This week saw the series premiere of Ms. Marvel, a new Disney+ series that brings the world of Kamala Khan / Ms. Marvel (Iman Vellani) into live-action. Just based on the first episode alone, the series has been jam-packed with unique references to Marvel Cinematic Universe canon, including a surprising number of nods to elements specific to the comics and other pieces of media. As fans would probably expect, Carol Danvers / Captain Marvel (Brie Larson) factors into that in a unique way — including a moment that pays tribute to one of her first, and most controversial, costumes. Spoilers for the first episode of Ms. Marvel, “Generation Why”, below! Only look if you want to know!
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The big set piece of the episode concerns AvengerCon, an in-person event where fans can celebrate their favorite real-life superheroes. Kamala’s biggest aspirations for the convention are to participate in (and hopefully win) the Captain Marvel costume contest — which briefly gets complicated when she sees the most popular girl in her school, Zoe Zimmer (Laurel Marsden), also clad in a spandex Captain Marvel costume at the event. In particular, Zoe’s costume is a comic-accurate nod to the original Ms. Marvel costume, which Carol first wore in the pages of Ms. Marvel #1 in the 1970s.
While Carol’s live-action portrayal has largely borrowed from her newer Captain Marvel costume, the nature of her original Ms. Marvel suit has been talked about amongst Marvel fans, especially given how it fit into the larger conversation about the representation of female superheroes.
“If you look at the comics, the further you go back, the less clothes Carol Danvers seems to be wearing,” Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige explained to The Hollywood Reporter in 2019. “Oftentimes it’s a one-piece bathing suit basically, with outrageous comic proportions. … Brie pointed it out on the wall, and we went, ‘Yeah … just so you know, that’s not what we’re doing.’ She goes, ‘OK. I didn’t think so, but I’m glad you said that.’”
Ms. Marvel introduces Kamala Khan — a 16-year-old Pakistani American from Jersey City. An aspiring artist, an avid gamer and a voracious fan-fiction scribe, she is a huge fan of the Avengers-and one in particular, Captain Marvel. But Kamala has always struggled to find her place in the world-that is, until she gets super powers like the heroes she’s always looked up to. Alongside Vellani in the eponymous role, Aramis Knight, Saagar Shaikh, Rish Shah, Matt Lintz, Zenobia Shroff, and Mohan Kapur have been cast in various roles in the show.
New episodes of Ms. Marvel debut on Disney+ on Wednesdays.
