The Marvel TV show news just keeps on landing as Deadline is reporting that Iman Vellani has been cast as Kamala Khan / Ms. Marvel in the upcoming Disney+ series Ms. Marvel. She will also be appearing in Marvel movies as the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) connects across mediums. The casting news, which Marvel and Disney had no comment on, comes on the tail of the studio announcing that Adil El Arbi, Bilall Fallah, Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, and Meera Menon are directors on the series.
Vellani is a newcomer to the Hollywood industry to the point that, at the time of this writing, she doesn’t even have an IMDB page. She did participate in the 2019 Toronto Film Festival, where she was part of the Next Wave Committee, which helped tag movies that would resonate with a diversifying audience. This will be the first time that Marvel has selected such an obscure actor to headline one of its superhero films or shows, though casting Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man might still have been the riskiest.
This iteration of Ms. Marvel first debuted in 2014. She is a teenage Pakistani American from Jersey City, New Jersey, who was Marvel’s first Muslim character to lead her own comic book. Much like Spider-Man in his early years, her stories often revolve around her conflict of growing up and being a superhero. However, she’s also grown up idolizing superheroes, as many of this generation have, so it will be interesting to see Marvel play with that aspect of her character, especially in relation to Captain Marvel. Ms. Marvel is a polymorph and can lengthen her limbs and change shape.
The character has already been making waves as the central figure of the recently released Avengers video game as well. Clearly, Marvel likes the character a lot, especially given its glut of super-powered male heroes, and is looking to move her to the forefront across its platforms.
There is no release date yet for Ms. Marvel.
