The initial trailer for Ms. Marvel teased a much lighter experience for a Marvel Studios Disney+ show. It’s also following one of its darkest as Moon Knight kicked off 2022 before passing the torch to the young heroine. Still, it looks like there might be something a bit darker ahead for the young heroine as revealed during the official press event for the Disney+ series.
The cast and crew had a bit of a challenge not giving away any story beats, but found a way to hint at where the story is heading, highlighting Kamala Khan’s self-discovery at the core of the story and the weight of learnign to be her own heroine rather than just emulating those she looks up to.
In searching for her identity, Kamala Khan is going to go on this journey to reconnect with her family, to understand why it’s so important to tell her own story and craft that story and to feel she could be that superhero she could always be, but it would be her being the superhero instead of emulating someone else.
Meera Menon
They do promise that things will get darker, but Kevin Feige highlights that this was what they are trying to do and ensure that “Marvel Studios” being above a logo doesn’t define what it’s going to be like. So, we might expect a few more diverse projects from the studio in the future, as we got a horror-inspired film with Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness while Thor: Love and Thunder is seemingly focusing on a more romantic-comedy style. So, it’s goign to be interesting to see how Ms. Marvel‘s story develops and maybe even catches us off-guard.
Yet, in an interview with The View, he revealed that it wasn’t more than just two former colleagues meeting up. While the Instagram post including the reference does add a lot more questions, it does seem they just live “really close to each other” and that’s what led to them bumping into each other.
You know, we live in a neighborhood really close to each other, and it’s funny, we bumped into each other at a strawberry patch that’s like an hour away, and we just happened to be in the same place hanging out with our kids. And I bumped into another actor who I did not know, who came up to me; we were talking and he’s like, ‘oh, you know Krysten [Ritter’s] here.’ And [I’m like], ‘Krysten?’ I thought they were friends. So then I texted her and she pops up in front of me and we start hanging out and let the kids play… I don’t know what’s happening with Marvel. I, you know, I loved working with her and really don’t know anything other than that. That’s it.”
Mike Colter
Mike Colter has been quite busy working on his series Evil, and it does seem like he might not have the time to make a grand MCU return. Yet, we’ve also had many theories in regard to other projects. So, we’ll have to see if he ends up surprising us with a sudden return in a future project.
The Hawkeye composers Christophe Beck and Michael Paraskevas have left quite an imprint on the Disney+ series. Not only did it bring an emotional score to what may be Marvel Studios’ most grounded storylines, but they also had the joy of adding a Christmas/Holiday cheer to make it stand out. In a recent interview with BTL News, they revealed that the series was initially going to be darker, but also teased that they’ve already started work on the next Marvel project.
Sadly, they wouldn’t give away what exactly the project might be, if Disney+ series or film, but they also hinted that it’s not the only project they’re involved with. It seems they are also working on a Disney film, but can’t talk about either.
Another project for Marvel we can’t talk about and another Disney film we can’t talk about.
Christophe Beck
For now, we can only speculate but there are quite a few projects in the pipeline that could be the perfect match. In the same interview, they’ve also praised the opportunity of tackling this mini-series as the six-episode runtime gave them more flexibility than they’d otherwise not have to fully explore the themes for the entire series instead of just hoping one episode per week can be brought together.
One of the things I love about these miniseries Marvel is working on is that I had a sense for the entire story. Back in the earlier days, like when I worked on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, I was flying by the seat of my pants. They’re cranking out an episode a week for a long time and I just had to improvise. Here, by contrast, I know where it’s going, so I was not surprised by a plot twist later, and I could create a holistic musical universe.
Christophe Beck
Both composers have a background working on musical numbers. So, they may be involved with the upcoming Disenchanted film or even the live-action adaptation of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. In regards to Marvel, they also worked on Ant-Man and the Wasp. So, it could be likely he moved on to tackle the third entry, Quantumania. It’s only speculation but it’ll be interesting to see what they are tackling next.
Seemingly missing from this season of Ms. Marvel is the infamous avian foe of Kamala Khan, a bipedal, talking parrot that also happens to be the clone of Thomas Edison. In the comics, Edison plays a big part in Kamala Khan’s early superhero days as the first supervillain she comes across.
In an exclusive interview with Ms. Marvel co-creator and show producer Sana Amanat, we asked about the possibility of seeing this wacky character in the MCU and if he would even work believably.
I think so! I think it could work. We’ll find a way to work it in. Give me a Season 2. We’ll see [laughs].
