The latest Marvel Studios series for Disney+ is Ms. Marvel, which introduces Muslim American teenager Kamala Khan (Iman Vellani), tells the story of what happens when a superhero megafan and ultimate Captain Marvel fangirl finds herself gifted with her own superpowers. As if family, friends, and life aren’t complicated enough, having superpowers while in high school takes the drama to a whole new level, forcing her to decide whether she’s ready to save the world in more than just her imagination.
During this press conference about the latest character being introduced to the MCU, show star Vellani, along with executive producer Sana Amanat, head writer Bisha K. Ali and Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige, discussed bringing Kamala Khan from the comic book pages to the screen, staying true to the character, the casting process, whether AvengersCon could ever be a real thing, the music selections, designing the costume, and what they hope audiences take away from watching the series.
Question: With Ms. Marvel, we have the MCU’s first Muslim and first South Asian superhero. How did this get greenlit and go from the comic book pages to the screen?
SANA AMANAT: This is all very, very trippy. When [G. Willow Wilson] and I were crafting this comic about eight years ago, we joked about how it wasn’t gonna get past issue nine because no one was gonna care. And lo and behold, Kevin Feige cared, which is amazing, along with, of course, the rest of the world. The comic did really well. We had incredible runs. What I love about it the most is that it had people from different backgrounds and people that never really read comics before were showing up in comic shops for the first time because of what this meant and what it stood for. That is really the merits of the success of this series. And then, a few years later, when Kevin let us know that he wanted to make it into a show, I was thrilled. I also feel like it’s perfect for a live-action series. But I don’t understand exactly how and why. I think it’s because Kamala is pretty great.
KEVIN FEIGE: Honestly, it’s such a privilege because not only are the re-interpretations, every few years, of existing, wonderful characters, but every once in a while, and it does seem like every decade or so, there’s a new character that comes around that catches the audience's imagination, and this character clearly did that. Almost from the first few issues, people started asking us, in environments like this when we were promoting other things, “When is Kamala Khan coming? When is Ms. Marvel coming?” It always seemed inevitable that we would be able to do it. And then, when Disney+ came around, it really gave us the opportunity to do what we really wanted to do, which was [to] tell her full story in six episodes, and then have her transition into a feature. I’m so proud of bringing new characters to the screen and not just telling re-interpretations of characters people have seen for decades and decades. I think that’s important. I want people who’ve never even considered watching a Marvel Studios production before to be excited and watch this show, and then go watch all the other ones.
Bisha, what was the process of developing this character for a series? How is Ms. Marvel different in the series than she is in the comics?
BISHA K. ALI: Having Sana around really felt like we could stay true to the character that’s in the comic books and that’s on that on those pages, and still add something new, with a freshness, vitality and contemporary edge to what we’re gonna see on screen. Every single person involved in this project loves those comics deeply, personally, and from their full hearts, and we’re all committed to that love. I didn’t say, “Hey, Kevin, let’s throw out the powers.” That was not my first pitch, by any means. That was really a group decision, talking through how she’s gonna exist in the MCU and how she’s gonna fit into this web of storytelling that Marvel Studios has done in live-action for the last decade, and then putting all those pieces together while staying true to this beautiful, incredible character that Sana and her team crafted, over on the publishing side.
Iman, what was it like to go from getting the casting call to now playing the role?
IMAN VELLANI: I got the casting call and thought it was a scam. I don’t know what casting calls look like, but it turned out to be real. I sent in a very academic resume with the one photo I had of myself, and they sent back the sides for the self-tape. I was like, “I know exactly which comic books they pulled them from. Okay, this is real. I can’t do it.” I was making excuses for myself, out of fear of failure. And then, at 3 AM, the night it was due, I sent in my self-tape. I was like, “My 10-year-old self is gonna hate me if I don’t even try.” And two days later, I get a call, and they were like, “Do you have a lawyer? We wanna fly you to L.A.” And I was like, “I have a math test, but okay.” The next thing I know, I’m in L.A. with my dad. It was the greatest trip of my life. I was fangirling over Sarah Finn and Louis D’Esposito. I wanted to take full advantage of being in that room because I didn’t know if it was gonna happen again. And then, the pandemic hit and they sent me an email that said, “Look, you’re very much in the running. We’ve just gotta figure some stuff out on our side.” And I was like, “I gotta figure out university on my side.” And then, I sent in my last self-tape and we did a screen test over Zoom. I got cast on the last day of high school.
How does it feel for you to now have this being released out into the world?
VELLANI: Pretty good. I’m still processing. I don’t really feel anything. It’s been a big part of my life before I even got cast, so I’m just excited that people can finally see what I saw when I picked up those comics for the first time and fell in love with Kamala and her world. It’s so colorful. And just the fandom of it all, it’s truly a love letter to all the MCU fans, so I’m excited for their reaction.
What makes Ms. Marvel special? What makes her stand out among the rest of the other young superheroes?
