The Simpsons in the 1996 episode “Lisa the Iconoclast.” Its inclusion in the Ms. Marvel comics led to its official addition to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary in 2018.
The history of Ms. Marvel is a tale of two distinct eras, reflecting the evolution of both Marvel Comics and society itself.
The original Ms. Marvel, Carol Danvers, first appeared as a non-powered human U.S. Air Force officer in Marvel Super-Heroes #13 (March 1968), created by writer Roy Thomas and artist Gene Colan. It wasn't until nearly a decade later, in Ms. Marvel #1 (January 1977), that she debuted as a costumed superhero. Created by writer Gerry Conway and artist John Buscema, this launch was consciously timed with the second-wave feminist movement. Her title, “Ms.,” was a deliberate choice to position her as a modern, independent woman, breaking away from the “Miss” or “Mrs.” conventions of the time. Her solo series explored themes of identity, equal pay, and self-discovery, making her a significant, if sometimes controversial, figure of the Bronze Age of Comic Books.
The second and current Ms. Marvel, Kamala Khan, was conceived by Marvel editors Sana Amanat and Stephen Wacker. Amanat drew upon her own experiences as a Pakistani-American child to develop the character's core concept. Writer G. Willow Wilson, an acclaimed author and a convert to Islam, was brought on to script the series, with artists Adrian Alphona and Jamie McKelvie designing her iconic look. Kamala Khan made a brief cameo appearance in Captain Marvel #14 (August 2013) before officially debuting in All-New Marvel NOW! Point One #1 (January 2014) and launching her own solo series, Ms. Marvel (Vol. 3), the following month. Her arrival was met with widespread critical acclaim and massive public interest. Kamala's creation was celebrated as a major step forward in diverse representation in mainstream comics, and her title quickly became a best-seller, resonating deeply with readers who saw their own struggles and aspirations reflected in her story.
The in-universe origins of Ms. Marvel, particularly Kamala Khan, are a prime example of significant divergence between the comic books and their cinematic adaptations. Understanding these two separate continuities is essential.
In the primary Marvel comics universe, Kamala Khan is a teenage girl living in Jersey City, New Jersey. She is the daughter of Pakistani immigrants, Yusuf and Muneeba Khan, and has an older, more conservative brother named Aamir. A dedicated student and avid fan-fiction writer, Kamala idolizes the superheroes of her world, especially her personal hero, Carol Danvers, who by this time had taken the mantle of Captain Marvel. Kamala often feels like an outsider, caught between the traditional expectations of her family and the pressures of modern American teenage life.
Her life changes forever during the Inhumanity storyline. After a conflict between the Inhumans and Thanos, the Inhuman king Black Bolt detonates a Terrigen Bomb over Earth. The resulting cloud of Terrigen Mists, a powerful mutagenic substance, drifts across the globe, activating latent Inhuman genes in unsuspecting individuals. Kamala, having snuck out of her house to attend a party against her parents' wishes, is enveloped by the mist.
She is immediately encased in a Terrigenetic cocoon. Inside, she has a fever dream where she meets her heroes: Captain America, Iron Man, and Captain Marvel. She confesses her desire to be more like Carol Danvers—beautiful, powerful, and less complicated. When she emerges from the cocoon, she has been physically transformed into a younger version of Carol Danvers in her classic black “Ms. Marvel” costume. Initially horrified and disoriented, she quickly discovers she has polymorphous abilities. Her first heroic act is to use her new size- and shape-shifting powers to save a classmate, Zoe Zimmer, from drowning.
Struggling to control her powers, Kamala initially defaults to the Captain Marvel form before slowly gaining the confidence to be a hero in her own image. With the help of her brilliant best friend, Bruno Carrelli, she designs her own unique costume—a modified burkini that honors her heritage—and officially adopts the abandoned codename “Ms. Marvel” to honor her idol. Her origin is thus deeply tied to the Inhuman mythology and her journey is one of self-acceptance, learning to be a hero not by imitating someone else, but by embracing her own unique identity.
The MCU (designated as Earth-199999) presents a radically different origin for Kamala Khan, completely severing her ties to the Inhumans and the Terrigen Mists, which were previously explored in the now-defunct Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. television series.
In the Disney+ series Ms. Marvel, Kamala is still a superhero-obsessed teenager from Jersey City. Her origin begins when she receives a package of old family heirlooms from her grandmother, which contains a mysterious golden bangle. When she puts the bangle on at “AvengerCon,” it unlocks a latent power within her, allowing her to manifest and control a cosmic energy she calls “Noor” (an Arabic word for “light”). Instead of the physical stretching and “embiggening” powers of the comics, her MCU abilities are based on creating crystalline, “hard-light” constructs. She can form platforms to walk on, project shields for defense, and create oversized fists of energy, which visually mimics her classic “embiggened” hand from the comics.
