Disney+'s Ms. Marvel is set to release in June 2022 and features Kamala Khan's live-action debut, albeit with a new power set that will avoid potential MCU problems when it comes to both Fantastic 4 and Inhumans. Kamala Khan is a relatively new Marvel comics character, making her debut in Captain Marvel #14 in 2013 before starring in her own comic run starting in 2014. Kamala's background was important for Marvel comics, making her the first Muslim character to headline her own comic book while being of Pakistani American origin.
With the official announcement of a Ms. Marvel Disney+ show, excitement began to build over how this new iteration would be brought to live-action so soon after her comic debut. In August of 2021, however, Marvel Studios revealed the controversial decision that Kamala Khan's powers as Ms. Marvel would be altered somewhat from the comics. In the source material, Kamala's primary ability is that of elongation, the ability to alter the size of her body, most notably through the stretching/embiggening of her limbs. In the MCU show, however, Kamala is shown to have cosmic-energy-based powers that provide similar strengths to her original elongation effects.
Aside from the promise of Ms. Marvel featuring in The Marvels and having heavy links to Captain Marvel, another superhero with cosmic energy powers, it is clear Marvel have taken this route to avoid potential clashes between Khan's comic book powers and other MCU projects like Fantastic 4. With the announcement of Fantastic 4 being developed for Marvel Studios, fans will soon be seeing the Fantastic Family on screen and with them the inevitable inclusion of Reed Richards/Mr. Fantastic. Through this, Marvel will have another superhero on their hands that has similar stretching abilities to that of Kamala in the comics. Herein lies the first reason behind the power set change for the MCU's iteration of Kamala. While hardcore Marvel fans would find the two characters easily differentiable, regular moviegoing audiences might have a harder time believing the two heroes are unconnected. While the argument that there have been different speedsters, multiple wizards, or various Norse gods in the MCU rings true, all of these similarly powered heroes have often come in the same micro-franchises of the MCU, such as the Thor movies or Doctor Strange. With Kamala Khan as Ms. Marvel and Reed Richards as Mr. Fantastic however, general movie fans will be seeing two completely unrelated stretchy superheroes which could cause some confusion.
Another likely reason behind Marvel's decision to change Kamala's onscreen powers is the link to Inhumans. In the comics, Ms. Marvel was Inhuman meaning she had dormant Inhuman cells that were activated therefore revealing Khan's polymorph abilities. It is understandable then that Marvel Studios will want to move away from the idea of Inhumans as, in 2017, Marvel TV released Inhumans on ABC to widespread critical and commercial failure. At the time of writing, the series has an 11% critic rating on the review aggregate site Rotten Tomatoes and a lowly 5/10 IMDb score from fans, leading to the show being canceled after just one season. Given the recency of such a heavily-criticized Marvel adaptation of the Inhumans, it is understandable why Marvel Studios would want to wisely move away from any links to that franchise and lean into the Captain Marvel connections.
While Marvel Studios' decision to change Ms. Marvel's power set has been criticized by some fans, the decision could yet prove to be the right one. Given the MCU's track record of making changes from the comics that best suit character and story, it is safe to say Ms. Marvel is in the best hands when it comes to servicing the titular character. With obvious links to Captain Marvel being prevalent in both versions of Kamala, it makes sense for Marvel to switch up Kamala's powers to be geared towards the more cosmic elements to provide Kamala Khan with a connection to the Captain Marvel of the MCU. Fans will simply have to wait and see how the move plays out when Kamala Khan makes her live-action debut in Ms. Marvel on Disney+.
