Meet the latest superhero, Ms Marvel
Iman Vellani a 19-year-old Pakistani-Canadian die-hard Avengers fan, is lauding up some serious fandom with her role as Kamala Khan in MCU’s latest TV series, Ms. Marvel
PREDICTED TO BE ONE OF THE MOST INFLUENTIAL AND BEST MARVEL SUPERHEROES TO GO DOWN IN HISTORY, IMAN’S CERTAINLY HAS HIGH EXPECTATIONS AROUND HER. BUT THE 19YEAR-OLD DOESN’T SEEM FAZED BY THE PRESSURES OF THAT. ACCORDING TO ONE OF HER INTERVIEWS, SHE’S MORE CONCERNED ABOUT ACCEPTANCE FROM THE “PICKY” MARVEL AUDIENCES.
Born to Shi’ite Muslim parents in Karachi, Pakistan, Iman moved with them to Canada when she was merely a year old. She did her schooling in Unionville High School in the Regional Municipality of York and had ambitions of attending the Ontario College of Arts & Design University for a course that emphasised on integrated media. In one of her interviews, she also joked about how she was uncertain of her career in a family of an accountant dad, a nurse practitioner mum, and engineer brother.
“So I am like ‘Am I supposed to be a lawyer or something?’” she’d said, drawing quite a few laughs from her audiences.
Of course, fate had other plans and she was auditioned as a superhero for Ms. Marvel, a character based on the comics created by Bisha K Ali. “But here I am, going for the arts and it’s just wonderful that there’s even space for people like me to kind of exist,” she’d added.
Inam’s character in the series, Kamala Khan, is essentially MCU’s first Muslim character to carry her own series. In her role as Ms. Marvel, Inam is the shape-shifting, complex and wonderful character who’s a huge Avengers fan with an endearing admiration for superheroes, ultimately finding herself to be one too! In real life, too, the teenager is a complete Avengers fan, who apparently has every corner of
MS. MARVEL her room filled with Avengers’ posters with more that couldn’t fit there filling up her her closet space.
Also, while in “Ms. Marvel”, Iman plays a character who completely adores Shah
Rukh Khan (and believes there’s never a bad Shah Rukh Khan movie), in real life, she’s a huge, Aamir Khan, Farhan Akhtar, Priyanka Chopra, and (of course) Shah Rukh Khan fan! Predicted to be one of the most influential and best Marvel superheroes
to go down in history, Iman’s Ms. Marvel certainly has high expectations around her. But the 19year-old doesn’t seem
fazed by the pressures of that. According to one of her interviews, she’s more concerned about acceptance from the “picky” Marvel audiences. Quite understandably, too, that concern, given how MCU’s films after “Avengers: The Endgame” have only gone down south with its fan base for their emphasis on bringing diversity in their characters without really focusing on the sometimes3-hour-long dreary storyline imbued with weak punchlines and blink-andmiss humour. Incidentally, though, Iman’s role and her talent in the TV series has found favour among Marvel fans as well as critics. The year 2023 will see her playing the same role for the film, “The Marvels” in which she’s expected to share screen with Brie Larson, who’ll reprise her role as Captain Marvel.