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Comic Book / Ms. Marvel (2014)

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https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ms_marvel_7.jpg
EMBIGGEN!

"Good is not a thing you are. It's a thing you do."

Ms. Marvel is an ongoing monthly title published by Marvel Comics, which launched in February 2014. It was originally written by G. Willow Wilson, with rotating art by Adrian Alphona (Runaways) and Takeshi Miyazawa. This run is split into two sections due to a relaunch post-Secret Wars (2015), which are counted as the third and fourth volumes of the Ms. Marvel title — the first two cover Carol Danvers' tenure. In 2019, Saladin Ahmed took over as the new writer and retitled it The Magnificent Ms. Marvel. In 2021, the series saw another relaunch under the title of Ms. Marvel: Beyond the Limit.

Kamala Khan is a nerdy teenage girl from a Pakistani-American family of Muslim faith living in Jersey City — not New York City, unlike most of the heroes who populate the Marvel Universe.

After being exposed to Terrigen Mist, Kamala discovers she has Inhuman DNA and her latent Voluntary Shapeshifting power becomes apparent. Inspired by her heroine Carol Danvers, who had recently abandoned the Ms. Marvel title to become Captain Marvel, Kamala decides to use her newfound abilities to protect her home and those in need.

Following an initial run of nineteen issues, this title was put on hold for Secret Wars (2015), concluding with a four-issue story arc that saw Kamala meet her idol and namesake, Captain Marvel. Ms. Marvel returned with a new volume in the All-New, All-Different Marvel universe that emerged from Secret Wars. See Ms. Marvel (2016) for more info.

This title is the only Marvel comic that exceeds its physical sales digitally, likely because its fanbase skews young and female — a demographic not likely to buy monthly physical issues in a comic shop. (That we know of, anyway — publishers do not release their digital sales numbers to the public, but it's an open secret that Ms. Marvel is a digital juggernaut.)

Kamala is notable for being one of the most prominent (and heroic) Muslim characters in popular culture; she was co-created by Wilson (a Muslim convert herself) and Marvel editor Sana Amanat — a Pakistani-American Muslim woman not unlike Kamala — who currently serves as their Director of Content & Character Development.

Marvel's Infinity Comics imprint later released a Webcomic adaptation of the start of the series, restructuring the art into a 'verticalized' scrolling format and splitting the original issues into shorter chapters. The first chapters of the adaptation were released May 17, 2022.

Kamala made her live-action debut in the Marvel Cinematic Universe Disney+ series Ms. Marvel in June 2022, played by Iman Vellani. She made her film debut in The Marvels (2023).

For Kamala's Character page, see here.

Ms. Marvel (2014) provides examples of:

    open/close all folders 

    General Tropes 

  • Affirmative-Action Legacy: Kamala Khan is a Muslim Pakistani-American taking over the name from the white, blonde Carol Danvers. Unlike some cases where the replacement is sudden, the Marvel continuity had the "Ms Marvel" name unattached for some time since Danvers had become Captain Marvel.

