• UK
  • World
    • USA
  • Entertainment
    • Celeb
    • Showbiz
    • Magazine
  • Politics
  • Sports
  • Gaming
  • Tech
  • Science
    • Education
  • Insurance
  • Business
  • Auto
  • ToS/Contact
    • ToS
    • Privacy Policy
    • Contact
NewsExplored
  • UK
  • World
    • USA
  • Entertainment
    • Celeb
    • Showbiz
    • Magazine
  • Politics
  • Sports
  • Gaming
  • Tech
  • Science
    • Education
  • Insurance
  • Business
  • Auto
  • ToS/Contact
    • ToS
    • Privacy Policy
    • Contact
  • Facebook

  • Twitter

  • LinkedIn

  • Tumblr

  • RSS

Entertainment

Ms Marvel on TV: A ‘bold move for Marvel to diversify their characters’

Ms Marvel on TV: A ‘bold move for Marvel to diversify their characters’
Newsexplored
2nd October 2020
7
SHARES
ShareTweet
SubscribeRedditGoogleWhatsappStumbleuponPinterestDiggLinkedinTumblrTelegram
Views:
3
Ms MarvelImage copyright Alamy

Canadian newcomer Iman Vellani will play the superhero Ms Marvel in an upcoming Disney+ series, reports say.

Deadline reported the news, adding the character will feature in future Marvel Cinematic Universe films too.

Ms Marvel is the alter-ego of Pakistani-American teenager Kamala Khan, who idolises other superheroes such as Captain Marvel.

Marvel says the character has an “inhuman ability to alter shape and size”.

Newsbeat’s asked for confirmation from Disney+ about the casting reports, but we’ve not had a response yet.

As the MCU moves into its fourth phase, Disney has widened the types of characters it represents on screen.

  • Marvel Phase 4: A new era of Hollywood diversity
  • Marvel Comics at 80: From bankruptcy to billions

Who is Ms Marvel?

This is the fourth incarnation of the character.

The first three were white women - the most famous being Carol Danvers, who went on to become Captain Marvel.

It’s that Captain Marvel who 16-year-old Kamala Khan idolises when she’s growing up in New Jersey.

Kamala is one of several humans to gain powers when Terrigen Mist is released into the atmosphere - giving her the ability to “extend her limbs, alter her appearance, and shift shape in other manners”.

Her storyline was introduced in the Captain Marvel comics in 2013, before Kamala got her own comic book in 2014.

data-ad-format="auto">

‘Younger generations want more diversity’

“It’s about time, quite frankly,” says presenter and comic book expert Claire Lim.

“For many years, comics have been trailblazing this idea that there are lots of different types of superheroes, lots of different types of people,” she tells Radio 1 Newsbeat.

Image copyright Scarlet Page
Image caption Claire Lim says younger people “demand” more diversity

Claire says “Ms Marvel is a great character,” but that film and TV can be slower to incorporate a wider range of stories - partly because of the people in charge.

“The quicker the people holding the money and making the decisions understand [diverse] subsections or sections of society, the better.


“Because they’ll realise there’s a lot of people out there that want to see themselves in film and television.”

“I think the younger generation demands diversity be integral to something instead of being tacked on as a as a cynical ploy.”

‘She doesn’t just speak to Muslim women’

“What we’re looking at is this quite bold move by Marvel that they undertook a few years ago to diversify their characters,” says Dr Manmit Bhambra, a sociologist at LSE and Imperial College London.

Manmit specialises in identity politics and has just conducted a three-year review into the effect Ms Marvel has on communities around the world.

She says the comic “speaks to the experience of young people whose parents are immigrants like mine, for example - the push and pull of where you want to fit in.”

Image copyright Dr Manmit Bhambra
Image caption Dr Manmit Bhambra has conducted a large study looking into the impact of Ms Marvel

But her research found that non-Muslim interviewees also responded to the comics in its themes of generational and family divides.

“The intersection of race and ethnicity and womanhood are things that lots of young people can relate to in different ways.”

Manmit’s paper interviewed 182 people and involved researchers in the UK, Lebanon, the UAE and Singapore and is about to go into its peer-review stage.

She adds that the addition of Ms Marvel into the MCU is a sign that Disney is “making sure that the characters are not just there for a short amount of time [and] that they are invested in.”

  • Ms Marvel: Trailblazing Muslim hero goes gaming
  • Marvel’s Avengers game is ‘making your own film’
Image copyright Disney
Image caption Captain Marvel is Ms Marvel’s biggest inspiration

Who is Iman Vellani?

Deadline says this will be the 18-year-old’s first major Hollywood production.

She was on the Next Wave Committee at the Toronto International film Festival last year - a panel of teenagers who judge youth-orientated films.

Back then, she described herself as “curious, adventurous [and] meticulous”.

When asked who would play her in a film, she said: “Iron Man… duh”.

Another profile of her from the time said she “hopes to venture into the world of cinematography one day.”

Her favourite film at the festival was Hala, about a Pakistani-American-Muslim teenager with immigrant parents.

She said she “was really able to relate a lot to this film,” about “a young member of society who’s just trying to fit in to the best of both worlds.”

‘Forget the gatekeepers’

For all the people who welcome these moves, there is often a backlash to more diverse characters.

Captain Marvel - the first MCU film to have a female star as its sole lead - was aggressively down-voted on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes before it was released.

The boss of Rotten Tomatoes’ parent company said they’d since made adjustments to the site to achieve what he called “noise reduction - when high-profile films such as Captain Marvel or Star Wars movies attract trolls with agendas”.

