Warning: this story contains spoilers for Wednesday’s “Generation Why” episode of Ms. Marvel. Fangirl Kamala Khan (Iman Vellani) and Avengers fans assembled at AvengerCon, a convention celebrating Earth’s mightiest heroes in the first episode of Ms. Marvel. The Avengers convention is an Easter egg extravaganza with references to the superheroes of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, including Ant-Man (Paul Rudd), Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), and Kamala’s hero, Captain Marvel (Brie Larson). There’s a giant Mjolnir, the magical hammer wielded first by Thor (Chris Hemsworth) and then Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) in Thor: Love and Thunder, and nods to Midgard’s New Asgard King Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson).
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In an interview with TV Line, series head writer and executive producer Bisha K. Ali revealed an early version of Ms. Marvel‘s Episode 1 included “everybody” from Avengers: Endgame, including a cut gag involving a cosplayer dressed as Thor’s best friend Korg (Taika Waititi).
“At one point, there was a guy dressed in full Korg cosplay and he couldn’t get through the security barriers,” Ali said. “That’s was in a very early draft that no longer exists.” (Korg will return in Marvel’s Thor: Love and Thunder, in theaters July 8.)
Though there are references to Valkyrie and her winged steed, the AvengerCon scene cut a “winged horse” that was present “so that we can represent everybody in the show,” Ali added. “The bananas first draft of AvengerCon, which will never see the light of day, had everybody in it.”
Conceived by Marvel Studios President and Ms. Marvel executive producer Kevin Feige, AvengerCon is the ultimate destination for Kamala, a superhero mega-fan who unleashes her cosmic powers for the first time during a Captain Marvel cosplay contest.
“I was a nerd when it wasn’t acceptable and cool… so I understand the passion and love of fans,” Ali said of the meta Marvel fandom in Ms. Marvel. “That was really important to us in the construction of this show, that Kamala Khan herself is a fan. This is a show for fans, and for a fan’s fantasy of becoming part of Marvel.”
Ms. Marvel needed to “speak to this generation of viewers who have got the MCU in their bones,” she added. “It was really exciting to be able to tell a story from that perspective. Kamala is going to represent the audience so much in the story going forward.”
Starring Iman Vellani, Aramis Knight, Saagar Shaikh, Rish Shah, Zenobia Shroff, Mohan Kapur, Matt Lintz, Yasmeen Fletcher, Laith Naki, Azher Usman, Travina Springer and Nimra Bucha, new episodes of Marvel’s Ms. Marvel premiere Wednesdays on Disney+.