  • Alliterative Name: Kamala Khan, Zoe Zimmer and Michaela "Mike" Miller.
  • Ascended Fangirl: Kamala writes Avengers fanfic, a panel in Marvel 75th Anniversary Celebration #1 hints at her having been an American superhero fan since she was a toddler, and even her friends call her fandom a "sad nerd obsession".
  • Badass Boast: Kamala has one for the public after the bad guys try to intimidate her.
    Ms. Marvel: This guy thinks he can threaten us where we live? Ms. Marvel has a message for him. This is Jersey City. We talk loud, we walk fast, and we don't take any disrespect. Don't mess.
  • Big Brother Instinct: Many heroes and secret agents that Kamala encounters tend to have this reaction. Wolverine tries to make her more wary about the not-so-fun side of fighting evil and puts in a good word for her with Captain America, Spider-Man is immediately receptive of how she hasn't had much experience with higher level baddies and tries to take on the more dangerous role in their fight with Dr. Minerva, and when she encounters Phil Coulson in S.H.I.E.L.D. he's clearly aware of how young she is and openly admits that he's become protective of her.
  • Beware the Nice Ones: Kamala is generally a very nice, caring person, who subscribes to the "appropriate amount of force" doctrine when fighting her enemies. However, if they willfully threaten innocents or people she cares about, her attitude does such a 180 that's it's like flipping a switch, and she stops holding back.
  • Big Eater: Kamala's powers burn a lot of calories, requiring her to pack away a lot of food after bouts of fighting or healing.
  • Bilingual Bonus: There is spoken and written Urdu (a language spoken in Pakistan) and Arabic (the language the Quran was written in) scattered throughout the series.
  • Bland-Name Product:
  • Blessed with Suck: In Issue #31, Kamala meets a disgruntled pizza girl who's an Inhuman like her. Except Samantha is an Animal-Themed Superbeing with skunk powers... and she hasn't figured out how to control her foul scent.
  • Breakout Character: Kamala herself in the greater Marvel setting. The sales of the comic far exceeded original expectations, even easily outselling the former Ms. Marvel's new series, and by the end of 2014 she was already showing up in major guest spots in other comics, such as The Amazing Spider-Man and S.H.I.E.L.D. With her cross-cultural appeal credited with drawing female Muslim readers into buying comics, many critics started calling her the new Spider-Man.
  • Calling Your Attacks: Kamala grows out of this after the first few issue, but still uses it sometimes to activate certain powers, or shouting "Power Attack!" when she's about to deliver a really big punch.
  • Cast from Hit Points: Kamala's got a Healing Factor that runs on her metabolism.
    Kamala: I'm hungry in a way I've never been hungry before. Ravenous. Starving. Seriously, I need a thesaurus. It's the healing I think, it feels like I skipped a night of sleep — like the healing power comes straight out of my life force.
  • Cerebus Rollercoaster: The tone of stories often varies from lighthearted to more dramatic, sometimes switching from one to another. Civil War II pushed the series into darker tones for a while but it seems to be going back to lighthearted since end of Discord arc.
  • Character Shilling: In a rare example of Tropes Are Not Bad for this trope, everyone loves Kamala in-universe, for good reason. She makes quite the impression on Wolverinenote , Carol Danvers quickly decides that Kamala is exactly the right person to carry on the Ms. Marvel name, Queen Medusa of the Inhumans takes a special interest in the young woman, Spider-Man states that she reminds him of himself as a teen and he thinks she's doing fine as a superhero and person, Tony Stark likes her enough to add her to the new Avengers roster and help her with her physics homework. Everyone says there's "something special" about Kamala Khan, and they're certainly right. She may not be the most powerful superhero around, but her high moral standards, amazing attitude, and pure heart make her someone easy to love, in-universe and out. The point is proven big time in All-New Wolverine — in a story set thirty years in the future, it's revealed that Kamala was elected as President of the United States.
  • Character Tic: When she's mad, Kamala has a habit of grimacing and cutting her eyes to the side.
  • Clueless Dude Magnet: Kamala herself is a fairly chaste hero and not the best at recognizing when other people are romantically interest in her, but a number of coetaneous male characters have expressed interest in her. These include her own crushes like Bruno, Kamran, and Laal/Red Dagger, but also a few fellow heroes in various team-up books such as Nova, Miles Morales, and Inferno.
  • Continuity Nod: Kamala is shown to have a friendly relationship with Phil Coulson. This is because they previously met and teamed up in an issue of Mark Waid's S.H.I.E.L.D. series.
  • Culturally Religious: The Khans are Muslim, but, aside from Kamala's brother, are not shown to be particularly religious, although Kamala attends lectures given by her imam several times early in the series and she regularly goes to him with questions of morality. True to the trope, Kamala clearly takes the moral teachings of her faith as being of greater importance than the theology.
  • Dogged Nice Guy: Bruno has been in love with Kamala for years, and lives his life as her close friend and confidant. She finally realizes both this and that she feels the same way during the end of the first series, but tells him that she feels like she needs to focus on being a superhero for the time being.
  • Fanfic: Kamala writes Avengers fanfic, and is in the midst of chronicling their adventures on "Planet Unicorn" in the first issue. She also writes X-Men fanfic, mentioning a "Wolverine and Storm in space" fic she wrote in issue #6. All sound Cracktastic. She's also very pleased when an adventure on an alien planet leads an alien child to create fanfic about her — which, it is implied, becomes something of a sacred text for the alien race...
  • Fictional Counterpart: Much like the Circle A in Runaways, the Circle Q convenience store where Bruno works is this series' version of the real-life Circle K.
  • The Fundamentalist:
