Marvel has reportedly tapped newcomer Iman Vellani to star in the upcoming Disney Plus series “Ms. Marvel” as the titular character, Deadline reports,
- The show will center around Kamala Kahn, a Pakistani-American teen from New Jersey, who becomes a superhero.
- Deadline said: “The plan always was to stay true to the character in finding the right actress to play the role, even if it meant offering a person that was not well known to the public.”
Ms Marvel will be one of several characters coming to the Marvel Cinematic Universe by 2022, including Moon Knight, She Hulk, Ms. Marvel, Thor, Doctor Strange, US Agent, Jane Foster, Hawkeye, Kate Bishop, Scarlet Witch, Vision, Valkyrie, Falcon, Winter Soldier, Black Widow, Loki, Shang-Chi, Monica Rambeau, and the Eternals.
Why it matters:
- The character — who debuted in 2014 — was Marvel’s first ever Muslim hero to have her own comic book. Similarly, this will be the first onscreen Muslim hero for Marvel.
I wrote about the character when she debuted back in 2014. Writer Prodita Sabarini said that when the new Ms. Marvel would be a step forward for breaking down barriers.
“The new Ms. Marvel tackles both stereotypes of both oppressed Muslim women and terrorists,” she wrote at the time. “Many Muslim women choose not to wear a hijab, and Kamala’s character is one of them. She carries her U.S. history book side by side with a book on prophet Mohammed’s sayings and another book on illustration and design. Her creators claim she was born ‘out of a desire to explore the Muslim-American diaspora from an authentic perspective.’ They would know because they, too, have had to navigate their way of being Muslim and American.”