Disney dropped the first trailer for their upcoming Disney+ series “Ms. Marvel” today:
This is a great example about how expectations are the compass for reception. Personally, despite having seen (mostly) all of the MCU films, and done my fair share of Wikipedia diving into characters to catch up on years lost of comic reading, I have no idea who Ms. Marvel is, or what her powers are.
The Ms. Marvel we see is Kamala Khan, a “brown girl from Jersey who’s not meant to save the world.” In my opinion, off the bat I think the series looks pretty cool. It’s definitely a much different vibe than we’re used to, as we follow a boy-crazy teenage girl who fantasizes about being a super hero staring out of the window all day. I’ve spent plenty of time staring out of windows pretending I was saving the day as a kid (maybe even a little bit as an adult) and I’d venture to say most Marvel fans did as well. To me, she’s a relatable character to a younger version of myself.
As for her powers, we see her creating some sort of sparkly… crystals? Out of thin air. It’s pretty reminiscent of something like Green Lantern’s abilities from the DC world. She can control the size, shape, and location of these powers, allowing her to walk in the air, generate shields and create a giant first. Now, as someone who has stated earlier that I have no idea what her story or powers are, I found that to be pretty cool. The rest of the internet? Maybe not as much.
As it turns out, the powers we see in the trailer are QUITE DIFFERENT than the comics’ version. Ms. Marvel actually has the ability to stretch her body “in any way imaginable”, but it’s all natural. That may sound very similar to one Dr. Reed Richards, aka Mr. Fantastic, and you’d be correct. (Or maybe you’re more like me, and think of the future Pirate King, Monkey D. Luffy.) To me, this change in powers is most likely a way to accomplish two goals: First, prevent a clash with the upcoming Mr. Fantastic in the powers department. Two stretchy people on screen? Probably not needed. Second, to powerscale Kamala up to the levels we’ve seen.
Mr. Fantastic is an iconic hero, the leader of the Fantastic 4. A super genius with fighting prowess. While being stretchy might not be the craziest ability, Richards makes up for that with brains and experience. A teenage girl whose brain shuts down at a shirtless, handsome boy? Might be a little tougher to justify her ability to hang with the likes of the heroes we’ve seen on the big screen. It’s pretty clear that despite her inexperience, Ms. Marvel’s powers in the trailer are no joke. Despite having no idea what she’s doing at first, she’s able to get creative with her abilities, and they seem pretty darn strong.
The reactions I’ve seen so far online, whether it be the comment section of the trailer to multiple tweets, have not been great. There’s quite an uproar about the change in powers. This is where expectations come into play. As someone who had zero idea what Ms. Marvel was about, I think it looks cool. Someone who expected a rubbery, stretchy superhero faithful to the comics might not be as forgiving to the changes. But to me, I don’t think the powers are important here. The show isn’t about Ms. Marvel’s powers, it’s about Ms. Marvel, Kamala Khan. Her growth and development over the course of the series is what I’m interested in, not whether her arm blows up like a balloon vs shooting sparkly crystals from her hands.
Call me an optimist, but I think this series will be pretty good. I wouldn’t consider this super high on the hype meter (most of said hype is reserved for my boy Nova), but I’m definitely looking forward to checking out the series when it comes out on Disney Plus on June 8th.
Hub World 