Followers of comic book media vying to watch their favorite characters be brought to life on the big (or small) screens await their arrival with a certain unspoken expectancy shared between studio and fanbase. One collective anticipation that is shared across a fandom is that when a franchise decides to introduce new characters into live-action, the creative team honors the roots of how that character came to be. Perhaps it’s not always the incredibly elaborate origin story that has taken over the pages of the comics in an ornate, bombastic fashion. However, there’s hope for fidelity to the source material.

Update October 24, 2023: This article has been updated following recent updates in Ms. Marvel's comic history regarding her powers and the upcoming release of The Marvels.

Marvel Studios took particular creative liberty when introducing their first Pakistani-American hero for her live-action debut, Kamala “Ms. Marvel” Khan, as Ms. Marvel released in the summer of 2022. The series followed the superhero-obsessed teen and her unexpected embarkment on a hero’s journey of her own. Ms. Marvel appreciates the richness and vibrancy of Pakistani culture as it pays keen attention to Khan’s customs, though Marvel Studios dismisses a key aspect of her story. The Ms. Marvel series changed Kamala's classic stretchy powers from the comics for the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Here's how and why Ms. Marvel made the respective changes to Kamala Khan's powers.

How Did Ms. Marvel Get Her Powers in the Comics?

Ms. Marvel Movie Filming Next Year?

Ms. Marvel may be the first time that most are meeting the character, but she has previously established herself as a beloved newcomer to the pages of Marvel Comics during the events of the 2013 comic run, Infinity, where Thanos loomed over Earth as an unrelenting threat. A determined Thanos continues his multi-planetary search for his son Thane and leaves no species safe. After the Mad Titan vows to destroy Attilan, the home planet of the Inhumans, Black Bolt takes it upon himself to obliterate the planet before Thanos' ceaseless reign can touch it. His deafening scream shatters Attilan and triggers the response of the Terrigen Bomb. Consequent to his actions, the Mist released from the bomb falls to Earth. The dust awakens the Inhuman gene in those who are vast descendants of Inhumans and have DNA codes that trace back to Inhuman ancestry. The Mist reaches Kamala, and her Inhuman abilities are activated.

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As her powers begin to emerge, Kamala undergoes a state of metamorphosis referred to as terrigenesis. The stage of terrigenesis allows Kamala to familiarize herself with the abilities that allow her to manipulate her body. She decides to label herself as a polymorph, as she is able to shape-shift, stretch limbs, shrink, and exaggerate her physical build of will. Kamala's comic book abilities allow her acts of heroism to take almost any form that she pleases. The MCU, of course, has other plans in mind for how Kamala's valiancy will unfold across the series.

How Did Ms. Marvel Get Her Powers in the MCU?

Ms Marvel Mutant Scene
Marvel Studios
Disney

Aside from ditching the Terrigen Mist transforming Kamala into Ms. Marvel, the series has most of the origin story's original elements. Kamala's new powers are instead sourced from a mystical bangle that veils her in a purple glow. While the origins of the bangle haven't been explored too much yet, it seems to be similar to the Nega-bands from the comics. Still, there is an absence of Inhuman heritage featured within the series, and instead, it indicates that Kamala's powers are light-orientated.

The angle is a significant family heirloom in the Ms. Marvel comics and traces its history back to the division of India and Pakistan. Since then, it has made its way throughout the Khan family before reaching Kamala, though the comics never explicitly allude to any cosmic ability caused by it. While audiences originally believed that the bangle was what gave Kamala her powers, the final moments of his first season reveal it is something more.

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Her friend Bruno drops a hint that none of her family has the same trait that would activate the powers. Kamala has a mutation, and with that, she is the first confirmed mutant in the MCU. Changing Kamala from an Inhuman to a mutant and part of the X-Men franchise is a major change. This retcon of her classic comic Inhuman status came as a surprise, but the team behind it looked at it as restoring what should have been.

Why the MCU Changed Kamala Khan's Powers Origin Story

Kamala and Djinn in Ms. Marvel
Marvel Studios

When Ms. Marvel comic co-creator G. Willow Wilson was originally creating Kamala, she fully intended for her to be a mutant. The only issue was at that time, Marvel Comics was pushing the Inhumans forward as a way to get their profile raised for an eventual MCU movie since Marvel Studios did not own the X-Men. The Inhumans were looked at as a replacement for the X-Men. After the Inhumans television show bombed and Marvel got the film rights to the X-Men with the acquisition of 20th Century Fox, Marvel started to push the X-Men a lot harder. Now Ms. Marvel could officially be a mutant, setting the stage for the X-Men to eventually join the MCU.

