Marvel is bringing back its Ms Marvel character, but she will be different from past incarnations. This time, the character is a 16-year-old Muslim girl and the daughter of Pakistani immigrants.
Kamala Khan, who lives in Jersey City, has been created to reflect the growing diversity of Marvel Entertainment’s readership, notes the Associated Press. She was created by writer G. Willow Wilson and artist Adrian Alphona with editor Sana Amanat. Kamala’s story will be about a teen who has to understand her amazing superpowers while dealing with lofty family expectations and adolescence.
“I wanted Ms. Marvel to be true-to-life, something real people could relate to, particularly young women,” Wilson told the AP. “High school was a very vivid time in my life, so I drew heavily on those experiences - impending adulthood, dealing with school, emotionally charged friendships that are such a huge part of being a teenager.”
Wilson explained that her powers include an ability to grow her limbs, shrink and eventually change into other forms. “It's for all the geek girls out there and everybody else who's ever looked at life from the fringe,” he said.
According to the Daily Mail, the writing team said that being a Muslim will be a part of Kamala’s story, but isn’t the most important aspect.
Amanat explained that the character came about after she and senior editor Stephen Wacker talked about their childhood, noting the differences as Amanat is an Arab American. Then, the idea developed into a “character for all those little girls who are growing up now the way you are growing up.”
Kamala isn’t the first Arab character introduced in comics, though. Marvel’s X-Men character Dust is from Afghanistan, while DC Comics Simon Baz, a Green Lantern who is Muslim and an Arab American.
Marvel Editor-In-Chief Axel Alonso said that Kamala is like Peter Parker, better known as Spider-Man. “She's a 16-year-old girl from the suburbs who is trying to figure out who she is and trying to forge an identity when she suddenly bestows great power and learns the great responsibility that comes with it,” Alonso said.
image: Wikimedia Commons
