{"id":40143,"date":"2022-06-07T07:30:18","date_gmt":"2022-06-07T07:30:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/ms-marvel-introduces-a-new-hero-and-a-new-actress\/"},"modified":"2022-06-07T07:30:18","modified_gmt":"2022-06-07T07:30:18","slug":"ms-marvel-introduces-a-new-hero-and-a-new-actress","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/ms-marvel-introduces-a-new-hero-and-a-new-actress\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;Ms.  Marvel &#8216;Introduces a New Hero (and a New Actress)"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">When Iman Vellani watches herself as the title character in \u201cMs.  Marvel, \u201dshe cannot help but feel a sense of disbelief.  Before this Disney + series came her way, she was a high school senior with a seemingly impossible dream to be in a Marvel project &#8211; now she&#8217;s playing one of its powerful costumed champions, just like some of the actors she has spent her life idolizing.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">At times, Vellani said it was hard to connect her present-day self with the person she sees on the show.  \u201cI look so young,\u201d she said recently.  &#8220;I feel different now.  I feel like I&#8217;ve matured 20 years. &#8220;<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">To be clear, Vellani had turned 18 when she filmed \u201cMs.  Marvel, \u201dand she is 19 now.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">For all the experience Vellani has gained from the series (which debuts on Wednesday), she knows she will still be underestimated for her age and her status as a newcomer whose greatest concerns, not all that long ago, were writing term papers and applying to colleges.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But none of that has discouraged Marvel from placing her at the center of its latest superhero adventure.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">&#8220;Ms.  Marvel, \u201dbased on the comic-book series, tells the story of Kamala Khan, a Jersey City high schooler who admires the Marvel superheroes from afar &#8211; until she is mysteriously granted powers that allow her to fight alongside them.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">When the character was given her own comics series in 2014, Khan was a crucial part of Marvel&#8217;s effort to diversify its publishing lineup &#8211; she was a rare protagonist who was Muslim and Pakistani American.  Now \u201cMs.  Marvel \u201doffers a similar potential for wider representation in the ever-expanding behemoth that is the Marvel Cinematic Universe.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">If that&#8217;s not enough of a burden, Vellani is making her screen acting debut in \u201cMs.  Marvel, \u201dand lei does not have the years of celebrity or lengthy r\u00e9sum\u00e9s that her newfound peers di lei already possessed when they were recruited into the Marvel pantheon.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But what she does have is a fan&#8217;s unapologetic love for the franchise she has joined.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cMy entire world, everything I talked about was Marvel,\u201d Vellani said.  &#8220;And now people actually have to listen when I talk about it.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In mid-May, Vellani was speaking in a video interview from Los Angeles as part of her first-ever round of media promotion.  Only two years prior, she was in high school in Markham, Ontario, where her family di lei had emigrated from Karachi when she was about a year old.<\/p>\n<div>\n<section role=\"complementary\" aria-labelledby=\"styln-toplinks-title\" class=\"css-1ksw8n\">\n<h2 id=\"styln-toplinks-title\" class=\"css-1qcwmls\">Explore the Marvel Cinematic Universe<\/h2>\n<h3 class=\"css-9a1njc\">The popular franchise of superhero films and TV series continues to expand.<\/h3>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Though she was just 5 when the first MCU movie, &#8220;Iron Man,&#8221; was released, Vellani has grown up to be the type of zealous Marvel devotee who blithely confesses that her three favorite people in the world are Robert Downey Jr., Billy Joel , and the Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">When she auditioned for her high school&#8217;s drama department at age 13, Vellani said then that her dream role would be anything in the MCU.  A few years later, she came to school for Halloween dressed in a Ms. Marvel costume she had made with her grandmother di lei.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cNo one knew who I was,\u201d Vellani said.  \u201cEveryone thought I was the Flash.  So I had to buy a comic book and hold it with me. &#8220;<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">At a certain point in her studies, the precocious teen had soured on becoming a professional actor.  \u201cWhen you&#8217;re in a room with 15-year-old kids who all think they&#8217;re Daniel Day-Lewis, it&#8217;s like the worst place to be in,\u201d she said.  &#8220;You immediately hate drama.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But her curiosity was reignited when she learned of an opportunity to try out for \u201cMs.  