Ms. Marvel has been making headlines for the past few weeks now, exciting fans more and more about the upcoming project. The last thing we heard about this project based on a Muslim woman superhero was that ace Pakistani film-maker Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy had been roped in to helm the project alongside others. And just as we were able to digest it, an even greater piece of information has come our way. In latest news, Marvel’s first Pakistani Muslim woman superhero has just been finalised. Iman Vellani has been roped in to star in the Disney+ series based on the comic-book character.
Film-makers Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah will also be serving as co-directors on the film, alongside Meera Menon, popular for her work in The Walking Dead and Titans. Written and developed by British writer Bisha K. Ali, this marks Vellani’s first major Hollywood production, with hopefully many more to come. At the 2019 Toronto Film Festival, Vellani was part of the Next Wave Committee, which was tasked with adding a special tag to films — already programmed into other categories — which they believed would resonate with their peers. In an interview with CBC, Vellani referred to herself as a Pakistani-American-Muslim teenager with immigrant parents.
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Kumail Nanjiani congratulated Vellani for bagging the role. He tweeted, I just saw they cast Ms. Marvel and legit got teary eyed. Congratulations Iman Vellani! Your work is going to mean so much to so many people, myself included. I can’t wait.” Kamala, the teenage Pakistani American superhero first debuted in a Captain Marvel comic book series in 2013 and was later given her own series in 2014. She is introduced as the first Muslim character to have her own series about her embracing her “inhuman” shapeshifting abilities for the greater good. Perhaps, the most important part of this release is that out of all of the familiar and popular characters in the series, the limelight is handed to a Pakistani Muslim woman of colour.