First Trailer for Disney+ Series ‘Ms. Marvel’

‘Ms. Marvel’ Trailer Mixes School Life and Superpowers

After a slight delay, we’re finally getting Kamala Khan in the MCU.

Iman Vellani as Kamala Khan in Disney+'s 'Ms. Marvel.'

Marvel has shown a real willingness to expand its roster of characters of late, seeking out people from the pages of the comics who don’t look like a lot of the current crop. And whose stories are on the weirder side. With ‘Moon Knight’ (starring Oscar Isaac as a vigilante who has multiple personalities and a penchant for white suits) due to hit Disney+ on March 30th, we now know that he'll be followed by 'Ms. Marvel.'

The focus here is Kamala Khan, a 16-year-old Jersey City native who hero worships Captain Marvel (hence her alter ego), crushes on boys at school, hasn’t quite figured out her life. Iman Vellani plays the main character, Marvel’s first Muslim title hero.

‘Ms. Marvel’ premiered as a standalone comic book series back in 2014 from creators Sana Amanat, G. Willow Wilson, and Adrian Alphona. The TV adaptation was originally announced at the D23 convention back in 2019.

Boasting a visual style that harkens back to its comic book roots more than even Marvel has tried before, it also has similarities to how ‘Turning Red’ played with form, and with just a hint of ‘Scott Pilgrim vs. The World’. It’s bubbly, bright, and from the looks of the trailer alone, star Vellani brings a bright, unforced performance that juggles the starstruck Avengers fan-turned-hero with the adorkable teen side.

There are flights of fantasy, dream montages and, when the moment calls for it, crashing back down to reality thanks to her family and friends.

Marvel is tweaking her power origin (in the comics, she’s an Inhuman, activated by the Terrigen Mist, but after the benighted ‘Inhumans’ the studio is clearly backing away from that idea so fast you’d barely have time to hear the beeping warning sound. Here, her energy is much more like purple cosmic crystals, which she can manipulate.

And then there’s her abilities, which were once more focused on Mr. Fantastic-style body morphing but have moved towards the crystal idea (though there is some stretchiness to be found lurking in the trailer.)

‘Ms. Marvel’ has ‘Sex Education’ and (keeping it in the Marvel family) ‘Loki’ veteran Bisha K. Ali as its head writer, with episodes directed by ‘Bad Boys for Life’ duo Adil & Bilall, as well as Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy and Meera Menon. 'Ms. Marvel' also stars Saagar Shaikh as Kamala’s older brother Amir, and Zenobia Shroff and Mohan Kapur as her mother and father. Matt Lintz plays her best friend Bruno. But maybe we don’t talk about him yet.

The series has been delayed at least once – originally thought to be aimed at a late 2021 release, it was pushed to this year, with talk of a late 2022 release. But as the trailer reveals, it’ll make its Disney+ bow on June 8.

There had been thought that the delay was because of fan concerns for the character moving too far away from her roots in terms of powers (see above), but it might have been to shift the show closer to the character’s next step.

Vellani’s Khan, you see, is part of ‘Captain Marvel’ sequel ‘The Marvels’, so let the speculation begin as to whether Brie Larson shows up as Kamala’s idol at some point in the show (final episode end credit sting?) to invite her on a bigger adventure.