This year in the MCU alone has seen all kinds of wacky characters in live-action. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness saw a dead Doctor Strange come to life and a bovine sorceress fight Scarlet Witch. Moon Knight had a talking bipedal crocodile and hippopotamus. With how far the MCU has come, a bird clone of Thomas Edison isn’t much of a step too far. Should a Season 2 for Ms. Marvel be greenlit, Thomas Edison would be at the top of a list of characters that we’d like to see.
After two years of being canceled, forced online, or reduced, fan conventions are back. Disney just held the first in-person Star Wars Celebration since 2019 and dominated the news cycle for four consecutive days. They’re expected to attend SDCC this July and will host their own line-wide con in September with D23. But with Marvel Studios producing up to 4 live-action films, 4 live-action series and a couple animated series per year, could it be time for a Marvel-centric convention?
That very question was posed to Marvel Studios One-Above-All, Kevin Feige, during the global Ms. Marvel press conference. Central to the plot of the first episode of Ms. Marvel is the fictional First Annual AvengersCon. Kamala and Bruno attend a celebration of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes that is complete with all the convention norms, including a cosplay competition that has been highlighted in much of the marketing for the series. Could Ms. Marvel inspire Marvel Studios to hold a real life AvengersCon?
We were definitely talking about that on the set. We shot that right in the middle of COVID protocols. So, there hasn’t been a convention in a very long time and it was very cathartic for all of us to see that. We were shooting Spider-Man: No Way Home on the stage right next door, believe it or not. And a lot of that crew kept sneaking over to see and attend AvengerCon, walking around. I think that would be fun to do some time.
Kevin Feige
If it’s something that Feige can get behind, then it’s something that could happen. It wouldn’t take much to give it a try during this year’s D23. Simply allowing Marvel Studios to hold its own panel called “AvengersCon” could be a nice dry run. Even though Star Wars has a 3-decade head start on Marvel Studios, any information on upcoming Marvel Studios projects generates an insane amount of buzz (see Investor Day 2020). Disney would be wise to take advantage of eventually carving out an entire 4-day chunk of time during which the future of Marvel Studios would be the only news in town as opposed to sharing the news cycle with other big-time properties. It would be a fascinating case of “life imitates art.”
Disney+ has become a way for Marvel Studios to further explore different stories that they may otherwise not have had the chance to do so. The Marvel Cinematic Universe is expanding in interesting ways with new characters getting introduced to further expand the potential stories to tell on the small and big screen. Yet, we never fully know when and who gets the cinematic or streaming treatment.
In the series’ official press event, Marvel Studios CEO Kevin Feige talks about why they generally decided to tackle Kamala Khan and how they’ve been asked to bring her to live-action ever since the initial comic was released.
Why not I say! I mean, honestly, at Marvel, it is such a privileged, because not only are there reinterpretations every few years of existing wonderful characters. Every once in a while, almost every decade or so, there’s a new character that comes around that catches the audience’s imagination. This character clearly did that and as I said to some people on the red carpet last night: Almost form the first few issues, people started asking us in environments like this when is Kamala Khan coming.
Kevin Feige
He goes on to highlight that it was part of their plans to introduce her through Disney+ and set up an appearance in a feature film, which we now know is The Marvels. Not just that, but Feige also revealed what his true goal is with these series and introducing new characters to the franchise.
So, t always seemed inevitable in a great way that we would be able to do it. When Disney+ came around, it really us the opportunity to do what we really wanted to do and tell her full story in six episodes and have her transition into a feature. [..] I am so proud of bringing new characters to the screen and not just telling reinterpretations of characters that people have seen for decades and decades. And I think that’s important. I want people who never even considered a Marvel Studios feature before to be excited and watch this show.
Kevin Feige
Of course, he also jokingly adds for them to watch the others, which isn’t uncommon. There are people that find themselves introduced into the franchise through a specific new series, and that becomes their gateway to explore the Marvel Cinematic Universe. We learned back in May that an Egyptian director Mohamed Diab stated that his home country saw Moon Knight as their Black Panther, which highlights what Marvel Studios is currently accomplishing with these projects.
When Disney acquired the live-action right to the X-Men in the merger with Fox, they handed Marvel Studios a gold mine of characters that could support their own cinematic universe for decades. As Kevin Feige and the Marvel Studios Parliament patiently plan their strategy for introducing The Mutants into the MCU, here are 10 characters whose stories could prove incredibly interesting and valuable over the long run.
