Spoiler Alert: New Ms. Marvel Teased in Captain Marvel #17
By now you have undoubtedly seen the news that in 2014 Marvel Comics will launch a new title with a familiar name — Ms. Marvel — but a very new character sporting it. In what will be a first for a title character in a Marvel book, the new Ms. Marvel will be a Muslim, a girl from New Jersey that has been inspired by Captain Marvel and discovers she has powers of her own.
Kamala Khan is a Pakistani-American teenager with, as Comics Alliance describes it, “body morphing powers.” The New York Times of all publications was the first to break the news late yesterday. The Times article goes on to quote series writer G. Willow Wilson, a convert to Islam, as saying that she and the editorial team are prepared for what could be a wave of negative response from the Internet — that bastion of tolerance. Comics Alliance points out that when the first issue of the new Ms. Marvel ships in February it will be the first time a person of color has been the solo lead in a Marvel title. Comics Alliance expressed my feelings about the new book and character well enough that I’ll let them say it:
Naturally this is something we loudly applaud here at ComicsAlliance. The superhero genre needs more heroes for young women and people of color to look up to, and to introduce a hero who is Muslim — one of the most maligned and misunderstood minority groups in America today — is especially bold and especially laudable.
If you haven’t read the new Captain Marvel issue, or don’t want to see the teasers or full on appearance of the new Ms. Marvel before her own title ships early next year, then don’t scroll down to the image below. But if you do, check out that morphin’ bicep (and the Pakistani flag on Kamala’s wall).
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