The Kamala Khan version of Ms. Marvel is one of the most beloved superheroines in comic history. After making her first appearance in Captain Marvel #14 in 2013, the character has gained a massive fanbase. And the announcement of a Disney Plus series based on the heroine means that she is only going to become more popular.
However, this series has already attracted controversy due to the writers seemingly making changes to Ms. Marvel‘s powerset.
But what are her powers? And how do the comics and the upcoming show differ?
What are Ms. Marvel’s powers in the comics?
Kamala Khan’s story begins during 2013’s Inhumanity storyline. During this event, Black Bolt sets off a Terrigen Bomb. This caused Earth’s atmosphere to fill with Terrigen Mist. This Mist is a mutagenic substance that can alter Inhuman biology. A side-effect of this mist was that it activated latent Inhuman genes in people who didn’t know they had them. One such person was Kamala Kahn. Who, after being exposed to the Terrigen Mist, developed superpowers.
Her main power is Morphogenetics. This ability allows her to totally alter and shapeshift her body in various ways. In fact, one of her earliest appearances shows her changing to become the perfect double of her idol Carol Danvers. It took Kamala a while to learn how to control her powers. But once she did, she quickly developed several signature moves.
This includes embiggen, where she grows her fists to massive proportions and extends her arms to throw powerful punches. This power became such a pop-culture phenomenon that the word was added to the Merriam-Webster dictionary in 2018. When the dictionary tweeted about the word’s inclusion, they even included a gif of Ms. Marvel.
However, this isn’t the only thing Kahn can do with her powers. She can change her own height, allowing her to turn into a giant or shrink down to an ant at will. She can also change her appearance, allowing her to look exactly like someone else or even turn herself into an object.
On top of this, she also has a healing factor. However, she can only use this factor in her regular form, and prolonged use of it reduces her cells’ elasticity, reducing her powers for a while.
It should be noted that while Kamala uses her Morphogenetic powers to stretch her limbs, her powers are not the same as those possessed by Reed Richards, as she can alter her body in more advanced ways than he can. This is something that many comic fans are pointing out on social media due to the rumor that suggests Ms. Marvel’s powers were changed for the show due to an upcoming Fantastic Four movie.
On top of this, Kamala quickly becomes an expert fighter, learning from several of the Marvel Universe’s strongest heroes, making her a competent combatant.
What are Ms. Marvel’s powers in the Disney Plus show?
Based on the trailer for the upcoming Disney Plus series Ms. Marvel, Kamala will have a very different powerset from her comics counterpart.
In the trailer, Kamala is shown finding a strange bracelet hidden in a box. When she places this bracelet on her wrist, her eyes glow purple, and an unusual field of energy surrounds her.
In other shots, Kamala is shown creating constructs from purple energy. This includes using a disembodied hand to close a door from a distance, making stepping stones under her feet so she can walk through the sky, and creating a shield to block incoming bullets. She is also shown making a giant fist to punch someone, which is an unmistakable reference to her comic counterpart’s Embiggen maneuver.
It should be noted that while comics Kamala has a bracelet, it doesn’t give her extra powers. Instead, this bracelet has hidden compartments that allow Kamala to carry her possessions while doing hero work. However, this bracelet is a significant part of comic Kamala’s story as the bracelet was originally owned by her grandmother, who used the hidden compartments to get things out of Mumbai during the partition of India.
Many fans are very unsure about the change to Kamala’s powerset. One popular tweet summed it up by saying: “I really hate her powers compare to her comics.”
Another user captured a lot of social media’s anger. They published a tweet that read: “Ms. Marvel is such a good comic book character to me because she actively embraces being weird and uncool, and owning the awkward stuff that makes you who you are. Her embiggening power set reflected that! Idk why they’d take it away and make her a Blue Green Lantern.”
Ms. Marvel lands exclusively on Disney Plus on June 8.
