If the MCU's Ms. Marvel possesses the same powers as the comics, then she is subtly tied to the multiverse - drawing the different threads of Phase 4 together in a fascinating way. When Kamala Khan first suited up in 2014, it was immediately clear this comic book character was something special. Marvel's first Muslim-American superhero, Kamala was an 'everyman hero' with a difference, exploring themes of traditionalist faith in the context of modern society.

It won't be long before Ms. Marvel makes her MCU debut, played by Iman Vellani. There's been particular interest in how Marvel Studios will adapt Ms. Marvel's powers for a live-action context because, in truth, they were perfectly designed to work visually in a comic book world. As Kamala's co-creator G. Willow Wilson observed, "She’s got very comic booky powers. God bless them trying to bring that to live-action, I don’t know how that’s going to work out, in a way that doesn’t look really creepy.” It's also intriguing to speculate how Marvel will justify Kamala's powers in their (pseudo-)science-based universe; matter can neither be created nor destroyed, so how does Kamala shrink, grow, or stretch?

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In 2018, Marvel Comics revealed the truth behind Kamala's powers. Ms. Marvel learned she borrows mass from herself across time, by accessing what was referred to as "some kind of temporal vortex." Every time Kamala gets smaller, she transports some of her molecules into the vortex; when she grows, she summons additional molecules from it. That actually makes Ms. Marvel particularly vulnerable to fluctuations in time and space, and in one story a malfunctioning Einstein-Rosen bridge - created by the Spider-Man villain the Shocker, of all people - caused her powers to malfunction, transporting her into the temporal vortex she accesses, only escaping with the help of fellow teen superhero Nebula.

Ms. Marvel Outlawed

Assuming Marvel Studios take the same approach, then it's no surprise Marvel feel Phase 4 is the perfect time to introduce Kamala Khan's Ms. Marvel; because she serves as a thematic bridge between two of the major Phase 4 themes. She's a so-called 'legacy hero,' a character who is inspired by other Avengers and who embodies their legacy. But she also has a subtle connection to the multiverse.

It will be interesting to see whether Marvel modifies Kamala Khan's origin story in order to tie her more closely into the Multiverse. In the comics, she's an Inhuman, but it's unclear whether Marvel will intend to take the same approach; the Inhumans were established in the wider MCU in Marvel's Agents of SHIELD and the unsuccessful Inhumans TV series, and it's unlikely Marvel Studios will want to anchor cinematic canon to that property. A closer link to the MCU's multiverse - finally created in Loki - could provide an alternative origin story, meaning Ms. Marvel could derive her powers from cosmic events rather than Terrigen Mists, as in the comics.

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