Ms. Marvel, starring Iman Vellani as the title character, is currently slated to premiere on Disney Plus on June 8, 2022. The first trailer for the series was recently released, and while it seems to be mostly faithful to the source material, it also shows off one big change to the character that’s already proven to be controversial among comic fans.

Ms. Marvel, aka Kamala Khan, is a high schooler from Jersey City who’s a massive fan of superheroes (especially Captain Marvel) and ends up becoming a hero herself when she receives superpowers of her own. This is true of both the comic and MCU versions of the character, but there’s one major difference that separates them. Namely, the MCU’s Ms. Marvel has different powers, and many fans are unhappy about it — however, this change may not be nearly as pointless as many seem to believe.

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Origin Story

Ms.-Marvel-Comics

Kamala Khan is one of the newest characters to be featured in the MCU, with her first comic series beginning in 2014. However, the title of Ms. Marvel has existed for much longer than that. The original Ms. Marvel was none other than Carol Danvers, who held the mantle from 1977 to 2012, when she became Captain Marvel. Kamala has never been Carol’s sidekick — she’s been a solo crime-fighter in her own right since her introduction — but her admiration for Carol is still a major part of her character. But despite taking up her inspiration’s former codename, the Kamala of the comics has very little at all to do with Carol Danvers.

Kamala’s comic origin is that she’s a descendant of the Inhumans, a subspecies of humanity who were granted superpowers by Kree experiments in ancient times. When her latent Inhuman powers were awakened, she became a powerful shapeshifter, able to stretch her limbs, take the form of other people, and even become larger or smaller at will. However, her most common use of her powers is enlarging her fists to attack enemies with massive force. Obviously, Kamala’s powers are a far cry from those of Carol Danvers, or any other previous Ms. Marvel or Captain Marvel for that matter. However, her unique and unconventional abilities are still beloved by countless comic fans, which is why it’s caused such an uproar that the MCU decided to alter them.

The Ms. Marvel TV series trailer shows off a very different skill set for Kamala. Instead of having innate shapeshifting powers, she’s seen wielding a pair of bracelets that allow her to project crystaline energy constructs like force fields or floating platforms — and of course, giant fists. Several fans have commented on the similarity to Green Lantern, whose Power Ring has near-identical abilities. While her new powers seem like they’ll have a similar versatility to those of her comic counterpart, the difference is still an unwelcome one to some fans. But while this divergence from the source material may seem arbitrary, that doesn’t mean there’s no logic behind it.

A Marvelous New Twist

A split image depicts a glowing bracelet in the Ms Marvel trailer and Nega-Bands on Captain Marvel in Marvel comics

One common fan theory is that Kamala’s powers were changed in order to reduce similarities to Mr. Fantastic, who will surely be making his MCU debut in the not-too-distant future with Jon Watts’ Fantastic Four film. After all, both of them are shapeshifters who are known for elongating their limbs. But while that may be a partial factor in changing Kamala’s powers, it likely wasn’t the decisive one — after all, Captain Marvel and Ikaris of the Eternals both have similar powers, to say nothing of duos like Iron Man and War Machine, Black Widow and Yelena Belova, or Hawkeye and Kate Bishop.

On that note, a more likely factor behind the change is that Marvel Studios wanted Kamala’s powers to be more in line with Captain Marvel and Monica Rambeau, who she’ll be teaming up with in 2023’s The Marvels. As mentioned previously, Kamala’s shapeshifting in the comics was a vastly different skill set than any other Ms. Marvel or Captain Marvel, whereas most legacy characters have similar (if not identical) abilities to their predecessors. While Captain Marvel’s successor being a shapeshifter could easily seem like a random choice to newcomers, giving Kamala energy powers makes her abilities more reminiscent of Carol and Monica, creating a consistent through line in the powers of the burgeoning “Marvel Family”.

And speaking of strengthening Kamala’s ties to the Marvel Family, there’s one other important detail to Kamala’s new powers — namely, the fact that they come from a pair of bracelets. While this has yet to be confirmed by Marvel Studios, it’s very likely that these bracelets are none other than the Nega-Bands, a set of important Kree artifacts from the comics. First appearing in 1969’s Captain Marvel #16, the Nega-Bands were originally used by the first Captain Marvel, the Kree soldier Mar-Vell (played by Annette Bening in Captain Marvel, but a male character in the comics). The Nega-Bands granted Mar-Vell incredible powers, from super strength to flight to energy manipulation — not unlike the power displayed by Kamala’s bracelets in the Ms. Marvel trailer. If the MCU’s Kamala is indeed powered by the Nega-Bands, not only will it give her a close link to the Kree similar to Carol, it’ll strengthen her ties to the larger Captain Marvel mythos.

Only Human

Ms Marvel Trailer

However, the largest contributing factor to Kamala’s altered powers is likely her connection to the Inhumans. In the comics, it was Kamala’s Inhuman heritage that was the source of her shapeshifting abilities — however, the MCU (and Marvel as a whole) have been quick to downplay any significance of the Inhumans ever since their disastrous 2017 TV series. Retaining Kamala’s comic book origin for her new show would mean reminding viewers of one of the MCU’s greatest failures, so it makes sense that Marvel Studios would want to scrub any mention of the Inhumans from Ms. Marvel. And since mutants have yet to be established in the MCU, Kamala couldn’t simply be born with her powers. As such, it makes sense that a completely new origin story would have to be devised. But because Kamala’s powers are no longer biological in nature, her shapeshifting powers were abandoned as well.

It makes sense that fans are displeased about Kamala Khan’s new powers in the MCU: after all, they’re one of the most unique and visually striking aspects of her character. However, that doesn’t mean that Marvel Studios didn’t have valid reasons for making the change. And more importantly, her powers are far from the only thing that makes Ms. Marvel so beloved. Judging from the trailer, Kamala’s MCU series seems like it’ll do an excellent job capturing the appeal of her original comics, from her youthful fangirl personality to the focus on her Muslim faith. And even with her altered powers, it looks as if Kamala’s new abilities will maintain the same imaginative spirit as her comic abilities. So even if it isn’t 100% accurate to the source material, Ms. Marvel could very well turn out to be a marvelous adaptation.

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