    • Downplayed. Kamala's brother Aamir is the most devout Muslim of the family and disparages his father's job since it involves usury (he works at a bank). Their father wishes Aamir would focus less time on prayer and more time on finding a job. Even though he's conservative and dresses, in his mother's words "like a penniless mullah", no one ever accuses him of being a terrorist, and he's shown wearing a western-style suit when going on a job interview. In the last pre Secret Wars (2015) comic he also informs Kamran in no uncertain terms that while, yes, he is devout etcetera, he's not going to take Kamran's side just because he's a guy and absolve him of all responsibility for what happened between him and Kamala. Quite the opposite, in fact. Then he punches Kamran in the face. Kamala is astonished (having assumed that Aamir hated her), Carol Danvers less so — as she remarks, Aamir is Kamala's big brother, he has her back (even if he's not precisely sure what's going on).
    • The local imam, Sheikh Abdullah, is set up to be the typical fire-and-brimstone preacher, considering how much Kamala dreads having anything to do with him, but when she finally does talk to him he turns out to be very compassionate and understanding, even tacitly supporting her superheroing (although he doesn't understand exactly what she's telling him because she's not telling the whole story, he tells her it's the right thing to do). Later in the run, he becomes Kamala's most prominent non-superhero recurring mentor, and she seeks out advice for him when she's in distress.
  • Funny Background Event: Plenty in this comic, especially in the Adrian Alphona issues. One thing to look out for are the names written on items such as magazines and posters.
  • Genki Girl: Zoe is extremely perky, and Kamala describes her as "so adorable and happy". Kamala's friends, however, call her the "concern troll" and say that she only acts nice so she can make snide, insulting comments disguised as friendly conversation. Kamala herself is one to the Marvel Universe as a whole. She instantly fangirls over team-ups and has such a chipper attitude that even her predecessor can't help but spend the last moments before an apocalypse with her.
  • Healing Factor: Part of Kamala's shapeshifting powers, allowing her to heal from fatal wounds (and in #7, electrocuting herself to short out a death trap) quickly. She can't use her other powers while healing, though, and it also leaves her feeling very hungry. If she heals too much at once, her shapeshifting abilities (such as for changing her appearance) become greatly weakened due to lack of energy.
  • Hero-Worshipper: Kamala is a massive fan of the Avengers, particularly Captain Marvel. She thinks that being more like Carol Danvers, the blonde, beautiful superhero, would make her life so much better. But she quickly finds out that its better to be herself.
  • Home Base: The convenience store where Bruno works, according to All-New Marvel Now Point One.
    Kamala: Some people get to hide out in space stations. I get a Circle Q.
  • Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: Kamala's dad Yusuf is, depending on a given issue's art, anywhere between one and two heads taller than his wife Muneeba, and much broader than her as well.
  • Humble Hero: After saving a couple's infant child, they praise Ms. Marvel as "a real hero" and her response is an understated "I'm trying".
  • I Know Mortal Kombat: Kamala claims her impressive reflexes are thanks to a lifetime of playing video games.
  • Invocation: Kamala tends to shout "Embiggen!" when she uses her powers to grow in size. She doesn't tend to do it for shrinking or other shapeshifting stunts.
  • I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Bruno and Kamala to each other. Bruno accepts that Miss Marvel is a bigger part of her life than he could be at this time. Kamala says that while she loves Bruno, she would understand if he decides to find happiness without her due to her heroics being the only thing she wants to focus on right now. It backfires on her in the relaunch series when Bruno begins dating a new classmate and Kamala realizes she's jealous.
  • Joisey: A big part of Kamala's characterization is that she lives in Jersey City, and writer G. Willow Wilson has gone to great lengths to replicate the experience of daily life in Jersey City and what it's like to grow up there. Kamala's high school is based on a real high school in Jersey City: McNair Academic High School, although (ostensibly for legal reasons) the school is referred to as Coles Academic High School, after Coles Street, the actual street that McNair Academic High School is located on. Even the visual image of the school's exterior is pretty much an exact copy of how McNair looks in Real Life. It's been explained that since a big part of Kamala's characterization is the fact that she's very dorky, G. Willow Wilson chose McNair as her alma mater since it's a high-achieving public magnet school.
  • The Knights Who Say "Squee!": Kamala is beside herself with glee when she first meets Wolverine (much to his annoyance), and when she gets saved by Spider-Man. And when she met Carol Danvers... oh gosh.
  • Leaning on the Fourth Wall: As a longstanding fan of superheroes, Kamala frequently comments on the situations she is in, in terms that are quite logical in context but sound exactly like a comics fan.
    Kamala: Oh! My! Gosh! I'm in a Spider-Man team-up!
  • Legacy Character: Kamala decides to become Ms. Marvel, having idolized Carol Danvers, who left the identity to become Captain Marvel. They finally meet during Secret Wars.
  • Love Interest: Bruno has had a crush on Kamala since long before the series began, and Kamala snarks that if he were Pakistani her parents would "throw me at you." Aamir tells Bruno point-blank that his and Kamala's parents love him and have basically adopted him as a nephew, but that they will never approve of Kamala being in a relationship with a non-Pakistani non-Muslim.
  • Maligned Mixed Marriage: This is why Kamala's parents won't let Bruno, who is Italian-American, date her, regardless of how much they like and trust him. Aamir explains to him that they do this in order to ensure their cultural lineage is passed down.
  • Meaningful Name: The name Kamala's name is based on "kamal", an Arabic word for "perfection" though in Urdu-Hindustani (which is the language in Pakistan, not Arabic) it usually means, colloquially, "awesome". Orthographically, the word Kamala makes as much sense as Marvel's usual word choices (which runs on Rule of Coolnote ) since Kamala is a separate Sanskrit word that refers to the Lotus flower, and is usually the name of a girl born to a Hindu background, which implies that Ms. Marvel's mother is quite a good deal more syncretic than she lets on. The name Kamal does exist among Muslim communities but it doesn't have a feminine form in that context.
