For several years now, the Marvel universe has been growing more and more, as have the fans of the movies, which has made a whole generation of superheroes mark a whole new generation of viewers. Now that the Marvel movies continue, it’s time to make way for new heroes to conquer the new audience, heroes like Ms. Marvel.
With almost thirty movies accumulated and seven series produced in just over a decade, Kevin Feige, the mastermind behind the Marvel universe, has decided to start new productions that bet on a younger audience. This was what happened with Kate Bishop (played by Hailee Steinfeld in Hawkeye) which gave way to what we started to know as “young avengers”. In Ms.Marvel we have the next young heroine, Kamala Khan (played by Iman Vellani), who has gone on to become the first Muslim superheroine.
The series, which premiered on Disney+ last June 8, has been the focus of both the critics and the movie press and it’s fair to say that both are loving it. It has even taken the title away from Black Panther as the studio’s production with the best average rating, and at this point it has become the best rated series of Marvel Studios.
The fact that the character and the plot have Pakistani culture in mind, has been the subject of negative comments towards the series by some sectors of the audience. However, we must remember that Marvel comics have always had a diversity of adaptations and approaches, and this is part of the studio’s own commitment to promoting diversity and representation in its cinematic universe. Because let’s be honest, reality is full of that diversity, which has nothing to do with the classic, stereotypical comic book characters of decades ago.
Being a series focused on a teenage audience, we can expect to find a story that contains love and classic high school plots in a context where the protagonist must begin a process of discovery about her powers, and about herself, which opens the way to a new legacy of superheroes.