A geeky brown girl in a big white world? Ms Marvel is my kind of superhero
As a geeky, bespectacled brown girl with a monobrow, I never thought I would see myself on screen. So watching Ms Marvel has been an emotional experience. I grew up in the 90s, and was a comic book geek in the days before comics were cool. The days when HMV stocked Marvel T-shirts, when Athena sold DC posters, and 13-year-old me couldn’t believe her luck when she found a Wolverine ring binder in a discount shop in Bradford.
You’ll understand how deep my love is when I tell you that one of the reasons I married my husband is because he knew what an adamantium exoskeleton was, and that he unequivocally agreed to name our third son after the Ragin’ Cajun, Gambit.
I’ve waited almost 40 years to watch a girl like me don a superhero outfit. The fact that this hero comes with a kameez and dupatta has been worth the wait, and I can’t stop humming the soundtrack.
I tucked into biryani as I watched episode one. Being able to relate to Kamala Khan’s conversations with her Urdu-speaking parents, and the complexities of being a brown Muslim kid in a big white world was something I’d never experienced before. And when the song Ko Ko Korina came on, I knew the creators had done their research. This was clever storytelling, devoid of stereotypes and unashamedly steeped in what it’s like to be a second-generation Pakistani girl.
It has never been cool to be of Pakistani heritage, so the fact that this beautiful Disney series – with high production values, kind words, loving parents and a girl who loves superheroes – has been created by two women feels like success for all of us. Women of our heritage have been forced to the sidelines for far too long. But all that is changing and it’s time to take centre stage.
• Saima Mir is a journalist, writer and author of the novel The Khan
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