Ms. Marvel review: Iman Vellani as the superhero Kamala Khan is the 'Light Girl' the world has been waiting for!

3.5/5

A 16-year-old Captain Marvel and Avengers fangirl named Kamala Khan finds it difficult to fit in until she develops her abilities. She's a Jersey City high school student who is of Pakistani-American descent, enjoys video games greatly, and writes superhero fan fiction about characters like Captain Marvel. From a mystical bangle, Khan learns how to channel cosmic energy and build structures made of hard light.

The finale of anything breaks your heart a little once you get attached to the show. If it's a miniseries, then even keeping an expectation of seeing more of them is disappointing. One of the easiest Marvel series in which I was fully invested was Ms. Marvel, which brought in the new South Asian superhero the world needed. Iman Vellani left an impressive mark from the word go when she first appeared as Kamala Khan in the series.

After six episodes, Ms. Marvel's finally come to an end, and the way it zoomed out of the screen will leave you impatient for what's in store for her. In a similar way to how Wanda Maximoff finally gets called Scarlet Witch in WandaVision, Kamala also gets her name as Ms. Marvel in the finale episode. How she gets it, well, I am not going to spoil it for you.

The six-episode series will keep you hooked if you binge-watch it all at once. However, the weekly episode does test your patience and might leave you a little disappointed with the overall execution.

The first three episodes of Ms. Marvel were bang on, with a lot of revelations in quick succession. We are given a tour of the Islamic culture extensively and know well about their traditions. Even with a modern touch, Ms. Marvel shows how the community in New Jersey is very grounded and nothing shakes their base of beliefs.

We see Kamala's peers and close friends who don't make her feel invisible like many of her classmates and faculty did. There's a genius friend named Bruno Carrelli (Matt Lintz), who has blended well with Kamala's family—father Yusuf Khan (Moha Kapur), mother Muneeba Khan (Zenobia Shroff), and Aamir Khan (Saagar Shaikh)—and even learns a few Urdu words.

Moving forward, while dealing with her conservative family, Kamala also discovers that women on her maternal side have been rebellious, including her grandmother Sana and great-grandmother Aisha. Following the suit, she discovers that she is no ordinary teenager but a girl with special powers. 

Kamala's discovery of having special powers also surprises her to the fullest because she has been an Avengers fan since forever. And her favourite superhero is Captain Marvel. (Duh!)

What's so special about Ms. Marvel is that her superpowers are rooted in her beliefs and the religion she follows. The bangle, which gives her special powers, having something inscribed in Urdu, to the origin story taking us back to the India-Pakistan partition, the series has everything and how!

Then, we get two heartthrobs from India and Pakistan, respectively. Farhan Akhtar and Fawad Khan make appearances in the series. Although watching the hot favourite stars in the MCU gives a sense of belonging, their characters don't add much to the screenplay, which could have been a lot meatier than they showed. Especially Farhan Akhtar, who met his fate in the very episode where he made a grand entry. 

However, there are new terms which the world discovers, like Clandestine and Djinn, and they are defined very well in the series. 

The major part of Ms. Marvel runs in parallel with the past, as a few episodes even start with flashback sequences. Here, we see Aisha, who is the source of all the energy in the world, belongs somewhere but makes this one her everything. She faces the consequences, and then finally comes Kamala, who is on a mission to learn about herself and also to save the world from people who don't belong here and find their way back home.

Amid that, Kamala's cutesy teenage moments are captured well, showing that no innocence is lost. We see her crushing hard like a teenager, dancing to the romantic tunes and also fangirling over Shah Rukh Khan.

Bisha K. Ali, who is the creator of Ms. Marvel, took up the charge and excelled at it with flying colours. She got to know the drill now that the world in terms of art is blurring up and turning into a white globe. We live in a time when people look forward to seeing something different from what their country creates, regardless of language or region.

With the addition of a Muslim superhero to Marvel's roster, popular culture gains a non-stereotypical representation of the Islamic community and the powers possessed by their superhero.

Iman Vellani is hands down one of the actors I discovered, and I can't wait to watch her in The Marvels alongside Brie Larson and Monica Rambeau. It seems to come in handy for her to know that her character knows the world of Marvel like the tips of her fingers. She carries it off effortlessly and makes it entertaining to the fullest.

The final episode of Ms. Marvel gives us a fun and peppy sequence where Kamala and Kamran, played by Rish Shah, fight against Damage Control agents. Finally, after multiple beta tests, Kamala is more comfortable with her powers and uses them to protect the world.

Another popular and significant aspect of Ms. Marvel is the selection of songs used in the series. From Pasoori, Dil Bole Hadippa, to the original tracks, namely The Save, Trail of Stars, and more, they sure should make it into your playlist. Well, until then, tap your foot while watching the episodes.

We are teased with a post-credit scene, of course, and bam! It will just crash your screen and go black with a message that Ms. Marvel will return in The Marvels. I am not going to explain the scene until you have watched it or stayed away from social media. Not just that, after watching Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, we know the world of Marvel is intertwined and Ms. Marvel gives an extension to the same. 

Barring a couple of loose ends in the middle without hinting at why these sequences are needed, Ms. Marvel tightens up those knots with an impeccable finish and a start to the new era. I can't wait to learn more about her role in Phase 4 and so on.

Ms. Marvel is watched, loved, and entertained me, and how! It's one show that can be binged as a standalone only to get more cultural knowledge amid the hostile political environment in the world. Watch out for Iman Vellani and her people, the best-supported characters we have seen in an MCU title for a long time.