Up until now, there’s been a lot of positive buzz surrounding Ms. Marvel, as fans have praised the Disney Plus series for bringing Kamala Khan, Marvel’s premier Muslim superhero, to live-action. The casting of newcomer Iman Vellani in the lead role was likewise applauded when that was announced. Unfortunately, however, the bubble has been well and truly burst this week as some new reports have led to no end of controversy.
As per the latest word on the show, which is shooting in Atlanta, the cast includes several actors that many fans are not pleased to see involved with the production, either because of their personal lives or because it’s believed that they’re not the right fit for their parts. This has led to #FixMsMarvel trending on Twitter, with the series suddenly the focus of a whirlwind of backlash as the aim of the hashtag is to get Marvel to reverse their decision on these castings.
First of all, Andrew Brodeur (Tall Girl) is likely involved with Ms. Marvel based on his social media interactions and he’s known to be facing various gender discrimination charges. Meanwhile, Yasmeen Fletcher (Andi Mack) and Zenobia Shroff (Soul) are reportedly playing Kamala’s best friend and mother, respectively. While the two characters are Muslim, neither actress is.
The @MsMarvelNews fan account announced that it would no longer support the show in light of these casting rumors, outlining their problems in the Twitter thread below:
Andrew Brodeur, who based on his social media activity will likely be involved in the show, has had multiple Title IX allegations filed against him. https://t.co/v5Xa9AflWz
— Ms. Marvel News (@MsMarvelNews) December 7, 2020
Same goes for Zenobia Shroff, who is a non-Muslim Indian apparently cast as Kamala’s Pakistani Muslim mother.
— Ms. Marvel News (@MsMarvelNews) December 7, 2020
Another controversy is that The Walking Dead actor Matt Lintz, who’s rumored to be playing Kamala’s friend Bruno Carelli, is accused of being a Donald Trump supporter due to certain liked tweets. Lintz has since come forward to categorically deny this in a letter posted to social media, however, so the controversy is slightly sidestepping him at this point.
It’s fair to say that Marvel was definitely not hoping for this kind of backlash against the show and it’s worth pointing out that none of these castings have been confirmed as yet. But if these actors are indeed part of the production, it’ll be interesting to see whether the studio will kowtow to demands and replace them with other performers or not.
Ms. Marvel is due to arrive on Disney Plus sometime in 2021.
