Warning: SPOILERS for Ms Marvel #32
Bruno is back in Ms. Marvel's universe, and that means more than rekindling a friendship... in this week's Ms. Marvel it means delving into the abilities of his best friend, and finding out that his experiments can actually stop her using her powers. But for how long?
In Ms. Marvel #32, Kamala Khan meets her best friend Bruno when he returns from Wakanda, and he has some new ideas about her powers. Bruno has been fascinated about how Ms. Marvel's ability to grow and shrink actually works - from a scientific perspective. Looking to rekindle her relationship with a friend who started out as a sidekick and has become so much more, Kamala is happy to start doing experiments to figure out exactly how her powers work - but this has an unexpected side effect.
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With Marvel bringing Kamala Khan to the MCU in the near future, it may seem like an inopportune time for the comic book hero to be getting de-powered. But things in the issue start simply enough, with Kamala growing and shrinking in a tank of water so that Bruno can measure the displacement of the water.
However, when he wants to get a little more into it, he puts a tiny device onto her skin that will measure electromagnetic output, in the hopes that this will give him an insight into her powers... which goes horribly wrong when it stops her ability to control them, and Ms. Marvel has to rush onto the roof to prevent her uncontrollable growth from smashing through the building.
For a moment, things seem as though they can be controlled - Ms. Marvel's powers were only unleashed because of Bruno's device - but it is soon revealed that their tampering in the powers that the Terrigen mists bestowed has done more than just given her a temporary loss of control. When The Shocker (a villain who usually takes on Spider-Man) appears in New Jersey, Ms Marvel is shocked when she finds that she still can't control the powers that usually come so naturally to her.
It seems that Ms. Marvel's powers have been seriously damaged, and as Bruno attempts to help his friend, he finds himself helpless with a minuscule Ms. Marvel and no other heroes in sight. Throughout the issue, Ms. Marvel references SHIELD, saying that she would rather have Bruno do his experiments than the massive government organization. Is this foreshadowing to their eventual involvement in giving her the ability to control her powers again? Or just another Marvel cross-universe connection? Bruno may be able to use what he learned in Wakanda to give her control back, which would be a perfect way for the pair to forge a new relationship where he is not the sidekick to her superhero.
Of course, this may not be the case. But if not, what will be the fate of Bruno and Ms. Marvel next week? They may be able to escape the Shocker, but this could also be the start of a crisis of identity for the young superhero, as she struggles to balance her powers, her life, and her own control over herself.
Ms Marvel #32 is available now from Marvel Comics.