(Mini Series) Ms. Marvel - The Origin Story of First Muslim Superhero in the Marvel Cinematic Universe

After playing for few weeks, I started to watch this series 3 days ago and completed it last night when the finale was released on Disney+. As usual, I would not be missing out on Marvel's superhero series even if I was not familiar with the hero at all. Well OK, why don't I just get right to it.

Brief Story Line

Kamala Khan (Iman Vellani) was a New Jersey high school girl and really big fan of Avengers, in particular Captain Marvel. She was living with her parents Yusuf Khan (Mohan Kapur - Hostages TV series etc) & Muneeba (Zenobia Shroff - The Big Sick etc) and her older brother Aamir (Saagar Shaikh). In school, Kamala was best friends with the genius Bruno (Matt Lintz - Pixels etc) and the progressive Nakia (Yasmeen Fletcher - Upside-Down Magic etc). Later she also got close to a new boy named Kamran (Rish Shah).  

Kamala's life started to change when she somehow acquired a truly unique power. As she learn to control her new powers, things got further complicated with the involvement of the government and another outside party which also endangered her life and those close to her. 

So what would happen to Kamala? You can find out in this series.

End of Brief Story Line

As I mentioned above, I was not aware of this superhero at all and only got to know after Disney+ and Marvel Studios began to promote the series everywhere. Obviously being part of the MCU phase 4 made me intrigued to find out more. At first, to be honest, I felt like watching those Disney channel original series in the past (Lizzie McGuire came to mind as it also had some strong imaginations) and focus a lot on the teenager side. But as the story progressed and Kamala started to gain & learn her powers, plus the additional important characters who appeared at latter stage, I thought the series actually got better.

Throughout the 6 episodes of this mini series (yes it had always been intended to be a limited series), we were shown how the ordinary teenage life of Kamala turned upside down from the moment she got her powers. As she juggled through her new "superhero" alter ego and the standard relationship struggle with her crush, friends and parents, she also had to find clues of the origin of this power. Frankly, that part was the highlight that I like. Of all the 6 episodes, my favorite was episode 5 with a nice revelation (though I could have guessed it). I also like the finale which was pretty exciting and a bit intense, though not very spectacular.

Being a stand alone series without any references to the previous Marvel movies/series, this one did not exactly give the excitement of waiting for other heroes to show up. It also felt very light, sometimes even a bit childish. However, I quite agree with the critics who praised that Iman Vellani was truly suitable to play Kamala Khan. I think she seemed perfect for this role, even if she did not have prior experience. And being a series about superhero of Pakistani descent with her family, relatives and neighbors, it was a nice touch of the producers to cast many Pakistan and Indian actor/actresses in here, including Bisha K. Ali as the head writer. The series was directed by Adil & Bilall (Bad Boys for Life etc).

From what I read, Ms. Marvel is the first American Muslim superhero in Marvel comic books. And her appearance in this new series was a welcome addition in the growing list of young superheroes in Marvel Cinematic Universe. If you have read or found from the internet or social media, you would also know her significance in the future. Which was why I was not surprised to see the ending of the series. Do not miss out on the mid end credit scene in episode 6 as it is quite important for the continuity of an upcoming movie in the near future. 

Overall to me this was an interesting mini series that combined the origin story of young superhero, with coming of age and a bit of cultural/history study (I know more about Pakistan after completing this series). Personally to me though, this was not a truly wonderful superhero series, and if it did not have any significance in phase 4 MCU, I might have even skipped it altogether. So, if you are hard core fans of Marvel comic books, and already invested so much time in the cinematic universe, likely you would be watching this to complete your experience. But if your preference is a large, exciting adventure of more adult superhero, then this might not be to your liking. The choice is yours.

Mike's movie moments rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars