After the massive success of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, the next big-screen entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe is The Marvels, currently slated to soar into theaters on November 10, 2023. And while the upcoming film will feature another intergalactic adventure focused on Brie Larson’s Captain Marvel, it will also feature two other marvelous heroines: Monica Rambeau (Teyonah Parris) and Kamala Khan, aka Ms. Marvel (Iman Vellani).
As of now, story details for The Marvels are vague, with the first trailer focusing on fight scenes and character interactions over plot. As such, it’s difficult to tell exactly what the film’s story will have in store — however, there’s one burning question from the Ms. Marvel TV series that’s ripe for exploration in the upcoming movie. Specifically, the shocking revelation of Kamala Khan’s true nature as a mutant.
Kamala Khan is a Mutant in the MCU
The term “mutant” within the context of the Marvel Universe should immediately ring a bell to anyone who’s familiar with the X-Men franchise, which centers around heroes and villains gifted with superhuman abilities through genetic mutation. However, the decision to make Kamala Khan the first mutant introduced to the MCU (not counting a multiversal variant of Professor X in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness) is one that took many Marvel fans by surprise. After all, Kamala wasn’t even depicted as a mutant when she made her comic debut.
In writer G. Willow Wilson’s 2014 Ms. Marvel run — the series that introduced Kamala Khan to comic fans everywhere — Kamala’s origin story featured her receiving shapeshifting powers due to her Inhuman heritage. As such, many of Kamala’s early stories focus on her connection to the Inhumans. However, this caused major complications for her MCU adaptation. After all, the Inhumans seemingly don’t exist in the mainstream MCU continuity, no doubt thanks to the disastrous reception of the 2017 Inhumans TV series. Indeed, the only acknowledgment the Inhumans have received in any MCU film is a brief appearance from a Black Bolt variant in Multiverse of Madness.
Naturally, the Inhumans’ lack of presence in the MCU necessitated major changes to Kamala Khan’s origin story in the recent Ms. Marvel TV series. In her live action incarnation, Kamala is a descendant of a completely new species of superhumans: the Clandestines, beings who hail from the Noor Dimension. Because of her Clandestine DNA, Kamala awakens the ability to create solid constructs of pure cosmic energy — another major change from the source material. While these abilities are initially activated by a bangle that belonged to Kamala’s Clandestine great-grandmother Aisha, it soon becomes clear that the power comes from within Kamala herself.
But of course, that’s not where the story ends. In the season finale, Kamala’s best friend Bruno explains that the reason why Kamala is able to harness the power of her Clandestine DNA while the rest or her family can’t is because she possesses a unique genetic mutation. As if the hint wasn’t obvious enough, the word “mutation” is immediately followed by the melody of the classic 1992 X-Men cartoon theme song briefly playing in the background. There’s no room for any doubt — the MCU has indeed changed Kamala Khan from an Inhuman to a mutant. She even describes her mutation as “just another label”, in a clear bit of foreshadowing to mutantkind’s status as an oppressed minority within the Marvel Universe.
The Marvels Could Explore Kamala’s Mutation
Since the reveal that Kamala Khan is a mutant comes at the very end of Ms. Marvel Season 1, there’s no room within her solo series to expand on the significance of Kamala’s mutant status. Of course, it’d be difficult to properly explore how Kamala feels about being a mutant when mutation is a seemingly new phenomenon within the MCU. As of now, the only other confirmed mutant in the main MCU continuity is Namor, as revealed in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. There simply aren’t enough publicly known mutants in the world for them to form a real subculture like in the comics.
It’s doubtful that The Marvels is going to change this, especially since its story will seemingly be focused on space instead of Earth. However, it’s still entirely possible for the film to expand on Kamala’s mutant status in other ways. The movie’s first trailer offers a brief look at its villain — the Kree Accuser Dar-Benn, played by Zawe Ashton — who is shown wearing a bangle very similar to the one Kamala inherited from Aisha. Perhaps Kamala’s new foe possesses some unknown ties to her origins, allowing the film to explore the nature of her powers in greater depth.
Finally, there’s also a chance that The Marvels will help bring the X-Men mythos into the MCU in other ways. Carol Danvers’ comic history has been surprisingly intertwined with the X-Men over the decades — due largely to the legendary X-scribe Chris Claremont having a brief stint writing Carol’s solo series. In fact, the iconic mutants Mystique and Rogue were both introduced as enemies of Carol, with Rogue even permanently stealing Carol’s powers before they were restored on an adventure with the X-Men. While the plot of The Marvels will likely remain focused on the Kree, it’s possible that a post-credits scene could introduce Mystique as a future nemesis for Captain Marvel, or even set up the longtime X-Men supporting players of the Shi’ar Empire.
It’s no secret that Marvel fans are hungry to finally see the X-Men in the MCU — there’s even a fourth-wall-breaking joke about it in the She-Hulk season finale. So with Deadpool 3 still over a year away and the next proper X-Men movie nowhere to be found on the horizon, it’s understandable that many diehard X-Men lovers are desperate for any potential hints of progress on Marvel’s mighty mutants making their MCU debut. Right now, there’s no way to tell if Ms. Marvel’s mutant status will come into play in The Marvels. But if it does, it’ll go a long way towards making the wait for the X-Men more bearable.