Marvel. &#8221;  \u201cMy aunt opened a group chat that she never opens and someone had forwarded this casting call through WhatsApp that she sent to me,\u201d Vellani explained.  &#8220;It was the most brown way this could have happened.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Compared to longstanding Marvel heroes like Captain America (who predates the United States&#8217; entrance into World War II) or Spider-Man (introduced in 1962), Kamala Khan is a youngster.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">She was created less than a decade ago by a team that included Sana Amanat, who was a Marvel publishing editor before becoming a production and development executive at the studio and an executive producer on \u201cMs.  Marvel. &#8220;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In conversations with her then-colleague Stephen Wacker, who also helped create the character, Amanat said she expressed a desire for a heroine who, like herself, was Muslim and a child of Pakistani immigrants.  Amanat said she wanted her stories di lei to reflect &#8220;some of the tribulations of being an awkward brown teenager &#8211; going to prom by myself, fasting and playing basketball or lacrosse, wearing tights underneath my shorts in 90-degree weather.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In her earliest comics, written by G. Willow Wilson and illustrated by artists that included Adrian Alphona and Jamie McKelvie, Khan deliberately sought to model herself on Captain Marvel, the superhero alter ego of Carol Danvers.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">That narrative choice, Amanat said, was meant to illustrate a real-life dynamic that she had experienced in her youth.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cFor a person of color,\u201d she said, \u201cyou look outside and who are the people that you&#8217;re worshiping and want to be like?  They look nothing like you.  Captain Marvel is really emblematic of that &#8211; she&#8217;s blonde, blue-eyed and tall.  And so the story spun from there. &#8220;<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Bisha K. Ali, who is the head writer and an executive producer of the \u201cMs.  Marvel &#8220;television series, said she faced competing goals in her adaptation of the comics: to preserve the parts of Khan&#8217;s character and her world that readers already appreciate, and to help viewers establish connections to her for when she makes further MCU appearances &#8211; which she is already slated to do in \u201cThe Marvels,\u201d a new movie planned for 2023 release.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">&#8220;The challenge was really, what do we pick?&#8221;  said Ali, who was also a writer on Marvel&#8217;s \u201cLoki\u201d TV series.  &#8220;What do we choose that will set this person up for being in the MCU &#8211; being part of this huge, global media phenomenon, but also feels intimate and personal and vital?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Ali said she approached \u201cMs.  Marvel \u201das the story of a person discovering who she is:\u201c All superheroes have powers, \u201dshe said.  &#8220;But if someone in their heart knows themselves, there&#8217;s so much empowerment in that, especially for someone from a historically marginalized group.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">As Vellani cleared the various stages of her casting process in early 2020 &#8211; providing a headshot;  submitting to a self-taped audition;  traveling to Marvel&#8217;s offices in Los Angeles for an on-camera test &#8211; her future colleagues found themselves charmed by her enthusiasm and her guilelessness di lei.  (&#8220;Not only is Iman an incredible new talent,&#8221; her hero Feige wrote in an email, &#8220;but she&#8217;s also a huge fan of the MCU who knows and loves this character as much as anyone at Marvel Studios.&#8221;)<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Recalling a video conversation with Vellani, Amanat said, \u201cWhen she was showing me her room, she had this Iron Man cologne.  She&#8217;s like, &#8216;I don&#8217;t know, my dad got this for me &#8211; it doesn&#8217;t smell that bad.&#8217; &#8220;(In the&#8221; Ms. Marvel &#8220;series, Khan will also have Iron Man cologne in her bedroom di she.)<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">When she and Vellani were introduced in Los Angeles, Ali said, \u201cShe spots me and she&#8217;s like, &#8216;You&#8217;re Bisha?  I&#8217;m Iman.  You&#8217;ve got to tell me everything about the TV and film industry. &#8216;  She just embodied Kamala-ness.  She she&#8217;s so curious and so active. &#8220;<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Vellani said she grew increasingly anxious about her prospects, particularly after her visit to Marvel.  \u201cI felt like I was on the inside, man,\u201d she said.  \u201cI got this little taste of what life could be like.  I was like, I can&#8217;t possibly go to university after this.  