There’s a full month left before Ms. Marvel stretches her way over to Disney+ and gives the MCU a different kind of teen spirit. Details on the show have been pretty mum up to now, but a new promo gives us a better look at what Iman Vellani’s Kamala Khan will be capable of in her own TV miniseries.
In the comics, Kamala is an Inhuman, one of many who discovered her powers after the Inhuman king Black Bolt set off a Terrigen bomb during the “Infinity” comic event. But that was during Marvel Comics’ attempt to turn the Inhumans into basically the X-Men, an attempt that ended…not well, and while she would occasionally get caught up in Inhuman business, she wasn’t really the poster child for that arm of the Marvel universe the way Wolverine could be for the X-Men. As a result, her powers are being reworked for the show: Kamala doesn’t appear to have latent Inhuman DNA, she’s just found a pair of cosmic bands to put on her wrists. Where or whatever they’re from is a mystery, but they allow her to create energy constructs, which includes a big fist to punch people, and the ability to stretch her body.
It’s a fairly significant departure from her origins in the comics, particularly since early on, much of her story revolved around her identity. At one point, her internal struggle manifested in the form of her shapeshifting into her superhero idol, Captain Marvel. Inhumans have yet to truly appear in the MCU in an official capacity, though, and it seems like it’ll remain that way for the foreseeable future. What all that means for MCU Kamala and how it all pays off is something that we’ll have to wait to find out, but it’ll definitely be one of the show’s big talking points.
Beyond glimpses of Kamala’s powers, we get a little more of her family and friends, such as her best friend Bruno (Matt Lintz) and mother Muneeba Khan (Zenobia Shroff). There’s even a little tease of another teen hero joining the fray in the vigilante Red Dagger, played by Into the Badlands’ Aramis Knight. How all of these characters fit into Kamala’s life, and how they’ll help her before she gets boosted to the big screen, will become clearer when Ms. Marvel hits Disney+ on June 8.
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Editor’s Note: Release dates within this article are based in the U.S., but will be updated with local Australian dates as soon as we know more.