Marvel’s superpowered coming-of-age series Ms. Marvel is finally here on Disney Plus, introducing us to the MCU’s diehard Avengers fan-turned-actual-superhero Kamala Khan. Kamala hatches a teen escape plan, attends an Avengers fan convention, and learns the truth behind a mysterious family heirloom.
Here’s everything you missed in the Ms. Marvel series premiere, “Generation Why”.
Meet Kamala Khan, your new Marvel fave
We meet Kamala Khan (Iman Vellani), a 16-year-old overachieving Pakistani-American girl and diehard Avengers and Captain Marvel fan. She makes speculative videos on YouTube about the Avengers, their whereabouts and their powers.
She lives with her mom Muneeba (Zenobia Shroff), dad Yusuf (Mohan Kapur) and older brother Amir (Saagar Shaikh). She’s a bit of a social outcast at school. Her pal Zoe Zimmer (Laurel Marsden) turned on her group when she became a social media star. But fortunately, she has her tech-wizard bestie Bruno Carrelli (Matt Lintz) and gal pal Nakia (Yasmeen Fletcher) to keep her company.
Bruno is a favorite among the Khan family. He sets up a voice-controlled home security and entertainment system for Kamala’s dad. He also secretly makes a pair of faux photon gloves for Kamala. Stark Industries who?
Kamala tells Bruno she doesn’t think she’s destined to be a hero because “Brown girls don’t save the world”. But Bruno has complete faith in her and believes she can do it. The two linger for a second and look at each other. It’s a real “will they or won’t they” moment as it looks like the pair are about to lean in for a kiss. I’m betting on Kingpin’s finances they’ll share a cheeky smooch by the end of the season.
The MCU has superhero nerds and horny fan art
Kamala and Bruno are planning to attend AvengersCon, a fan convention dedicated to Earth-616’s beloved heroes. Kamala wants to compete in the Captain Marvel cosplay competition. But her parents tell her they won’t let her go unless she goes with her dad and dresses up like the Hulk with him.
She refuses and comes up with a plan to sneak out. She plans on using the camera Bruno installed in her place to make it seem like she’s still at home. She succeeds and her and Bruno make it to AvengersCon.
Everyone there is dressed like bootleg members of the Avengers and Guardians of the Galaxy. Kamala and Bruno check out some interactive sculptures of Ant-Man, Thor and Captain Marvel. We see a vendor is selling fan-art of “America’s Ass”, as they should. It all looks like a cosmic blast to be quite honest.
Oh, and they see Zoe in classic Cap Marvel attire too. Apparently, she’s a fan?
Brown girls can save the world too
Kamala finds a mysterious bracelet in a package sent to her family home from her Nani overseas. Her mom says it’s junk and asks Amir to put it upstairs in the attic. Kamala then takes it with her to AvengersCon, thinking it’s the perfect accessory to personalize her Captain Marvel costume.
But things take a wild turn when she wears it on stage and is suddenly surrounded by a purple aura and her eyes glow. She walks to the front of the group of Carol Danvers cosplayers and is overwhelmed by people in the crowd taking photos of her with their flash on.
The sensory overload causes her to uncontrollably shoot blasts of purple cosmic energy from her hands. One of the blasts hits the Ant-Man sculpture and knocks its head off. The giant plastic Ant-Man head rolls through the convention and knocks stalls and other monuments like a scene out of Katamari Damacy. Then it hits the Thor statue and sends a large Mjolnir hurling towards the stage.
The mockup of Thor’s enlarged hammer hits Zoe and sends her flying. Kamala reaches for her as she’s falling to the ground. Her stretchy powers suddenly activate and her arms extend several feet to catch Zoe before she hits the ground. The spinning Ant-Man head knocks some more things, and confetti explodes into the air.
Facing the consequences
Kamala and Bruno use the commotion to flee as Zoe tries to find her hero. Kamala excitedly gushes to Bruno about her new superpowers as they rush home. Bruno promises not to tell anyone Kamala’s new secret.
Kamala then gets home two hours past her curfew and finds her mom waiting for her in her room. Her mom is rightfully pissed Kamala lied to her and snuck out to the convention. She says she doesn’t recognize her daughter anymore. Then, in peak Mom mode, she asks her whether she wants to do right by her and her family or keep her head in the “cosmic clouds”.
Little does her mom know, the two aren’t mutually exclusive.
As if things weren’t chaotic enough already, we learn law enforcement officers caught wind of Kamala’s new powers and want to bring her in for questioning. Facts: ACAB includes police in the MCU. Anyway, we meet Agent Deever (Alysia Reiner) and Agent P. Cleary (Arian Moayed), who you might remember from Spider-Man: No Way Home.
We’ll have to see what happens next to Kamala when episode two of Ms. Marvel drops next week.
