Marvel Studios and Disney+ have released the most-awaited trailer for ‘Ms. Marvel’ in which Ms. Marvel is introduced as the fictional universe’s first-ever Muslim superhero, Kamala Khan. A Pakistani 16 years old teenager living in New Jersey gains the miraculous ability to harness cosmic energy.
Lead Role Played by Iman Vellani
The lead role, Kamala Khan, will be played by Iman Vellani, a young Pakistani-Canadian Muslim woman who shares many similarities with her on-screen character. The series was created by British Muslim screenwriter Bisha K Ali and features Emmy Award-winning Pakistani-Canadian filmmaker Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy as one of the directors.
Iman Vellani got the title role after an extensive search by Marvel Studios. A Pakistani-American who idolized Super Heroes like Captain Marvel, Iman never thought she’d have the opportunity to join her role models in safeguarding society from the forces of evil.
With a supernormal ability to change shape and size, the newest Ms. Marvel employs an idealistic behavior as much as any power to make the world a good place.
About the Super Hero
Kamala Khan is cast as the typical daydreaming, superhero nerd. However, at some point, she feels strange cosmic powers, like the ability to launch energy blasts and develop glowing stepping stones to walk in the air. Later in the trailer, she gets a comic-accurate, red-and-blue costume and throws some cosmic punches with a giant, glowing fist.
Muslims have long been desiring more realistic representations like this in Hollywood, where their cultures are given the value and importance they rightfully deserve, as do all the other communities in the world, and their characters are played by genuine members of their communities. While shows such as The Bold Type have created fictional Muslim women with more complexities, Ms. Marvel appears to be a more authentic and relatable role for a younger audience.
After 30 years since Princess Jasmine was debuted by Disney, we are witnessing the birth of a new female character – one who is brown and Muslim and has majestic superpowers. Jasmine was more of a supporting role but Kamala Khan is a lead and powerful role in MS marvel.
What Does This Mean for Muslims Around the World?
Many film critics complain that Muslims are mostly stereotyped as terrorists or in negative roles in movies made in the West. Either they are portrayed as terrorists or ultra-liberals who denounced their faith altogether. This casting might help to eradicate the home-bound, weak and passive character image of Muslim women, who are submissive and forced to live under male dominance. The Kamala Khan character will be evidence to the world of how strong and unstoppable a woman could be and what marvelous changes she can do to the world.
Besides this, it’s very motivating for Muslim youngsters to dream big, and spread their wings to achieve them without fearing discrimination due to their religion. This comes at a time when many Muslim youngsters could have never imagined being a part of Hollywood as many media channels are busy portraying a horrible Muslim image. Now they can expect to socialize more, have larger friends’ circles, practice their religion, and enjoy more freedom in the world.
The success of Ms. Marvel will surely bring more opportunities for Muslims to represent their true identity to the world, not only in the media but in other occupations also. The popularity of the character will encourage non-Muslims to start dialogues with and listen more to their Muslim co-citizens. Hence, Muslims will hopefully get the opportunity to explain themselves, while learning misconceptions about their religious ideology.
A Possible Change in the mindsets of Directors and Producers?
It might also evoke more producers and directors to create more movies to remove misconceptions about the global Muslim community. In 2021, Mindy Kaling and Amazon Studios announced they would be adapting Hana Khan Carries On, a romantic comedy novel by Muslim Canadian writer Uzma Jalaluddin, into a film. With the literary world awash with amazing Muslim fiction novels targeted at young adult readers, it doesn’t seem a distant possibility now.
While it’s still too early to predict how thoroughly Ms. Marvel might address and combat Islamophobic stereotypes throughout the series, we sincerely think it’s safe to say this “whole new world” offers far more magic for Muslim women than the very narrow typecasts we’ve been confined to by past film and television productions.
