‘Ms. Marvel: Season 1’ Review
Stars: Iman Vellani, Matt Lintz, Yasmeen Fletcher, Zenobia Shroff, Mohan Kapur | Written by Bisha K. Ali, Kate Gritmon, Freddy Syborn, A.C. Bradley, Matthew Chauncey, Sabir Pirzada, Fatimah Asghar, Will Dunn | Directed by Adil & Bilall, Meera Menon, Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy
Kamala Khan is a superhero fan with an imagination, particularly when it comes to Captain Marvel; 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 looked up to.
Even though the wildly popular Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) is full of comedy, heart, and emotion, one thing it is severely lacking in is more coming-of-age-style stories. Jon Watts’ Spider-Man: Homecoming was really the closest thing we ever got to a coming-of-age MCU film, and boy did it ever work.
However, Bisha K. Ali‘s newest series in the MCU, Ms. Marvel, aims to be a full-blown coming-of-age superhero story that follows a young Pakistani-American girl named Kamala Khan who, after learning she has a strange superpower, must learn how to navigate her superhero and personal life. It’s also the second best MCU streaming show, right behind WandaVision.
This is one of the most heartfelt and endearing shows I’ve watched in a long, long time. Even if you’re not the biggest fan of this franchise, it still has plenty of things to offer. As a matter of fact, if you’re one of those people who have given up on the MCU because it’s becoming too formulaic, I strongly urge you to check out Ms. Marvel.
It’s a show that actually dares to do something different. Instead of focusing on looming supervillain threats and world-building, leading into whatever comes next, Ms. Marvel aims to tell a great story first and foremost. The best superhero films and shows don’t put all their focus on a potential sequel or season two. Thankfully, this show doesn’t do that. It knows that it needs to make a good impression with this season before anything else.
Watching this show may be a little strange for some viewers who are so used to the massive-scale battle movies such as Avengers: Endgame and Spider-Man: No Way Home, because the majority of this show is on-the-ground drama. Most of it deals with Kamala’s home life and her trying to figure out what this power is and what it means.
There’s even an entire episode (“Time and Again”) that is set almost entirely in an Indian village in 1942. The titular superhero doesn’t show up until nearly the end of the episode. Some may find this choice disappointing, but I loved getting to learn more about this particular storyline.
And it’s also just so great to see an MCU storyline focus so much on other cultures. The franchise is set so much in America that, Ms. Marvel being tied to Indian roots, is such a breath of fresh air.
Iman Vellani is the absolute best choice for the role of Kamala Khan. I’ve been a fan of the character for years, and it’s genuinely shocking just how perfect of an actress she is for the character. She beautifully embodies all of her childlike wonder, her energy, love, passion, and curiosity. It’s marvellous to see.
Matt Lintz, Yasmeen Fletcher, Zenobia Shroff, and Mohan Kapur also get excellent supporting roles as well. The show’s cast is genuinely quite large and yet it still found ways to make every single character in its roster feel important. Although some are significantly more interesting than others, each character has their own unique quality.
Ms. Marvel is a wonderfully endearing coming-of-age superhero story full of heart, passion, and joy, featuring Iman Vellani in a star-making performance.
