The Summer of Marvels has begun with the debut of everyone’s favorite teenage Muslim mess, Ms. Marvel. The first episode dropped last night and fans everywhere jumped in to find out what the hype is about. Marvel decided that they were going to slow play Ms. Marvel instead of dropping multiple episodes on debut night. How was the first episode of Ms. Marvel and does the show deliver on its promise? Let’s take a look.
The biggest thing about the character of Kamala Khan is her personality. Kamala is a big-hearted character with wit, intelligence, teenage sensibilities, and a strong pull to be a Muslim of faith. She’s a blend of Spider-Man and Captain America, but uniquely herself. It’s almost impossible to create characters like this because it’s their genuine nature that attracts fans and recreating that lightning in a bottle is really difficult as it is, downright impossible when it’s a cultural phenomenon that transcends borders. By all accounts, Kamala Khan is that and so much more. That just means the show has an impossible task to fulfill over the course of the season.
Out of the gate, the show is good but not great. The casting seems to be fine thus far, but I’m not fully sure if Iman Vellani and the Kamala Khan from the comics match up when it comes to their personalities and demeanors. That doesn’t mean I’m criticizing her, I’m just saying it’s going to take more than one episode for them to flesh her out and I’m willing to be patient while they do so. Not everything is supposed to make sense or tell the whole story on Day One. So, I’m gonna set that aside for now, but it was worth documenting so if it remains an issue for me, people won’t think I’m making something up.
The show changes Kamala’s powers from Terrigen Mist from the Inhumans to a bracelet for Nani. The powers themselves go from polymorphic to cosmic. As for how the show comes together, we can’t possibly know that yet. Zoe seems to be more of an adversary to Kamala than someone Kamala hangs out with, at least up front. Bruno and Kamala share a bond that is going to need more time to seed on camera. I guess the best way to put it is that we need to see more before we can issue a verdict on these characters as a whole.
With the show choosing to air only a single episode out of the gate, it means fans were only treated to 41 minutes of the Marvel content instead of the traditional hour and a half. That didn’t give it much time to get into relationships, which is why it wouldn’t be fair to judge them so quickly. These people barely had time to go to an AvengersCon hosted by Agent M, they certainly weren’t going to be able to display every aspect of their social dynamics.
What I truly loved about this show was the way they did Kamala’s daydreaming and thought-train. I was wondering how the idiosyncrasies of Kamala’s comics would be worked into a live-action show. Most of the gags they pull in the comic are clever art gags or nifty and cute drawings that add to the humor. Well, one episode into the show and I’m no longer worried about that part of her world. They did a great job of integrating the fun, zany, and comic-y parts of her comic into the show and that’s part of what makes her excel as a character.
The next most important aspect of the show to me was her relationship with her family and they did nail that out of the gate. Abbu is definitely Abbu and Ammi is definitely Ammi. Yusef and Muneeba slay in their individual roles played by Mohan Kapur and Zenobia Shroff, respectively. Shroff gets Muneeba down to her very soul and I can’t wait to watch her journey from over protective and tiger mother to whatever she’s going to become. Kapur is a treasure and I want to spend a day as his son, listening to whatever he wants to tell me. I love the casting here and I can’t wait to see more from the parents.
While Ms. Marvel doesn’t hit every note for me and I remain unsure about the main character herself, the show is fun and does a good job of integrating your favorite parts of the comic into the MCU. The idea that everyone is going to be pleased by every aspect of every show is ludicrous and far-fetched. Compared to the other shows we’ve been given, Ms. Marvel is funny, engaging, and definitely set up for more success out of the gate than we’ve been used to thus far in Phase 4. I will definitely be tuned in for next week. How about you?
Ms. Marvel airs new every Wednesday exclusively on Disney+ streaming service.
Kane Webb covers video games, comics, and film/tv for BSO and The Marvel Report. He also covers the USC Trojans for Athlon Sports. He is an entertainment journalist and you can follow him for more on Twitter: @FightOnTwist.