Ms. Marvel, the MCU’s first Muslim heroine is unmatched

Ms. Marvel boasts records and firsts. As a woman, she is already part of a minority, in life as well as in the MCU comic universe. As a young girl, then, the competition becomes even more streamlined. But as Muslim by creed and Asian by geographic origin, Kamala Khan is the first.

This teenager lives in Jersey City, attends high school, is a gamer, a fanfiction author and a very passionate nerd. She is a huge fan of Captain Marvel (played on the big screen by Oscar winner Brie Larson), she lives in symbiosis with her friend Bruno, a genius of technology who always creates new prototypes.

She always has her head in the clouds because she doesn’t like the reality that surrounds her so much: the perfect little one of the family looks like her older brother while she does not fit into any of the boxes provided by the manual of the perfect Pakistani daughter.

With big dreams but poor prospects (especially due to the strict prohibitions of the parents), she manages to sneak out of the house as soon as she can, especially if she is offered the opportunity of a lifetime, to participate in theAvengerCona (fictional) fan convention to celebrate the Marvel Avengers. No sooner said than done, he prepares a costume-replica of that of his heroine and sings it.

In that precise moment his life changes because he discovers that he really does have powers, even if he does not know their origin or use. Start like this an unprecedented adventurethat of growth as a human being but also as a reference for his generation.

It can really be said that this is the superhero that was missing, that you didn’t know you needed and that you can’t do without now.

The rhythm of the story is popfast, captivating and mixes Bollywood references with Western quotes, without ever losing sight of the exquisitely human and imperfect side of all the characters.

It gives it freshness the interpreter Iman Vellani (for the moment he has just over 70,000 followers but will soon be back), 19-year-old of Pakistani origin born and raised in Canada. Hitherto unknown, she truly made a grand debut, which ferries her straight into the film The Marvelsalongside Brie Larson (in the sequel to Captain Marvel at Cinema).

Clumsy and chatty like her alter ego, often ends up getting lost in her thoughts and, according to the first interviews, she is totally overwhelmed by all this attention. Having no past as an enfant prodige behind her, she responds in a broken and unfiltered manner, yet her inability to string words together to obtain sentences of complete meaning about her makes her somehow perfect for the role of her. More than acting, she seems to stage herself and, in some moments on the set or on the red carpet, seems to review Jennifer Lawrence’s innocence and lightheartedness (before the showbusiness machine drained all of her energy).

The new style of the story frames a story full of emotions, but above all of that typical coming-of-age amazement that is already present thanks to Tom Holland in the new incarnation of Spider-Man. It’s a mood that works and thrills so this new addition to the Marvel Cinematic Univers looks like a really great purchase. A bet won from the start.

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