by MATTHEW PRICE

From the Friday, June 3 edition of The Oklahoman

Marvel is introducing a new character to TV audiences next week. 

“Ms. Marvel” is a new, original series on Disney+ that will bring the comic-book character of Kamala Khan into the live-action superhero lineup.

Kamala, a Muslim American teenager growing up in Jersey City who has a huge imagination, and is a big fan of the superhero Captain Marvel. She feels overlooked at home and at school – but her life is in for a big change when she gets superpowers. 

In the show, Iman Vellani stars as Kamala Khan aka Ms. Marvel. The cast also includes Aramis Knight, Saagar Shaikh, Rish Shah, Zenobia Shroff, Mohan Kapur, Matt Lintz, Yasmeen Fletcher, Laith Nakli, Azhar Usman, Travina Springer, and Nimra Bucha.

Writer G. Willow Wilson and artist Adrian Alphona introduced Kamala Khan in 2014 in the “Ms. Marvel” storyline now collected in the book “Ms. Marvel Vol. 1: No Normal” (Marvel Comics). 

In the book, Kamala is a Pakistani-American teen from New Jersey who finds herself in over her head when she receives superpowers. The character-driven drama is reminiscent of the best of early “Amazing Spider-Man” while at the same time being thoroughly modern.

“The Ms. Marvel mantle has passed to Kamala Khan, a high school student from Jersey City who struggles to reconcile being an American teenager with the conservative customs of her Pakistani Muslim family,” Wilson said at Marvel.com prior to the 2014 launch of the series. 

“So, in a sense, she has a ‘dual identity’ before she even puts on a superhero costume. Like a lot of children of immigrants, she feels torn between two worlds: the family she loves, but which drives her crazy, and her peers, who don’t really understand what her home life is like.”

Ms. Marvel will hit Disney’s streaming service on June 8 and is set for a six-episode season.  

Starting in July, Ms. Marvel will discover a new Marvel Universe-spanning mystery in the pages of the comic books. 

Wolverine, Moon Knight, and Venom will fight alongside Kamala Khan in a series of one-shots by writer Jody Houser. 

The first is “Ms. Marvel and Wolverine” #1, drawn by artist Zé Carlos.

“Ms. Marvel is such a powerful and versatile member of the MU, and putting her in a huge scale adventure shoulder to shoulder with harder-edged heroes like Venom, Moon Knight, and Wolverine is going to maybe surprise some readers with her range,” Editor Mark Basso said at Marvel.com. 

Matthew Price, matthew@matthewlprice.com, has written about the comics industry for more than two decades. He is the co-owner of Speeding Bullet Comics in Norman.