VELLANI: Ms. Marvel has always understood fan culture on such a cellular level, and that really elevated the storytelling in a really unique way. She’s a 16-year-old kid with superpowers. We’ve seen that before. But she’s also a fan of every other hero within the MCU canon. That fascination and excitement is shared with real-life Marvel fans, so that’s why we relate to her. She reacts how we would, when she gets powers. I love that part of her, and that’s why I fell in love with her. Culture and religion were never the main thing of her personality. It’s just one part of her life, which is how it was for me. It was like, “Okay, this is the time I wake up. This is the time I go to school. This is the time I pray. This is the time I eat.” It’s just a normal thing. We didn’t wanna make the show about a Pakistani Muslim. It’s about this Avengers-loving, fanfic-writing dork, who just so happens to be a Pakistani Muslim. I think we balanced it quite well.
Kevin, AvengersCon seems like a great idea. Any chance that could ever become a reality?
FEIGE: We were definitely talking about that on the set. We shot that right in the middle of COVID protocol, so there hadn’t been a convention for a very long time, and it was very cathartic for all of us to see that. We were shooting Spider-Man: No Way Home on the stage right next door, believe it or not, and doing the scene with the three Spideys. A lot of that crew kept sneaking over to see and attend AvengerCon. So, I think that might be fun to do sometime, yes.
ALI: I think some of our props are gonna be circulating on the Disney campuses, or something like that.
FEIGE: There might be a few places that you can go and visit the Ms. Marvel version of AvengerCon, yeah.
ALI: There is a draft email from every single writer in the writers’ room saying, “Bisha, how do we pitch Kevin Feige to make AvengerCon real?” I still have it in my drafts. I have not sent it, but I’m here for it.
The music for this season is such a great selection. What was the thought that went into choosing the tracks?
ALI: There’s always the vision of the energy and the tone brought to this. Bringing this character to life, the music is such an integral part of it. Honestly, I agree that it’s just banger after banger on the soundtrack. Me and Sana have some emails, back and forth, but really Sana had such a clear vision of what those songs should be. I was like, “What about this one?” And then, she would just blow me away by topping every single one.
AMANAT: I grew up listening to a lot of Desi music, so for me, this was my moment. I was like, “Oh, my God, it’s all of the songs I’ve ever loved.” There are so many great artists. I think South Asian music and South Asian diasporic music is probably some of the best music in the world, and this was a great platform for that. The studio and Kevin were so excited and gracious about hearing different kinds of music and celebrating that in the show. I had been curating a playlist since Kevin called me to say, “Hey, do you wanna join this show?” I just kept adding songs and pulling off of that, and our music team dove in and were excited about it. It was really challenging to get clearances on a lot of these songs, so I’m just really happy and I feel like the music is a blend, like Kamala is a blend.
Kamala’s costume is gorgeous, age-appropriate, and culturally specific. How did you approach that design?
VELLANI: Our wonderful costume designer, Arjun Bhasin, incorporated so many beautiful cultural prints into the fabric. And then, we have the dupatta, which is the scarf.
AMANAT: It was really fun, adapting the comic book design into something that felt like a supersuit that felt very Marvel, but was still authentic to what the comic did and to her heritage. We also updated the bolt design a little bit. Even if you just look at the detailing, there’s a lot of cool textures in it that Arjun incorporated, that feel very South Asian in a very subtle way, and yet have that texture and weaving that superhero suits have.
VELLANI: It’s one of the first dresses in the MCU, which comes with its own problems. We were trying to figure out how to make it not ride up, any time I’d move. There were lots of fittings. We did the first fitting in my trailer. The lightning bolt was even made out of a piece of paper. We were cutting it while it was on my body and stitching it while it was on me. There were so many people in my trailer. Everyone wanted to see what was happening. And then, I walked to set with my Sith Lord cape, so that no one could see what was underneath.
Iman, in the show, Kamala idolizes Captain Marvel, and then gets powers just like hers. Whose powers would you want, if you could become a superhero, yourself?
VELLANI: Professor X because I want telepathy to get inside a few people’s minds.
Kevin, Moon Knight was a darker series with a sinister villain. Ms. Marvel is much lighter, thrives on MCU connections, and has signs of a real supervillain, in the first two episodes. Was it a conscious decision to differentiate those two series so much?
FEIGE: The intention is that the Marvel Studios logo doesn’t promise a particular group of characters in a particular exact tone. It promises a spirit, a style, a vibe, and an emotion. It’s perfect timing to go from Moon Knight to Ms. Marvel, specifically, because they’re so unique and so different, with Multiverse of Madness and Love and Thunder on either end of that. That’s what makes Marvel, in publishing and now in the MCU, so unique. You’re able to see all of those different tones and styles and characters. I like that people talk about how different they are because that’s how we always feel about them, and always want them to feel.
What do you want people to take away from this series?
AMANAT: What’s really incredible about this show is this idea of identity and how there’s so much celebration happening in the course of these episodes. In every single episode, there’s just so much love and connectivity. I feel like this show is really about a reclamation of your identity. Watch this show and go back to your own households and your own community and relish in it. Celebrate your community and the fact that we can be proud in whatever skin color, background, and sexual identity that we might have, and embrace it. We want this show to feel so joyous. This is such a joyous team. We want the show and the people to feel joyous afterwards, and to celebrate in the fact of who they are and what their communities are, and just spread that love outwards.
Ms. Marvel is available to stream at Disney+.