  • The Mentor: Kamala primarily turns to Sheikh Abdullah at her local mosque when she needs guidance, but various superheroes have also taken her under their wing, including Wolverine, Carol Danvers, and Iron Man.
  • Mix-and-Match Critters: Kamala has a stuffed toy of a winged sloth in her bedroom, a favorite from when she was very young. In the final issue of G. Willow Wilson's run, Kamala and her friends are sucked into a pocket dimension where this thing plays the role of some combination of video game NPC and Spirit Advisor.
  • Most Fanfic Writers Are Girls: Kamala is an avid fanfic writer and reader. The trope is subverted in All-New All-Different Avengers Annual, however; not only is the author of a fanfic shipping Ms. Marvel with her friends, Miles Morales Spider-Man and Sam Alexander Nova, actually Miles himself but the admin Kamala contacts about it is Phil Coulson.
  • My Beloved Smother: Kamala's mother is obviously very overprotective, and Kamala's father is set up as the more understanding and reasonable parent. However, it is implied that the readers are only seeing her mother at her worst, when she is at her most anxious about her daughter. When Kamala has her first major defeat and is feeling depressed about it, the first thought she has is that she wants her mother to comfort her. Subverted toward the end of the first series, when her mother reveals that she's known Kamala was Ms. Marvel ever since she saw pictures of her (since Kamala modified a burqini to serve as her costume), and that she wholeheartedly supports her.
    Muneeba: If the worst thing you do is sneak out to help suffering people, then I thank God for having raised a righteous child.
  • Police Are Useless: Inverted. Not only are they not useless, but outright act as The Cavalry to be called in by our heroes. After they see that they have a teenage superhero in their town they're just glad she is the type who would help fight street-level crime. Kamala actually has a "safe call" system set up with Bruno: if she calls him, lets his phone ring twice, then hangs up, he's to call the cops to wherever she is, because she's in over her head. That said, they do prove useless when professional supervillain Shocker comes into town; their initial attempt to charge him gets them blasted away by his gauntlets, and then he fakes surrender only to blast them a second time. That’s the sort of thing that makes them happy to have a superhero in town.
  • Real-Person Fic: In-universe. Kamala, as part of her Audience Surrogate characterization, is a devoted superhero fan and an avid writer and reader of superhero fanfic — with the catch that these superheroes are all very much real and public figures in her world. This leads to a number of comedic incidents when she discusses these with their subjects (Wolverine in particular was not pleased to learn that a story about him got third place in popularity to "Cyclops and Emma Frost's romantic vacation in Paris"), and she's less than pleased when shipping fanfics start popping up about her.
  • Rubber Man: Kamala can stretch her limbs and increase the size of her hands and feet at will.
  • Running Gag:
    • There's a chubby kid in Kamala's school who seems to be asleep every time he's seen on panel.
    • Kamala's love of writing fanfics involving Marvel characters, most of which sound ridiculous (and awesome). One is a crossover between the Avengers and Magical Pony Adventuresnote , and another involves Wolverine and Storm fighting a monster that farts wormholes.
    • Kamala being grounded for sneaking out, being late, etc.
  • Scarf of Asskicking: Just like how Carol Danvers used to wear one back in her earliest days. Eventually, Kamala acquires an alien-nanotech costume incorporating a cybernetic scarf.
  • Secret Identity: Kamala is very protective of her identity, and early on freaks out that, if anyone besides Bruno learns her true identity, they'll "sell [her] to science". When in-costume, she only identifies herself as Kamala when talking to an adult superhero she trusts, such as Wolverine, Medusa, Carol Danvers, and Iron Man.
  • Secret-Keeper: Bruno discovers Kamala's identity when she changes back to her normal form after being shot in the guise of Ms. Marvel. Nowadays her friends know her secret identity as well, and both her parents eventually learn it until they are subjected to a memory wipe.
  • Sexily Modest: Kamala Khan's costume as Ms. Marvel is based on a burkini, a modest swimwear outfit designed for Muslim women. Some artists draw the suit to be formfitting akin to Sensual Spandex, which has been criticized as Kamala is a teenager and faithful to her religion.
  • Sizeshifter: A secondary effect of Kamala's shapeshifting powers. She can either grow or shrink parts of her body or do the same to her entire body, with corresponding mass changes and Super-Strength to go with it.
  • Stop Being Stereotypical: Kamala and her Turkish-American friend Nakia come from well-assimilated families who want their children to take part in American society. Kamala's dad wants his son to spend less time praying and find a job, and Nakia's dad wants her to stop wearing a hijab ("He thinks it is 'a phase'").
  • Super-Strength: Kamala's powers include increased strength, which she can modulate by increasing her own size or her limbs'.
  • Tomboyish Name: Michaela "Mike" Miller, who Kamala initially assumes is Bruno's new "bromance".
  • Unwanted Assistance: Pretty much every bit of "help" from Loki. He actually genuinely want to help, he is just terrible at it and also a troll.
  • Voluntary Shapeshifting: Kamala's primary superpower. She has been shown to be able to change the size and shape of her body, the color of her skin and hair, and even the clothing she's wearing. By issue #2, her shapeshifting can even have different parts of her upper body showing different outfits simultaneouslynote , and she's revealed in #2 and #3 to have Super-Strength when she's "embiggened" herself or even just her handnote . Issue #5 expands this even further by having Kamala transform into a store mannequin. By #6, she can transform into completely non-humanoid shapes such as a sofa, or flatten herself to be almost as thin as paper (seen in S.H.I.E.L.D. #2).