Apocalypse
Most of the characters on this list haven’t appeared on the big screen yet (and to be honest, you could really make an argument that this character never did either), but among the very long list of characters done wrong by Fox, Apocalypse stands out as a giant. One of the world’s first known mutants, Apocalypse personified both the struggle faced by mutants and the idea that survival was only for those most fit. His character received a thrilling retcon recently, courtesy of Jonathan Hickman, and while not everything Hickman writes is easily adaptable to the screen, his retcon of En Sabah Nur provided, maybe for the first time, a glimpse of how to allow audiences to really empathize with the character. If the MCU reboot can pick adapt the history of Hickman’s Okkara, it would provide an entirely different look at the character from what we’ve seen. Apocalypse deserves a major role in any X-franchise reboot rather than the poorly done one-off that Fox gave him. Marvel’s access to Disney Plus can really help Apocalypse out in this way, allowing the character to grow and weave in and out of multiple projects.
Christopher Summers
A luxury Marvel Studios will have at its disposal that Fox did not is a self-owned streaming service. The X-world is MASSIVE and Fox chose to only focus on a very, very small portion of it. Marvel Studios is certain to have a team of X-Men, but it’s almost equally as certain that they will explore some of the many other corners left unexplored by Fox. Being able to use Disney Plus to introduce some characters who might not draw huge audiences to the theater will serve the studio well in that regard. Should Marvel Studios choose to make the decision to put the Summers family at the center of their reboot (a choice that can really pay off over the course of several years), one such character whose wild adventures would be worth following is Christopher Summers, aka Corsair, the leader of the Starjammers. Starting off the main X-Men franchise with an introduction to the father of Scott, Alex and Gabriel Summers and immediately introducing the Shi’ar Empire (one of Marvel Comics’ greatest alien races) gives the studios a footprint on which to expand on in two different worlds. Thankfully, Fox stayed away from Corsair and the Shi’ar, allowing for Marvel to cash in on some characters that are as sure of a thing as they have in their stable. Put Corsair at the center of the early days of the MCU reboot and you won’t be sorry.
Cypher
Doug Ramsey, mutant name Cypher, was first introduced fairly early on during Chris Claremont’s run on New Mutants. Cypher’s mutant gifts allow him to subconsciously understand any and all languages. As is the case with many characters over the years, as different writers have taken on projects, they imagine new ways for the characters’ powers to manifest. In this way, Cypher has become increasingly more interesting and powerful. Jonathan Hickman placed Cypher front and center in his Dawn of X era as he was able to communicate with Krakoa, the sentient island inhabited by the mutants. Cypher also has a fantastic relationship with the techno-organic alien Warlock, a character who COULD make as big of a splash win fans as Groot first did. Unlike the Fox films, the MCU is very likely to feature some of the X-Men’s cosmic adventures, making a spot for Cypher all but mandatory.
Destiny
One of the most powerful precogs in all of Marvel Comics, Destiny has played a major role in X-books over the last few years and seems…destined…to continue to do so. Following a classic archetype, Destiny lost her vision in her early teens as her ability to see the future grew. Fox’s X-films chose to focus heavily on Destiny’s long-time lover, Mystique, but strangely never included Destiny, who, with Mystique, reorganized the terrorist organization the Brotherhood of Mutants. In the comics, mutants have seen more than their fair share of major events, from the rise of Apocalypse to M-Day and even the Dawn of X…and Destiny foresaw them all. A powerful precog with an ever-changing agenda seems like a character who could serve as a wonderful wild card as Marvel Studios brings the mutants to their shared universe.
Forge
Forge’s mutant abilities made him a powerful technopath, but it’s his genius as an inventor that makes him truly fascinating…that and the fact that he’s also a pretty skilled sorcerer to boot. Raised in a Cheyenne tribe, the man known only as Forge has one the absolute wildest histories of any mutant. He’s served in the military, developed weapons for the Department of Defense (including one of the most devastating anti-mutant weapons ever created) and, over time, turned himself into a cyborg. Everything about Forge converges to make him exactly the type of character fans have come to expect to see in MCU properties. He should be front and center of the first wave of mutant projects developed by Marvel Studios.
Kitty Pryde
Kitty Pryde, played by Elliot Page in a pair of Fox’s X-films, is among the most tragically misused characters under Fox’s watch. Although the character got a bit of redemption in X-Men: Days of Future Past, the studio never came near to exploring the full potential of Shadowcat. A member of the main X-Men team, Excalibur and, more recently the leader of the Marauders and part of the Quiet Council that serves as the governing body of Krakoa, Pryde deserves to be at the forefront of Marvel Studios’ efforts. Given the complexity of her character and the multiple audiences to whom she would appeal, Pryde should be one of the building blocks of this iteration of the mutants’ story (and I’m told Kevin Feige is a big fan).
