With Ms. Marvel’s Episode 5, entitled “Time and Again”, the series’ connection to Ms. Marvel comics continues to be present, even if sometimes in a more subtle way. In Episode 1, we looked at how the series adapted from the comics the moment Kamala’s powers were activated; for Episode 2 we delved into the comics’ and series’ introduction and handling so far of the character Kamran; in Episode 3 we looked at the interesting source material for the series’ villains, the Clandestines; and in Episode 4 we went into how Red Daggers were introduced and how they compare to the comics’ Red Dagger. As for episode 5, following our dive into Kamala’s ancestors during Partition, we now focus not so much on what happened in the show, but on what future comic events it might be hinting at.
Episode 5 of Marvel Studios’ Ms. Marvel ended on a somewhat weird note. If on one hand the Clandestines’ subplot was apparently swiftly resolved, the Damage Control threat somehow gained traction with the attack on Kamran and Bruno at the Circle Q. While there is no real perfect counterpart to this sequence in the comics, the aftermath could perhaps lead Bruno down an interesting, yet painful path, taken straight out of the comics.
Leading up to Secret Wars, Kamala finally met her hero Captain Marvel as New York was soon to be destroyed by an incursion. This later led to Carol making Kamala the leader of a group they named the Carol Cadets. The Cadets were created following the discovery of an Inhuman named Ulysses, who through the use of mathematics could basically predict the future. They were made to go after criminals who were yet to commit any sort of crimes but that Ulysses deemed likely to end up doing so. This was something that began not to sit right with Kamala’s friends, around the same time she also began to fight back against the idea behind the creation of the Cadets by questioning their methods.
This all led to Bruno trying to break into the Cadets’ facilities in order to set free who, in his eyes, happened to be detained there without a valid reason. Said break-in went wrong and Bruno had to deal with the consequences, being left bedridden with third-degree burns all over the left side of his body, losing the use of his left hand (his dominant one), and with serious doubts if he’d ever be able to walk again.
Once he finally regained conscience, and even though Kamala tried her best to stay by his side throughout his hospital stay, Bruno made it extremely clear that he held her responsible for the situation that left him in the state he found himself in. He considered she was focusing too much on her superhero life without regarding the consequences to the people around her who loved her, taking everyone for granted. He vowed to never want to see her ever again, and that his next step would be moving away to study at the Golden City Polytechnic Prep, in Wakanda.
Once there, he was involved in an attempted vibranium robbery, he met King T’Challa and eventually went back home when he realized that Kamala was who he wanted to be near. Unfortunately for him, Kareem, the Red Dagger, had by then stepped into the frame.
It’s hard to predict if the Circle Q explosion might end up serving as the catalyst to a similar journey for the MCU’s Bruno. If it does, it would certainly be something worth going into in the second season (?) of the show, with perhaps Black Panther: Wakanda Forever being a possible project in which to feature a Matt Lintz cameo in the meanwhile.
The first five episodes of Ms. Marvel are now streaming on Disney+.