    Ms. Marvel Vol. 3 (2014-2015) 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ms_marvel_vol_3.jpg

After being exposed to a cloud of Terrigen mist, Kamala Khan discovers her latent inhuman powers and becomes the costumed hero Ms. Marvel, naming herself after her longtime idol. What follows is a tumultuous adjustment period as she learns to juggle the duties of a hero with those of a daughter, a student and a friend.

While this is the first comic arc following Kamala Khan, it's considered to be the third Ms. Marvel arc following the 1977 and 2006 volumes that star Carol Danvers.

  • Absurdly Spacious Sewer: Visited in issues #6 and #7. It is large and labyrinthine enough to have several giant or weaponized alligators, a Death Trap, etc. without anybody noticing.
  • Aliens in Cardiff: The series is set in Jersey City, NJ. The first issue opens pointing out that they are twelve miles away from Manhattan.
  • Alpha Bitch: Zoe Zimmer, who specializes in Stealth Insults disguised as questions and concerns about Islam. Kamala initially thinks she is simply ignorant that what she says is hurtful, but later issues make it clear that Zoe is very aware that what she says is harmful. The final issue before the relaunch has her admit that she is mean because she is jealous of the easy friendships Kamala and others have, and she tries to get better. After an eight-month Time Skip, Zoe has joined Kamala's core group of friends.
  • Anguished Declaration of Love: When they fear that the world is going to end, Bruno admits his feelings to Kamala. She admits that she loves him in return, but is not emotionally at a place where she is comfortable dating, and tells him not to hold out for her.
  • Animesque: Jake Wyatt's fill-in issues, complete with Chibi-like reactions from Kamala.
  • Be Careful What You Wish For: Towards the end of the first issue, when Kamala is talking to visions of Captain Marvel, Iron Man and Captain America, Captain Marvel explicitly tells her that her wish "is not going to turn out the way you think." She wakes up from her shell looking like Carol Danvers with her Stripperific Ms. Marvel outfit. She quickly learns that such an outfit is not exactly comfortable.
    Kamala: ...This leotard is giving me an epic wedgie.
  • Big Bad: The Inventor is the primary villain of the first arc. He uses vagrant teenagers as personal muscle and living batteries for his machines, and he is able to build cartoony robots to act as weapons.
  • Big Brother Instinct: When Aamir (her actual big brother) sees her acting strange after returning home, and after she tells him "something strange" happened to her, his first instinct is to pull her into a hug and assure her he will make it better... by getting a group of "brothers from the mosque" to beat up whoever hurt her.
  • Bystander Syndrome: In issue #8, Kamala muses that half of heroism is not thinking and acting like this.
  • Canine Companion: Lockjaw is sent by Medusa to be Kamala's protector. She adores him on sight.
  • Can't Get Away with Nuthin': Kamala's parents quickly blame her for Aamir's problems. It's jarring because she is the younger sibling.
  • Continuity Snarl: Despite what's seen in issue #12, there was no time when Loki worked for the All-Mother (he quit in issue #5 of Loki: Agent of Asgard) and Odin was also around (he was freed from his self-exile in Original Sin, which takes place right after Loki:AoA #5).
  • Corporate Conspiracy: Kamala and the other residents of Jersey City discover that the Hope Yards Development and Relocation Association plans to massively renovate the city. It's actually a front for Hydra, who want to Take Over the City.
  • Cuteness Proximity: While everyone else runs in terror at the stallion-sized bulldog coming down the street, Kamala reacts to Lockjaw by gleefully declaring him the "cutest most humongous thing" she's ever seen, and gives him a big hug. The moment is explicitly an illustration of Kamala's heroic qualities: when everyone else responds to something strange and unusual with fear, she responds with love and acceptance, and thus gains herself a new, loyal, friend.
  • Damned by Faint Praise: Kamala's friend Nakia tells her that fakon (fake bacon) is "not that terrible".
  • Dog Walks You: The cover of issue #8 contains a textbook example, which repeats several times in the issue itself.
  • Does This Remind You of Anything?:
    • In issue fifteen, after Kamala is kidnapped by Kamran, he explains that everything that made her vulnerable was something she did of her own free will, despite the fact that when Kamala realized something was up she repeatedly insisted that he stop. She even wonders if what happened really was her own fault. It sounds a lot like a sexual assault victim being told that she should have been more careful when confronting the person who assaulted her. The author tweeted that "I wanted to talk about consent in a fun, accessible way, without making the world into a terrifying place."
    • Ms. Marvel reams on Kaboom for attacking people just because she has Inhuman powers, and is especially incensed at how some people give themselves the right to harm others just because they're different and in so doing cause everyone like themselves to suffer. For a Pakistani-American Muslim, that's an especially sore topic.