Marvel President Kevin Feige has been incredibly reluctant to revisit the Inhumans in the MCU apart from a fun cameo by Anson Mount as Black Bolt in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Inhumans has such a stink on it that Chloe Zhao was not allowed to set a scene from Eternals in Hawaii due to that being where Inhumans took place and Marvel did not want to draw any similarities between the two properties.

This is also why they made Ms. Marvel the first mutant in the MCU. Since the Inhumans aren't going to feature in the main sacred timeline of the universe, Marvel is fully embracing mutants. When speaking about the change with New Rockstars, Kamala Khan actress Iman Vellani said, "It was an honor, especially working with [Sana Amanat, co-creator of the character and Marvel Studios producer], and knowing they wanted to make her a mutant in the first place, but it was a weird time in comics so it didn't happen. It's so exciting." The mutant change was made because of where the MCU is at now and as a way to try and set things right to how they were supposed to be at the beginning with this interpretation of the character.

G. Willow Wilson spoke on her live-action debut and her reaction to Kamala's groundbreaking inclusion into the MCU. "I think there’re some characters who are very much set up for the big screen, they’re very naturally sort of cinematic," she said during an interview with Polygon. "But with Ms. Marvel, we really weren’t interested in creating something that had very obvious film potential. I was really leaning - and I know Adrian [Alphona] and Takeshi [Miyazawa] and all of the artists as well - were really leaning into the comic book-ness of this character. She’s got very comic-booky powers. God bless them trying to bring that to live-action; I don’t know how that’s going to work out in a way that doesn’t look really creepy.”

The studio's dedication to planning its overarching stories is another contributing factor to the drastic means taken by the creative team. While Ms. Marvel's powers may not be accurate, they set her up for something greater which will further explain why her powers were changed.

It All Leads to The Marvels

The Marvels
Disney+

The plan from the beginning was always to introduce Kamala in her own Disney+ series before co-starring in the Captain Marvel sequel titled The Marvels. The big question was how she would fit into that movie. The Marvels is going to be a larger-than-life MCU film that pushes the cosmic side of the universe forward, while the Ms Marvel series was much more grounded. This is a large reason why Kamala had a drastic change in powers. The new hard light abilities not only make her more powerful but also set her on a collision course with Carol Danvers and Monica Rambeau.

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In The Marvels, Kamala is going to come face to face with her favorite hero, but not at first. Her, Carol and Monica's light-based powers all become entangled, causing them to swap places whenever two of them use their powers at the same time. This fun idea is what will set the film in motion and get these three characters interacting with each other to find out why. It's the biggest reason that they have changed her powers, as now they're more in line with the others, and it sets up the premise for the film.

Comics Taking Inspiration from the MCU

Ms Marvel The New Mutant
Marvel Comics

The Ms. Marvel status quo changes aren't exclusive to the MCU, though, as the character has gone through some pretty big developments recently in the comics as well. In a controversial storyline earlier this year, the comics have completely changed the character to synergize with the MCU.

It all started in Amazing Spider-Man #26 when Kamala was abruptly killed off, sacrificing herself to save Mary Jane. A few weeks later, her death was confirmed and immediately teased to be non-permanent in the one-shot Fallen Friend: The Death of Ms. Marvel. It was shortly after announced that Kamala would be coming back to life and starring in her own run titled Ms. Marvel: The New Mutant, written by Ms. Marvel star herself, Iman Vellani.

After her revival, Kamala finds out that she is a mutant. At this time in comics, the citizens of Krakoa found a way to bring mutants back to life. The big twist is that she's still an Inhuman, making her the first character in the universe to be both. It's unknown what her mutant ability is, but the most likely option is the hard light abilities to make her more in line with her MCU counterpart. These changes have started to bleed over into the source material which marks an exciting time of uncertainty for the character. For now, Kamala is an official member of the X-Men, trying to navigate her life as a superhero in college with more people than ever against her.