The first episode of Marvel Studios' Ms. Marvel paid homage to the heroes who have come before her in a special way. Iman Vellani's Kamala Khan visits a convention dedicated to the Avengers, titled AvengerCon, and the studio has now revealed some behind-the-scenes secrets about how the event was brought to life.
Throughout the premiere Ms. Marvel episode, fans see Kamala trying to convince her parents to allow her to attend the convention, and when they reject the idea, she sneaks out of her room with the help of her best friend, Matt Lintz's Bruno Carrelli. The idea to send Kamala to AvengerCon in Ms. Marvel episode 1 was created in the writer’s room at Marvel Studios, and while a similar convention is mentioned in the Marvel's Avengers video game, the one in the series was meant to be “bright and wild.”
Executive producer Sana Amanat revealed in an interview with Marvel that the AvengerCon concept was an idea that Marvel boss “Kevin Feige liked immediately.” The idea was based on real-life comic conventions, with Comic-Con International being the most popular one. The set that was created for the AvengerCon scene featured items related to the multiple Avengers films, including merchandise and Easter Eggs, and actors dressed up as the various heroes showed up for filming. “It was the most fun set we’ve ever had,” director Bilall Fallah revealed, and referred to it as the “coolest place in the world.”
For Vellani, every reaction she had during the Ms. Marvel episode was all legitimate. Turns out that even though she is a huge fan of the MCU, she has never attended a comic convention. “This was just me living my childhood dream of being at a convention and being around so much Marvel merch,” she revealed. What’s hilarious is that the actor confessed to stealing a lot of the merchandise on set after filming was complete. “I had everything shipped out in boxes. That's how much I stole. My entire closet looks like a mini AvengerCon now,” she said.
It is at AvengerCon that Kamala Khan experiences a surge of power for the first time. She puts on an old bracelet that was passed down by her grandmother and is able to shoot cosmic rays from her hands. Her powers have been a topic of conversation ever since the first trailer was revealed, and Feige has explained why they aren't comic book accurate. Many of the moments in the AvengerCon scene were improvised, including the moment when Ant-Man's head begins to roll all over the set.
Ms. Marvel is now streaming on Disney Plus.
Source: Marvel