  • Do Wrong, Right: Kamala's friends scold her when she repeatedly smells bacon ("delicious infidel meat"), saying she should either eat the bacon or stop smelling it.
    Chow or chow not, there is no smell.
  • Drama-Preserving Handicap: Wolverine has no healing powers anymore when he guest-stars, so it is up to Kamala to fight a giant alligator after Wolverine is injured.
  • A Form You Are Comfortable With: After being exposed to the Terrigen Mist, Kamala receives a vision of Captain Marvel, Iron Man and Captain America. They explain that they are "faith", and she is seeing them as she needs to see them.
  • Grandfather Clause: Kamala says that, if she were Ms. Marvel, she would wear the "classic, politically incorrect costume and kick butt in giant wedge heels." The second issue has her realize that extremely long hair will get blown into your face by the wind, giant wedge heels are not comfortable to walk in, and politically incorrect costumes give epic wedgies.
  • Hero's First Rescue: The first person Kamala rescues is a drunk Zoe at the waterfront after an also-drunk Josh accidentally pushes her off the dock. Kamala changes into Carol Danvers and fishes her bully out, saving her life. This starts an urban legend of a young Carol Danvers somehow showing up in Jersey City, and starts Kamala on her path to becoming a hero.
  • Hidden Depths: Thanks to Loki's use of Asgardian truth elixir, Zoe's football player boyfriend Josh snaps and reveals that he's actually sick and tired of people assuming that he's a Dumb Jock, and that he's actually fairly smart, a good student and likes math. Ironically, he snaps because Zoe reveals that she looks down on him whenever he goes monosyllabic.
  • Historical Villain Upgrade: The Inventor is a clone of Thomas Edison whose genetic material was contaminated by a cockatiel. While the real life Thomas Edison was a ruthless businessman who once electrocuted an elephant just to prove that alternating current was dangerous, the Inventor is a Mad Scientist with no qualms about using teenagers as living batteries for his machines. However, it's implied at the end of the arc that the "real" Inventor is the guy who cloned him.
  • How Do I Shot Web?: Kamala has a lot of difficulty in first understanding her powers. They start off tied to her emotional state (shrinking when she feels small, turning into Carol Danvers when she thinks of Captain Marvel) and she is unable to control them willingly at first.
    Kamala: I wonder if I can do it again, this time on purpose. TRANSFORM!
    [beat panel]
    Kamala: Nope.
  • Human Ladder: In Issue 7, Wolverine uses Kamala as one to reach an actual ladder and climb out of a sewer.
  • I Have Your Wife: The Inventor abducts Lockjaw to blackmail Kamala, or at least lure her into a trap.
  • I Just Shot Marvin in the Face: Vick accidentally shoots Kamala in the stomach with what he believed was an unloaded gun while trying to rob Bruno's store.
  • I'm Taking Him Home with Me!: Kamala's reaction to meeting Lockjaw, in contrast to everybody else who ran for their lives. She also used the "He followed me home, can I keep him?" line on her parents.
  • In-Series Nickname: Loki is quickly renamed the "Hipster Viking" by the characters, and doesn't seem to mind it at all.
  • Just Friends: Despite having a long-standing infatuation, Bruno is content to just be friends with Kamala instead of pushing for something more. At least, until the world looks like it's going to end, when he levels with her.
  • Let Us Never Speak of This Again: Wolverine's notion towards Kamala taking him on her back when he was hurt in issue #7. Unfortunately Kamala, being herself, had already "Pictagrammed" it.
  • Mass Super-Empowering Event: The Terrigen bomb, which activated the Inhuman abilities of people throughout the region.
  • Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot: The Inventor is a mad scientist/cyborg/clone/bird-man.
  • Oh, Crap, There Are Fanfics of Us!: Kamala is a fanfic writer herself before she acquires her powers. This draws attention to the existence of fanfic about superheroes within the world in which they exist. She gets to inflict this trope on Wolverine when she meets him.
    Ms. Marvel: My Wolverine-and-Storm-in-space fanfic was the third-most upvoted story on Freaking Awesome last month!
    Wolverine: Oh, my God.
    Ms. Marvel: I had you guys fighting this giant alien blob that farts wormholes!
    Wolverine: Sounds great, kid. ... Wait — so what was the most upvoted story?
    Ms. Marvel: Umm... Cyclops and Emma Frost's romantic vacation in Paris?
    Wolverine: This is the worst day of my life.
  • Midnight Snack: After the failed rescue attempt in issue #5, Kamala has to raid the fridge at night thanks to her powers coming from her life force.
  • Mistaken for Terrorist:
    • Kamala fears that this will happen to her and her mosque if her powers become public.
    • Invoked when Kamala finds a fellow Inhuman tearing up Jersey City, with a heavy dashing of Does This Remind You of Anything?, as she's very angry about how he's decided that he gets to hurt anybody he disagrees with in a manner that will just spread fear and hatred of everyone who looks like him,.