Kelly Marie Tran - the first lead woman of colour in the Star Wars franchise - deleted her social media accounts after sexist and racist abuse aimed at her.

And in the DC Universe, Anna Diop from the TV show Titans disabled her Instagram comments after facing racist backlash from comic book fans.

  • Captain Britain anyone? Who could follow The Avengers?
  • Marvel unveils swathe of new superhero films
Image copyright Getty Images
Image caption Kelly Marie Tran faced trolling after her role in Star Wars

“When it comes to nerd culture, there are a lot of gatekeepers, and there are a lot of people who go, ‘This isn’t the way I envisaged it,” says Claire.

“I would say to them, you’ve got all these other things you can read.”

So, she says, “forget the gatekeepers.

“If you think that seeing different human faces is a bad thing on television, then I think you need to look at yourself and go, ‘I wonder why that is?'”

Follow Newsbeat on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

Listen to Newsbeat live at 12:45 and 17:45 weekdays - or listen back here.

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Google+ (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)
  • Share on Skype (Opens in new window)

Related

Related Itemscharactersdiversifymarveltheir
Entertainment
2nd October 2020
Newsexplored @newsexploredweb

Related Itemscharactersdiversifymarveltheir

More in Entertainment

  • Read More
    In pictures: Sir Sean Connery

    Views:3 image copyrightGetty Images image captionSir Sean Connery was the first actor to play the fictional secret...

    Newsexplored 2nd October 2020
  • Read More
    Welsh Music Prize: Shortlist for 10th anniversary revealed

    Views:3 image captionAdwaith won the prize in 2019 Following a year where artists have had their ability...

    Newsexplored 2nd October 2020
  • Read More
    Ed Sheeran gives personal items to Suffolk charity auction

    Views:3 image copyrightEd Sheeran: Made In Suffolk Legacy Auction image captionEd Sheeran started performing publicly in 2005,...

    Newsexplored 2nd October 2020
  • Read More
    Fast & Furious franchise to reach end of the road ‘after two more films’

    Views:3 image copyrightGetty Images image captionF9 actors Michelle Rodriguez, Jordana Brewster, Nathalie Emmanuel, Tyrese Gibson and Vin...

    Newsexplored 2nd October 2020
  • Read More
    Hollyoaks anniversary: 25 years of memorable storylines

    Views:3 By Steve HoldenNewsbeat reporter media captionHollyoaks is marking 25 years of groundbreaking storylines. Actor Nick Pickard...

    Newsexplored 2nd October 2020
  • Read More
    Bhanu Athaiya: Costume designer who won India’s first Oscar dies

    Views:3 Published 14 hours ago image copyrightGetty Images image captionDirector Richard Attenborough asked Bhanu Athaiya to work...

    Newsexplored 2nd October 2020
  • Read More
    Why Africa’s animation scene is booming

    Views:3 By Vivienne Nunis & Sarah TreanorBusiness reporters, BBC News image copyrightRIDWAN MOSHOOD image captionRidwan Moshood says...

    Newsexplored 2nd October 2020
  • Read More
    US movie chain AMC warns it is running out of money

    Views:3 Image copyright Reuters The world’s biggest movie chain has warned it could run out of money...

    Newsexplored 2nd October 2020
  • Read More
    Association of Photographers 2020 Award winners unveiled

    Views:3 The winners of this year’s Association of Photographers (AOP) Awards have been announced, with striking images...

    Newsexplored 2nd October 2020
  • Read More
    BTS in trouble in China over Korean War comments

    Views:3 Image copyright EPA Image caption RM (2nd from right) is the band’s leader South Korean K-pop...

    Newsexplored 2nd October 2020
  • Read More
    Some Vue cinemas to be open part-time only

    Views:3 Image copyright Getty Images Image caption The Vue in London’s Leicester Square is one of those...

    Newsexplored 2nd October 2020
  • Read More
    Tom Parker: The Wanted singer says he has inoperable brain tumour

    Views:3 Image copyright Getty Images Image caption “I’m going to be here, I’m going to fight this,”...

    Newsexplored 2nd October 2020
Scroll for more
Tap
data-ad-format="auto">
NewsExplored

NewsExplored - Making sure all the latest news is explored?

Contact us for help

  • Popular

  • Latest

  • Comments

  • Ervin Staub: A Holocaust survivor’s mission to train ‘heroic bystanders’
    USA5th October 2020
  • Storm Alex brings heavy rain and high winds to parts of UK
    UK2nd October 2020
  • Transfer news: Winners and losers after deadline day
    Sports6th October 2020
  • Amy Coney Barrett: Supreme Court nominee vows to ‘apply law as written’
    USA11th October 2020
  • US election 2020: Fact-checking Trump and Biden’s final week
    USA31st October 2020
  • World Series: LA Dodgers beat Tampa Bay Rays to triumph for first time since 1988
    USA28th October 2020
  • Amy Coney Barrett confirmed to US Supreme Court
    USA27th October 2020
  • Donald Trump setback in rape defamation case
    USA27th October 2020
  • Les Rehrer says:

    Hello Its me :P and thanks for this post

  • optumrx login says:

    Thank For News.

  • Kent Laatsch says:

    Please let me know if you're looking for a writer…

  • Bob says:

    RT News was where I learned that Erdogan controlled isis.…

Copyright © 2018 Top News Theme. Theme by MVP Themes, powered by Wordpress.

Strictly Come Dancing’s HRVY tests positive for coronavirus
Ben Thomas: Ex-BBC presenter jailed for child sex offences
We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it.Ok