The Cast of Ms. Marvel Talks Bringing More Representation Into the MCU
(Slight spoilers for the first episode of Ms. Marvel on Disney+ ahead.)
The Marvel Cinematic Universe's newest hero is making history.
Ms. Marvel has officially made her onscreen debut on Disney+ as the franchise's first-ever Muslim-Pakistani superhero. Bringing New Jersey teen Kamala Khan to life in an authentic way was very important to star Iman Vellani, who told E! News' While You Were Streaming that filming sometimes "felt like a typical family gathering."
"A lot of the scenes that we shot that were more religious or cultural just felt like very familiar to me," she said on the June 8 episode of the E! digital series. "I think the work is gonna speak for itself, and I think we've done a really good job in organically incorporating diversity with Kamala's actual story."
Cast member Rish Shah—who plays Kamran—said the series' representation can be seen in many ways, from something as small as a line of dialogue to something as big as a Bollywood dance number, as teased by actress Zenobia Shroff, who plays Kamala's mother, Muneeba.
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"It was fabulous fun," she said about filming the dance scene. "But then as we get deeper and deeper, we're also gonna show you some very painful South Asian history, which I think is really important and relevant to see."
Powered up by the end of the series' first episode—thanks to the help of a mysterious family bangle bracelet—Kamala and her friends are in for some "cosmic" adventures ahead. But what Mohan Kapur—who plays Kamala's father Yusuf—says lies at the center of the show is a story about "a loving family like any other."
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Her fantasy becoming reality? Now that’s just marvelous. ❤️ We’re talking all things <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/MsMarvel?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#MsMarvel</a> right NOW on <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/WhileYouWereStreaming?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#WhileYouWereStreaming</a> <a href="https://t.co/lxCwR2wiLV">https://t.co/lxCwR2wiLV</a></p>— E! News (@enews) <a href="https://twitter.com/enews/status/1534565642346434562?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 8, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
"They have their internal strife, they have their love, they have their laughter," he said. "It just so happens that one of them gets this superhero tag and becomes a savior of Jersey."
As much as Yasmeen Fletcher—who plays Kamala's BFF Nakia—loved "feeling seen" by the show's onscreen representation, she is just as excited for fans to "find somebody to cling onto."
"Every character has something really cool to them," she told E! News. "That's just a level of the visibility that everybody will feel."
Matt Lintz, who plays Kamala's tech wiz bestie Bruno, felt similarly, adding, "Every young boy and girl are gonna gain confidence. So many people are gonna relate to her or are gonna look up to her and be like, ‘You know what? I wanna be like her.'"
Check out the full episode above, and be sure to follow E! News on Twitter so you don't miss new episodes of While You Were Streaming.
New episodes of Ms. Marvel premiere Wednesdays on Disney+.
Don't miss a brand new episode of E! News' digital series, While You Were Streaming, on Wednesday, June 8, at 9 a.m. PT on Twitter @enews! We'll be recapping the biggest moments from Ms. Marvel's premiere on Disney+.
