Written by Christian Garcia
Marvel continues to build and expand its Cinematic Universe with its latest Disney+ series, Ms. Marvel.
The show follows the story of Kamala Khan, a Muslim American teenager who is a Superhero mega fangirl, especially for Captain Marvel, who also has an oversized imagination that makes her very likable but can also get her into trouble. It’s as if Marvel decided to create a show about their fans.
Having played the recent Marvel’s Avengers game on my Xbox, I became aware of the character of Kamala Khan and grew to like her a lot. When I heard she was going to be brought into the MCU, I was excited to see how they would do it and figured a Marvel fangirl would be a funny addition to the MCU.
I just finished watching the first episode and I am already impressed by this show. For this piece I will be focusing on the elements that stood out to me the most rather than an examination of the plot as it is only the first episode. I will go into more detail throughout this piece, but this show has some of the most creative visuals I have seen from any show and already has the makings of a fun coming of age story that Marvel fans can relate to and enjoy quite a bit.
The Visuals
The show gets creative with Kamala Khan's overactive imagination and it makes for some funny and creative visuals. The use of Kamala’s doodles and emojis for visual storytelling which gives the show its own style that makes it stand out from other Marvel properties.
The visuals of Kamala’s daydreams as doodles and as exaggerated scenes in real life make for a great blend of the live-action and the drawing styles.
As someone who loved drawing as a kid, I could relate to Kamala’s love of drawing pictures of her favorite characters and getting so caught up in the fantasy of it all. The opening scene of Kamala drawing and putting together her fanfiction videos provided a visually interesting perspective of the MCU’s history through the eyes of a superfan.
One example that really stuck out to me was the visual display of Kamala and Bruno's text messages. Putting the emojis into the backgrounds was a very creative way to show their conversation. In the modern era of text messaging, Marvel found a more creative way to show their messages than the standard bubbles in the corner that most tv shows and films do.
The colorfulness of the settings is bright and vibrant and very pretty to look at. It is reminiscent of a comic book and shows how the Marvel properties are beginning to embrace the more comic book style. After being grounded in reality for the first few phases of films, it is nice to see Marvel try something new and switching up the style in a property that isn’t Thor or in space.
The visuals are what caught my attention and kept me engaged throughout the episode and I am excited to see what else they do for later episodes and how far they will push themselves creatively.
Kamala Khan
Kamala Khan is a great protagonist who is defined very easily and is relatable.
The opening scene did a great job of establishing her personality, highlighting her creativity and provided a visually interesting introduction to our protagonist. Also, as someone who loves watching one’s expression of creativity, I loved seeing how creative she got with creating her YouTube page and the process of drawing and putting it all together. It brought me back to my childhood.
Kamala is a complex and interesting character. She is quirky but she can be stubborn. She also acts like an actual teenager would. She has her quirks and her insecurities which a teenager her age would deal with. She also faces pressure from her family and teachers to stop living with her head in the clouds and to figure out who she wants to be. That kind of pressure is a lot to handle at 16 which also makes her struggle to fight for her independence and identity more relatable and makes you sympathize with her.
They take full advantage of her dreamer personality showing her daydreams as her doodles. Her overactive imagination shows how creative she is and will come in handy as the show progresses as it shows she is a big thinker and be good at problem solving. The montage of her plan to sneak to Avengerscon is funny visual spectacle that even pokes a little fun at the over-the-top action that we see in superhero films nowadays. It shows she has the sneaky and mischievous nature of a kid, which she is.
Her personality shines through and Iman Vellani really carries it through with her performance. It is also nice to see another young Marvel hero enter the MCU since aside from Tom Holland, we have mostly been dealing with adults. Getting some young blood in the MCU is a nice change of pace and a great talent like Vellani shows the future is only brighter for Marvel.
Kamala and Bruno's Chemistry
I love the friendship, and possible romance, between Kamala and Bruno. Bruno is a very kind and supportive friend to Kamala. He always tries to make her feel good about herself and encourages her to embrace who she is rather than pretend to be someone she isn’t. In a world where she doesn't feel like she fits in, he's the only person who makes her feel like she does.
The scene where he tells her “She’s going to save the world” and gives her the proton gloves is a touching moment that makes me adore their friendship and makes me ship the two because their chemistry and support of each other is very romantic. They share a glance after he tells her his words of encouragement that could possibly hint at a romantic interest and then watching them play fight was cute to watch as well.
Bruno makes for a great best friend and support to Kamala and his tech savviness will make him a great ally should she go down the hero route.
Conclusion:
Only one episode in, I am already excited to see where Marvel takes this show from here. The added element of Kamala now having superpowers of her own will surely make what is an already interesting show, even more interesting. The first episode does a great job of establishing our hero and making her interesting and likable before she even gets her powers. I love Iman Vellani’s performance as Kamala and already see her as a welcome addition to the Marvel cast.
This show reminds me of a few coming-of-age comedies like Never Have I Ever, but now the added element of superpowers will shake things up even more. The visuals are very creative and fun to look at which helps keep me invested in the already interesting story and reminds me of a comic book. After only one episode, I am sold on the show and I can’t wait to see the next episode. I highly recommend this show for kids and adults who will find a fun time to be had.
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