Iman Vellani has truly gone to town on a Ms. Marvel inspired short film, with her realising an adorable 90 second movie addressing her love for the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Cast as one of the most wholesome characters in the Marvel mythos, Vellani had big shoes to fill. The bubbly fangirl that is Kamala Khan in the Marvel universe is soon to make her live-action debut in the Disney Plus series Ms. Marvel, and Vellani has shared her homemade shortfilm about her MCU character.
Fittingly, it’s exactly like a fanfilm a Tumblr stan would make for their favorite characters. Wearing her Captain Marvel socks and reading her Avengers comics, Vellani then imagines a fanfilm with her Ms. Marvel and Iron Man action figures dancing. Yes, it’s as adorable as it sounds.
The short was posted last year on Vimeo, but has just started to get noticed as the premiere date closes in for Marvel’s newest superhero. Captioned suitably with “Rdj [Robert Downey Jr.] if u see this ily”, it’s a great first unofficial peak into the MCU’s Kamala Khan.
Vellani has spoken at length recently about the process of becoming Ms. Marvel, and how she only found out she’d been cast on her final day of high school after a vigorous screening process hampered by the pandemic. Fittingly, Vellani is a superfan of her character, recounting the story to Now Toronto.
I started my audition process in February 2020. It was all through a WhatsApp forum that my aunt received. She sent it to me because I’m a huge Ms. Marvel fan. I read all the comics when I was in high school. I dressed up as her for Halloween. She was very much a prominent character in my life. And my entire family knew that. I wasn’t ever going to go into the acting world, but this was just something that felt so fated that I had to try. I sent my self tape. Two days later, they call me to L.A. Then I’m in L.A. with my dad and it was like the greatest time of my life just being in that room with so many Marvel producers.
Then the pandemic hit and my next screen test got cancelled. They just sent me literally one email and were like, “You’re still very much in the running. We just have to figure some stuff out on our end. I was like, “Okay, well, I got to figure out university but great.” I was like, “Do I accept college applications or what?” June hits and they ask for another screen test over Zoom. I thought it went terribly. But clearly not. A week later, literally on the last day of high school, I got the call on my friend’s driveway.
Viewers will get to see Vellani in action soon, with Ms. Marvel set to premiere June 8 on Disney Plus.