Ms. Marvel has officially made her way on Disney+, with the first episode introducing the world to the MCU's biggest Avengers fan: Kamala Khan. Played with aplomb by newcomer Iman Vellani, the Pakastani-American teen represents every daydreamer who'd rather think about superheroes than homework or that night's family dinner.
But Kamala has much more than a small screen debut in Ms. Marvel riding on her shoulders, as the miniseries is set to prepare her for a grand entrance in 2023's The Marvels. In the meantime, her coming-of-age is full of family obligations, friendships that last a lifetime, and mysterious powers passed down through an ancestor's heirloom.
Screen Rant spoke to showrunner Bisha K. Ali, who previously worked on the fantastic Marvel series Loki, about making the jump to Kamala Khan and preparing to take on such a unique and colorful tale.
Screen Rant: I know you previously worked on Loki. What did you learn from working on Loki that you were able to take with you to Ms. Marvel?
Bisha K. Ali: So much. I think that every single creator in Ms. Marvel brought a very specific, unique thing to the table, and one of my secret weapons is that I just worked in the first phase of television for a few years. The experience on Loki was incredible; I learned so much about how Marvel wanted to make television, which is different from how I think anybody on Earth makes television [laughs].
Learning about the process; the iterative process, which I really love; how the pieces fit together with the larger MCU and what the implications can be, and how to navigate that in the creative process; how to not be precious and how to also know when to be precious. Having the model for that as Marvel Studios is making its first round of television shows was such a gift, and just being in the halls and being comfortable and familiar before I had to take on much more responsibility on Ms. Marvel was a great run-up for somebody like me. I'm a very anxious person.
The other gift was developing this rapport with the other writers on the other shows. Malcolm Spellman, who was the head writer on Falcon and the Winter Soldier was across the hall from us. We joked in the Ms. Marvel room that it's like the different high school cliques - not in a mean way, but just inside of Marvel Studios.
When I was on Loki, Winter Soldier was on the other side of the hall and next door was WandaVision. Jac Schaeffer has been such a generous, kind mentor and a person has become a great friend of mine. Being able to build those relationships first as I stepped into this role - and particularly Jac, as I believe I couldn't have gone through any of this without her guidance and knowledge - was a huge help to me in this creative process when I went into running Ms. Marvel.
That is so cool that you were all in the same office at the same time.
Bisha K. Ali: Also, we're always trying to [find out], "What are they doing on their show?" When I heard what WandaVision was doing - I'm obsessed with that show - I was like, "This is the coolest thing I've ever heard!" I couldn't believe I had to keep quiet about it so long.
Marvel is exploring a lot of genres and tones and styles. Each one has their own unique thing. What can you say about Ms. Marvel's unique style and art?
Bisha K. Ali: I think the thing that's interesting about this is we had a very specific run of the comics that we're looking at, which was relatively new compared to all of the other comics that everything else is based off of. With Ms. Marvel, if you look at the fabric of those comics - if you look at the artwork, and you look at all the [work] that went into them, - that whimsy, that magic, that layer and intricacy and detail in the background and the artwork in the character building? We loved it. Every creative on the show loved it and wanted to honor it in the live-action show.
Being able to pull that and use that as a Northstar [helped] in terms of the visual feel on the show, and the fact that it's led by character. Everything in our show is led by character, particularly Kamala. Her optimism and her joy had to spill out into the visual language. That had to be part of every element of the show. And I think what's really exciting - and what you've worked out - is that in the process of working on one of the other shows, the creative push from Marvel Studios is that they bring in these creatives like myself and our directors - and give them the freedom to craft out their corner of this MCU. The style of it, and how they want to tell a story.
In Loki, we were creating the TVA and the Mad Men style of all of that, and those darker tones. And in this, you've got Kamala Khan. She's vibrant; she's joyous and wonderful. And I think that's the gift of having all these television shows, you can craft out these tonal changes. That's the joy of Marvel: you can have all these different kinds of stories fit under this big umbrella of the MCU. I'm a rambler, but it's a joy.
No, you're a joy to talk to. Talking about how TV is this new era of Marvel, people have been asking for Kamala for years and years. Was there ever the conversation about whether it should be a movie or a TV show, and why was TV the right route to go?
Bisha K. Ali: If there was a conversation about it, I wasn't there for it. I was recruited as part of the TV gang.
Actually, when I approached because Kevin Wright - he was our exec on Loki, and we had a great working relationship - and I said to him, "If you guys have got a Ms. Marvel project and you haven't told me about it, I'm going to be mad and we won't be friends anymore." And so, he went away, came back and got me a meeting the next day. At that point, it was already decided that it was going to be a television show.
I don't know what their overall plans were, because if they told them to me, I would tell absolutely everybody. But we already knew when we started the creative process of the show that she was destined for The Marvels. I already knew that when we started the process, so that did affect the character arc. We start as a teenage girl without powers, and I'm gonna get her ready for whatever happens to that movie. Which I don't know, they won't tell me - rightfully so, because I will spill the beans.
A great student, an avid gamer and a voracious fan-fiction scribe, she has a special affinity for superheroes, particularly Captain Marvel. But Kamala struggles to fit in at home and at school—that is, until she gets super powers like the heroes she's always looked up to. Life is easier with super powers, right?
Check out our interviews with Ms. Marvel stars Mohan Kapur, Zenobia Shroff & Saagar Shaikh, Rish Shah, Yasmeen Fletcher & Matt Lintz, as well as Iman Vellani herself.
The first episode of Ms. Marvel is currently available to stream on Disney+, with new episodes dropping on Wednesdays.
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