Ms. Marvel Episode 1 introduced a hero with energy-manipulating powers who adores Captain Marvel, but will she ever replace Carol Danvers in the MCU?
The similarities between Ms. Marvel and Captain Marvel’s powers, with Kamala Khan’s overt admiration for the hero in her Ms. Marvel series, viewers may wonder if she’ll ever reprise the role of Captain Marvel in the MCU. Kamala is an Avengers superfan trying to juggle high school, strict parents, and her newly discovered superpowers. Ms. Marvel Episode 1 shows Kamala firing energy blasts from her fists while dressed as her favorite hero, Captain Marvel, but is she really ready to replace Carol Danvers in the future?
Ms. Marvel made some changes to the character from the comics, mostly regarding his power set. In her first comic, Kamala’s inhuman abilities allowed her to stretch and compress her body, shapeshift, and heal herself whenever she was in her normal form. The Ms. Marvel show changed those powers so that she instead summons crystallized energy beams. This decision may have been made at least in part to avoid running into the same problem as She-HulkControversial CGI. It could also have been motivated by a desire to align Kamala’s abilities more closely with those of Captain Marvel.
Although the MCU’s current trend of framing the next generation suggests that Ms. MarvelKamala Khan could eventually replace Captain Marvel, which would ultimately weaken the character’s journey. When Kamala gained her powers in the comics, she tried her hand at acting like Captain Marvel, even adopting Carol Danvers’ original Ms. Marvel title to pay homage to her idol. A big part of Kamala’s journey in the comics has been learning to embrace her own brand of superheroism, becoming her role as Ms. Marvel instead of trying to emulate, or even replace, Carol. She eventually redesigned her superhero outfit to incorporate elements of her Pakistani culture and began to embrace what made her different instead of hiding those parts of herself. For this version of Kamala to become Captain Marvel not only doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, given their different powers, but also would have wiped out a lot of her character growth. Of course, her trajectory in the MCU may go in a very different direction.
The introduction of Kamala in Ms. Marvel is intended to help prepare for the next film Wonders, in which she will star alongside Carol Danvers and Monica Rambeau. Wonders The film will no doubt highlight the similarities between these three heroes as they work together to deal with some sort of threat. While their MCU powers each have their own unique strengths, they all deal with energy manipulation, granting the user both offensive and defensive skills. Lining up three generations of heroes in the film couldn’t make it any clearer that the younger ones are meant to learn from their more experienced mentors and perhaps one day take their place. It would certainly fit with the MCU’s trend of saying goodbye to the original heroes as the younger ones assume their roles, but Kamala must learn to stand first before stepping into another’s shoes.
Ms. Marvel may indeed replace Captain Marvel, but Kamala will more likely become a whole new kind of hero, whose greatest similarity to Carol is the name “Marvel.” In many ways, Monica would make more sense as a Captain Marvel replacement, given her character and her history with Carol, but Captain Marvel herself might have more to give. The MCU has been making it a replacement project for the original heroes lately, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they’re done with Carol yet.
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