“Ms. Marvel” (2023) is the superhero moniker for Kamala Khan (Iman Vellani), a Muslim Pakistani American, Jersey teen, Captain Marvel fangirl who discovers that she has powers. The miniseries consists of six episodes with a 4 hours 31 minutes runtime so for MCU movie completists, it is possible to watch it before “The Marvels” comes out.
It really bugs me that I will not watch the Disney+’s Marvel TV series according to airing schedule, but “Hawkeye” (2021), “Moon Knight” (2022), “She-Hulk: Attorney at Law” (2022), “Secret Invasion” (2023) and second season of “Loki” (2023) will have to wait. I’m just too busy. It took me a little over a year to watch “Ms. Marvel,” and it makes sense. After decades on earth, TV series revolving around teenagers feels a little less engrossing and relevant, and I find myself more intrigued with the adults on the edges of the action.
“Ms. Marvel” has a simple premise. Kamala is a normal girl, but she is all thumbs and unfocused which causes her family and school to worry about her. She wants more freedom to do innocent kid things like dress up as her favorite superhero, but her family wants her covered up, which seems like a point that they both agree on based on Kamala’s quotidian wardrobe choices, but OK, sure, conflict. It felt unrealistic that they would be worried about her, but accept her best friend and local technological genius, Bruno (Matt Lintz), who by the second episode clearly has a crush on her so that there could be more conflict (eyeroll). After Kamala’s powers get unleashed, the second episode picks up steam, but in a vacuum, Kamala is not that interesting. Honestly Kamala does not seem responsible enough to have powers, but plot twist: she is, and the most moving scene is when she saves a local kid. It is harder to watch her in danger because Vellani looks like a kid, and it feels like child abuse. I never had these feelings when I was younger, so I just think that it is a function of getting older. It does not matter anyway because the fight scenes are not as important set pieces as in other MCU projects.
I would prefer to hang out with Nakia (Yasmeen Fletcher), a more conservative, high-achieving, designer label wearing friend. If I had an issue with the series, it felt dissonant that Kamala’s family life is so central to her story, but the series never gives a glimpse of Bruno and Nakia’s family dynamic. How is Nakia running around with her friends without anyone worrying about her? There is also Zoe (Laurel Marsden), a popular girl with a lot of followers because she will be needed in the last episode otherwise, she is utterly forgettable and feels like a box to check. When a new kid, senior Kamran (Rish Shah), meets Kamala, it is a relief when it turns out that he is more than just another potential crush.
“Ms. Marvel” is a MCU series so the stakes are bigger than high school antics—the entire world is in danger if there is a dimension rift. While I enjoyed the series, the overall storyline feels rushed as if a lot was left on the cutting room floor. There are two main groups that Kamala must navigate: the Clandestines, exiled people from another dimension who want to go home and look younger than they appear, and the Department of Damage Control, who want to grab superpowered people and lock them up. Why were the Clandestines exiled? You’ll never know. Where is S.H.I.E.L.D.? No comment. The Clandestines are rather passionate about going back home, but they do not have powers per se. Also they may remind you of the baddies from “Daredevil,” who were better constructed. Najma (Nimra Bucha) leads the Clandestines, and Bucha is the reason that I saw “Polite Society” (2023) so even though Najma’s storyline feels like an afterthought and not fleshed out, Bucha brings that intense energy which makes the group watchable.
Agent Deever (Alysia Reiner) oversees DODC in the field, and if Reiner was not an interesting actor, no one would care, but she makes an underwritten archetype intriguing to watch as if there is something more substantial to her character. When DODC briefly gets the upper hand on the Clandestines, it is so hard to suspend disbelief since the Clandestines handled the British Empire. Seriously!?! Her supervisor, Agent Cleary (Arian Moayed) has one good scene then it is easy to forget that he existed even though he appeared in “Spider-Man: No Way Home” (2023).
The Red Daggers get thrown into the mix late in the series and did not appear to be too effective, but I like the idea that Chinese food restaurants are everywhere and act as the front for their secret headquarters in Pakistan. I wish that “Ms. Marvel” had developed them more because vigilantes are interesting and considering that they had better resources than the Clandestines, I would have enjoyed learning more about them.
Vellani is organically affable, but her inexperience as an actor shows since it takes some time for her, and the other actors to establish the chemistry in their relationship dynamic. She still has that “Star Search” affable sheen as a child actor (in real life, she is an adult, but she is a child to me). “Ms. Marvel” works because of the family backstory between Kamala, her mother, Muneeba (Zenobia Shroff), her grandmother Sana (Samina Ahmed) and great grandmother Aisha (Mehwish Hayat). Using the British partition of India into Muslim and Hindu states thus creating Pakistan and reflecting on how Islamophobia still affects Muslim Americans are brilliant ways to root the drama in genuine high emotional stakes and realism. I knew about Partition but was unaware that it was hard for Muslims to buy or sell in the marketplace (if that was really a thing).
Setting Kamala’s world in a Muslim majority neighborhood with the local Iman getting the wholesome, moral pillar of society treatment instead of the suspicious terrorist side-eye offers a powerful counterbalance to prevailing Islamophobic images in media. Kamala’s conservative, devout brother Aamir (Saagar Shaikh) ends up being a sweet, supportive big brother, not a misogynistic, honor killing nightmare. Kamala’s dad, Yusuf (Mohan Kapur) is adorable. Muslims get to be depicted as ordinary people, and representation matters so the emphasis on non-threatening, crowd pleasing men and boys was a genius move although the course correction is restricting. Kamala’s neighborhood has that Spider-Man neighborhood, wholesome vibe of everyone rooting for the good guys like a pedestrian Greek chorus.
“Ms. Marvel” is a colorful, vibrant miniseries that pays serious homage to its comic book origins, which will probably work for most people. When people text, the words appear in the environment like signs or kites taking the shape of letters. Since I do not read the comics, I found it innovative and clever but a bit distracting. Other than her name, I do not know how Kamala is connected to Captain Marvel’s powers, which could be my fault because I have been watching this franchise in real time and forgotten a ton. Whatever I’m sure that “The Marvels” will clear everything up.
