Newcomer and Canadian actress Iman Vellani has been cast as the teenage character Ms. Marvel for the upcoming Disney+ limited series of the same name. Relatively unknown, this will be Vellani’s first major Hollywood role, but as Deadline notes, she was at the 2019 Toronto Film Festival as part of the diversifying Next Wave Committee which was tasked with adding a special tag to films which they believed would resonate with their peers. “We want stories from different genders and different countries and different people,” Vellani said at the time.
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Bisha K. Ali will serve as the showrunner for “Ms. Marvel,” a writer for the 2019 “Four Weddings and a Funeral” TV series and “Sex Education.” “Ms. Marvel” was initially expected to premiere in 2022, but it is unclear how the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic—which has already messed with Marvel’s film and TV schedule—has affected that loose time frame. If all goes according to plan, and it rarely does these days, “Ms. Marvel” would be the sixth (or seventh?) Marvel Disney+ series to air following, “WandaVision,” then likely “Loki,” “Falcon and the Winter Soldier,” “Hawkeye” and the animated “What If” series.
“Ms. Marvel” is also supposed to launch the second wave of Marvel Disney+ shows, her series revelation came along with the announcement of shows for “She-Hulk” and “Moon Knight.”
There have been different incarnations of Ms. Marvel in the past, but the latest incarnation, focuses on a young Pakastani teenager named Kamala Khan. Khan broke ground by becoming Marvel’s first Muslim character to lead her own comics title. Her identity as a Pakistani American, living in a religious family in New Jersey while trying to find her own way, has been a major focus of the comic storylines. Various cartoons and comics have seen her in many different groups including the Avengers, the Champions, New Avengers, and more. Her powers have been described as polymorphous, meaning she has the ability to stretch and change her shape.
The Ms. Marvel character is also going to be prominently featured in the 2020 ‘Avengers’ video game published by Square Enix, the only character, not featured in Marvel’s original movie, a big coup for Kamala Khan.
Marvel and Disney have paid a lot of lip service to the ideas of diversity and inclusivity both in front and behind the cameras and clearly, with the inclusion of “Ms. Marvel” in her own show, the companies are putting their money where their mouths are. [Deadline]