Lilandra Neramani
If the MCU is going to space with these mutants, they must include the Shi’ar Empire. And that means they must include Lilandra Neramani. In this regard, Kevin Feige and the Marvel Studios Parliament would do well to learn from X-Men: The Animated Series which saw Lilandra and the Shi’ar figure prominently into one of the show’s best arcs. The dynamics of the Neramani family are absolutely fascinating in the comics and could make for a wonderful Game of Thrones-style project on their own and their story could be sprinkled into a few X-projects before taking center stage. Of course, Lilandra’s love affair with Professor X is one of the great landmark events of Charles’ life and could provide ready-made drama to the MCU’s mutants fairly early on. Her presence in Charles’ life would also allow for an entirely different side of his character to be explored than was ever done in Fox’s films.
Madrox(es)
Like Kitty Pryde, Madrox has already been done in live-action; however, also like Kitty Pryde, Madrox has never REALLY been done in live-action. Unlike most other mutants, Multiple Man’s mutant powers began to work immediately after his birth, with his first dupe popping out when the doctor smacked his ass to get that first cry. Marvel Studios will almost certainly take advantage of the multiple X-teams that have appeared in the books over the years and as far as telling a great Madrox story goes, that should mean adapting Peter David’s X-Factor. One of the greatest works of one of Marvel Comics’ all-time great writers, X-Factor totally reimagined the original purpose of the X-Factor team and follows Madrox and a team of mutants as they open up X-Factor Investigations. Though it may take a while to get to a point in their story where this arc fits well, this story, with Madrox at the center (and left…and right) is one that MUST be adapted to the screen, whether big or small.
Selene
One of the first mutants to make her way into recorded history, Selene Gallio’s personal history alone makes her a must for Marvel Studios’ mutant tales. However, her connection to the Externals, a group of supremely powerful immortal mutants that includes Apocalypse, could allow Marvel Studios to put a mutie-spin on a classic fantasy franchise: Highlander. Marvel Studios could adapt a mini-arc that kicked off in Jeph Loeb’s X-Force run and see Selene and the other Externals hunt, kill and absorb the life force of one another. If they land the right actress for the role, a Selene solo-series could serve as the de facto History of the MCU project, something ETERNALS should have done better, and introduce the Externals.
Vulcan
Should Marvel Studios decide to put the Summers’ family at the center of their MCU mutant franchise, they’ll have the opportunity to introduce the most powerful and craziest of the Summers’ brothers: Gabriel. Gabriel’s origins are horrifying and, as he grew in power, he did some horrifying things. Introducing his father early on allows for Gabriel (and his brothers) to take some time to develop and while Gabe can be a part of some pretty cool stuff early on, he could be the gateway character to Marvel Studios adapting one of its greatest Cosmic crossover events: War of Kings. Marvel Studios has shown it’s willingness to be patient and play the long game. Introducing Vulcan early on allows them to do that with a huge payoff looming at the end.
Here’s an interesting surprise it looks like the conflict between Kevin Feige, the CEO of Marvel Studios, and Ike Perlmutter, the CEO and Chairman of Marvel, almost led to the MCU producer joining Warner Bros.’ DC department. In a new piece by Puck, they reveal he entered discussions around the mid-2010 as he was facing some issues with Perlmutter, which were quite famously documented. This may have also led to a promotion in 2015 to work with Alan Horn. He would eventually become Marvel Entertainment’s Chief Creative Officer as well while supervising Marvel Studios.
The Marvel Cinematic Universe definitely wouldn’t be what it is today if it weren’t for Feige’s leading hand, and he’s quite a passionate person about telling these stories. Disney may have faced quite the challenge if he decided to leave, as there aren’t many in the industry that could’ve taken over the vision that was set out. He’s famous for planning in advance where their franchise is heading, and his imprint is definitely on these projects.
Of course, it’s always strange to think about what could’ve been, and DC may have been very different if he did indeed take over the project. There have been many reports on Ike Perlmutter‘s infamous frugality that has led to many issues. He also established the creative council that led the original projects and strongly restricted what Feige could do, especially when it came to embracing more diverse characters. If you’ve ever wondered why it took so long for a Black Widow film to get going, he’s the one that wouldn’t even let them release toys based on the character.
Arian Moayed only just joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe in December’s Spider-Man: No Way Home, and he’s already gearing up to return. The Iranian-born actor is set to make his second appearance as Department of Damage Control Agent Cleary in the upcoming series Ms. Marvel, which debuts on Disney+ next week. Moayed will co-star with an immensely talented cast, which includes newcomer Iman Vellani in the title role as teen hero Kamala Khan.
