7 Questions We Have About Ms. Marvel’s Disney+ Series

Marvel Studios certainly exceeded fans’ expectations at last month’s D23 Expo, when they previewed what’s in store for the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Among that preview was the announcement of three new Disney+ series set in the MCU, including one that will revolve around Kamala Khan/Ms. Marvel.

In the comics, Kamala is a teenage girl who learns that she has polymorphing powers, allowing her to “embiggen” or shrink any parts of her body. Inspired by Carol Danvers/Captain Marvel, Kamala uses her powers to protect her hometown of Jersey City, and eventually joins the Avengers.

It will probably still be a while until we find out more about the Ms. Marvel series, but the very announcement of it has gotten Marvel fans hyped. And given Ms. Marvel’s unique place in the Marvel Comics world – and how that’s currently being adapted into the MCU – we can’t help but wonder exactly how her story will be taken into live-action. Read on to find out the biggest questions we have surrounding the Ms. Marvel television series.

Will She Still Be an Inhuman?

In the comics, Kamala initially gets her powers through exposure to an Inhuman Terrigen Mist, which was activated as the result of the “Inhumanity” storyline. While the fact that she’s technically an Inhuman doesn’t ever play a massive role in her comic storyline, it still is a part of Kamala’s comic identity.

To an extent, this could create a bit of a narrative conundrum for the MCU, given how poorly-received the Inhumans television series was a few years back. After one season, the series was quietly swept under the rug, and Inhumans as a whole haven’t been mentioned in the MCU outside of Agents of SHIELD.

If new rumors are any indication, there’s a chance that Marvel will still use the Inhumans moniker, albeit with a quiet reboot. If not, there certainly could be ways for Kamala to be retconned into a mutant, or some other class of superpowered being in the Marvel universe.

How Will She Get Her Powers?

Whether or not Kamala remains an Inhuman in her MCU debut, there’s still the question of what the inciting incident will be that gives her her powers. Given the galactic scale of the Terrigen Mists in the “Inhumanity” storyline, it’s safe to assume that Ms. Marvel‘s adaptation of it won’t be a one-for-one.

So, could Kamala get her powers through some sort of localized Terrigen Mist, or through something else altogether? As many have theorized in recent months, there’s a chance that one of the many snaps in Avengers: Endgame secretly created mutants, or activated some other sort of cosmic energy. There’s a chance that the show could go that route, especially depending on when Ms. Marvel is set in the post-Endgame 2023.

If they don’t go that route, there certainly are some other potential cosmic forces in store for Phase 4, including in The Eternals and Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness. With all of that in mind, there are a few options in place to potentially give Kamala her powers.

Will Lockjaw Appear?

One of the most adorable facets of Kamala’s early days as Ms. Marvel is her relationship with Lockjaw, who is sent by Medusa to keep an eye on her. The pair go on some bizarre adventures together, and Lockjaw periodically comes to Kamala’s aid throughout her solo series.

Even though the Inhumans show was not well-received, its live-action interpretation of Lockjaw was easily the highlight of the series. Regardless of how much Marvel wants to acknowledge the previous series, a cameo from the giant pup – in a design similar or identical to how he was portrayed in Inhumans – would certainly delight fans.

What Villains Could We See?

For the most part, Kamala doesn’t really have a quintessential villain, instead going toe-to-toe with a pretty eclectic rogues gallery in her comic series. That makes the nature of a Big Bad for the Ms. Marvel series a little ambiguous — but exciting.

There’s Chuck Worthy, a smarmy businessman who attempts to gentrify Jersey City with his clandestine division of HYDRA. There’s also Kamran, a family friend and crush of Kamala’s who she later learns was also exposed to the Terrigen Mist. We’d also love to see The Inventor, a ridiculously villainous human-cockatiel hybrid who is also a clone of Thomas Edison. (Yep, you read that right.)

Will Captain Marvel Appear?

As we’ve already begun to speculate, there’s almost no way to tell Ms. Marvel’s origin story without the significance that Carol Danvers/Captain Marvel (Brie Larson) has on her life.

In the comics, Kamala accidentally shape-shifts into Ms. Marvel-era Carol upon getting her powers, and begins to publicly use her powers to save one of her high school friends. As Kamala begins to get more in tune with her powers, she shape-shifts into Carol several more times, before realizing that she could be inspired by Carol to be her own hero. Later in Ms. Marvel’s initial run, Kamala and Carol finally crossed paths, and Carol became a sort of mentor to the younger hero.

Given how well-received Larson’s portrayal of Carol has been (and how much the actress has championed Kamala joining the MCU), it almost seems like a given to have her appear in the series in some capacity. Whether Kamala shape-shifts into Carol in the early days of being a superhero (leading to some fun fight scenes involving Larson) and/or Carol herself cameos to meet Kamala, there certainly are several ways that Captain Marvel could factor into the story.

Who Else Could Cameo?

Even though Carol plays the largest role in Kamala’s journey as a superhero, she interacts with other Marvel superheroes in some pretty unique ways. Given the Sony/Marvel deal of it all, we can probably rule out a Champions-style team-up between her and Miles Morales. But there still are a lot of possible team-ups with characters who are going to be playing a role in Phase 4 of the MCU, whether that be Sam Wilson or Jane Foster.

And who knows? Maybe we can eventually get a Kamala and Wolverine team-up way down the line, once Marvel begins to phase in the X-Men and the Fantastic Four.

How Much Fanfiction/Fandom Will We See?

Outside of superhero team-ups, it will be fascinating to see how Ms. Marvel acknowledges the Marvel Cinematic Universe as a whole, considering Kamala’s ties to fandom and the world of fanfiction. 

The idea of normal teenagers living in a world full of superheroes played an amusing role in the Spider-Man movie, but Ms. Marvel could that into a different kind of direction. Not only would it help normalize female fanfiction writers on a pretty large scale, but it would allow for some delightfully-meta commentary on the state of Phase 4, and the heroes within it.

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Upcoming Marvel Studios projects include Black Widow on May 1, 2020, The Falcon and The Winter Soldier in Fall of 2020, The Eternals on November 6, 2020, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings on February 12, 2021, WandaVision in Spring 2021, Loki in Spring 2021, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness on May 7, 2021, What If…? In Summer 2021, Hawkeye in Fall 2021, Thor: Love and Thunder on November 5, 2021, and Black Panther 2 on May 6, 2022.