      Kamala: It's always the same. There's always that one group of people who think they have special permission to terrorize anybody who disagrees with them. And then everybody else who looks like them suffers.
  • Mistaken Identity: Kamala's first shapeshifting in public winds up looking like Carol Danvers herself, so when she immediately leaps into heroism a lot of bystanders think that she's Captain Marvel, although they're confused as to why she has seemingly gone back to wearing her old costume... and why she has a giant hand. As she continues to look like Carol Danvers in later issues, the people she encounters do not seem sure how to address her, backtracking over calling her "Ms." and "Captain".
  • Mix-and-Match Man: The Inventor. He claims to be Thomas Edison's clone, but, due to an accident, his DNA got contaminated with that of his creator's pet cockatiel, which is why he looks like an anthropomorphised bird. Don't let him hear you call him that, though.
  • Mood Dissonance: Issue #10 deals with some pretty heavy topics, then there is the scene when the Inventor's Mini-Mecha appears... wearing a hard hat. The effect is jarring to say the least.
  • Mood Motif: In the first issue, Kamala sees Iron Man, Captain Marvel and Captain America singing the first verse of the traditional qawwali "Sakal bun phool rahi sarson", a song about a joyous trip to the shrine of the Sufi saint Nizamuddin Auliya. This sounds like the qawwali is only a reminder of Kamala's heritage and beliefs, but the second half of the song mentions someone absent from this procession who promised to be there, tying the song to Kamala's having disobeyed her parents by sneaking out and to Marvel itself, for both the in-universe superheroes and the comic industry seem to be saying that someone like Kamala should not only be one of them — but she should have been among their number before. See more about the motif here.
  • Mood Whiplash: The jump into the Civil War II tie-in, going from light-hearted science fair competition with Miles Morales into Kamala watching as her entire life falls apart around her ears.
  • Mushroom Samba: Kamala thinks that this is happening to her after her Inhuman transformation shows her a vision of Captain America, Captain Marvel, and Iron Man. She thinks it was caused by the small amount of vodka she was tricked into drinking at the party.
  • My God, What Have I Done?: When an Inhuman calling herself Kaboom starts ranting about the superiority of Inhumans and refers to humans as a "subspecies", Kamala (a Muslim and second-generation Pakistani-American, remember), loses her cool and hits Kaboom hard enough to nearly kill her. Kamala panics and runs away once she realizes what happened.
  • Protective Charm: As compensation for the trouble they caused, Loki wards the school in issue #12, which takes the form of huge "lightning golems" that protect the school while proclaiming how awesome Loki is.
  • P.O.V. Cam: The first couple of pages of issue #8 are apparently Impending Doom P.O.V. until it's revealed to be Lockjaw's perspective, later we also get some panels of the Robocam of an attacking Humongous Mecha.
  • Powered by a Forsaken Child: One of the Inventor's Death Traps, and later robots, is literally powered by an unconscious runaway; the saved kid also tells Kamala and Wolverine that there are others.
  • Rage Breaking Point: When rogue Inhuman Kaboom goes on her "sub-species" rant, it pushes just about all of Kamala's buttons. She knocks her unconscious with one really hard punch.
  • Rhetorical Request Blunder: As Kamala doesn't really know who she's dealing with during her first argument with Loki, her sarcastic suggestion that he magically ward the school is met by Loki deciding that that's actually a smart idea and doing it.
    Ms. Marvel: Okay. You really wanna help? Use your sparkly green power to keep this school from getting trashed by robots again.
    Loki: Ward the school? That isn't a terrible idea, actually... *he promptly does it*
    Ms. Marvel: Whoa. And I thought I was totally kidding...
  • The Runaway: Kamala's friend Bruno calls her parents after Kamala runs away from the party in the first issue. None of them are thinking about Terrigen mists or transformations, but they're scared that she might be attacked or hurt when wandering the city alone.
  • Secret Secret-Keeper: The second-to-last issue before the relaunch reveals that Kamala's mother made the connections to Ms. Marvel's identity months ago.
  • Sewer Gator: Encountered in issues #6 and #7 both in giant ("megagator") and armed with laser beams variety.
  • Shipper on Deck: One of the first things Kamala does when Spider-Man rescues her is state that she's an avid shipper of him and Carol Danvers, and pesters him for details when she hears they went on a date.
  • Ship Tease: Issue #4 has Bruno blurting out why he thinks Kamala is awesome. Kamala wants to hear more, but Bruno gets embarrassed.
  • Shout-Out:
  • Slipping a Mickey:
    • Although Kamala wishes for more freedom and independence from her parents, she is still devoutly Muslim and refuses to drink alcohol. When she goes to a party and is offered a drink, she asks if there is any alcohol in it and is assured that it is just orange juice. Once she drinks it, they add "plus some vodka". She promptly does a Spit Take.
