Ms. Marvel is one of the most anticipated Disney Plus Marvel shows of the year, but when the first trailer for the new show dropped Tuesday, revealing massive changes to the heroine’s famous power set, social media users began arguing about whether or not it’s a good change or a bad one.
In the trailer, Kamala Khan isn’t shown using the “embiggening” powers that her comics counterpart is known for. Iman Vellani’s version of the iconic character seems to have the ability to manipulate energy and create energy constructs, which led many fans to compare her to DC superhero Green Lantern.
The trailer has also made another Marvel hero trend: Reed Richards, also known as Mr. Fantastic from the legendary Fantastic 4. Like the comic version of Ms. Marvel, Mr. Fantastic can also stretch his limbs like elastic.
Some fans suspect that Ms. Marvel’s powers were changed to differentiate her from Mr. Fantastic, presumably because Richards will soon be making his long-awaited debut in the MCU.
Others disagree with this idea, noting that the MCU already has numerous characters with similar power sets. One Twitter user said, “mfs act like people with similar power sets havent already coexisted in the mcu,” beneath which he shared pictures of three versions of Spider-Man, Wong, and Doctor Strange in addition to various Iron Man suits.
Another summed it up by saying, “Yes because the MCU has never done repeat characters” above pictures of War Machine, Wong, and the Wasp.
Others suggest that this change could be due to the failure of the Inhumans TV series. In the comics, Kamala Khan does have Inhuman genetics, which happen to be the source of her powers. However, one Twitter user argues that this power change isn’t good, even with the Inhumans context. They sum it up by saying, “But this power is fuckin lazy. They could at least make more interesting.”
Some note that while Kamala and Mr. Fantastic have similar abilities, they’re actually quite different, arguing that this makes the change redundant. “Kamala Khan in comics can stretch, yes but she can grow, shrink and transform her body into any form she wishes. At. Will,” one user pointed out.
Many fans are pointing out another reason for the change, namely how tricky it would be to make Khan’s original powers look good in a live-action series. Some users are reposting a quote from an interview G. Willow Wilson, the creator of Kamala Khan, did with Polygon in August 2019. In this interview, when asked about the live-action series, Wilson said, “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.”
Ms. Marvel lands exclusively on Disney Plus on June 8.