Ms. Marvel head writer hopes to see more ‘bara Hulk cosplay’

Disney Plus’ Ms. MarvelWhile the show has seen some dramatic changes to comics, there is one constant: Kamala Khan, Iman Vellani’s central heroine is Pakistani American, and, as most Pakistani Americans is Muslim. She attends mosque services and Eid celebrations and talks about how brown girls from Jersey City don’t ever get to be heroes.

Like many first-generation Americans, Kamala has a complicated relationship with her family’s traditions and her own burgeoning sense of self. However, Kamala’s friends and family are not in complete opposition to her heritage. Instead they have left the creators. Ms. MarvelThey took care to portray the culture both as a source and a cause for conflict. Kamala and her heritage are bonded in one scene of the episode.

[Ed. note: This post contains mild spoilers for the first two episodes of Ms. Marvel.]

“I remember that I wrote the first draft of the pilot in a rush of emotion over two nights,” says Ms. Marvel head writer Bisha K. Ali. “And it just came out of me in a flood. This scene is verbatim, the original draft. Everyone was so excited. Yes. […] It turns from cute to painful very quickly.”

In the moment in question, Kamala’s parents finally agree that she can go to AvengerCon, the fan convention for all things Avengers, but Only if she’s supervised by her father and if she wears the costume that her mother made for her: a Hulk cosplay made out of a Salwar kameezThe traditional Pakistani dress, called a ‘Kategori,’ is adorned with shoulder pads and stitched on abs. And that’s not all — her father jumps in, wearing a matching Hulk cosplay with face paint.

“Big Hulk and little Hulk!” her mother enthusiastically gushes. “Bara Hulk and Choti Hulk”

Image: Disney

It is incredibly funny — but as Kamala winces and then snaps at her parents, it turns into something very heartbreaking. Kamala’s parents still don’t understand her world, and though they’re trying to meet her halfway, it’s still in a way so deeply embarrassing for her that she rejects it. Kamala is further divided from her parents by the fact their differences are rooted in an aspect of Pakistani culture.

“There’s this element of traditional clothes being representative of something that as a teenager, you might think it means one thing, but I don’t think it does,” Ali tells us. “And she’s negotiating what that means for herself in that moment, and it might change over time or it might not. You might get the same. It’s different for everybody. As a teenager I experienced a lot of rejection, and I was ashamed about it. But then I also wanted to be part of it, but I also thought I couldn’t be part of it. All of it. And all of that stuff. OK, let’s get this in a scene that’s also funny.It was their goal. I think we pulled it off.” She adds, “And if I don’t see loads of Bara Hulk, Choti Hulk cosplay next year, then I failed everyone.”

While Kamala certainly clashes with her parents, however, it’s less about her rejecting her culture and more about her trying to figure out who she is outside of her family. As a teenager, she’s trying to find a place in the world and express her interests, all while figuring out what that means in the context of how she was raised.

“So much of teenagehood, in my experience — and the experience of many other people, I’m sure — is a constant negotiation of Which are the best ways to get by?Oder What’s acceptable?Oder What are my goals? And that’s changing,” says Ali. “But I also think from the parents’ perspective, their relationship with their child — now teenager, now adult — is also constant negotiation. They’re moving back and forth on that line, too.”

Photo: Daniel McFadden/Disney

Kamala’s parents, who are more strict in upholding Pakistani Muslim cultural values, do allow her to brush up on some of her roots. The best part? Ms. Marvel Kamala, her friends, and even some of its antiquated traditions are emphasized by writers. Kamala doesn’t really like that the women have to sit in the back of the mosque, but she enthusiastically attends the mosque’s Eid celebrations. Her friend Nakia is frustrated with the fact that all the mosque leaders are men — but that just inspires her to run for the board so she can have her name out there. Their culture isn’t something to be rejected, but the younger generation does. Ms. Marvel It is more complicated and nuanced.

Ali and other writers had difficulty finding the balance, but eventually it was obvious.

“It feels quite natural to approach it from a place of love, from a place of complete nuance, from a place of complexity and a place of compassion, because that’s how I feel like my family,” explains Ali. “I love my family, and I want them to be portrayed in a way that is complicated and is presented without judgment and is presented genuinely from a place of understanding of, Okay, maybe we are coming from opposite sides. But we love each other and that’s foundational and love is a universal thing.”

Watch new episodes Ms. Marvel Disney Plus is available Wednesdays.