I can&#8217;t think of anything else I would want to do. &#8220;<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Later that spring, after she&#8217;d already been accepted into her first-choice college, Vellani was driving around Markham with friends when she got a fateful call from Feige and asked to step out of the car.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">After learning she&#8217;d gotten the role, Vellani said, \u201cI was trying not to have a reaction because my friends were watching.  I got back into the car and my friends were like, &#8216;Did you win the lottery?&#8217;  I was like, &#8216;Basically.&#8217;  And then we got celebratory burritos. &#8220;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Now Vellani must reckon not only with the benefits of playing a Marvel superhero but also the drawbacks &#8211; not least of which is a subset of audience members who regard any effort to depict diversity as an infringement on past tradition and register their outrage on social media.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Asked if she had encountered this strain of criticism in her time at Marvel, Amanat gave a knowing chuckle.  \u201cOh boy,\u201d she said.  &#8220;Don&#8217;t look for my name on YouTube &#8211; it&#8217;s not a good idea.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Such backlash \u201cis just the nature of the business,\u201d Amanat said.  She added, \u201cI don&#8217;t understand why the toy box is so small.  We&#8217;re not taking anything away from Captain America &#8211; we&#8217;re over here doing our own thing.  It makes me a little sad and a little frustrated. &#8220;<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Even so, Amanat said that projects like \u201cMs.  Marvel \u201dwere important to an audience that is not accustomed to seeing themselves in entertainment franchises.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cI think of my nieces and my goddaughters and my friends&#8217; kids,\u201d she said.  \u201cI think about them growing up and having Iman Vellani, out in the world, wearing a superhero outfit, and it&#8217;s really amazing to me.  They&#8217;ve never had this. &#8220;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Vellani was more circumspect in how she talked about this criticism of the Ms. Marvel character.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cI&#8217;m not on social media, so I haven&#8217;t encountered anything directly,\u201d she said.  &#8220;You can&#8217;t make everyone happy, and that&#8217;s not our goal, anyway.  That&#8217;s just setting yourself up to fail. &#8220;<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">She added, &#8220;If I go to work every day thinking, &#8216;I&#8217;m the first Muslim superhero,&#8217; I&#8217;m never going to get anything done.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The high-class problems Vellani would rather contend with include deciding whether to watch new MCU movies in her hometown theater with her friends, or in exclusive screenings for the Marvel employees who worked on them.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">When she \u201cfinessed\u201d her way into a recent showing of \u201cDoctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness\u201d that had been arranged for Marvel staff, Vellani said she enjoyed aspects of it, like meeting Xochitl Gomez, who plays the young hero America Chavez.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But there were downsides to watching with a fervent Marvel squad, too.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cI realized I like watching these movies a lot more with a normal group of nerds,\u201d Vellani said.  \u201cBecause these guys clap for everything, man.  People will show up, who we know are in the movie, and they&#8217;ll clap. &#8220;<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cI get it &#8211; they&#8217;re clapping for their crew,\u201d she added.  &#8220;But still, I need to focus when I&#8217;m watching.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When Iman Vellani watches herself as the title character in \u201cMs. Marvel, \u201dshe cannot help but feel a sense of disbelief. Before this Disney + series came her way, she was a high school senior with a seemingly impossible dream to be in a Marvel project &#8211; now she&#8217;s playing one of its powerful costumed &hellip;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"> <a class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/ms-marvel-introduces-a-new-hero-and-a-new-actress\/\"> <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">&#8216;Ms.  Marvel &#8216;Introduces a New Hero (and a New Actress)<\/span> Read More &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2022\/06\/12\/arts\/12msmarvel1\/12msmarvel1-facebookJumbo.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40143"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40143"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40143\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40143"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40143"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40143"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}