After a long search, Disney has finally found its Mrs Marvel. On October 1, Deadline reported that newcomer Iman Vellani would be starring in a new series based on the comic-book character.
In 2019, Vellani took part in a Toronto International Film Festival committee in 2019 that helped highlight films that speak directly to teenagers.
Joining 11 other 15 to 18-year-olds — known as The Next Wave Committee — she and her peers were responsible for adding special tags to the films at the festival in order to attract others her age.
The film she chose to focus on, was Hala, a movie which centred on a Pakistani American teen, who navigates life between her heritage and the American culture.
“We want stories from different genders and different countries and different people,” she told Canadian outlet CBC at the time.
“I think that’s really important because then people are going to understand each other. Even if they can’t relate to it, you learn from it … Our big goal is to just help people understand other perspectives.”
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Now, Vellani is playing Kamala Khan — a Pakistani-American teenager based in New Jersey and is Marvel’s first Muslim character to star in her own title.
The show will be directed by Adil El Arbi, Bilall Fallah, Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy and Meera Menon and will bring to life the character who loves video games, hanging out with friends and writing Avengers fan-fiction.
Created by G. Willow Wilson, artist Adrian Alphona, and editor Sana Amanat in 2014, Kamala is an Inhuman with the ability to polymorph all or parts of her body. When a blue gas flooded the streets surrounding her home, she was enveloped in a cocoon and came out with the ability to shapeshift.
Vellani herself has no known acting experience in Hollywood, however, Wilson has described her as “the real deal”.
Mrs Marvel is expected to hit Disney + sometime in mid-2021.