With Ms. Marvel’s finale, Marvel confirms the existence of mutants in the MCU — only in a show nobody is watching. Ms. Marvel introduces teenage heroine Kamala Khan (Iman Vellani), a Pakistani-American fan of the Avengers, particularly Captain Marvel (Brie Larson). Contrary to her comic origins, Kamala’s ability to harness cosmic energy comes from a magical bangle passed on by her great-grandmother. As she finally comes to terms with her superhuman powers, Kamala is revealed to have a mutation gene in Ms. Marvel’s final episode, with Marvel putting another nail in the Inhumans' coffin for the MCU. Surprisingly, this big reveal is featured in one of Marvel's least-watched Disney+ shows.
Within its first five days on Disney+, Ms. Marvel was watched by approximately 775,000 U.S. households. This number was significantly lower than that of its predecessors, with the most-watched Disney+ Marvel show being Loki, accumulating 2.5 million views. This is followed by both The Falcon and The Winter Soldier and Moon Knight, each of them garnering 1.8 million views. Ms. Marvel’s disappointing viewership was mainly because of strong competition with the Star Wars series Obi-Wan Kenobi at the time of its premiere. Regardless, despite being on the smaller side of the MCU, Ms. Marvel still drew an interesting audience, mainly consisting of Gen Z viewers of diverse origins.
While the imminent arrival of mutants had been teased for Phase 4, it was only through Ms. Marvel’s ending that mutants were confirmed to be in the MCU now. But why did Marvel confirm this exciting truth in a show nobody is watching? Perhaps, the studio did not anticipate such a low viewer turnout, especially since Ms. Marvel was released a month after Moon Knight, which was received favorably by critics and audiences. Additionally, Ms. Marvel’s head writer, Bisha K. Ali, revealed that Kamala being a mutant was not planned from the beginning of the show. It only came up as they were trying to flesh out the heroine’s family identity. Instead of sticking to Kamala's being an Inhuman, as in the comics, Marvel deviated and rewrote her onscreen origin to be a mutant. Moreover, Ms. Marvel was meant to set up The Marvels, where Carol Danvers will potentially emerge as the new leader of the franchise, so this was the best place to lay the groundwork for the MCU’s future.
In the Marvel universe, mutants are often discriminated against, with ordinary humans explicitly professing their fear, disgust, and shame of them. Therefore, mutants tend to hide their true abilities to avoid persecution and judgment. When Kamala was revealed to possess a mutant gene, she dismissed it by relegating her classification as “just another label." After all, she already had to surpass several layers of danger brought about by her identity in order to become Ms. Marvel. With her community rallying behind her, Kamala being labeled as the MCU’s first mutant would probably not scare her anymore, although it might bring her more harm than she previously experienced. Still, whatever being a mutant means, Kamala is ready to face it head-on.
That is why Marvel’s decision to introduce mutants in the MCU through Ms. Marvel is the right choice. Above everything else, Ms. Marvel is a story about inclusion. The Disney+ series is not just the coming-of-age story of Kamala Khan; it is also an avenue to accurately represent South Asian Muslims in the West. A brown-skinned teenage Muslim girl-turned-superhero-slash-mutant headlining her own television show is as rare an occurrence as it can be. Hopefully, as these stories hit mainstream media, more shows will be as inclusive and representative as what Ms. Marvel successfully did during its short-lived run.
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