After just one episode Ms. Marvel is already a huge hit. The debut of Kamala Khan is picking up the most positive reviews of any MCU show to date, social media is buzzing with praise for new star Iman Vellani, and Marvel fans can’t wait for her future appearances in TV and movies.
But, there’s one big caveat. While Ms. Marvel is an undeniably good-looking show in general, the effects when she actually uses her powers aren’t up to scratch. Kamala’s energy projection abilities were already generating controversy even before the series began, as they’d abandoned her Mr. Fantastic-style embiggening (likely for fears it’d look odd in live action).
Fans are calling the show out for this, with some pointing to the excellent visualized text message conversation as where the budget really went.
But it seems that most are ready to forgive:
The animated inserts are also picking up a lot of love:
Others wish they’d kept her comic book stretchy skills:
It’s become a simple fact of life that the CGI in the Disney Plus Marvel shows is a step down from what we see on the big screen. This doesn’t necessarily mean it’s awful, just that the teams working on it likely have to work with a tighter timescale and budget constraints relative to the difference between film and television.
Here’s hoping that future episodes are a little more polished when it comes to showing off Kamala’s powers, as you’d imagine that after two decades and change of superheroes, any VFX crew worth their salt should be able to do decent glowing energy blast effects.
Ms. Marvel airs Wednesdays on Disney Plus.
