'Ms. Marvel': Take a look inside the school that inspired her Disney+ story

JERSEY CITY, N.J. — Ms. Marvel can walk on air and shoot giant energy "fists." She fights villains in a costume fashioned from a blue burkini accented with a golden lightning bolt.

But to the girls at the Dr. Ronald McNair Academic High School, here's her real superpower: She makes them feel seen.

For the group of young Muslim students at McNair, these are exciting times. Disney+'s new series "Ms. Marvel" (streaming new episodes weekly on Wesnesdays) features the heroine and her teenage alter ego, Kamala Khan, setting much of the action in a school inspired by the academy.

For the girls at McNair who proudly cosplay Kamala at school events, it's a revolution in representation. After years of feeling stereotyped or sidelined in media, here is a teenager who looks like them and who balances her Islamic faith, culture, school and relationships as they do in their daily lives.

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And she’s a superhero tasked with saving the world, to boot.

“All girls that are like us need to see somebody on the big screen that looks like them and gives them power to think, ‘I can do big things. I can do great things,’” said Noran Nazir, a McNair senior and a fan of the Ms. Marvel comic book series.

USA TODAY Network got an inside look at McNair Academic High School, speaking with students and staff about their unique connection to the newest star of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The school has embraced its comic kinship with dramatic readings, Ms. Marvel-themed art, an online “Kamala Khan Convention” and talks by the comic's creators.

There’s even a Ms. Marvel-themed club called Coles Kamala Korps, whose members have donned the superhero’s costume for school spirit events and children's story time at the public library. Teacher and club advisor Holly Smith, who has taught the comic books in English class, will take several students to New York City on Thursday for a screening and panel discussion with members of the cast and crew.

Kamala Khan's Coles Academic, by a different name

On an ordinary school day last month, McNair students shuffled along hallways where, in the comic's universe, Kamala Khan has awkward encounters with peers who mispronounce her name.

They played volleyball in a gymnasium that serves as a bomb shelter in the comics when their town is besieged in a supernatural civil war. They climbed steps that lead to the roof where Ms. Marvel and fellow hero Captain Marvel talk about the privilege and burden of saving lives.

In the comics, Kamala Khan attends Coles Academic High School – a nod to Coles Street, on which the real-life high school is located. In the brightly inked panels, Ms. Marvel's high school, with its imposing colonnaded entrance, looks a lot like McNair, a magnet school of about 700 students from diverse backgrounds.

Sana Amanat, the co-creator of the comic character and a co-executive producer for the show, was inspired by her upbringing in northern New Jersey in a Pakistani American household. G. Willow Wilson, a former writer and co-creator for the comic book series, also grew up in the Garden State. Both women are Muslim.

Khan was introduced in Marvel comics in 2013 as a fan of Captain Marvel before getting her own book, which debuted the next year.

'You save the world'

Kamala (far right, Iman Vellani) hits the school cafeteria with friends Nakia (Yasmeen Fletcher) and Bruno (Matthew Lintz) in Disney+'s "Ms. Marvel."
Kamala (far right, Iman Vellani) hits the school cafeteria with friends Nakia (Yasmeen Fletcher) and Bruno (Matthew Lintz) in Disney+'s "Ms. Marvel."

In trailers for the show, 16-year-old Kamala – played by Pakistani Canadian actor Iman Vellani – is seen daydreaming at school, dining with family and praying at a mosque.

In one conversation, her father cites a famous Quranic verse stating that “if you save one life, you save the world.” She's also seen crushing over a boy and getting teased for her beloved Avengers T-shirts.

Kamala marvels at her new superpowers, unlocked when a gaseous mist triggers powers in people with latent "inhuman" lineage. In the comics, she can lengthen her arms and legs and change shape; in the show, she projects energy from glowing hands as she battles evildoers.

Pariza Hassan, a junior, liked that the superhero and her Pakistani American family are portrayed as complex and loving in the comics. Kamala struggles to balance responsibilities at home and in her community, which felt familiar to Hassan, 16.

“Whenever I go to school, there is another person I have to be,” she said. “Whenever I’m home, there’s another person I have to be." It's a clash she experiences every day, but she finds a way to balance it.

Fatimah Khalid, 18, a McNair senior, admires how Kamala Khan has evolved in the Marvel tales, embracing her role as a hero while staying close to her roots. As a shapeshifter, the character at first took on the appearance of the white, blonde Carol Danvers, aka Captain Marvel.

As Kamala grew more confident, she created her own costume made from a burkini, a full-coverage swimsuit worn by Muslim women. She added a lightning bolt in homage to Danvers and finished off the look with bold touches: blue boots, a mask, red tights and a scarf.

McNair Academic High School students (from left) Noran Nazir, Fatimah Khalid, and Pariza Hassan outside the school on Tuesday, May 10, 2022.
McNair Academic High School students (from left) Noran Nazir, Fatimah Khalid, and Pariza Hassan outside the school on Tuesday, May 10, 2022.

The image resonates with young Muslim Americans, many of whom make their own blend of American fashion trends and conservative clothing, including head-covering hijabs, to honor their culture and faith.

“It was cool to see how she was bringing forth Pakistani culture into her outfit," Khalid said. "She was defining this as her identity, turning the superhero into herself. That was awesome."

Coming-of-age story

In interviews and speeches, Amanat and Wilson have said they strived to create a strong and nuanced representation of Muslims in Kamala, her family and friends.

But their stories, they also stressed, carry universal themes that cut across cultures.

Ms. Marvel is a coming-of-age story about a misfit who becomes a hero. The character has been compared to Peter Parker, the Queens teen who moonlights as Spider-Man. (In a later incarnation, the web-crawler's alter ego is the biracial Miles Morales.)

Vellani told USA Today last month that she shares a love of superhero stories, just like the character she's now playing.

"When you think of comic book readers, you never think of the brown girl, and I was that," she said. "Kamala just represents everything about nerd culture. She's a fan just like us, which is why we root for her when she gets her powers."

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While excitement is building at McNair, the students are also nervous. They hope, they said, that the show can “get it right.” They’ve seen TV and the movies depict Muslims as villains or victims, relegate them to minor characters or misrepresent aspects of their faith.

They hate the trope of Muslim females as oppressed, they said. Several teens mentioned a scene in the series "Elite," where a Muslim character takes off her hijab and it's supposed to be liberating. They saw it as offensive.

Like most Muslim American women, Kamala Khan does not cover her hair. But for students like Hassan, the hijab is a part of religious identity and a choice she embraces.

McNair Academic High School student Pariza Hassan on Tuesday, May 10, 2022.
McNair Academic High School student Pariza Hassan on Tuesday, May 10, 2022.

She sees Ms. Marvel as an empowering figure, but also appreciates quirks like her obsession with superheroes and her hobby writing Avengers fan fiction. Hassan is a proud member of Ms. Marvel fandom, devouring the comic books and going to conventions. She hopes the show fosters understanding even as it entertains.

“It means a lot to me because when I grew up, I didn’t see any representations for Muslim Americans in any sort of positive way,” said Hassan. “This is a big deal.”

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: 'Ms. Marvel': New Jersey school shares bond with Disney+ series