Ms. Marvel has a new comic book series this year called Ms. Marvel: Beyond the Limit by Samira Ahmed. The series seems to be taking Kamala Khan across the Marvel Multiverse and feature alternate versions of the Pakistani-American female superhero. The official description of the series from Marvel reads:
“MS. MARVEL RETURNS IN A NEW STORY FROM BEST-SELLING AUTHOR SAMIRA AHMED! While on a break visiting her cousin in Chicago, Kamala Khan stumbles upon a robbery at a university physics lab . . . and maybe sets off an explosion of interdimensional proportions in the process. Still, nothing she can’t handle. Or so she thinks, until she gets home and finds her whole world turned upside down . . .and into a Bollywood set?! Why is everyone she knows singing, and how can she make it stop?”
It seems like a straightforward story for a beloved Marvel Comics character who first appeared in Captain Marvel (Vol. 7) #14 (2013) by Kelly Sue DeConnick and would immediately get her own solo title withMs. Marvel (2015) by G. Willow Wilson. And Marvel fans fell in love with the Inhuman Kamala Khan, who can change her appearance and size using her “Emiggen” power after being exposed to Terrigen Mist.
A major part of Kamala Khan’s origin story as Ms. Marvel was her decision to never use her shapeshifting ability to mascarade as someone else, even her idol Carol Danvers/Captain Marvel. It was a defining moment in her story and fans have been mad that the MCU will be erasing this in her debut on the Ms. Marvel show.
Her powers have been changed to glowing constructs. Seemingly this is to make her more similar to Captain Marvel (Brie Larson) in the Marvel Universe. Additionally, it makes her less like Reed Richards/Mister Fantastic, who is set to appear later in Marvel’s Phase Four.
However, in one of the bits of narration, she declares that she “can’t do stuff like that anymore” when referencing her shapeshifting powers. This established that Marvel Comics have erased her ability to polymorph just before her debut in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
And this is far from the only time that changes the MCU made to comic book characters have found their way back into the comics.
One controversial change occurred during the 2014 Marvel Comics AXIS event. It was retconned that Pietro Maximoff/Quicksilver and Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch were no longer the children of X-Men villain Erik Lehnsherr/Magneto. This was done to erase the fact that the two were mutants before they appeared in the Marvel Cinematic Universe in Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015). And Marvel fans declared this a major mistake.
The change allowed Marvel Studios to use the characters even though 20th Century Studios retained the rights to mutants and the X-Men. But it also erased their Jewish heritage and somehow made it a fact that two characters who look like basically the exact same person (Pietro and Erik) are somehow not related.
Ms. Marvelis expected to stream on Disney+ in the Summer of 2022 but it has been rumored it could be delayed yet again till Q4. The series will be led by Bisha K. Ali.
It will star newcomer Iman Vellani as Kamala Khan/Ms. Marvel, Aramis Knight as Kareem/Red Dagger, Saagar Shaikh as Aamir Khan, Rish Shah as Kamran, Zenobia Shroff as Muneeba Khan, Mohan Kapur as Yusuf Khan, Matt Lintz as Bruno Carrelli, Yasmeen Fletcher as Nakia Bahadir, Laura Marsden as Zoe Zimmer, Laith Naki as Sheikh Abdullah, Azher Usman, Travina Springer, and Nimra Bucha.
Ms. Marvel will meet Captain Marvel for the first time in The Marvels (February 17, 2023). Iman Vellani will make her big-screen debut alongside Teyonnah Parris from WandaVision, who will be reprising her role as Monica Rambeau.
Let us know in the comments how you feel about Marvel Comics making changes to characters like Kamala Khan to make them match the Marvel Cinematic Universe?
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