Ms. Marvel – Premiere Review
Mini-Series, Rated TV-PG
Created by Bisha K Ali
Written by Bisha K Ali (based on characters created by Sana Amanat)
**NOTE: this post will be updated with audio once we actually have the chance to talk about it. Until then, enjoy this brief look at my thoughts. Stay tuned.**
Synopsis:
Marvel Studios’ Ms. Marvel is a new, original series that introduces Kamala Khan, a Muslim American teenager growing up in Jersey City. An avid gamer and a voracious fan-fiction scribe, Kamala is a Super Hero megafan with an oversized imagination—particularly when it comes to Captain Marvel.
Yet Kamala feels like she doesn’t fit in at school and sometimes even at home—that is, until she gets superpowers like the heroes she’s always looked up to.
Life gets better with superpowers, right?
Ms. Marvel is one of those rare shows where it seems I don’t have a dog in this fight. By that I mean I haven’t read any of the comics, there’s no other existing media for comparison, so I get to go into the experience blind.
It’s a nice feeling to have, as I get to truly critique the show on its own merits.
[I do know the basics of her character and powers, but that’s it.]
Now, having watched the first two episodes, I can say that there is a lot to like here. The first episode spends its time showing us who Kamala Khan is, and what her life is like, before finally confronting her with powers.
The second episode is the classic “hero learning what they can and can’t do” portion of our program. With the help of her longtime best friend (and oh-so-predictably friend-zoned)Bruno, Kamala begins to learn how to apply the powers she has.
And it’s shown to us much as Tobey Maquire’s Spider-Man was: a series of hit or (more-often) miss attempts at control.
Speaking of Spider-Man, Ms. Marvel currently has a very Jon Watts Spider-Man trilogy feel to it, visually. It’s also slightly reminiscent of Scott Pilgrim vs The World, as it integrated Kamala’s art as well as creatively integrating text messaging throughout, as opposed to simply scrolling bubbles up the screen.
Overall, and this is obviously subject to how the remaining episodes play out, I’m pretty okay with Ms. Marvel. As I said, I don’t have a dog in this fight, and I find myself wanting to see if the show-runners can maintain the unique flavor they’ve established thus far, which I quite enjoy.
Now, I’ve commented previously and extensively on the internet’s cottage Hate industry, especially when it comes to all things Disney, and since this is a Disney product, after all, that industry is ramping up production.
Look, when your first argument is that the comicbook shouldn’t exist at all because “woke,” then you’ve lost the argument. You can’t simultaneously tell people to stop co-opting “your” characters and to make “their own,” then dismiss those self-same characters.
As for the argument that she is somehow a rip-off of Captain Marvel (herself a rip-off of Captain Marvel, Mar-Vel, Ms. Marvel version 1.0), please, give me a break. She’s a huge fan of Captain Marvel, so she is going to be inclined to model herself after her from an appearance aspect, but her powers don’t (currently) correlate, so that argument doesn’t hold water.
Look, I don’t know if the comics were any good. I do know that plenty of great and beloved characters have been subjected to sub-standard or downright shitty writing over the years, so even if the comics weren’t up to someone’s exacting standards, that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s the character’s fault.
That said, I find Iman Vellani as Kamala Khan to be a likeable and talented actress here, conveying the angst of a teenager subjected to a somewhat oppressive family cultural dynamic, who also happens to live in one of the most open societies in the history of ever, and that battle between genuinely loving her “own” culture and longing to be part of the wider culture is a legitimate story point.
As for the by-now well-documented change in the origins of her powers… yes, if they don’t backtrack somehow and re-integrate the Inhuman aspect, that I would consider a kind of disservice to the character, but not one that detracts from what the show is doing. For me it’s more of a loyalty to creators’ visions than anything else.
I mean, I get that Marvel is trying to bring Mutants into the fold now that they can, but that shouldn’t preclude the entire Inhuman culture existing. Sure, the Movie/TV show was an abomination, but with Black Bolt’s cameo in Dr Strange 2, they’ve acknowledged Inhumans exist, so why not use them? They aren’t mutually exclusive.
Overall, I think objective fans will enjoy Ms. Marvel. If you were pre-disposed to dislike the character going in, you won’t.
It’s that simple.
To paraphrase Yoda when asked what was “in there:” Only what you take with you.
Ms. Marvel premieres exclusively on Disney June 8 and stars Iman Vellani, Alysia Reiner, Matt Lintz, Yasmeen Fletcher, Anjali Bhimani, Rish Shah, Laurel Marsden, Zenobia Shroff, and Mohan Kapur.
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