Ms. Marvel’s first season may be done, but the fun for its eponymous main character is only getting started. When Iman Vellani’s Kamala Kahn appeared on Disney+ earlier this summer, she caught the globe by storm, with fans falling in love with the young Canadian actress’s take on the newest Marvel hero.
Kamala will next appear in 2023’s The Marvels, and who knows what the future holds for Jersey City’s greatest Avengers fan? Fans had many things to say about her Disney+ debut. The Ms. Marvel mutant appearance, Brie Larson’s appearance at the very end, and, of course, the lovely cast that encircled Kamala were all highlights of the show’s first season.
But, as with all things, there will be some regrets, and one of the creatives of Ms. Marvel has spoken up on what they would alter if they could.
Ms. Marvel’s Post-Mortem
Ms. Marvel head writer and executive producer Bisha K Ali discussed her regrets from the first season of the super-powered Disney+ series with SyFy.
Ali indicated that a lot of information had to be deleted, but one of the most important strands had to do with Kamala’s last struggle against the Department of Damage Control. She informed SyFy that the high school was not always the site of the climactic clash, citing “a whole thread about it being a community center,” as well as including a deeper “narrative about gentrification:” To be totally honest, it was a process. There was a whole thread dedicated to it being a community center, as well as a tale concerning gentrification. But the nature of manufacturing dictates that you must truncate. We need to tighten things up. We had to adjust the chronology because we needed to be able to physically produce the show. People should be able to understand where we’re coming from in that.”
Another moment Ali regrets not incorporating in the finale came in the shape of a simple statement from Kamala. In early versions of the screenplay, a neighborhood member questioned the young hero, “Hey, are you from the Avengers?” “No, I’m from Jersey City,” she said. Ali referred to these two lines as “one of [her] favorite pieces but it didn’t make the cut,” but she’s “still thrilled with what [they] created:” Will Dunn, who wrote some fantastic versions of Episode 6, had this one piece at the end, when she’s on her way to halt what’s occurring at the high school after the community has assisted her. It is she who is racing through the streets. ‘Hey, are you from the Avengers?’ someone asks. ‘No, I’m from Jersey City,’ she adds. That was one of my favorite lines, but it didn’t make the cut.
And there’s so much I wish was still in season. I’m a huge geek, and every writer in the room was a nerd. We have entire materials, similar to textbooks, about The Clandestines and what the Noor dimension is like. We’ve written every detail of those characters’ lives. Also featuring Waleed and the Red Daggers. It’s difficult to cut anything, but I wish we’d had a little more time with them to land everything I wanted to land as successfully as possible. I’m still pleased with what we accomplished, but you posed the question.”
Ali also discussed what she is most proud of in Ms. Marvel, citing the “storyline about these four generations of women” and how Kamala is “an intergenerational person” at her heart. Her extraordinary abilities “”One of the things I’m most pleased of is the tale of these four generations of women.” And how, in my opinion, her talents are literally represented by the element she inherited. She is a multigenerational being. She is partially that, but her abilities come from her family, in my opinion. And particularly from this line of women who are individually and collectively so strong and beautiful. I believe that was the needle to thread, starting the dispute at exactly the right temperature and then recognizing that it’s not about us vs them, but about how can I fit into the West? It’s more about who we are. What does that imply for me? What exactly does “we” mean? Who am I, and then into self, and finally to the healing of this intergenerational trauma caused by division. I still can’t believe I got it done. In a Marvel show, we have partition! It still astounds me!”
When asked how the Disney+ series influenced her as a writer, Ali said it “trained [her] to trust [her] gut a lot more” and given her “a lot of confidence” in her work:
“I’m extremely pleased with myself. It has taught me to trust my instincts a lot more. It has boosted my confidence in certain areas. I’m also grateful to the amount of viewers who have welcomed what we’re doing and acknowledged that, yes, it’s different. If Marvel wanted a program that was a more literal translation, I’m not the writer to hire. For this kind of program, I’m always going to say something sincere. Anything I write means a great deal to me personally. In this performance, I can still point to my heart. And those who know me may see it and exclaim, ‘Oh, my God, Bisha.’ That would be you.’
And what I’m looking forward to doing next is being straightforward. Also, I adore genre, but there are so many different forms of genre that I want to explore. That’s exactly what I’m doing with my next project. Ms. Marvel has been a fantastic launching pad, and it’s been an awesome opportunity to watch how this firm operates. In terms of what I will do in the future, I’ve learnt a lot from their procedure. I simply feel pleased, proud, and especially grateful to my authors. They go unnoticed, yet the program would not exist if those writers weren’t working their backs every day to make the show sing. And, certainly, a lot of thanks to them as well.”
Miss Marvelous Success
Whatever the project, there will always be elements that must be discarded. This is especially true when putting together anything as tight and exact as a Marvel Studios production.
But it doesn’t seem that Ali has any profound and troubling regrets about her experience in the MCU so far. Sure, there will always be little details that one wishes they could alter. That is the nature of creating art, but it does not seem that too many key strands were left dangling in Ms. Marvel.
Furthermore, if a second season of the show is really in the works, there is always the possibility of picking up what was left over from Kamala Kahn’s first voyage and incorporating it into a possible second batch of episodes.
Reading these statements, it is clear that Ali had a great time working on Ms. Marvel and is happy of her accomplishments. There may always be little flaws in one’s own work, but as Ali said, this program helped her develop and made her a better writer as a result. All Marvel needs to do now is give over the keys to her gain for a second season, and her development will only accelerate.
Ms. Marvel is now available to watch on Disney+.
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