Kamala Khan a.k.a Ms Marvel was Marvel’s first Muslim Superhero to get a solo comic book series. She is a Pakistani-American teenager whose parents moved from Karachi, Pakistan to New Jersey, USA. She had Inhuman genes and got Polymorphic Superpowers after undergoing Terrigenesis on being blanketed by the Terrigen Mist accidentally. She made her Marvel comics debut back in the year August 2013 with Captain Marvel #14. Her powers include shapeshifting, stretching and accelerated healing.
Ms Marvel is set to make her MCU debut soon on 8th June 2022 with her namesake Disney+ series and it is thus important that we know about her comic-book root. In this article, we shall be talking about Ms Marvel’s origin, history, powers & abilities and weaknesses. We shall also discuss her possible future in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Ms Marvel: Origin Story and History
Kamala Khan was born to Muslim parents Yusuf Khan and Muneeba Khan who relocated from Pakistan’s old capital city Karachi to United States’ New Jersey.
Kamala was a typical brown girl and was very nerdy. She loved social media, video games and especially Superhero comic books. Iron Man, Captain America and Captain Marvel were her favourite superheroes but she loved Carol Danvers (who had recently given up the Ms Marvel mantle to be called Captain Marvel) the most.
Due to these reasons (her nerdiness), Kamala was often bullied at school and she felt like an outsider. She had only two best friends – Bruno and Nakia.
However, one day she had had enough of being ridiculed for how strict her parents were and she broke out of her house to go to a party at a friend’s house near Jersey Waterfront. She met Zoe Zimmer (one of her bullies) and her boyfriend Josh there and they started making fun of her again. Being fed up with their taunts, she decided to leave the party and return back home.
However, just when she was on her way home, the city of the jersey was blanketed by Terrigen Mist and Kamala herself got covered by it and she became unconscious. In her dream, she saw Captain Marvel, Iron Man and Captain America. They scolded her for being so indisciplined and asked him what she wanted in life. She answered that she wanted to be just like Captain Marvel.
Just then, she got back her consciousness and she realised that she had been turned into a young Ms Marvel version of Carol Danvers.
In reality, she had undergone the process of Terrignenesis which genetically mutates an Inhuman when he/she is exposed to Terrigen mist and gives him/her a unique Superhero power. As Kamala had Inhuman genes, she underwent Terrigenesis.
Kamala was confused at first but soon she realised that she had gained polymorphic superpowers which meant she could transform into anything she wanted and she could also stretch her body as far as she wanted.
Kamala went back to the Waterfront and saw that a drunk Josh had mistakenly thrown Zoe into the lake. Kamala used her powers to extend her arms, pulling Zoe Zimmer back to safety. However, the people who saw the incident were shocked by her powers and so she fled the place instantly. However, on reaching home, Kamala was grounded by her parents.
Her punishment was soon lifted by her parents and Kamala went to the convenience store to meet Bruno. However, she saw that it was being robbed and so she transformed into Ms Marvel and tried to stop the Burglars. Unfortunately, she was shot by the robber and he fled. It was then that Kamala realised that she had healing abilities as well and her wounds vanished as soon as she switched back to her normal self.
She did that and Bruno saw her real identity. Bruno also helped her to explore all her potential.
Ms Marvel: Powers and Abilities
Ability to change size – Using her powers, Kamala can become as small as a miniature figure and as tall as a building just like Ant-Man.
Accelerated Healing – Kamala’s powers allow her to time travel on a molecular level and thus she is able to heal very fast.
Stretching Powers – Just like Mister Fantastic, Ms Marvel can stretch or elongate her body parts as much as she wants.
Shape-shifting – Just like Skrulls, Kamala can take up the appearance of anyone she sees. However, this allows her to disguise herself as an animal and a non-living thing as well.
Physical strength – Kamala can lift up a maximum of 75 tons.
Ms Marvel: Weaknesses
Electromagnetic pulses – Ms Marvel is extremely vulnerable to EMPs and she loses a lot of her abilities on being subjected to EM pulses including the healing and elongation power.
Overuse of healing power – If Ms Marvel is deeply wounded and she uses her healing powers too much, she loses her other powers (e.g: elongation).
Ms Marvel: Future in MCU
The character of Ms Marvel will be played by Pakistani-American actress Iman Vellani in MCU. The Disney+ MCU series ‘Ms Marvel’ is set to release on 8th June and it will be Marvel’s first solo project featuring a Muslim superhero. There is a good possibility that Ms Marvel will join MCU’s Young Avengers in the future. She will also appear in ‘The Marvels’ alongside Carol Danvers and Monica Rambeau.
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