Current Ms. Marvel Story Keeps Drawing Controversy Among Kamala Fans

True Believers are still angry about Kamala Khan, a.k.a. Ms. Marvel, and all the changes she’s undergoing at Marvel Comics. The comic book publisher’s only South Asian and Muslim main character was fridged in a Spider-Man story (not even in a story with Miles Morales, who is her close friend, but a Peter Parker one), then resurrected on Krakoa in the hopes that her coming out as a mutant would help improve human-mutant relations. If the recent Kamala events have left you scratching your head, fair: Ms. Marvel’s coming out as a mutant has been messy, and the X-Men: Hellfire Gala #1 explanation of why her resurrection was rushed to the top of the list didn’t clarify matters. It made them worse.

“The untimely death of Ms. Marvel ended the debate over whether to tell Kamala that Cerebro identified her as a mutant. Emma Frost’s desire that she announce herself as a proud mutant was a political move,” the Gerry Duggan-penned narration of the Hellfire Gala reads. “Disturbing revelations both true and false had sunk mutant-human relations to an all-time low. Still, there was reason for hope if you knew where to look.”

The hope the mutants are looking for is … Kamala? Because she’s the first-ever Inhuman-mutant hero? I guess Professor X is back to putting a lot of pressure on children to save the world, declaring Ms. Marvel a powerful symbol of unity. Xavier tells her, “The reason we hoped that you would announce your mixed heritage is not just that we would be proud to have you among us but also that it might help change the minds of those who fear us.”

Across Marvel fandoms, Kamala’s recent character developments in the comics have generated a lot of controversy and discourse (like Secret Empire levels), with the main criticisms being (1) she’s been whitewashed, and (2) she’s been aged up, sexualized, and is showing a lot of skin for a Muslim woman. The latter criticism by fans isn’t about people trying to control women’s bodies; instead, it argues the character is not being treated with nuance and respect (while some Muslim women may show a lot of skin, Kamala hasn’t been that type of person).

“I’m still not over this like she is a MUSLIM TEENAGE GIRL, AND THEY GOT HER IN A SILK ROBE THAT DOESN’T EVEN COVER HER KNEES IN FRONT OF A BUNCH OF ADULTS, AND DON’T EVEN GET ME STARTED ON THE COLORING,” wrote X user JoJoTalksComics on July 20, raising a long-standing issue that some fans have with Marvel Comics: the sexualization of teen girls, e.g. the J. Scott Campbell Midtown Comics variant that sexually depicted Riri Williams, who is 15 years old in the comics.

Many Kamala fans agreed with JoJoTalksComics, noting that the short red and black robe that Kamala was resurrected in isn’t even a standard robe for a mutant resurrection (most are longer). Other fans noted that the robe isn’t something the character would normally choose to wear. “Thinking about how this will be the first introduction to Kamala for a part of the X-Men fandom, they’re making her a random sexy girl it’s WEIRD,” one X user commented. “Give her back her PJs, it had so much personality, and it [showed] her dorky side so much better than whatever this is supposed to convey.”

There is also a rumor that the Ms. Marvel storyline was meant for Mary Jane. On July 21, X user BattleRaven01 tried to ask Marvel Comics editor-in-chief C.B. Cebulski, Marvel editors Nick Lowe and Tom Brevoort, Amazing Spider-Man writer Zeb Wells, and Walt Disney Company CEO Bob Iger about the conspiracy theory, tweeting, “I believe this image was GOING to be MJ. Killing Kamala was a last-minute deal. You planned to kill MJ but received so much backlash that you switched her & MJ last minute. ASM #26 is an obvious 11th-hour patchwork.”

While several Kamala fans have echoed BattleRaven01’s theories, others felt it was far-fetched. In the far-fetched camp, however, many still felt that the character’s introduction as a mutant was muddled due to another long-standing Marvel complaint: whitewashing of characters who join the MCU. 

X user “Ash” pointed out on July 25 that a simpler explanation for the change in the character’s appearance is that Marvel has a long history of whitewashing characters, saying, “You know, Marvel (esp. the team on the X-books) has like a well-documented history of white-washing characters, right? And it doesn’t make sense timeline-wise with how comic books are produced.”

(Featured Image: Marvel Comics)