The series reveals that the bangle is one of a pair, and it has a complex history tied to a group of exiled beings from the Noor Dimension known as the Clandestines (or “Djinns”). Her great-grandmother, Aisha, was one of these beings. The Clandestines believe the bangle is the key to returning to their home dimension, a process that would catastrophically destroy Earth. Kamala's conflict with them forces her to understand the source of her powers and her family's hidden history.
The most significant change to her origin comes in the series finale. After Kamala has established herself as Jersey City's new hero, her friend Bruno, who has been studying her genetics, reveals a stunning discovery. He tells her that her powers aren't just from the bangle; the bangle only unlocked something that was already inside her. He explains that there is a “mutation” in her genes. This reveal is accompanied by a brief musical cue from the 1997 X-Men: The Animated Series theme, explicitly confirming that Kamala Khan in the MCU is a mutant. This aligns her with the X-Men and their impending introduction to the MCU, a major strategic shift from her established Inhuman origins in the source material.
In the film The Marvels, her powers are further explored. Due to a quantum entanglement caused by a damaged jump point, her light-based powers become linked with those of Carol Danvers (cosmic energy) and Monica Rambeau (spectrum energy). This causes them to involuntarily switch places with one another whenever any one of them uses their powers, forcing the trio to work together to solve the crisis. This film solidifies her role as a major new hero in the cosmic landscape of the MCU.
While Kamala Khan's core personality remains consistent across media, her powers and abilities are starkly different, reflecting the distinct lore of each universe.
| Attribute | Description |
|---|---|
| Primary Power | Morphogenetics / Polymorphing |
| Kamala possesses complete control over the molecular structure of her body. Her cells are described as being “polymorphic,” allowing her to stretch, deform, expand, and compress her entire body or any part thereof into any contiguous shape she can imagine. | |
| Key Abilities | * Embiggening: Kamala's signature ability. She can increase the size and mass of her entire body or specific parts, most famously her fists, to deliver powerful blows. The upper limits of this ability are not fully known, but she can grow to the size of a multi-story building. This process is physically draining. \ * Shrinking (De-biggening): She can shrink her body down to the size of an action figure, useful for infiltration and evasion. \ * Elongation / Stretching: She can stretch her limbs, neck, and torso to incredible lengths, similar to Mister Fantastic. This allows her to reach distant objects, ensnare enemies, and traverse gaps. \ * Shapeshifting: Kamala can alter her physical features, hair, and clothing to disguise herself as other people or even inanimate objects (like a couch). However, she is not a perfect mimic like Mystique; prolonged transformation is difficult, and she reverts to her true form when she loses concentration or uses her other powers. \ * Accelerated Healing Factor: A key component of her powers is a rapid healing ability. When she is not using her morphogenetic powers, her body diverts energy to healing. She can recover from serious injuries like gunshot wounds in a short time, though doing so leaves her exhausted and unable to use her other powers until she recovers. |
| Weaknesses | * Energy Depletion: All of her powers consume a great deal of energy. Overuse can leave her weak, hungry, and vulnerable. Her healing factor is also temporarily suspended while she is actively stretching or embiggening. \ * Electromagnetic Pulses (EMPs): A powerful EMP can temporarily disrupt her control over her molecular structure, causing her to lose her shape and “melt” into a puddle-like form until she can regain control. |
| Equipment | * Advanced Polymer Costume: Her costume, designed by Bruno, is made from a special “super-snot” polymer that can stretch and change size along with her body, providing protection and modesty. \ * Translator Locket: A gift from her Kree-Inhuman friend, Gabe, this locket provides universal language translation. |
| Personality | Kamala is defined by her optimism, idealism, and unwavering sense of right and wrong. She is a quintessential “fangirl,” possessing a deep and sincere love for the superhero community. This fandom is not just a quirk; it's the foundation of her morality. She strives to live up to the ideals she believes her heroes represent. She is also fiercely loyal to her friends and family, and much of her story involves the struggle to balance her duties as a hero with her responsibilities as a daughter, sister, and friend. While generally cheerful, she can be stubborn and is deeply hurt by betrayal, as seen in her falling out with Captain Marvel during Civil War II. |
| Attribute | Description |
|---|---|
| Primary Power | Noor Manipulation / Hard Light Generation |
| Kamala's mutant gene allows her, via the Bangle, to tap into energy from the Noor Dimension and manifest it physically in her own dimension. This power is light-based and crystalline in appearance. | |
