On June 8th, 2022 Marvel Studios released their newest complete limited streaming series, Ms. Marvel, a story which dives deep into the large concepts of heroism and the importance of heritage.
Kamala Khan, a 16-year old Captain Marvel enthusiast, lives her life as a junior in high school with her best friends Bruno Carelli and Nakia Bahadir. At home, Kamala and her family practice Islam, going to their mosque for prayer and participating in Muslim community events in Jersey City.
As a junior in high school, Kamala looks forward to college and living the rest of her life with her friends and family. Her life takes a drastic change when she discovers an old family heirloom, a mysterious bangle from her great-grandmother. When Kamala’s mother finds the bangle, she attempts to warn Kamala that the bangle would bring only bad things in her life because of the way her family feels about her great-grandmother. Even after being given this warning Kamala decides to wear it nonetheless.
After the Avengers save the world numerous times from various different foes, large companies and corporations decide to fund a convention celebrating their heroic duties to the world. Similar to Comicon, Avengerscon is a large convention where people go dressed as Avengers or many different heroes and enjoy the company of like-minded people. And of course as Jersey City’s biggest Captain Marvel fan, Kamala needs to attend this massive event.
Kamala and her best friend Bruno hatch a plan to sneak out and go to Avengerscon. At the Con, the bangle begins to surge Kamala with power she doesn’t know how to use, and when things at the event go awry and people are in danger, Kamala ends up saving lives and is now deemed a superhero. However, this new title brings Kamala trouble as the federally funded “Damage Control” pursue Kamala’s new alter ego in order to capture her to “stop” her from damaging anything else.
As days pass Kamala finds herself in hijinks all over, From the United States to the nation of Pakistan. Kamala uses the experiences with her and her friends and family to find her identity as Ms. Marvel.
Marvel Studios, Ms. Marvel is not only an exceptional portrayal of the source material but an incredible adaptation of real teenagers and real interactions with each other. Iman Vellani (Kamala Khan) is a phenomenal actor for her age. The writing and dialogue feel convincing and believable. Ms. Marvel’s only setback is the CGI which tends to stick out in areas and can seem unnatural or sometimes even obviously CGI. Specifically, there is one scene in Episode 5 that was truly terrible CGI. As a viewer, this scene took me completely out of the watching experience and really ended the episode on a rough note.
All that being said, Ms. Marvel is a promising show with a climactic ending and exceptional acting. For example, in episode 4, Kamala and her family fly to Pakistan after being called to visit her grandmother. This episode excels in creating a world and really visualizes what the streets of Pakistan are like. Kamala later in the episode meets with her cousins to share fond family memories and experiences.
Time and time again we see that Marvel Studios knows how to share compelling family stories and deliver a rich character history or heritage. Kamala Khan’s family has a deep history especially with superpowers and gifts of that nature. In episode 5, we watch an in-depth flashback with a detailed backstory to the bangle. We see Kamala’s family history and the people involved in the origin of the bangle and its power.
Recently, it feels almost unavoidable to notice that Marvel has taken quite a dip in production quality ever since their biggest release Avengers: Endgame in 2019. Their CGI has noticeably dropped in quality, and sadly, most of their newer characters feel shallow or have a lack of depth that their original characters had. However, this is not the case for Kamala Khan. Her character has volume, depth, and feels like a real teenager. Marvel Studios has really hit it out of the ballpark with Ms. Marvel and hopefully, Marvel Studios continues to release shows of this quality.
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