Television Review

Ms. Marvel: Season One

A 16-year-old girl obsessed with The Avengers is granted incredible abilities of her own through a family heirloom.

Iman Vellani makes such a remarkable debut as the lead in that it’s more than enough to paper over any cracks. It’s a reminder that television shows require a deeper attachment to characters, to keep drawing you back week after week, and Marvel Studios couldn’t have chosen a better person to play Kamala Khan — both in terms of Vellani’s charming performance and as an ambassador for a brand she adores in real life. It’s a shame Ms. Marvel isn’t as good as Vellani, although it’s certainly an interesting cocktail.

Kamala Khan (Vellani) is a 16-year-old Pakistani-American girl living in Jersey City with her parents, Muneeba (Zenobia Schroff) and Yusuf (Mohan Kapur). She dreams of becoming a superhero and worships Carol Danvers (aka Captain Marvel) in particular, so is exactly the kind of idealised teenage fan the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) itself has created over the years, prone to writing fan-fiction about her heroes and drawing The Avengers in her school textbooks.