    • Loki puts a Truth Serum in the punch when he crashes a Valentine's Day dance.
  • So Proud of You: Kamala's mother tells her this when she reveals that she knew for some time that Kamala was the new Ms. Marvel.
    "You're at a difficult age. Your father and I were worried you would get involved with drugs or with friends who were bad for you. If the worst thing you do is sneak out to help suffering people, then I thank God for having raised a righteous child."
  • Spit Take: Kamala's reaction after she is told that the orange juice she drank also had vodka in it is to spit it out in shock.
  • Stealth Insult: Zoe gives the appearance of being very perky and friendly, but uses her "questions" about Islam and Kamala's Pakistani background to make derogatory comments about their culture and traditions. Bruno and Nakia already can see what she's doing and he refers to her as the "concern troll"; only Kamala herself thinks Zoe is genuinely bubbly.
  • Stupid Crooks: Bruno's brother Vick tries to rob the Circle Q and winds up robbing Bruno himself when Bruno switches shifts with Chatty Bob. He apparently cannot even unload his gun properly, and accidentally shoots Kamala with a gun that he claims is empty.
  • Take a Third Option: A villain tells Kamala that she should "get with the program or get out of the way." Kamala chooses Option C: Get in the way.
  • Teens Are Monsters: Kamala's class has to analyse an article claiming this. Nakia is outraged that someone can just write off a whole generation like this, and Kamala points out that it's dangerous too as every generation has to solve the problems the previous one created. Kamala later uses the same article as a way to tell the Inventor's brainwashed teens that they are not solving anything by letting themselves get turned into organic batteries.
  • Theme Music Power-Up: Kamala lampshades this when she mentions she needs one.
  • They Would Cut You Up: One of Kamala's reasons for not wanting the authorities to see her and her new powers, and why she reveals herself to Bruno, is that she fears that, if she were discovered, she would be shipped off to a lab to be experimented on.
  • Thinks Like a Romance Novel: Loki's "help" on his Valentine's day visit suggest this, but realistically it was probably more, well, Loki being Loki. Also the other characters found it not romantic but very creepy.
  • Training Montage: After a disastrous first attempt to rescue Vick from the Inventor's minions, Kamala spends the next day with Bruno testing her absolute limits.
  • Troll: Nakia and Bruno refer to Zoe as the "concern troll", since she asks questions about Islam and Nakia's Middle Eastern backgrounds so that she can make condescending remarks.
  • Truth Serums: In issue #12, Loki puts an Asgardian truth elixir in the punch at the Valentine's Day ball. He doesn't target it or anything, but counts on the fact that, if everybody says what they really think, he will be able to find if someone has something other than relationship troubles. Chaos ensued, which the local superheroine kind of takes issue with.
  • Unwanted Rescue: The Inventor's teenage "hostages" claim that they're a blight on society and a waste of Earth's resources, so they're willingly giving their bodies to become organic batteries for his robots as a way of repenting. Naturally, they're not happy to see Kamala trying to rescue them.
  • Uplifted Animal: The Inhumans' dog, Lockjaw, is sent to watch out for Kamala. He is not exactly people-smart, but he understands spoken English.
  • Use Your Head: Kamala resorts to a super-sized headbutt to stop a robot in issue #8.
  • Valentine's Day Episodes: Issue #12. It's pretty much filler, which can be summed up as: "Loki trolls the cast". Only two plot relevant things happen: First, it becomes obvious that Bruno has unrequited romantic feelings towards Kamala. Second, Loki wards the school which might reduce later property damage caused by superhero battles (as seen in #16).
  • Weaponized Animal: Issue #6 has crocodiles with laser beams on their heads, along with other gadgets.
  • Wolverine Publicity:
    • Wolverine is the first character to guest-star in Kamala's series... though given his history of sidekicking with teenaged girl superheroes it is kinda fitting. Also lampshaded by Kamala.
      Kamala: I totally put you first in my fantasy hero team-up bracket!
    • She also squees over being rescued by Spider-Man, who also has a history of teaming up with newbie supers. She flat out calls it a "Spider-Man team up".
  • You Are Better Than You Think You Are: Kamala gets through to the brainwashed teens by asking for their strengths and pointing out their potential.
  • Wham Line: In issue 18, Kamala's mother reveals that she already knew that her daughter is Ms. Marvel.
    Muneeba: Oh, beta... I know.
  • With Great Power Comes Great Hotness: Subverted. When Kamala Khan first gets her shapeshifting powers, she uses them to look like her idol, Carol Danvers (in her "swimsuit" Ms. Marvel costume). She quickly learns changing your outside doesn't change anything about who you are inside. . . along with many practical downsides of a typical superheroine outfit.

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