Speaking with Variety on the red carpet premiere of the show, the Succession star was asked what he thought of Vellani’s performance, which has received praise from critics in early reviews. Moayed seemed to agree, calling the young actress a “phenom”:
She’s a phenom, and I’m not joking. She’s an immigrant, from Pakistan, grew up in Canada. There’s an immigrant quality there so she’s working hard, you can already know that…She really just has all of the natural skills. I think we’re going to be very excited to see her in a lot of things moving forward.
Arian Moayed
The actor also commented on what it means to him, as an immigrant himself, to see Vellani get the spotlight as a role model for young children. Moayed hopes that the series will help change how the world perceives the Muslim community:
I’m an Iranian immigrant. I grew up, the best that we had was ‘Aladdin’, which was also amazing. But now to imagine, so many years later, there is a Muslim show with a superhero. It’s just going to change how people perceive us.
Moon Knight ended on a high note as Oscar Isaac‘s Marc Spector and Steven Grant finally found some inner peace, leaving their superhero-ing behind them. Yet, the Egyptian God Khonshu had other plans with a third alter, Jake Lockley, still being in his control and seemingly made his arrival known by shooting Ethan Hawke‘s villainous Arthur Harrow. At least, that is what we assumed going by the way the show ended but director Mohamed Diab may have hinted at there being more to this story.
Twitter user @boda16_ was kind enough to offer a translation of a recent Facebook Q&A with Moon Knight director Mohamed Diab. In it, he was asked about how he was able to kill Ethan Hawke’s Arthur Harrow even with Ammit inside him. The question made sense given that even Marc Spector seemingly returned from the dead with the help of his Egyptian god. Well, Diab’s response may awaken some theories on his true fate. His only response was:
Are you sure he’s dead?
Mohamed Diab
It definitely would’ve been a shame to not further explore the character of Arthur Harrow, as we never truly got to fully explore his connection with Khonshu. He hinted that he used to be his Avatar, but we never actually fully explored what that meant and maybe how he looked like as his Moon Knight. Perhaps he had a completely different job, and seeing a more unhinged version through the lens of Harrow would be interesting to explore. For now, we can only speculate as there’s no renewal for the series.
We use cookies to improve your experience on our site. By using our site, you consent to cookies.
This website uses cookies
Websites store cookies to enhance functionality and personalise your experience. You can manage your preferences, but blocking some cookies may impact site performance and services.
Essential cookies enable basic functions and are necessary for the proper function of the website.
Name
Description
Duration
Cookie Preferences
This cookie is used to store the user's cookie consent preferences.
30 days
These cookies are needed for adding comments on this website.
Name
Description
Duration
comment_author_email
Used to track the user across multiple sessions.
Session
comment_author_url
Used to track the user across multiple sessions.
Session
comment_author
Used to track the user across multiple sessions.
Session
Statistics cookies collect information anonymously. This information helps us understand how visitors use our website.
Google Analytics is a powerful tool that tracks and analyzes website traffic for informed marketing decisions.
Contains information related to marketing campaigns of the user. These are shared with Google AdWords / Google Ads when the Google Ads and Google Analytics accounts are linked together.
90 days
__utma
ID used to identify users and sessions
2 years after last activity
__utmt
Used to monitor number of Google Analytics server requests
10 minutes
__utmb
Used to distinguish new sessions and visits. This cookie is set when the GA.js javascript library is loaded and there is no existing __utmb cookie. The cookie is updated every time data is sent to the Google Analytics server.
30 minutes after last activity
__utmc
Used only with old Urchin versions of Google Analytics and not with GA.js. Was used to distinguish between new sessions and visits at the end of a session.
End of session (browser)
__utmz
Contains information about the traffic source or campaign that directed user to the website. The cookie is set when the GA.js javascript is loaded and updated when data is sent to the Google Anaytics server
6 months after last activity
__utmv
Contains custom information set by the web developer via the _setCustomVar method in Google Analytics. This cookie is updated every time new data is sent to the Google Analytics server.
2 years after last activity
__utmx
Used to determine whether a user is included in an A / B or Multivariate test.
18 months
_ga
ID used to identify users
2 years
_gali
Used by Google Analytics to determine which links on a page are being clicked
30 seconds
_ga_
ID used to identify users
2 years
_gid
ID used to identify users for 24 hours after last activity
24 hours
_gat
Used to monitor number of Google Analytics server requests when using Google Tag Manager
1 minute
Marketing cookies are used to follow visitors to websites. The intention is to show ads that are relevant and engaging to the individual user.
Pinterest Tag is a web analytics service that tracks and reports website traffic.
