REVIEW #196 Ms. Marvel (Season 1)

Ms Marvel follows Kamala Khan, a passionate superhero fan with a love for Carol Danvers (Captain Marvel). Often finding herself feeling like the odd one out, at home and at school, Kamala soon finds herself thrown into the world she adored so much, when a mysterious bracelet equips her with superhuman abilities. 

Ms Marvel is a refreshing addition to the MCU Disney+ catalogue, with a unique aesthetic and a charismatic cast. First of all I want to praise Iman Vellani for her portrayal of Kamala Khan because she was born for this role! I couldn’t picture anyone else playing her and considering this is was Vellani’s first major role, she performed brilliantly. My favourite part about this show was definitely its unique creative style, particularly the way Kamala’s art and even the characters text messages, merged with the environment! It looked so natural and was a beautiful way to bring the frames to life, giving it a little extra energy to captivate audiences. Now I obviously knew the character before going into the live action series but it wasn’t from the comics, it was actually through The Avengers video game and I absolutely loved Kamala’s storyline there. So at first, like a lot of people I was slightly hesitant about the power change but without having the inhumans already set up in the MCU, it would have been very difficult to have her original origin story. However her new arc (the bracelet and the Noor dimension) is nicely played out and it’s clear it will link with many other aspects of the MCU. I do still believe she’ll be an inhuman, if or when that plot plays out and at that point maybe the bracelet won’t be needed. There was a tease about something along those lines in the finale but it’s definitely not clear and it could mean plenty of different things but that’s my take on it. One thing I wasn’t to keen on was the antagonist, it wasn’t very clear to be honest. It looked like we had one establish itself, only for them to leave before the finale! I definitely think they could have improved that aspect of it for sure because we are then led to believe that the Department for Damage control are the final antagonists but that’s not really the case either. Despite the lack of a clear villain, the show still had a lot going for it, with a strong focus on family and friendship which creates many heartwarming moments. Meera Menon handled a lot of sensitive subjects very well, the prejudice and assumptions directed towards the Muslim community, the partition in India and even disputes within religious families. The show really reaped the benefits of having a Muslim team behind the scenes because it felt super authentic. Ms Marvel also emphasises the wonderful community surrounding Kamala. I loved the wedding scene, it was so joyful and it could bring a smile to anyones face and I could say that about a lot of interactions with our protagonist and her family and friends! Her dynamic with Bruno is another strong friendship added to the MCU and he himself was a great character in his own right. This was definitely a good introduction to Ms Marvel and seeing her in the iconic costume in the final episode was great. 

The visuals were pretty good too, the purple light from her powers worked wonderfully, especially with the dark nighttime backdrops. It had a wonderful sound track, featuring many south Asian artist and that certainly complimented the show nicely. It also helped cement the cultural influences that are so evident throughout the six episodes and that was definitely one of the strongest aspects of Ms Marvel. It was great to have an insight into that world, a south Asian family, their religion and beliefs and of course, we finally get to see the first Muslim Superhero hit the MCU! Despite thoroughly enjoying the show, I would still have to say its probably towards the bottom of my MCU series rankings. Not because anything was outright bad because it definitely wasn’t but purely because of my preference for the adult heroes. The storylines, for me, are more exciting, the action scenes are better and for the majority of the shows the heroes are already established characters who I already have a bias for. I guess that’s quite unfair on Ms Marvel, but that’s just me being honest, we can only ever go on our personal preference! But for sure, I enjoyed it a lot and like I mentioned earlier it’s unique aesthetic i absolutely loved. Definitely watch it if you haven’t already and I’m super excited to see Kamala again in The Marvels.

Overall (7.8/10)

Thanks for reading.

Callan