenced in a post-credits scene for the upcoming Captain Marvel movie — one fan suggested that a great way to introduce Kamala would be to have a little girl version of the character have a Captain Marvel poster in her bedroom.

But even for all of the excitement, there were some who were a bit confused about who the character is or simply didn’t know that there was a Ms. Marvel separate from Carol Danvers. Created in 2013 by editors Sana Amanat and Stephen Wacker with writer G. Willow Wilson and artist Adrian Alphona, the character is relatively new by comic book standards — especially considering that Carol Danvers made her debut in 1968. So, to help clear up some confusion and introduce people to Kamala, we’ve put together the ten things you need to know about Ms. Marvel before she pops up in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Ms. Marvel isn’t Captain Marvel’s sidekick

While they may share a name (sort of) Ms. Marvel and Captain Marvel are very different. Kamala Khan has no real connection to Carol Danvers. They don’t share powers, they don’t share appearances, they operate in different places. The only real connection between Ms. Marvel and Captain Marvel is that, upon getting her powers, Kamala Khan chose to take the name Ms. Marvel in honor of her favorite superhero. By the time that Kamala powered up, Carol had taken the title of Captain Marvel so Kamala’s adopting of the Ms. Marvel mantle is purely out of respect — nothing more.

Captain Marvel does mentor Ms. Marvel, though

They may not share powers and they may not be hero and sidekick, but Captain Marvel and Ms. Marvel do know one another — and Captain Marvel serves as a mentor to her younger fan. The pair also teamed up in a one-shot issue of the limited series Generations in 2017. In the issue “Generations: The Marvels”, Kamala is sent to the past where she is mistaken for an intern at a magazine edited by Carol Danvers. The pair discover that Barbara Nelson, who was there under the guise of purchasing the magazine, is really a Shi’ar exile named Nightscream. Carol and Kamala work together to defeat Nightscream with Kamala coming to realize that even if she and Carol have different methods in dealing with a given issue, their mission remains the same.

More recently, Captain Marvel and Kamala have experienced some friction with one another after the events of Civil War II, though Captain Marvel still shows up for Kamala, coming to help save Jersey City while Kamala was away during the Teenage Wasteland arc, reminding the teen that just because they are on different paths she still has her back.

Ms. Marvel is the 1st Muslim to headline a Marvel book

Kamala Khan is a Pakistani American who also happens to be a Muslim. Part of her overall story is how she relates to and lives with her cultural and religious identity while also being an American hero. It’s a unique position for a character, and she’s the first Muslim to headline her own book in Marvel history — a book that won the 2015 Hugo Award for Best Graphic Story.

She’s an Inhuman.

Kamala isn’t a mutant. She isn’t a billionaire with cool tech. She wasn’t bitten by a radioactive spider. Kamala developed her powers when, as part of the Inhumanity story, she undergoes Terrigenesis and discovers that she has Inhuman genes.

One cool side effect of that Terrigenesis (other than superpowers)? Kamala left such an impression on the Inhuman queen, Medusa, that the Inhuman royal family sent their family dog, Lockjaw, to also be Kamala’s pet.

She has a wide array of powers

While she’s best known for her shapeshifting powers — she most commonly uses the ability to change size of various parts of her body through “embiggening” — Kamala has a host of other abilities as well. She can also shrink like Ant-Man, stretch her limbs out like Mr. Fantastic, has a healing factor like Wolverine (his is still far more powerful) and can completely change her appearance. When she first developed her powers, she actually took on the form of Carol Danvers, though she rarely uses that ability now.

She’s just a teenager

Like Peter Parker and Shuri in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Kamala is just a teenager. In fact, her being a teenager and a high school student is integral to her story and in addition to her heroics, Kamala is frequently shown dealing with the challenges of growing up and defining what kind of person she is and who she wants to be as she tries to find her own place in the world.

She’s a fan fiction loving nerd

Being a huge fan of Captain Marvel isn’t enough for Kamala Khan. She’s a big fan of all superheroes and has been shown in comics to be an avid fan of fan fiction. In her very first issue even, Kamala is interrupted while writing an Avengers fanfic. Her mother had to remind her that dinner is ready.

She also later completely nerds out when she meets Wolverine for the first time, declaring that her Wolverine/Storm fanfic was the third-most popular story in a particular month. Seems like a pretty reasonable reaction to meeting Wolverine to us.

She’s the hero of Jersey City — not New York

Let’s face it: there are a TON of heroes in New York within the Marvel Universe. Daredevil, Jessica Jones, the Avengers, the Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, Luke Cage — that’s a lot of heroes for one place. Ms. Marvel, though, her heroic focus is on her hometown a move that makes Ms. Marvel very in keeping with the Marvel Comics idea that their stories are “the world outside your window”

She was an Avenger

Ms. Marvel may be a teenager, but she’s a serious hero. She officiallyjoined the Avengers as part of the All-New, All-Different initiative that followed Secret Wars. As an Avenger, she served alongside Thor, Vision, Captain America, and Iron Man as one of the youngest-ever characters to officially join an Avengers team — especially one that wasn’t the “Young” Avengers.

Kamala parted ways with the Avengers following Civil War II.

She’s a founding member of the new Champions

Leaving the Avengers didn’t end her time as part of a heroic team, though. After breaking ties with the Avengers over what she saw as a lack of concern for ordinary people Ms. Marvel went on to create a new version of the Champions, teaming up with two other ex-Avengers, Spider-Man/Miles Morales and Nova/Sam Alexander along with Hulk/Amadeus Cho, Viv Vision, and a teenage version of Cyclops among others.

Are you excited about Ms. Marvel potentially joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe? Let us know in the comments!