Dustin Gebel
New details about the fate of fan favorite character Kamala Khan, aka Ms. Marvel, have been revealed by Marvel. In Zeb Wells and John Romita Jr.’s upcoming The Amazing Spider-Man #26, Ms. Marvel is slated to make a heroic stand that leads to her death. As reported by Entertainment Weekly, the issue will be followed with a special one-shot Fallen Friend: The Death of Ms. Marvel in July. The issue will feature a host of creative talent, including three seminal Kamala Khan writers: G. Willow Wilson, Mark Waid, and Saladin Ahmed.
Wilson returns to Marvel with this one-shot, having co-created the character for the revamped Marvel Now line back in 2012, spinning out of the Inhumanity event. The event was an attempt to launch a new roster of Inhumans due to the politics surrounding the rights to the X-Men and mutants. Wilson would weave the character into the fabric of the Marvel universe, drawing on Carol Danvers’s Captain Marvel role as an idol/mentor, connections to Wolverine in early stories, and the looming Inhuman royal family to tell a compelling coming of age story for Marvel’s first Pakistani/Muslim hero. Wilson would continue her run through the Marvel Universe’s quasi-reboot with Secret Wars.
Wilson would continue to write the title’s second volume alongside Waid’s use of the character in the All New, All Different Avengers, a team made up of classic heroes like Captain America, Vision and up and comers like Miles Morales’s Spider-Man and the new Nova. Wilson would then pass the reins to Ahmed, who relaunched the title as The Magnificent Ms. Marvel, which touched on the Kree elements of the Inhumans while still putting a focus on the personal struggles of Kamala. The series would run concurrent to the Outlaw storyline from Champions, which set-up Kamala’s law, which aimed to stop minors from becoming vigilantes.
Both The Magnificent Ms. Marvel and Champions would end not too long afterwards, and Ms. Marvel would be relegated to miniseries and guest appearances even as the character led a Disney+ original series. Since the relaunch of The Amazing Spider-Man, she has appeared as a supporting character, and then headlining a Dark Web tie-in.
This decision to kill Kamala seems to be paving the way for the character’s return as a mutant, thanks to the resurrection protocols established with Krakoa. This would align the 616 version of the hero with her MCU counterpart (just in time for an upcoming movie appearance) and further distance the Inhumans from the larger Marvel Universe.
Stay tuned to Comic Watch for a review of The Amazing Spider-Man #26 out later this month, and more coverage of Kamala’s fate.