It’s Wednesday and you know what that means. Ms. Marvel is back with a brand new edition and this episode definitely ramped things up. While we got some potential connections to the Kree, Clan Destine (more later), Ten Rings, and the work of Erik Selvig, most of this episode focused on the “origin” of Kamala’s powers and her relationship with those around her. The end of the episode left us with a great cliffhanger and the potential inclusion of Kamala’s grandmother, Sana, who is the bangle’s original owner’s daughter. It’s quite a lot for one episode and it definitely moves us forward, so let’s look at where we are after three weeks of Ms. Marvel on the Disney+ streaming service.
I mentioned last week that Kamran’s mother Najma seemed pretty official and while she looked evil, she was mostly just motivated by some super selfish reason and may not be outright “evil” as a character. It’s almost like I’ve read a Marvel comic or seen a Marvel show before because that’s exactly what turned out to be the case for her. It appears that Kamala’s mother was part of a banished group who have just been looking for a way home. We don’t know much about why they were banished or what’s going on — we will presumably get more backstory here when we go to Karachi next week — but we do get the general sense that they can’t be all evil as Aisha clearly did something good.
Caught in the middle of all of this is Kamran, who wanted to help his mother but now realizes she’s willing to do whatever she needs to do to realize her plans. This leads him to have a crisis of conscience and will probably serve as the motivator for his powers, as his mother mentioned he had them inside of him and perhaps the bangle could do for him in the future what it was doing for Kamala in the present. Combined with what we know from last week, we’re essentially being told that the bangle merely unlocks the powers of the Noor, it’s not the source of their power. It’s conceivable there are other keys for that lock.
In the comics, Kamran is an Inhuman just like Kamala. Whether or not they eventually get to the Inhumans, we at least have the introduction of the Kree in the flashback episode with Aisha. The arm they take the bangle off of is blue and that’s traditionally associated with the Kree. The Kree created the Inhumans and tried to enslave them, so there’s a ton of history there that Marvel could be tapping into, we just don’t have all the answers yet. We do know someone was blue and that’s about as Kree as it gets in the Marvel Universe. I am sure we’ll get more background on Kamran as the show moves forward, but Marvel has stayed pretty close to his origin while playing around with some changes to the MCU version of his character.
That’s the thing I’ll keep reminding people about, too. The MCU was never meant to be a one-for-one of the comics. It’s its own thing and they’re going to make the changes they need to fit the story they want/need to tell. I like that the MCU is different and while I was leery of Ms. Marvel making some changes to an iconic character, it’s held up very well so far and that’s a testament to those in charge really understanding the heart and soul of the vast majority of the characters they’re building stories around. We will see what they do with Kamran and whether or not he will remain Inhuman or if they’re going to link him and Kamala another way.
Next week should also introduce more about the Partition, Aisha, the Djinn, and hopefully the “Clandestine,” which appears to be a play on the Marvel comic ClanDestine, created by Alan Davis in 1995. This story involves a guy named Adam of Destine who dies and is brought back to life by a Djinn named Elalyth. Djinn are the spawn of Lilith in the comics, but they also have real world implications in Islam. Clan Destine is what the tribe of Adam and Elalyth became known as thereafter. It’s a rather nice obscure pull for the creative team behind this story. That’s how you tap into the lore.
Where we go from here will be explored in the coming weeks and I am sure a good amount of this will also feature in the upcoming film with Monica Rambeau, Carol Danvers, and Kamala Khan all featuring called The Marvels. There are obvious Kree ties and Adam of Destine has an interesting story involving space invaders and protecting Earth that could tie quite nicely together the film and the series. We’ll see what they choose to do, but there’s so much for them to explore and examine if they wish and with the job they’ve done so far, any route they chose to explore is likely to be interesting and unique.
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.