The truth about Ms. Marvel’s sexuality
Marvel Studio’s push for inclusivity continues with the introduction of Ms. Marvel into the MCU. Ms. Marvel/ Kamala Khan is a 16-year-old Pakistani-American obsessed with superheroes, particularly Captain Marvel. Kamala has a lot going on for her, but she struggles to fit in at school and at home.
Khan becomes Ms. Marvel after discovering that she has Inhuman genes. Carol Danvers was the original Ms. Marvel, but after being upgraded to Captain Marvel, she left the Ms. Marvel name free for the teenage superhero to adopt. Ms. Marvel and Captain Marvel will star in 2023 The Marvels.
Ms. Marvel’s sexuality has become the subject of debate and controversy on social media. This piece attempts to clear things up.
Ms. Marvel is attracted to boys in the comics, making her heterosexual, though we are uncertain of her sexuality in the MCU.
Ms. Marvel is heterosexual in the comics and has a close lesbian friend
Ms. Marvel is a woman, a Muslim, a person of color, and a child of immigrants. Her mix of identities makes her a target of discrimination not only in America but worldwide. Adding queer to the mix only makes things worse.
We need such characters on screen to empower young children in similar situations and break stereotypes based on race, gender, sex, immigration status, and sexuality.
Kamala Khan/ Ms. Marvel is heterosexual in the comics. She has crushes on boys and doesn’t show romantic attraction to other genders. However, it’s unclear whether Ms. Marvel in the MCU is queer.
Ms. Marvel being heterosexual doesn’t mean that we won’t get an LGBTQ+ storyline in Ms. Marvel. Kamala’s close friend and the most popular girl in school, Zoe Zimmer, is a lesbian.
In the comics, Zoe was Kamala’s arch-nemesis – the popular white girl was mean to the Muslim girl of color. However, Zimmer’s attitude changed when she came close to dying during the Secret Wars convergence.
She dropped her mean persona, became Khan’s close friend, ditched her boyfriend, and came out as a lesbian.
Some fans have confused Ms. Marvel with America Chavez, who is a lesbian
America Chavez/Miss America appeared in the comics in 2011. She made her MCU debut in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.
Chaves was the first Latina LGBTQ+ character to have her own title. She shared a kiss with the superhero Ultimate Nullifier but brushed it off as a teenage experiment. America then confirmed to her friends that she is lesbian.
Some fans have confused Ms. Marvel with America Chaves. The mix-up is understandable considering that Marvel released Ms. Marvel and Doctor Strange at around the same time, and both characters are American minorities.
Nevertheless, the characters are different, each with a unique storyline. Ms. Marvel is not gay, while America Chaves is very much gay. @dom_solo tweeted:
“Kamala Khan isn’t gay in the comics per my knowledge. At least she has crushes on boys and such. May be bi but I haven’t seen that. America Chavez is very gay though (though you wouldn’t be able to tell in Multiverse of Madness).”
America Chaves has a massive crush on Lady Katherine of Bishop, a multiverse variant of Hawkeye Kate Bishop. The pair are very close but don’t pursue a relationship as Kate is straight.
A Facebook group has criticized Marvel for creating a gay Muslim character
A Facebook group titled Christians against Ms. Marvel has gone live and attracted over 17,000 members. The group claims that Marvel is performing a disservice to society by casting a ‘gay Muslim’ character as Ms. Marvel. The group’s description reads:
“Ms. Marvel might be the biggest slap in the face for conservative Christians to date! Disney has decided that the face of this franchise should not be Carol Danvers but should instead be a gay Muslim. No more straight Christian characters from Marvel. Those days are over. Please join us as we let Disney know that we will not be canceled!”
Netizens on Twitter were enraged when news of the group arrived on the platform. @MsZanite tweeted:
“Honestly, people like these Conservative Christian Crazies makes me feel ill to be a Christian quite often. All they do is spit out hate and discrimination. And their argument against #MsMarvel is freaking dumb and may I say hella phobic and racist.”
The Islamophobic and homophobic message in the group’s description is clear as day, but an investigation by Distractify revealed that the group’s purpose might not be to spread hate.
The first sign that the community’s name might be misleading is the creator’s name: Wade Wilson. Ryan Reynolds’ character in Deadpool, an outspoken troll, goes by the name Wade Wilson.
Distractify found that a large chunk of the group’s members are trolls, with most comments cloaked in layers of sarcasm and irony. This comment illustrates the group’s rhetoric perfectly:
“I am against Ms. Marvel as ‘Ms.’ implies she had been divorced. Why not call her Miss Marvel? That’s because this girl … clearly got married at a young age and divorced her husband, which is immoral, and now Marvel are pushing strong single independent women when we should be pushing marriage!”
Some members are against the inclusion of minority and queer characters in Marvel production, but most members are trolls. The issue with such jokes is that it may be difficult for some to differentiate between humor and opinion, inadvertently leading to the spread of hate.