The announcement of The Marvels, the sequel to 2019’s Captain Marvel, officially confirms that Captain Marvel will join forces with Kamala Khan, also known as Ms. Marvel – and their first meeting in the comics is a perfect moment for the film to adapt. Kamala Khan is a wildly popular character with many adventures under her belt since her debut in 2014. She idolizes Carol Danvers and has even styled her costume to reflect Carol’s old suit from when she bore the Ms. Marvel name. Their first meeting in Ms. Marvel #17, written by G. Willow Wilson with art by Adrian Alphona and colors by Ian Herring, is a perfect blend of action, humor, and an established and experienced hero teaching a valuable lesson to her student.
Jersey City residents are in an absolute state of panic. A massive planetoid has appeared in the skies over Manhattan’s financial district, bearing down on the World Trade Center. Kamala Khan quickly changes into her Ms. Marvel attire and comes to the aid of her hometown, making sure citizens are safe. But the enormity of the event overwhelms her (it also doesn’t help that she’s recently discovered her crush Kamram was secretly working for the villainous Lineage and has kidnapped her brother Aamir). Rushing to the roof of her school, she’s never faced any crisis like this before, and certainly not alone. Fortunately, she isn’t alone: appearing next to her in her time of need is her idol, Captain Marvel.
Kamala is stunned silent, but not for long. After a brief moment in which she vents to Carol about everything going wrong in her life (“Everything sucks except for you!”), the two get down to the business of saving the city and potentially finding Aamir. They stop looters, save civilians, and all the while Kamala still can’t believe she’s fighting side-by-side with her inspiration (in the comics, Kamala is the second Ms. Marvel; Carol abandoned the name when she became Captain Marvel). Captain Marvel congratulates Kamala on her work, saying that she’s developed a reputation over the years and S.H.I.E.L.D. and a great many people think quite highly of her.
In the midst of the apocalyptic chaos, the duo comes across an apartment full of cats with the owner nowhere to be seen. Kamala desperately wants to save them all, but Carol reminds her about the curse of being a superhero: it’s impossible to save everyone all the time. “Sometimes we have to choose between a bad thing and a worse thing. But you have to remember to take care of yourself. You’re important. People need you – people love you.” This is a harsh lesson in reality, especially coming from Carol, who is very much a cat person in the comics and films alike. And yet, with all the chaos going on in Kamala’s personal life, Captain Marvel telling her she’s loved by many is something she needed to hear.
This would be the first of several meets between Captain Marvel and Ms. Marvel. The two would eventually clash over Captain Marvel’s actions during Civil War II; though Kamala’s faith in Carol would suffer as a result, she would later use this as an impetus to form her own identity. Still, the two offer a unique dynamic within the Marvel Universe of hero and fan, and with the new Ms. Marvel show on Disney+ debuting in 2022, comic readers will get a chance to see Ms. Marvel’s idolization of Captain Marvel in live-action and taking inspiration from this book would be a perfect means of folding Kamala Khan into the MCU.
