Ms. Marvel Star Iman Vellani Writing New Kamala Khan Comic

Ms. Marvel star Iman Vellani is writing a new Kamala Khan comic book for Marvel. It seems our young hero is exploring a new identity in Ms. Marvel: The New Mutant. Entertainment Weekly had the chance to talk to the actress about this new role for her. She’s excited to be writing a title for Marvel, but also very nervous. (The storyline follows a very controversial choice to kill Kamala Khan in Amazing Spider-Man #26 (2023).) Now, fans have had some time to digest the special Fallen Friend: The Death of Ms. Marvel book that debuted this week.

Helping Vellani write the book will be co-writer Sabir Pirzada. Artists for Ms. Marvel: The New Mutant will be Carlos Gomez and Adam Gotham. Marvel fan-favorite Sara Pichelli will provide cover art. So, it’s a bit of an Avengers-level lineup on the new title. Vellani admits that she’s a bit intimidated. But, years of fanfiction and reading the comics have prepared her for this moment.

A New Challenge For Iman Vellani

“This was way scarier than joining the MCU for me,” Vellani shared. “Those projects feel like they live in their own dimension, so I guess I can separate myself easier. But you can hold a comic book! I’ve never written anything before in my entire life, but I have read many comics, so I just wrote what I would want to read. I was given a very professional tool to write what is essentially my own fan fiction.”

“I want to make it very, very clear that we are not retconning her Inhuman origin. That’s a part of Kamala’s identity that Marvel editorial and myself would very much like to keep and protect,” Vellani added. “Our book will absolutely reflect all those core themes of identity that the Ms. Marvel comics have consistently explored — only now there’s a whole new label that Kamala has to learn to accept. It’s going to be pretty crazy.”

Ms. Marvel Is Making Her Movie Debut in The Marvels

The Marvels is just a few short months away and it feels like everyone is excited to see Vellani, Brie Larson and Teyonah Parris all together on-screen. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige said that the Ms. Marvel star actually steals the entire movie. That’s not hard to believe, as even the biggest Disney+ show critics have to agree that the actress is a tremendous casting choice as Kamala Khan. But, the executive thinks this movie could catapult her even further.

Feige said, “Kamala Khan, for instance, is a great new character in the pantheon. I’m very proud of the Ms. Marvel show. I also know — and this is a spoiler — she essentially steals The Marvels, which is coming out [July 28]. It makes me excited that people will, I hope, see that movie and then go back and revisit those shows on Disney+.”

“The great thing about Kamala in her show, and now in this movie, is that she’s not unlike Tom Holland’s Peter Parker in Civil War,” he would add. “She can’t believe she’s with these other heroes, and can’t believe that she finds herself in these places. And that’s fun because we want to be that. I want to be that.”

Vellani Excited About Mutant Possibilities in the MCU

During a Reddit AMA, the Ms. Marvel star also acknowledged her slight differences from Ms. Marvel’s origin in the comics. She’s a mutant in the MCU and some fans had feelings about that. However, the character’s creator actually wanted her to be a mutant at first, but editorial ended up pushing things towards the Inhumans instead. Now, Ms. Marvel will have to balance both identities!

“Don’t get me wrong, I love the Inhumans. Black Bolt is my father. But I do think the MCU is in a very different place than the comics were, and so we were actually able to go this way with Kamala, and, to be fair, the original intent for the comic character WAS to make her a mutant, so I am over the moon that this is real and we could make it happen,” Vellani told the commenters. “Sana Amanat and I were freaking out; every single brain cell exploded when we found out we can do this. I was literally refreshing the ep 6 discussion thread on here until someone finallyyyy mentioned it.”

Are you excited to read this new Ms. Marvel title? Let us know down in the comments!