The Ms. Marvel season finale hit Disney+ on Wednesday and what took place will be felt in the Marvel Cinematic Universe for years to come.
SPOILER ALERT: This story includes major plot elements of the season finale of Ms. Marvel now streaming on Disney+. If you have not seen episode six of the series, continue at your own risk.
The MCU architect Kevin Feige has aimed to keep the the films and tv series as close to the original comic book content as possible. Respecting the source material, as most writers and directors do when adapting comics and books. Slight changes have happened over the years, some are just updating with the times and others due to character studio rights. This all changed with the release of Ms. Marvel.
In the comics Ms. Marvel develops her superpowers when the Terrigen Mists are released as part of the Infinity storyline. Her dormant Inhuman abilities are activated by the Mists on a rare night when Kamala Khan decides to be rebellious and sneak out after her parents forbid her from attending a high school party.
With Marvel seemingly avoiding the use of Inhumans in the MCU after the failed television series and cancelled feature film. This would mean Khan, played by Iman Vellani, would have to receive her powers another place. During the Disney+ series we were to expect Kamala Khan gains the ability to harness cosmic energy and create hard light constructs from a magical bangle. In addition to her revelation of being part djinn.
Up until the season finale, we thought we basically knew the backstory of Khan and we just were waiting for the show to wrap up and see how this series flows into the forthcoming “The Marvels” in 2023.
Ms. Marvel’s Genes Are Like a Mutation
That all changed, for the good, during the closing moments of “No Normal.” Khan’s best friend Bruno, played by Matt Lintz, says to Khan there is “something different in your genes” that’s “like a mutation.” Khan replies, “Whatever, it is it’s just going to be another label.” All this while a version of the 1990’s X-Men: The Animated Series theme song plays in the background.
While Bruno did not come out and say Khan is a mutant, the use of the word mutation, along with the X-Men theme song, would lead us to believe thats the plan for her character in the MCU. When Bruno says “like a mutation” it was the first time in the MCU someone has said a version of the word mutant. Fox had owned the rights to the word mutant along with the X-Men until Disney purchased the company in 2019.
Marvel introducing Khan as a mutant and revealing mutants in this way was wonderful as no one really expected it. Additionally, not relying on a massive famous or traditional X-Men character to bring the mutant gene into the MCU allows mutants to slowly come into play over the next number of years. Also, it was huge for Marvel to use any discussion of mutated genes on a Disney+ series rather than a feature film.
Making sure to take from the source material is always important. However, taking stories, abilities, origins exactly from the comics could get somewhat boring, as we all know what to expect as comic book fans. Khan as Ms. Marvel is a relatively new character in Marvel Comics, introduced in 2013. This allows the MCU to alter her powers and story with only nine years of history. Something that is completely different from a character created in the 1960’s.
Not the First Mutant Origin Story Change
During the Avengers: Age of Ultron film in 2015, Wanda and Pietro Maximoff were introduced as “enhanced beings” instead of mutants after they volunteered for Hydra’s enhancement program overseen by Baron Wolfgang von Strucker. This was again due to the fact Fox own the rights to use the word mutant, forcing Marvel to change their origins. So this is not the first time.
Khan’s co-creator Sana Amanat recently said “Here’s a really important thing that people do not know – when we were thinking about the character of Kamala back, back, back in the day in 2012, 2013, when [G.] Willow [Wilson] and myself were ideating, we originally wanted to make her a mutant. That was the whole intention, to be able to do that.”
It can be a slippery slope changing powers and backstories, but sometimes is necessary for the advancement of the story. Feige is a huge comic book fan, believing he would only change things if there is a reason.
With Khan having been revealed as being a mutant, we now have mutants in the MCU. This will change everything moving forward, but don’t expect there to be an X-Men movie just yet. The next big news should be announced at the San Diego Comic-Con on from July 21-24.
Be sure to check out The Capes and Tights Podcast review of the Ms. Marvel series coming soon!
