The death of Ms. Marvel was one of the most attention-grabbing stories in comics last year, with the beloved character being sensationally killed off in Amazing Spider-Man #26. Of course, Kamala Khan did not stay dead for very long – she was brought back to life a mere two months later thanks to the mutant resurrection technology on the island of Krakoa. Now she is no longer just an Inhuman – she’s a mutant, too, and one of the X-Men.
In a lengthy interview on the Amazing Spider-Talk podcast, Deadpool writer Cody Ziglar has suggested that one of the reasons for this storyline was a direct request from the movie side of Marvel. Specifically, he implied that the death and resurrection of Ms. Marvel was requested by MCU chief Kevin Feige.
In the interview Ziglar says, “It was funny watching when the whole Kamala stuff was going down. He [Zeb Wells] had told me months before the plan… Feige was like, ‘Hey, I don’t do this very often but, can you please do this to make things in line with Marvel because we have some stuff we want to do with Kamala.'” You can find the quote at around the 17 minutes mark, but the whole interview is very worth listening to.
The idea of the comics changing certain details to better fit what’s happening in the movies is nothing new, of course. And indeed Ziglar goes on to suggest that this wasn’t simply a case of movie synergy, but partly in order to set up the reveal that actor Iman Vellani, who plays Kamala Khan on screen, would become one of the writers for the Ms. Marvel: The New Mutant comic, alongside Dan Buckley and Sabir Pirzada.
“People didn’t know that she’s going to quote unquote “die” – it’s comic books, she comes back of course – but you don’t realize that when she dies and comes back, the Ms. Marvel will be writing her,” he added, noting that it’s “the first time that an MCU actor is going to be actively participating in creating the lore of the character in comic books proper.”
Since the release of the interview, however, a spokesperson from Marvel Comics, speaking to io9, has “flatly denied that this was the case.” They also described the decision to turn Kamala into a mutant as “an explicitly editorial decision, one in the making well before the events of Amazing Spider-Man #26.”
Whatever the case, Ms. Marvel is now firmly established as a mutant. Her adventures continue in the Ms. Marvel: Mutant Menace limited series, which recently published its second issue, written once again by Iman Vellani and Sabir Pirzada.
New to Ms. Marvel? Here’s where you can catch up on her origin story and powers.
