5 Differences Between Ms. Marvel From The MCU And The Comics

The Disney and Marvel empire’s latest work: Ms. Marvel has been on the air for a few weeks now. At the time of writing this article, the 4^th episode’s just been released. I’ve been following it and although the series seems tailored for a younger audience (though it does tackle some mature concepts) compared to other Marvel projects, I appreciate it for what it is. I’ll try to get a review out once the season is complete.

Kamala Khan (played by Iman Vellani) stretches into our TV screens a little different than how she is in the Marvel comic books. If you’ve been even loosely following the show and are familiar with the character from the comics, I’m sure you’ve noticed some big differences.

But maybe you’re new to the character or just want to learn more about what’s different. Well, here are 5 discrepancies I’ve noticed from watching the first couple of episodes:

1. The Source of Her Powers

In the show:

Kamala unlocks her powers with the help of a mysterious family artifact. Specifically, a bangle that used to belong to her great-grandmother. Once she puts it on, she sees a mysterious vision, and then her powers manifest.

In the comics:

Kamala gets exposed to Terrigen Mists which is the key component in causing a person with latent Inhuman genes to undergo a process called Terrigenisis. Once the process is complete, Kamala emerges with her newfound powers.

2. The Powers Themselves

In the show:

Kamala’s powers in the show actually resemble DC’s Green Lantern’s powers. She is able to materialize glowing solid constructs from seemingly nothing. The strength and durability of the said constructs seem to grow the more Kamala trains and gets used to her powers.

In the comics:

This may be the most glaring difference between the two versions of Ms. Marvel. The comics show Kamala with shapeshifting powers, allowing her to grow, shrink, elongate and even heal wounds by taking on her appearance before she got hurt. She’s even displayed the ability to completely change her appearance and impersonate other people and on rarer occasions: inanimate objects.

3. The Bangle

In the show:

As mentioned earlier, the bangle in the show is a family artifact once belonging to her great-grandmother. It unlocks the powers of those who come from the Light Dimension. Episode 3 explains that it actually comes with a pair that’s been lost and so we might potentially see another one in the future.

In the comics:

The bangle isn’t actually a completely new concept to the character of Ms. Marvel. She actually does have a bangle in the comics. But it isn’t some mystic artifact with power-unlocking traits. It was simply used by her great-grandmother in the partition to sneak money out of Bombay as it had hollow spaces inside. Bruno later modified it for Kamala’s use. It’s where she keeps her phone and other small items like a sort of utility belt, I guess you could say.

4. Her YouTube Channel: Sloth Baby Productions

In the show:

We see Kamala in the first episode making a YouTube video on her channel about the battle between the Avengers and Thanos in Endgame and how she thinks Ms. Marvel was the best Avenger. We see that the channel was called Sloth Baby Productions.

What’s cool is that Marvel actually made a Sloth Baby Productions YouTube channel. It took me a while to find as tons of fakes started popping up, but here’s the official one.

In the comics:

Instead of creating content on YouTube, Kamala is a fanfiction writer and SlothBaby is actually her pen name. The content she writes about is pretty similar to the show though. Turning it into a YouTube channel is a nice little Easter Egg.

5. Her Nickname: Night Light

In the show:

After saving being saved by Ms. Marvel in AvengerCon, Zoe Zimmer comes up with the name “Night Light” when asked what the hero who saved her was called.

In the comics:

As her first act of heroism, Ms. Marvel actually does save Zoe Zimmer (except this time she was saved from drowning). She never gets called Night Light in the comics though.

Keeping up with the latest in the MCU? Here’s the release date and other details on What if…? Season 2.