Everyone knows that fictional superheroes need a good title. From Professor X and Doctor Strange, to Mr Incredible and Captain Sir Tom Moore, comic books have exhausted almost the entire drop-down menu of possible ranks. It is perhaps no surprise then that we are entering the second tier of slightly clumsier titles now, with the release of Ms Marvel, the latest small-screen by-product of the box office conquering Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Ms Marvel follows Kamala Khan (Iman Vellani), a 16-year-old girl from Jersey City raised in a semi-strict Muslim household. She is, to put it lightly, obsessed with Captain Marvel, Brie Larson’s crew-cut sporting superhero, who sucker-punched Avengers supervillain Thanos. Much to the chagrin of her parents (“I come from a long line of fantasising, unrealistic daydreamers,” her mother announces gloomily), Kamala is far more interested in the world of superheroes than she is her schoolwork or her brother’s wedding. Only her best bud – and convenient genius – Bruno (Matt Lintz) believes in her. “It’s not really the brown girls from Jersey City who save the world,” she tells him. “You’re Kamala Khan,” he replies. “You wanna save the world? Then you’re gonna save the world.”
