Ms. Marvel Is… Actually Pretty Good

I have to admit, I didn’t think Disney and Marvel were going to be able to pull this one off. I was sure that Ms. Marvel was going to be a bust, filled with poor acting, cringy writing, bad plot, obviously fake characters, and just downright boring. Thankfully, I was wrong.

Ms. Marvel excellently portrays the struggles of high schoolers (a Muslim girl, to be specific), while also showcasing the often-misrepresented aspects of Pakistani culture. The first two episodes of this show were the best, in my opinion. Showing the realistic struggles of a high schooler is all too familiar (as I’m only a recent graduate of high school myself), and I’m glad is being accurately represented.

Kamala’s character daydreaming of becoming “like an Avenger” is something all of us have done at some point in our lives. Or, at least, daydreaming our future goals, lives, and dreams while listening to some boring Pre-Cal lecture. Every kid has gone through that, and it’s great Marvel has shown it through Kamala.

Plus, I can remember having those awkward college counselor meetings where your whole future is pretty much decided in 1-3 hours.

I can also relate to having that awkward moment where you have to get to your locker, but two people are just incessantly talking for what feels like an entirety as you wait for them to stop.

Nevertheless, I really enjoyed the way they portrayed the Avengers in Ms. Marvel. Or, I guess I should say the “old” Avengers. I loved how Kamala Khan, Ms. Marvel herself, and her friend Bruno adored Tony Stark, Captain America, Thor, Black Widow, and Captain Marvel as we do in the real world.

The “Avenger fans” in the Marvel universe are as passionate about their superheroes as we are with the “real Avengers”, which is great to see.

Anyway, speaking of Kamala Khan, she is one of my favorites. Iman Vellani (Kamala Khan/Ms. Marvel) is a great actress, who brings a lot of life to the teenage Kamala Khan. Without her, the role of Kamla Khan could have translated very poorly onto the screen.

Kamala has a very strong Tom Holland-Peter Parker vibe to her. Both of them are smart, outcasts, living on the fringes of their high school’s “cool kid” society. Yet, through a supernatural enhancement, the two of them gain a lot more confidence and purpose in their lives.

I guess that connection makes sense, considering Disney is the creator of both these characters portrayals.

Anyway, I must say that Nakia Bahadir (Yasmeen Fletcher) may be my favorite character from the show. I think her bold, strong, sarcastic personality is wonderful. Hopefully, they show more of her in the two episodes.

Also, Kamala’s parents, Muneeba Khan (Zenobia Shroff) and Yusaf Khan (Mohan Kapoor), were fantastic. They gave a lot of life and characterization to what true Pakistani parents may look like, which was great see and learn as I was understand the Pakistani culture better.

That leads me to my next point: the Pakistani Culture. It is heavily featured in Ms. Marvel (as it should be, considering it is a show about Pakistani-Americans). But I think the painted the South Asian culture wonderfully, giving the audience enough material to learn, while not too much as to confuse.

The show’s exploration of Karachi, Pakistan in Episode 4 was really cool (even if it felt as though Kamala and Muneeba teleported there). Seeing where the Pakistani people live, eat, shop, have fun, etc. was really interesting.

As someone who is not really familiar with Pakistani, Indian, or really any South Asian culture, seeing the new words, cultural myths, foods, expressions, traditions was a great learning experience.

Okay, now for some of my criticisms. The plot revolving around the Djinns/Clandestines really does not make any sense. To be honest, I have no idea who the head woman of the Clandestine organization is. Is it Aisha? That woman from the collapsing temple scene? Somebody completely different? I looked back, yet I’m still not really sure.

Also, I hate to say it, but I think the show would be better off if the Clandestine story was dropped completely. The Djinns are just not that interesting as they don’t seem to have any superpowers to be really intimidating. They just seem like ordinary Pakistani assassins, not supernatural/demonic beings as their name suggests.

Plus, the Red Daggers aren’t much better. Maybe these two groups are better explained in the Ms. Marvel comics (which I have not read), but, up to this point, they have been poorly translated on screen.

In truth, I think they had the making of a great villain in the Department of Damage Control (S.H.I.E.L.D., to be more specific). If they could have used them, and even an Avenger, to hunt down Kamala, I think that would have made for an even better story.

Just think about it, Kamala Khan being hunted down in Jersey City by an Avenger and S.H.I.E.L.D, the very people she idolized her whole life, because they believe her to be a threat to society? I don’t know about anyone else, but that sounds like a pretty good story to me.

Regardless, Ms. Marvel has turned out to be a FAR better show than I could have ever of imagined. Thankfully, Marvel/Disney has not disrespected Pakistani culture with a mediocre show. (Yet! I hope these last two episodes are good!)

I can’t give Ms. Marvel a score until the final episode come out, but I have a good feeling this show will be in the upper echelons of Marvel’s content of late.

Images Source: Featured Image: (Disney/Marvel) (Marvel Studios’ Ms. Marvel | Official Trailer | Disney+ – YouTube)

In Text Image 1: (Disney/Marvel) (Marvel Studios’ Ms. Marvel | Official Trailer | Disney+ – YouTube)

In Text Image 2: (Disney/Marvel) (Marvel Studios’ Ms. Marvel | Official Trailer | Disney+ – YouTube)