Welcome to our weekly From Comics to Cinema feature where we look to the comics to talk about how we’d like to see them influence the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Last week, Adam, one of our newer writers here at MCU Exchange, talked about how he’d like to see Darkhawk make his way to the MCU. This week, I’ve decided to turn the focus to Ms. Marvel.
Yesterday, the folks over at Comic Book Resources released the second part of their interview with Marvel’s Chief Creative Officer, Joe Quesada. In that interview, Quesada discussed various topics, including the newfound popularity of Squirrel Girl – who may be making her own MCU debut should New Warriors find a home – and the incredibly important, and ever-so-popular, Ms. Marvel. The most interesting bit from that interview was how Quesada seemed to hint at a possible live-action debut of the still relatively new character in the future. As we all know, Marvel has already announced all of Phase Three of the MCU, and Ms. Marvel (Kamala Khan) is currently not a part of that plan – as far as we’re aware.
Phase Four, however, is a different story. Fans have always assumed that, should Kamala make the leap to the big screen, it’d be during Phase Four, as by that point she’d have had enough source material to her name for Marvel Studios to pull from. However, Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige has always remained mum about adapting Kamala for the big screen. In fact, as big of a fan-favorite character as Kamala is, we’ve heard more rumors about her possibly leading her own TV series – albeit, those rumors were always by iffy sources – than we have about her joining the film side. So, with Quesada stressing Kamala’s possible future with the MCU, it’s hard not to speculate about what exactly that means.
“Our readers are the Johnny Appleseeds. They tell us something is resonating, something is hitting a core, and that’s something we should try to cultivate. Another great example of this: Ms. Marvel. If we had put this book out ten years ago, it probably would never have succeeded. Not only did we find the audience, but we had the right people on the book and we had the right editor on the book, the right creators on the book. And now we have a character that’s very recognizable — very, very quickly. That doesn’t happen a lot. Who knows where Ms. Marvel’s going to end up. You can be sure that, somewhere down the road, she will be a part of the future of Marvel in other media.”
Prior to Robbie Reye’s Ghost Rider joining Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and The Runaways landing at Hulu, I kind of always assumed that a character like Ms. Marvel would be off limits for the television side. However, with Marvel Television moving towards bigger names for their future projects, including the possible Squirrel Girl-led New Warriors they’re shopping around, it’s hard to deny that those Ms. Marvel TV show rumors may not seem that insane after all. Something that I hate to admit. See, for me, Ms. Marvel always seemed like a logical step for the MCU down the line. Shake-up the film line-up. Add in some young blood alongside the more experienced heroes. While the TV side has been focusing on bringing in younger heroes (Cloak & Dagger, The Runaways, New Warriors, etc.), the youngest hero we have on the film side thus far is Tom Holland‘s Peter Parker. Which is why I’m holding out hope we’ll see Kamala suit up alongside Spider-Man and the rest of the Avengers at some point in Phase Four.
Kamala Khan is such an important character, that I as much as I enjoy Marvel’s TV shows, I can’t fathom wasting her on the small screen. She deserves to be on the big screen. To stand alongside Brie Larson‘s Carol Danvers. To be an Avenger. Putting her on the small screen would take away all of that. Which is why, when Quesada notes the character’s future in “other media”, I can’t help but to hope he does, in fact, mean film.
What about you? Would you rather see a Ms. Marvel TV series or a movie? Let us know in the comments below!
