Warning: Contains SPOILERS for Ms. Marvel: Mutant Menace #1! In recent Marvel Comics continuity, Kamala Khan aka Ms. Marvel has gone through some pretty dramatic changes. Not only was Ms. Marvel dead for a time, but upon her resurrection, it was revealed that Ms. Marvel is actually a mutant as well as an Inhuman. And now, Kamala is going through yet another change, as she’s recently developed a gross new weakness that seemingly makes her powers go haywire.
In a preview for Ms. Marvel: Mutant Menace #1 by Sabir Pirzada, Iman Vellani, and Scott Godlewski, Ms. Marvel is taking down an anti-mutant criminal running loose in New Jersey. Right at the point where he knows he’s been beaten, the masked criminal throws what appears to be a grenade at Ms. Marvel. Kamala catches it in her embiggened hands where it safely explodes, at which point the criminal is arrested by the police.
As the police take the man away, Ms. Marvel waves goodbye to them with her still-embiggened hand, only for it to explode into a mess of stretchy flesh. Ms. Marvel is able to quickly re-form her hand – meaning this wasn’t a permanent injury – though the fact that her powers went haywire like this at all left her stunned, while simultaneously leaving readers wondering about the specifics and extent of her new apparent weakness.
Kamala Khan’s New Future is Much, Much Worse Than The Controversial ‘Death of Ms. Marvel’
Last year, readers briefly mourned the death of Ms. Marvel before her inevitable resurrection, but the real tragedy comes in the new mutant’s future.
Ms. Marvel May Have Encountered a New Anti-Mutant Weapon
The perp Ms. Marvel took down in this preview may have been a low-level criminal, but his ideals are shared by the most powerful people in the world at the moment in Marvel Comics canon. Orchis is an anti-mutant organization that single-handedly wiped out the vast majority of the world’s mutant population during 2023’s Hellfire Gala. And this criminal is vocally anti-mutant, saying as much himself as he lobbed a grenade at the teenage superhero.
Is it possible that Orchis is supplying anti-mutant weapons to street-level criminals? This type of covert arms dealing isn’t unheard of, and it would allow everyday people who were anti-mutant bigots the chance to become full-fledged extremists. With mutant-killing weapons at their disposal, these people could do Orchis’ dirty work for it, especially in regard to under-the-radar/closeted mutants that Orchis may not have been able to find.
Ms. Marvel’s New Weakness Perfectly Captures Her Newfound Struggles as a Mutant
Kamala Khan is learning the tragic difference between being a superhero and a mutant in the Marvel Universe.
Regardless of whether this grenade contains anti-mutant gas or anything else that would weaken/harm a mutant, the very fact that Ms. Marvel has a new weakness at all in this new series is a perfect metaphor for the newfound struggles she’s facing as a mutant. Before, Ms. Marvel was simply regarded as a superhero akin to the most beloved members of the Avengers (especially in her own community). But now that she’s a mutant, she’s the subject of hatred and disdain, even from those who would otherwise admire her – like the very criminal she takes down in this preview.
Ms. Marvel is a mutant now, which means more people are going to hate her simply for existing. Kamala Khan has faced prejudice in her life, to be sure, but not at the level that’s being depicted in Marvel Comics at the moment with mutants, who are basically shot on-sight by ever-present Orchis agents. And Ms. Marvel’s new weakness – whatever it is – is almost the physical manifestation of that new struggle (while also being incredibly gross).
Ms. Marvel: Mutant Menace #1 by Marvel Comics is available March 6, 2024.
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