SPOILER WARNING: The following article contains a massive spoiler for the Ms. Marvel finale. If you have not yet watched the episode, proceed at your own risk!
While Ms. Marvel in its entirety is a wonderful, inventive and fun new addition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the final moments of the finale will likely be remembered as ushering the franchise into a special new era. As it turns out, Kamala Khan does not just have powers because of the mystical bangle that she wears, but because she is a mutant (the first character identified with that term in the canon). It’s very clearly a big step toward the eventual introduction of the X-Men in the MCU… and it evidently had Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige go into full compartmentalization mode – not even spilling details to Ms. Marvel directors/producers Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah.
In the wake of the Ms. Marvel finale arriving on Disney+ this week, I interviewed the two filmmakers about their work on the show this morning, and the first topic of conversation was about Kamala Khan being established as a mutant. I asked about the origins of that bombshell, and Adil El Arbi explained that he and Bilall Fallah (who co-directed both the first and last episodes) didn’t know about the revelation until they were delivered the script. Said El Arbi,
That's something that was like the best kept secret of the show. We didn't know about it ourselves up until the very last moment. And then we got that script and then we read it and it was like, 'Is this really... is it really what we think it is?' And then we would ask Kevin [Feige], 'So...,' and then a million question would follow and then Kevin would not answer any of those questions.
Marvel fans have spent more than a decade witnessing Kevin Feige’s remarkable ability to hide spoilers and evade questions about the future of the MCU – and that’s not just something that he does with members of the press. The only way to keep secrets is by limiting the amount of information that gets disseminated at all levels, and there is perhaps no secret bigger in the franchise right now than the mystery surrounding how the X-Men will eventually be introduced.
Evidently Kevin Feige didn’t feel it wholly necessary to elucidate the subject of Kamala Khan’s future as a mutant in conversation with Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah in the development of the Ms. Marvel finale – though obviously that will change if the filmmakers become further involved with the development of the character in the canon. El Arbi continued,
[Kevin] just said, 'That's the script, you shoot that. And then you put the little music on it,' and that's that No answering questions. Like, if should we be part of the future? Then yeah, ok, we gotta know a little bit. But so far we don't know anything… We tried, believe me, during the shoots – also tried about Spider-Man: No Way Home, about Dr. Strange 2: nothing.
Clearly Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah were blown away by the Kamala Khan’s mutant-hood, but according to the latter, the news basically broke the brain of star Iman Vellani. The young star is very proudly a hardcore Marvel nerd, much like her character (hence why she froze up when meeting Kevin Feige for the first time), and learning a new bit of trivia about the hero’s DNA rocked her world. Fallah explained,
I think her mind exploded, literally She knew about that scene and was like talking the whole time also trying to get all the information . But yeah, Iman is... it's unbelievable that she never played in a movie, and it's the first time she's doing that. Seeing her grow from the first episode to the last episode, she really went from being somebody who never had experience to a real professional artist at the end. She just a joy to watch.
Ms. Marvel is the first time that Iman Vellani has starred in anything, and she has been earning rave reviews for her performance from the very start of the series. Bilall Fallah explained that he and Adil El Arbi had a wonderful time working with her, and he predicts that she will have an exciting future – just like her Marvel character:
As directors, you just watch and you say, 'Action,' and you see all the things that she brings to the character and her own personality. It's so fun to work with her. She's I think maybe the biggest fan on the set, she knows everything about everything. Sometimes you were like even asking questions to her. She's just a super talented girl that I think has a big future ahead, like Kamala Khan you know, it's the same.
The exciting future for Iman Vellani in the immediate sense includes director Nia DaCosta’s The Marvels, which features a stellar cast and has already completed production. The Marvel Cinematic Universe blockbuster will be the third one delivered to theaters in 2023, arriving on the heels of Ant-Man And The Wasp: Quantumania and Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3 on July 28, 2023. To learn all about the theatrical future for the franchise, be sure to check out our Upcoming Marvel Movies guide.
All six episode of Ms. Marvel are now streaming, and you can start watching them immediately with a Disney+ subscription.
