Ms. Marvel kicked off this Wednesday and, just as you would expect from a show about the Avengers’ biggest fangirl, it was full of treats for MCU fans. For starters, the pilot episode was built around Kamala Khan’s attempts to attend AvengerCon, an event celebrating all of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. The Avengers-themed extravaganza depicted in the ep would be heaven for any superhero lover if it was real, so it’s no surprise that self-confessed Marvel nut Iman Vellani loved it.
In fact, she didn’t just enjoy wandering around the AvengerCon set while shooting but cleverly concocted a plan to steal as many mementos from the con as she could. Vellani came clean to Entertainment Weekly that she came away from the shoot with so much AvengerCon swag that she’s basically recreated the set in her closet. Vellani admitted:
“I got a lot of posters, a lot of T-shirts, a lot of hats and sunglasses. I got some cool mugs and Funkos. Just everything that was there! On my first day, my assistant and I went around taking photos of everything I wanted to steal, and on the last day, when I said bye to people, she put things in bags and we shipped everything home. My closet is now a mini AvengerCon.”
It’s common for Marvel actors to swipe one or maybe two items from the set as an impromptu act of rebellion on their final day, but Vellani’s tactic of compiling a list of everything she was going to pinch ahead of time takes it to another level. It seems like the MCU’s newest hero might be better suited to a life of crime instead of crime-fighting.
But then we’d expect nothing less from the most relatable Marvel Studios lead we’ve ever had. The 19-year-old actress is a card-carrying MCU expert, even annoying Kevin Feige by constantly texting him critiques — we’re pretty sure she must’ve vented at him a lot for that incorrect Earth-616 classification in Doctor Strange 2. Sure, there’s a lot of crossover between Robert Downey Jr. and Tony Stark or Tom Holland and Peter Parker, but Iman Vellani literally is Kamala Khan.
The first episode of the six-part Ms. Marvel is streaming now on Disney Plus. Subsequent installments release on Wednesdays.