Marvel Cinematic Universe introduces us to its newest Pakistani-American hero Kamala Khan with The Weeknd’s song playing in the background as we are given a tour of the teenager’s room, which is mostly filled with Marvel posters and designs. Kamala (Iman Vellani) is an ardent follower of Captain Marvel, and like any other geeky teenager of her age, is concerned about whether she can convince her strict South Asian parents to let her attend an AvengerCon. MCU’s first Muslim superhero, Kamala is constantly struggling with her parents, and her religious identity and is trying to find her place in the city of New Jersey. We are introduced to the quintessential Gen Z teenager, who will soon take on the mantel of a superhero.
The series starts off as a coming-of-age drama of a teen girl, who is living with her overprotective mother Muneeba (Zenobia Shroff), fun dad Yusuf (Mohan Kapur) and a supportive brother Aamir (Saagar Shaikh). She is friends with a nerdy guy Bruno (Matt Lintz) and a headstrong woman Nakia (Yasmeen Fletcher) with whom she visits the mosque on weekends. Her problem is something any South Asian teenager with strict parents can relate to – her mother doesn’t want her to go to AvengerCon because there will be ‘bad boys.’
Nonetheless, she makes a Captain Marvel costume with Bruno’s help and makes the perfect plan to sneak out. Before that, she finds an ancient bracelet, a family heirloom which belonged to her great grandmother. She carries the bracelet to the convention as a part of her costume. However, things go haywire once she puts it on as she discovers it lets her do super-heroic stuff. She can elongate her limbs, manipulate light and do a lot more with it although she is unaware of its history.
We are only told that the bracelet once belonged to her great-grandmother who brought a lot of shame to the family, so much so that her family members can’t talk about it without being triggered.
With the help of Bruno, she tries to modify and control her powers so that she can put them to good use, while she also has to keep up with her life as a teenager. Here, her struggle to find her place and her own identity, and also abide by her parents, takes the front seat and becomes an important theme of the series. This also helps the series to stand out as we have always seen the troubled lives of superheroes mostly. Here, we have a superhero or Avenger stan herself, whose initial struggles are nothing near to fighting outer-worldly beings or aliens.
Another highlight of the show is its colourful editing and animations which give a vibe similar to that of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.
The show is also filled with Indian-Pakistan and desi references in general, from Partition stories to Shah Rukh Khan and his films. Marvel’s fourth phase and especially its mini-series are characterised by diversity and representation outside the mainstream, something that MCU only started exploring recently. From the first Black Captain America to the first Muslim solo lead headlining her own series, Marvel studio is walking in the right direction.
However, one concern remains with the viewers. While showing different cultures, or religions, it is important not to portray them as setbacks to the character’s journey. When Kamala’s mother is being over-protective, we are giving in to the trope of conservative South-Asian mothers, something that we also saw in Turning Red. Similarly, the character of Nakia also expressed her struggle with her hijab and through her and Kamala, we also see the gender bias in their mosque. Authenticity is important but so is sensitivity as anything that has to do with showing religions, can go south pretty soon if not handled with care.
Having said that, the creator Bisha K. Ali, co-writer Sana Amanat and director duo Adil El-Arbi and Bilall Fallah can be trusted with being authentic with the culture and religion they are representing as the makers’ lived experiences would come in handy.
Ms Marvel will be streaming on Disney+ Hotstar from June 8.
