Marvel Studios’ Ms. Marvel

I can buy the argument that her powers would be too difficult to do in a way that looks good on a TV show budget, even a Disney+ show budget. I can also understand that her upcoming role in The Marvels incentivizes giving her a higher "power ceiling".

I do wish however they made her powers more analogous to her comic polymorphic abilities. No shields or energy blasts, just hard light projections around herself that form things like giant fists. We see that a bit in the trailer, but I with that is how her powers worked 90%+ of the time.

I can understand the budget reasoning, if that is the case.

I was a little unsure about the bands, but it does seem like she was still using her powers without them in the bedroom scene?

Maybe just using them to control them? I hope that's the case. Because I'd prefer her having innate powers over something external.

I've seen someone make the argument that it would have made more sense to change Reed's powers rather than Kamala's since the latter's powers are more vital to her characterization.

Trailer overall looks really good, all things considered. I'm really digging the Scott Pilgrim-esque effects and Vellani absolutely nails it. Only thing I really have to gripe about is the power change and even then I'm hoping whatever they wind up doing they execute it well.

Lot of comic readers have at least latched onto Kamala's shapeshifting being emblematic of the cultural dysphoria she eventually grows out of, her initial feeling of "being uncomfortable in her own skin" manifesting as the literal ability to morph herself to what she wants. A not-insubstantial moment at the beginning of her run is her making herself look like Carol Danvers only to gain the confidence to be herself.

It's not much but it's more than Mr. Fantastic, whose powers are effectively a result of random chance and ultimately boil down meta-wise to Stan Lee wanting an Expy of Plastic Man.

Some insight from Kamala's creator G. Willow Wilson on how she designed her powers.

And an article where she talks about the character appearing in a live-action show

That's what I've been stewing on with regard to the powerset change. It may simply be that they changed her powers because they couldn't figure out a way to make rubber-man powers look anything but extremely unreal and stupid in live-action - Especially on a show budget.

There are three Fantastic Four movies that could have paved the way for it, but mostly what those films have accomplished is demonstrating exactly how hard it is to ever make this powerset look convincing. Live-action Reed Richards consistently looks like trash.

Edited by TobiasDrake on Mar 16th 2022 at 5:39:00 AM

God help the One Piece Netflix show for having to figure out how to adapt Luffy's rubber powers in live-action

Luffy is supposed to look kinda goofy, the rubber powers are meant to add some comedy to even the worst fights. Would that help?

Yup, Oda designed Luffy's stretching powers so that there would always be a little levity to every situation.

So even in the most serious moments there's a little bathos cause Luffy intentionally looks ridiculous using his powers like when he's using Gear 4.

Luffy also has the quirk that he doesn't stretch as freely as Kamala or Reed or Plas. Luffy generally has to externally act on his own body - swinging his arm back for momentum so it stretches forward at high velocity, or launching himself off of a structure, or inflating himself, or doping himself by using his legs as pumps, or biting into his bones to inflate them. Live action Luffy will probably be able to tone down his powers without making it look like he's forgetting his powers.

Edited by TheEvilDrBolty on Mar 16th 2022 at 8:54:56 AM

The live action OP Luffy will determine if Reed will look goofy in thr upcoming MCU adaptation.

But they’ll figure it out by the time it comes to CGI Reed, of course.

DCTV has also done Elongated Man and Elasti-Girl (not by the same people) in the interim, but I don’t watch those shows.

Elasti-Girl’s effects look good in Doom Patrol but she’s supposed to look unsettling when she uses her powers so they’ve got more leeway in making it work.

Edited by CheapMarzipan on Mar 16th 2022 at 7:07:24 AM

I really don't want to think that the issue is a D+ show budget not being enough, because if that's really the main concern then why didn't you give her a movie with that kind of budget? Especially with She-Hulk also getting a D+ show, it's like....ech, one of the worser ideas for the change. That and the idea that only Mr. Fantastic can have stretchy powers because screw that noise.

I'm honestly figuring the biggest reasons are some combination of 1) aligning her more with the other Captains Marvel, 2) giving her a power boost, and 3) giving her something distinct from the terrigen bomb, with the added benefits of 1) glowy light hands being easier to do with CGI and 2) allowing them to recycle Quasar's Quantum Bands / Mar-Vell's Nega-Bands.

Huh on another note Willow's comment about not wanting Kamala to "have sparkly, hand-wavy, floaty, pretty powers" makes me think of DC's Naomi cause she kinda has that.

Overall her powers are rather vague, comic-wise she has glowly hands and gets kinda strong while in her show its mostly a grab-bag of vague plot-powers like a Force push and x-ray vision suddenly for one scene which is prolly the result of the show having a low budget.

Its interesting the thought that goes into this, after all superpowers are important cause they help give a character their identity.

Will they? I think that both:

1. They will definitely not pull a stunt like this with Reed, and will go out of their way to adapt him faithfully.
2. It will look fantastic and not at all like the dumbest CGI trash ever put onscreen.

are assumptions that I'm not willing to assume out of hand.

I'd have it so that Reed looks like he's made of rubber when he's using his powers, rather than human skin. Push him away from the uncanny valley.

Power change aside, I suspect that Kamala Khan is still going to have some sort of extraterrestrial heritage even if she isn't an Inhuman.

The bands feel like the sort of thing that make more sense if they only respond to her specifically. Since if anyone can use them, she's arguably not a superhero, she's a teenager running around with an alien weapon.

Also worth noting that we only ever see her in the Captain Marvel cosplay outfit, so I suspect that making her own costume will be part of her own development as a hero.

Reed is also easier to do because his costume covers 95% of his skin, so you mostly see that stretch, as opposed to having to animate Kamala's uncovered hands inflating like balloons.

I'm reminded that Maker has an entire thing where he extends his cranium to increase brainpower and he looks absolutely horrific as a result.

Edited by slimcoder on Mar 17th 2022 at 11:07:21 AM

I'd say that still makes her a superhero, under that logic wouldn't Rhodey just be a military pilot in an advanced exo-suit?

I am curious how she will grow into the role and make it her own, instead of just copying Capt Marvel or the other Avengers.

Maybe I didn't express it quite right, but in general I feel that the character makes more sense if the bands are connected to her beyond merely possessing them. Partly because it can at least give a nod to her having alien heritage (even if she isn't inhuman), and partly because it feels less irresponsible for a teenager to be running around with cosmic powers if they are intrinsically tied to them.

I got to say, I find I'm less and less bothered by the power change with each day. Perhaps because of all the craziness in the world nowadays, a fun show about a superhero fangirl turned superhero is exactly what I need.

One of the reasons I'm not bothered by it is because I'm still bitter about them trying to replace mutants with the inhumans. Admittedly that's a bit petty on my part, but 1) I have no actual control over the script and 2) for those who are hurt by that it seems she's not gonna be a mutant.

Why would she be a mutant?

A lot of people were hoping MCU Kamala would be changed into a mutant to spite Perpmutter/the Inhumans franchise as a whole.

Edited by lbssb on Mar 20th 2022 at 11:23:18 AM