My Favourite Characters - Ms Marvel

Yeah I'm still reeling it in from yesterday. I imagine this will be going on for the next 4 years. Like I said, I'm throwing myself into a lot of escapist fiction to escape this new world we've entered, one where an absolute racist, homophobic, sexist pig is now one of the most powerful men on the planet. So if we have a real life super villain, let us turn to our superheroes, and who would be a better person to talk about than Kamala Khan, AKA Ms Marvel.

Despite only being around for a couple of years, Ms Marvel has taken off and is one of the most popular comics that Marvel is currently publishing. Of course at first she received lots of attention for being the first Muslim superhero to get her own book, but it was made evident fairly quickly that she was going to be much more than that. When I think of Ms Marvel, the first word that comes to my mind is "dork" because that's what she is. She's a nerd, she writes fanfic, she's awkward and makes lots of mistakes. Even the artwork usually supports that frame, at times looking much more cartoonish and exaggerated than it does realistic. And even though her religion isn't her defining feature, it certainly plays a part in her character, she does still pray, she has to wear certain clothing and speaks in another language when with family. Though I'm not going to say it's an accurate representation because I am wildly under-educated when it comes to the Muslim religion, but seeing as it's being written by a Muslim woman, I'm going to assume it's fairly accurate. It may not be her defining feature, but it plays a similar role to Daredevil being Catholic, or Magneto being Jewish.

Actually the religious aspects do play a role thematically in the series that is actually quite brilliant. Usually in series like this, if there's a certain message they want to get across then it can feel quite ham-fisted or forced, but in this case it balances out quite well. Ms Marvel is also an Inhuman, and at one point in the series she's forced to fight another Inhuman and she calls her out on the damage she'll be doing will be more than just physical, but an entire culture of people will suffer for one's bad actions (I get it!). In fact Ms Marvel has been quite the activist these days. Going against her idol Captain Marvel when she disagrees with her philosophy, leaving The Avengers when she feels they can do so much more to help, and not just by punching bad guys, but actually helping the community and victims. Kamala is not someone who would blindly follow leaders, even people she's looked up to her entire life. She is still her own person, she considers other perspectives and always tries to do the right thing, even when she has to go against her own self-interest, or those closest too her.

Superheroes aren't just escapist fiction where we fantasise about being them because it'll be fun, they're also there to teach us, help us. It's more than just the powers, we want to be these people because that would make us better people. Ms Marvel is a young superhero who threw herself into the deep end and came out a strong, brave, idealistic hero who does everything in her power to help others. As Kamala Khan she is incredibly funny and relatable to the reader without ever feeling pandering and like the best of superheroes, I wish I was more like her, because if we had a few more Kamala Khans in the world, maybe it wouldn't be the shit show that it is today.

-Danny