Marvel's Avengers Old – New Heroine: Meet Kamala Khan

The new trailer for Marvel's Avengers is out. A prominent role in it, and in the game that will be released on September 4, is played by Ms. Marvel, aka Kamala Khan. She is a relatively new phenomenon in the world of Marvel.  As a comic book character, she debuted in August 2013, in Captain Marvel #14. In February 2014, she got her own solo series as the new Ms. Marvel.

 

In Crystal Dynamics' game, Kamala Khan will be the main playable character. Her background is that of a Pakistani teenage girl from Jersey City. The garden state is an important reference for the gaming world in the United States. Now New Jersey is getting its own Marvel heroine starring in a brand new game and also in the Marvel Cinematic Universe Disney+ show Ms. Marvel.

So, who is Kamala Khan? Unless you are already a fan, that is, in which case you already know everything about her. The teenage heroine is quite a bit an alter ego of her co-creator Sana Amanat. The comic book editor is herself a daughter of Pakistani immigrants to the States, who grew up in New Jersey facing all the issues about growing up and integration that feature in Kamala's adventures. Amanat gave a famous Ted Talk in 2014 and explained that "the big idea behind Ms. Marvel was very much about minority representation, the bigger idea was about finding your authentic self".

Amanat drew a lot on her own experience when creating the comic. She joined Marvel Comics in 2009 and is currently the Director of Content and Character Development. She found good chemistry with her co-creators, editor Stephen Wacker, and particularly writer Willow Wilson. Together, they made a huge success out of the new Ms. Marvel. The comic was on the New York Times Best Sellers list for weeks and won the Hugo Award for Best Graphic Story in 2015. An interesting detail is that Ms. Marvel sells much more digitally than in stores. From time to time it has been Marvel's top digital seller overall.

As the storyline goes, Kamala got her shapeshifting abilities from the Terrigen Mists that activated Inhuman genes in her. The teenager is an avid fan of Marvel and her idol is Carol Danvers. After Danvers becomes Captain Marvel, she will also leave the role of Ms. Marvel vacant and ready to be taken up by Kamala. The lead heroin will then play mentor to the youngster.

The comic series has been wildly popular down the years. No wonder then that this successful female character has been given so much space in the upcoming game and Disney series. She already featured in Marvel Rising: Secret Warriors, the 2018 tv animated film by Marvel Animation. For the much-expected game, Sandra Saad is the motion-capture artist behind Kamala Khan. Saad has done voice-overs for  Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, Fallout 76, and more. This was her first time doing motion capture for a videogame character.