Who is Ms Marvel? Why is there such a buzz in the Marvel fan base? Has it overturned biases and stereotypes? Know The Fact brings you information about the new character in town, Ms Marvel.
Who and what is Ms Marvel?
Ms Marvel is an American television action-packed, comedic, coming-of-age superhero miniseries starring a teenage girl who enjoys reading Marvel comic books and is a fan of the Avengers, especially Captain Marvel. Kamala Khan, whose name in the series is Kamala Khan, is played by a Pakistani Canadian girl named Iman Vellani. Kamala is a 16-year-old Pakistani-American high school student from Jersey City, born to Pakistani immigrant parents.
Kamala is a passionate artist and an enthusiastic gamer. She writes superhero fan fiction about heroes such as her favourite hero, Captain Marvel. Kamala struggles to fit in until she gains superpowers and turns into Ms Marvel by gaining the ability to harness cosmic energy and create constructs from a magical old bracelet that belonged to her mystical great-grandmother.
This bangle allows Kamala’s powers to be tied to her Pakistani heritage and the pain and trauma of the Indian Partition in particular.
Cast
The cast of the Ms Marvel series is led by Pakistani-origin Iman Vellani. The series also boasts a bunch of artists from India and Pakistan, including Farhan Akhtar, Fawad Khan, and Mehwish Hayat, among others. Matt Lintz plays the role of Bruno Carrelli, who is Kamala’s best friend. Yasmeen Fletcher plays the role of Nakia Bahadir, Kamala’s close friend. Zenobia Shroff plays the role of Muneeba Khan, Kamala’s mother and Yusuf Khan’s wife.
Mohan Kapur plays the role of Yusuf Khan, Kamala’s father and Muneeba’s husband. Saagar Shaikh plays the role of Aamir Khan as Kamala’s older brother. Laurel Marsden plays the role of Zoe Zimmer, the most popular girl at Kamala’s high school. Azhar Usman plays the role of Najaf, a halal food vendor acquainted with Kamala and many others.
Significance
Ms Marvel as a mainstream show gives the chance to artists from the subcontinent to showcase their talent without being oppressed by being seen through a whitewashed western lens, which labels the culture’s ‘exotic’ with elaborate costumes and jewellery and is burdened with a whole bunch of stereotypes and clichés.
The series was given an authentic subcontinental flavour as it included both Pakistani and Indian music. Popular songs by famous Pakistani and Indian artists such as AR Rahman, Ahmad Rushdi, Nahide Akhtar, Raja Kumar, etc., have been included in the series.
The portrayal of Muslims in Hollywood and popular culture has been negative. Just as the Russians were vilified and labelled the “bad guys” by Hollywood, particularly in the 1980s, through direct representation or more subtly through the villains’ having a “Russian accent,” Hollywood has discovered a new boogie man, who is, of course, Muslims.
Just a little over a decade ago, not so subtle examples of this prejudice included TV shows like 24 and Homeland and films like American Sniper, with them being based almost entirely upon the identity of Muslims as harmful “cold-blooded Islamic terrorists.” Even though extremism is a minority among 1.8 billion Muslims, Hollywood was not afraid to suggest that ordinary, everyday Muslims with families have been “brainwashed into believing an extremist ideology.
” Even though Ms. Marvel is a Muslim character, she cannot be taken as a “representation” of Islam. What Ms. Marvel has done is that she has represented a side of the reality faced by young Pakistani Canadians, which is trying to strike a balance between culture and assimilation.
Impact
The inclusion of a brown girl from a minority community is being seen as a progressive step taken by Hollywood in increasing diversity and representing different cultures. Ms Marvel is breaking barriers as it breaks the stereotypical image of an “angry father” and an “overly conservative immigrant family”. Claims are being made that Ms Marvel has an authentic perspective on Pakistani American culture.
Well-known activist Malala Yousafzai has praised the series for its representation of the Pakistani people, saying that she was “struck by how familiar Kamala Khan’s life seemed to me”. Kamala Khan, the protagonist who turns into Ms Marvel in the series, has made history as she became Marvel’s first Muslim character to lead her own comic book series. For a plethora of reasons, Ms Marvel was a risk undertaken by Marvel when it decided to launch the comic.
Firstly, new characters were having a hard time being popular among fans in the 2000s. Adding to the mix was the fact that Ms Marvel was a teenage Pakistani-American Muslim female. It seemed that the success of Ms Marvel would be little-to-none. To the surprise of everyone, Ms Marvel did hit the shelves and stunned the world.
Ms Marvel Episodes and Streaming
Marvel will consist of a total of six episodes. Ms Marvel will be streamed on Disney+ globally this week. The first episode of the show was released on June 8, and the subsequent episodes will be released on a weekly basis until July 13. On June 2, the red carpet premiere occurred at El Capitan Theatre in Los Angeles. The series will be streamed in India on Disney+ Hotstar.
In Pakistan, the series will receive a three-part theatrical release through the licensor HKC Entertainment. This is due to the fact that Disney+ is not available in the country. The first two episodes of Ms Marvel will be released on June 16, 2022. This will be followed by the release of the third and fourth episodes on June 30. The last two episodes will be released on July 14.
