Ms. Marvel Episode 6, “No Normal,” is full of some big surprises and tender moments. It’s a satisfying finale for one of Marvel’s best shows to date.
Looking For Trouble
Having finally figured out more about her family history, Kamala seems to be in a good place.
Her mom even makes her an amazing costume (how she got ahold of superhero-level fabric is beyond me but don’t question what a mom can do). After seeing her journey of doubt, it’s nice to see Kamala become so confident.
Her happy reunion with the rest of her family is short-lived when she learns from Nakia that Bruno is missing and the Circle Q blew up. This sets up the high-stakes events to follow as it becomes a battle of not just strength but wit to protect Kamran from the DODC.
Things reach a boiling point when the teens are surrounded at the school and have to find a way out (which the help of big brother Aamir and Zoe who it turns out already guessed Nightlight was Kamala).
The team-up at the high school gives me some flashbacks to the lab scene in No Way Home minus a genius or two. These kids are still plenty smart and it’s fun to see them work out their plan.
Even better is seeing the whole community rally whether it’s at the mosque when they’re trying to hide Kamran or outside the school when they gather after Zoe goes live on her social media. From the start of the show, community has been an important theme, so it’s moving to see them embrace Kamala after some of the initial backlash over Nightlight.
The message behind making the rogue (and bigoted) Agent Deever the villain is very clear, but it does feel a little mundane following the cosmic conflict in Pakistan. Ms. Marvel may operate better as a street-level hero in my opinion, but the show would have benefitted from picking one lane and staying in it.
The choice to change Kamala’s back story led to complications that had to be addressed and ended up making the story less cohesive than it could have been.
In the end, Kamala saves Kamran from capture and stops him from going down a dark path with his powers. It’s a satisfying conclusion if a little bit rushed.
Didn’t See That Coming
Kamala’s journey is just beginning, and with that, she needs a superhero name upgrade. An emotional scene with her father reveals that Kamala roughly translates to “marvel,” and he calls her their own Ms. Marvel (Insert Leo pointing meme).
Kamala will continue to have a bigger role in the MCU, but I hope we see more of her family and friends along the way.
Raise your hand if you saw that twist about Kamala’s DNA coming. No one? Yeah, me either.
Towards the end of the episode, Bruno reveals he ran another test on Kamala’s DNA after Kamran’s powers started to manifest. Comparing it to her family members he found that Kamala’s DNA has a mutation.
And that’s when we hear a brief snippet of the X-Men: The Animated Series theme music. Sorry to those holding out for the Inhumans but it seems like Marvel had yet another surprise up its sleeve by using this episode to introduce the idea of mutants into the MCU.
It’s sure to be a controversial choice among comic die-hards, but it sets up a very interesting future for Kamala in the MCU. But that’s not even the only twist.
In the mid-credits scene, we see Kamala’s bangle light up and send her flying into her closet only for Carol Danvers to emerge instead.
Did Kamala’s comic book powers of shape-shifting finally manifest? Did she somehow swap places with Captain Marvel?
Thanks to Marvel’s subterfuge, not even the executive producers of the show, Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah, know because the scene was filmed during the production of The Marvels.
We know that Kamala and Carol will both be back on the big screen in 2023 when The Marvels is released, so we’ll keep wondering until then.
Miscellaneous Thoughts:
- “Superheros don’t need chaperoned!”
- The joke when he tells them they need a disguise and just hands them baseball caps: *Chef’s kiss*
- I wonder how many people in that crowd have figured out it’s Kamala.
- Ultimately I’m disappointed we did not see more of Agent Cleary this season. He is a more compelling character than Deever who comes off as a little generically awful.
- Embiggen!
- What was in that note Bruno left? A confession of his obvious love?