It’s finally here. Iman Vellani’s long-anticipated debut as Muslim super-heroine Ms. Marvel. The series’ outstanding premiere, “Generation Why,” directed by Adil El Arbi and Billal Fallah of “Bad Boys for Life” fame, isn’t just a phenomenal episode of television by any standard, but quite possibly one of the best Marvel stories to date and a serious contender for one of the best superhero shows of all time. And we’re just one episode in!
Meet Kamala Khan | Beginning our tale set to “Blinding Lights” by The Weeknd is Kamala Khan (Vellani) narrating her YouTube channel, Sloth Baby Productions, complete with animations, theorizing on the whereabouts of Captain Marvel following the Avengers’ defeat of Thanos. Kamala then goes downstairs to meet her mother, Muneeba (Zenobia Shroff), father Yusuf (Mohan Kapoor) and brother Amir (Saagar Shaikh), who are obsessively preparing for Amir’s upcoming wedding. After epically failing her drivers’ test by crashing into her instructor’s car, Kamala goes to her school- whose founders are the creators of the “Ms. Marvel” comics- and meets her BFF Bruno Carrelli (Matt Lintz), who is planning their upcoming trip to AvengerCon, which is exactly like it sounds. He also loses a bet to Nakia (Yasmeen Fletcher) that Kamala would fail the drivers’ test, as Kamala literally runs into the school’s queen bee, Zoe (Laurel Marsden).
Finding Yourself | Bruno and Kamala are dying to attend AvengerCon and Kamala’s been working all week on her Captain Marvel cosplay. One problem: Neither party has a ride and in Kamala’s case, permission to attend. With Muneeba gossiping about a cousin who broke off her engagement to travel Europe, Kamala is clearly worried about what her family will think. When she asks them for a ride to the convention, they shoot her down cold, just as a box filled with junk from her grandmother arrives, including a golden bracelet.
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Kamala breaks the news to Bruno, who encourages her to stand up to her parents, and shows her glowing gloves to mimic Carol Danvers’s photon blasts. The next morning, Muneeba tells Kamala that she can go, but only if Yusuf goes with her and they both dress like the Hulk. Muneeba makes it crystal clear to Kamala that her Captain Marvel cosplay is inappropriate and when Kamala protests, she denies her permission to go.
Cosmic | Nevertheless, Kamala sneaks out of the house with Bruno, steals the golden bracelet to accentuate her costume, and they catch the bus to Camp Lehigh, birthplace of Captain America and location of AvengerCon. They have the time of their lives and even run into Zoe in Captain Marvel gear, who doesn’t recognize them. As Kamala changes into her costume in the ladies’ room, she leaves Bruno’s gloves in the stall. Before going on stage, however, she dons the bracelet and briefly sees a vision of pink energy and some darkened figures.
Kamala takes the stage and somehow releases a blast of pink light from her fists, which takes the crowd by storm, but also knocks over an Ant-Man display and sends Zoe flying across the stage. Kamala rescues her with another blast and then she and Bruno GTFO and he sneaks her back to her house, where Muneeba is waiting for her. Muneeba is angry that her daughter disobeyed her and storms off, as Kamala lays down in bed, looks at the bracelet and says one word: “Cosmic.”
But wait! Midway through the credits, Agent Cleary (Arian Moayed) of Damage Control sees a cell phone video of Kamala using her powers and orders his agents to bring her in!
Ms. Marvel hits Wednesdays on Disney+.