A Marvelous Turn: Actress Iman Vellani to Co-write a New Kamala Khan ‘Ms. Marvel’ Comic Series
- The new series will have a redesigned costume highlighting her newfound mutant identity.
Canadian actress Iman Vellani, who plays Kamala Khan in the Marvel Cinematic Universe will co-write the new comic alongside writer Sabir Pirzada. Titled “Ms. Marvel: The New Mutant,” the new comic is “a nod” to the series finale where the valiant superhero sacrificed herself in the comic “Amazing Spider-Man #26” as reported by Entertainment Weekly. “She was even commemorated in a special issue titled ‘Fallen Friend: The Death of Ms. Marvel,’” the digital magazine added. Carlos Gomez and Adam Gorham will handle the art, and Sara Pichelli will provide the main covers.
The new series also features a redesigned costume for Kamala, “which highlights her newfound mutant identity,” EW said. “It will have X-Men logos replacing the traditional Ms. Marvel lightning bolt that dates back to Carol Danvers. Like Kamala’s original costume, this one was designed by Jamie McKelvie.
Vellani told EW that co-writing the comic was “scarier than joining the MCU.” She said she’s never written anything before in her entire life, but has read many comics. “So I just wrote what I would want to read,” she said. “I was given a very professional tool to write what is essentially my own fan fiction.”
Kamala Khan was co-created by Pakistani-American editor Sana Amanat, and the character also has a Pakistani background. Khan is the first Muslim character to headline her own comic book and is also the main character in the new Marvel Avengers video game. The original artists for the comics were Adrian Alphona and Jamie McKelvie.
Originally, Kamala was an inhuman whose powers originated from the Terrigen Mists. However, she told Collider that while her “origin may seem to contradict her newfound status as a mutant, her new status as a mutant will not replace her Inhuman storyline.” Instead, “it will add to the complexity of her identity, especially given the conflict between inhumans and mutants,” she said. “I want to make it very, very clear that we are not retconning her Inhuman origin. That’s a part of Kamala’s identity that Marvel editorial and myself would very much like to keep and protect.'”
Noting that “the book will absolutely reflect all those core themes of identity that the Ms. Marvel comics have consistently explored, she told EW that “only now there’s a whole new label that Kamala has to learn to accept. It’s going to be pretty crazy.”
The series is also scheduled to make its network debut next month. The Disney+ series “Ms. Marvel” will air on ABC this August as part of the broadcast network’s Wonderful World of Disney franchise. According to an ABC press release, the Emmy-nominated series will air in its entirety across two Saturdays, with the first three episodes airing on August 5 and the last three airing on August 12. The action kicks off at 8/7c on both nights.
TV Insider notes that the “ABC airings hype up the November 10 theatrical release of the movie The Marvels, in which Iman Vellani will reprise her role as the superpowered teen alongside Brie Larson as Carol Danvers a.k.a. Captain Marvel and Teyonah Parris as Monica Rambeau.