| Key Abilities | * Hard Light Constructs: Her core ability is to create objects out of solidified Noor energy. This is a highly versatile power. \ * Platforms & Stepping Stones: She can create crystalline platforms in mid-air to run and jump on, allowing for enhanced mobility. \ * Shields & Barriers: She can project durable shields to protect herself and others from physical and energy attacks. \ * “Embiggened” Fists: To visually homage her comic powers, she can encase her own fists in massive hard-light constructs, allowing her to deliver devastating punches. \ * Energy Projectiles: She can fire blasts of Noor energy from her hands. \ * Energy Infusion: In The Marvels, she learns to absorb and channel other forms of energy through her bangle, temporarily enhancing her own power output. \ * Quantum Entanglement: An accidental ability developed alongside Carol Danvers and Monica Rambeau. When any of the three use their light-based powers simultaneously, they teleport and swap physical locations. They eventually learn to control this, allowing for instantaneous tactical repositioning in battle. |
| Weaknesses | * Bangle Dependency (Initially): Her powers were initially entirely dependent on wearing the Bangle. While it's confirmed she has a mutant gene, the full extent of her abilities without the Bangle remains unexplored. \ * Inexperience: As a new hero, her control over her constructs can be imprecise. She is still learning the limits and applications of her powers. \ * Dimensional Rifts: Using the Bangle in conjunction with other powerful artifacts (like a Kree Nega-Band) can tear holes in spacetime, as seen in The Marvels. |
| Equipment | * The Bangle of Noor: An ancient and powerful artifact of unknown origin (though speculated to be Kree or related to the Ten Rings). It is the key that unlocks Kamala's latent mutant powers and allows her to channel energy from the Noor Dimension. \ * Costume: A gift from her mother, Muneeba, her costume is a practical and stylish outfit inspired by Captain Marvel's design, but with her own cultural flair. |
| Personality | The MCU's Kamala shares the same core personality as her comic counterpart: she is a bright, imaginative, and eternally optimistic fangirl. The series places a heavy emphasis on her creative side, showing her vlogs, drawings, and elaborate fantasy sequences. Her relationship with her family is central to her story, and their eventual acceptance and support of her heroic identity is a major emotional arc. She is portrayed as slightly more naive initially, but she quickly demonstrates immense bravery and a powerful desire to protect her community. Her awe and excitement upon meeting her idol, Carol Danvers, is a driving force in The Marvels. |
Civil War II when Kamala disagrees with Carol's authoritarian methods. They later reconcile, with Carol expressing immense pride in Kamala for forging her own path. In the MCU, their first meeting in The Marvels is chaotic due to their power entanglement, but they quickly develop a sisterly bond, with Carol becoming a protective, if sometimes awkward, mentor figure.Outlawed event to police and detain underage superheroes. C.R.A.D.L.E. becomes a major ideological foe for Ms. Marvel and the Champions, as they enforce “Kamala's Law”—a piece of legislation ironically named after the public perception of her heroic identity—which makes a hero's very existence a political and legal battleground.Secret Wars (2015), Ms. Marvel was recruited into the All-New, All-Different Avengers, led by Iron Man and Captain America (Sam Wilson). She served as a core member, fulfilling her lifelong dream, but eventually grew disillusioned with the infighting and moral compromises of the adult heroes.Civil War II, Kamala co-founded the Champions alongside Spider-Man (Miles Morales) and Nova (Sam Alexander). The team's mission was to “reclaim” the meaning of being a hero, focusing on helping ordinary people and fighting for social justice, free from the political baggage of the Avengers. Ms. Marvel often serves as the team's leader and moral center.This is Kamala Khan's five-issue origin story. It establishes her entire world: her family dynamics, her friendships with Bruno and Nakia, and her deep-seated desire to be someone else. The arc masterfully covers her exposure to the Terrigen Mists, her chaotic first use of powers, and her decision to adopt the Ms. Marvel mantle. Her battle against the Inventor and his giant robots in the sewers of Jersey City solidifies her as a true hero, learning on the job how to balance her immense power with her even greater sense of responsibility. It is a modern classic of the superhero origin genre.
This event was a defining moment for Kamala's character. Initially thrilled to be fighting alongside her idol, Captain Marvel, she fully supports Carol's use of a new Inhuman, Ulysses, who can predict future crimes. However, after the predictive justice system leads to profiling and the detention of innocent people in her community, Kamala's faith is shattered. The breaking point comes when one of their missions results in massive property damage in Jersey City. Realizing that Carol's methods are causing more harm than good, Kamala makes the heartbreaking decision to turn against her mentor. This act of defiance leads directly to her quitting the Avengers and forming the Champions, marking her transition from a sidekick-in-training to an independent leader.
During HYDRA's takeover of the United States, led by an evil version of Captain America, Ms. Marvel and the Champions become key figures in the underground resistance. Operating without the support of the older heroes, many of whom are trapped or co-opted, Kamala and her team are forced to mature rapidly. They fight against HYDRA's re-education centers and authoritarian rule, with Ms. Marvel's actions solidifying her as a symbol of hope and defiance against fascism. The event tests her leadership and forces her to make incredibly difficult choices in a world where her former heroes have failed.
The Simpsons in the 1996 episode “Lisa the Iconoclast.” Its inclusion in the Ms. Marvel comics led to its official addition to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary in 2018.Captain Marvel #14 (2013) is a brief, non-speaking cameo where she is seen in the background as Carol Danvers protects civilians from Yon-Rogg.