It is no secret that over the last decade, Marvel Studios has made some adjustments to the comic book heroes they have brought to the big and small screen. Now Ms. Marvel is about to join the Marvel Universe, and there have already been some fans unhappy with the origin of the character’s powers and now they've changed even before a single episode has aired. Now Kevin Feige has explained why it was necessary to change Kamala Kahn’s powers for her small screen debut.
Kamala Kahn, aka Ms. Marvel, is one of the newer additions to the world of Marvel Comics, having made her debut in 2013 as a fan of Captain Marvel. The first Muslim superhero to appear in Marvel’s history, Kamala gains her superhuman powers when she is caught in a Terrigen Bomb, which activates powers already within her linked to her Inhuman DNA. In her comic book form, this includes controlling the mass of her body and the ability to shape-shift into both people and objects. While there is a kind of similar growth power going on in the trailers, it is not exactly as seen in the source material. Speaking with Empire, Kevin Feige explained the reasons for the changes. He said:
“We adapt the comics; it’s not an exact translation. [Kamala] came about in a very specific time within the comic-book continuity. She is now coming into a very specific time within the MCU continuity. And those two things didn’t match. What we will learn about where those powers come from, and how they come about, is specific to the MCU. You will see great comic splash panels in some of our action sequences. If you want big, giant hands and arms, well they’re here in spirit, if not in stretchy, plastic-type ways.”
Ms. Marvel’s Changes Come From the Failure of The Inhumans Movie
Just over a decade ago, the first whispers of an Inhumans movie were heard and in 2014, Kevin Feige announced the film would arrive in November 2018 as part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Phase Three. However, by 2016 the movie had dropped out of the upcoming line-up of movies, and Inhumans were introduced as part of the mostly non-canon Agents of Shield series. Around this time, it seemed to be decided that the film would instead become a TV series, and that series debuted in 2017 and still stands as one of the worst-rated Marvel projects to have ever been released and therefore, it soon dropped out of existence.
Since there has been no mention of Inhumans in the MCU thanks to the movie being dropped in favor of the unlinked TV show, the events that surround Kamala Kahn’s transformation into Ms. Marvel in the comics haven’t happened in the MCU, and as Feige has explained, this means that changes had to be made.
There have been discussions about the Inhumans being brought into the MCU as recently as 2019, but with other groups such as Fantastic Four and X-Men also now being on the cards and Ms. Marvel not including any Inhuman references, it is unlikely that we will see Inhumans on screen again for some time to come.