Ms. Marvel Episode 3 is the third instalment of an American superhero television miniseries created by Bisha K. Ali for the streaming service Disney+, based on the Marvel Comics featuring the character Kamala Khan / Ms. Marvel. Iman Vellani stars as the titular character, a High School Muslim girl who is obsessed with superheroes of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), especially Captain Marvel.
S P O I L E R S
Entitled “Destined”, Ms. Marvel Episode 3 reveals the source of Kamala Khan’s powers viz. she is descended from an other-dimensional race, which form the basis of the Djinn folklore. Yup, genies! At the end of the last episode, Kamala is rescued by Kamran’s mother Najima, the leader of the ClanDestine group. Najima tells Kamala about her missing great-grandmother Aisha – a member of ClanDestine and seeks to enlist Kamala’s aid to return to her home dimension.
READ OUR ANALYSES OF MS. MARVEL.
In this respect, Ms. Marvel Episode 3 is a tad disappointing as it would have made more sense that Kamala’s family line was somehow related to the Kree. Instead, we are presented with a race of other-dimensional beings similarly to that already explored in the MCU via the Shang-Chi movie and the Moon Knight series. That said, the beginning of the episodes provides us with the origin of Kamala’s bangle, which is revealed to be an alien artefact, with its former owner looking suspiciously like classic Kree blue-skinned.
What also makes Ms. Marvel Episode 3 hard to swallow is how quickly ClanDestine go from Kamala’s saviours to villains out to get Kamala’s co-operation, at any cost! And despite their postering and preening, ClanDestine fail to capture an untrained superhuman – no surprise that Damage Control overpower the ClanDestine with ease! The shift in tone was rather jarring – suddenly the lives of Kamala (and her loved ones) were in serious danger.
Which makes this episode a mixed bag. Hopefully we get more meaningful background next time out, when Kamala heads to Karachi!
Now streaming on Disney+.
… still there’s more …