In a move that will only come as a surprise to those who have spent the last twenty years with their heads buried in the sand, Marvel Comics has officially confirmed that they be bringing the 616 version of Kamala Khan more in line with her Marvel Cinematic Universe counterpart by reviving the recently deceased heroine as a full-fledged mutant.
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The road to Ms. Marvel’s latest marketing role for Marvel – never forget how she began her life as the face of the publisher’s failed “we-can’t-legally-use-the-X-Men-so-here-are-the-Inhumans” campaign – first began with the conclusion to her live-action Disney Plus series.
Therein, after running a follow-up test on Kamala’s DNA, her friend Bruno discovers that her ability to wield the Noor energy in her bangle was not granted by the equipment, but rather her own genetics.
“Kamala, there’s something different in your genes. Like…a mutation,” he explains to his friend as a sample of the original X-Men: The Animated Series theme song fades into the scene’s instrumental score.
However, rather than dealing with the implications of this reveal then and there, Marvel instead ended the season by having Kamala respond with indifference, asserting to Bruno, “Whatever it is, it’s just going to be another label.”
Then, in May, the company moved to address the origin discrepancy between the two flagship versions of Kamala by having current and widely-panned Amazing Spider-Man author Zeb Wells use the conclusion of his excruciatingly terrible ‘What Did Peter Parker Do?’ storyline to kill her off – thus opening the door, as many expected, for her inevitable revival as a mutant.
Fans’ suspicions would then be confirmed in this week’s Fallen Friend: The Death of Ms. Marvel one-shot.
Centered around the funeral of the titular heroine, the issue ends with a special QR code that, when scanned, presents readers with her former Champions teammate Cyclops’ appraisal of the situation.
After referring to the service as “theater”, the X-Men figurehead is questioned by his former Champions teammates Nova (Sam Alexander), Amadeus Cho, and Miles Morales as to why he didn’t attend.
“You’ll understand, Spider-Man,” the ruby-quartz-afficonado responds, an obvious reference to the current death-defying revival protocols currently enjoyed by the mutant residents of Krakoa. “But soon.”
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And soon it was, as just a few days after the issue hit shelves, Marvel officially confirmed the speculation that Ms. Marvel’s death was merely a ploy to change her origin by announcing her return in a new miniseries aptly titled Ms. Marvel: The New Mutant.
Co-written by Sabir Pizada (Dark Web: Ms. Marvel) and the character’s MCU actor Iman Vellani with art by Carlos Gómez (Rogue & Gambit) and Adam Gorham (Star Wars: Darth Vader), the upcoming four-part tale will see Kamala “brought back via Krakoan Resurrection Technology […] But before she has a chance to come to terms with this revelation, the catastrophic Fall of X [an upcoming event across the X-books] will throw her world into chaos…and a secret mission on behalf of the X-Men.”
Not only will Kamala being getting a new lease in life, but she’ll also be receiving an official X-Uniform, as designed by Young Avengers Vol. 2 artist Jamie McKelvie.
Speaking to Entertainment Weekly for their exclusive reveal of the book, Vellani recalled, “This was way scarier than joining the MCU for me.”
“Those projects feel like they live in their own dimension, so I guess I can separate myself easier,” she added. “But you can hold a comic book! I’ve never written anything before in my entire life, but I have read many comics, so I just wrote what I would want to read. I was given a very professional tool to write what is essentially my own fan fiction.”
Further, despite these clear changes being made to Ms. Marvel’s character, Vellani assured fans, “I want to make it very, very clear that we are not reconning her Inhuman origin. That’s a part of Kamala’s identity that Marvel editorial and myself would very much like to keep and protect.”
“Our book will absolutely reflect all those core themes of identity that the Ms. Marvel comics have consistently explored — only now there’s a whole new label that Kamala has to learn to accept,” the young actress added. “It’s going to be pretty crazy.”
Offering his own thoughts on the project, Pizada beamed, “It was actually a very humbling experience to work with Iman, because she knows her comics even better than I do, and that is saying something.”
“She was throwing out references to specific comics that came out before either of us were born,” he praised. “She has a very great eye for what makes for a good sequence on the page as drawn by an artist. It was very impressive to me to see her throw out all these references to different artists that she’s been following through the years.”
Barring any new trends that will warrant yet another change of her identity, Ms. Marvel: The New Mutant is currently on track to hit shelves on August 30th.
Meanwhile, fans can catch Vellani’s return to the role of the young Inhuman-Mutant when The Marvels hits theaters on November 10th.