The Bollywood Superstar Ms. Marvel's Showrunners Would Love To See Join The MCU
Introduced on the pages of Marvel Comics back in 2013, Kamala Khan has since become something of a modern superhero icon. She got her inaugural solo comic series in 2014 — the first-ever Muslim character to do so under the Marvel banner (via Elle) –, joined the Avengers lineup in short order, and served as a key character in the 2020 video game about Earth's Mightiest Heroes. To add to her ever-expanding résumé, she's now a part of the live-action Marvel Cinematic Universe as the lead of the aptly named Disney+ series, "Ms. Marvel."
Developed by Bisha K. Ali, the six-part series puts Kamala Khan (Iman Vellani) center-stage as she goes through the motions as a New Jersey teenager. However, her coming-of-age story has a twist: courtesy of a magic bangle, she has the ability to harness cosmic energy and create constructs as she pleases. While this is a big change from her comic book embiggening abilities, you don't have to worry about Kamala changing too much for the small screen otherwise. She'll still don her iconic costume, look up to Captain Marvel (Brie Larson), and connect with her cultural roots.
Kamala Khan's identity as a Pakistani-American hasn't been erased or ignored for "Ms. Marvel," with the series as a whole taking its representation of South Asian culture very seriously. In fact, the showrunners hope that the wider MCU will continue this trend in the future by welcoming a Bollywood sensation to the franchise down the road.
The minds behind Ms. Marvel want to see Shah Rukh Khan in the MCU
On June 3, 2022, Looper attended a press event ahead of the June 8 premiere of "Ms. Marvel" on Disney+. During the event, some of the cast and crew behind the series took a question regarding how they'd feel about Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan joining the MCU in the future. Though they're jokingly unsure if they'd be able to afford him, Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah claimed that not only do they want to see him someday suit up under the Marvel Studios banner, but if the opportunity arose, they'd happily reshoot scenes from "Ms. Marvel" to include him.
For those unaware, Shah Rukh Khan has been a staple of the Bollywood scene for decades. After getting his start on television in the 1980s, he rose to prominence throughout the '90s in such productions as "Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge" and "Kuch Kuch Hota Hai," among others. As the years went on, his star only continued to rise, earning him the nickname "The King of Bollywood" and allowing him to embark on numerous other ventures outside of film. He's a successful businessman, a renowned philanthropist, and even has a fan in the MCU's Kamala Khan (via The Indian Express).
Should Shah Rukh Khan ever express interest in joining the MCU, it's plain to see that he has plenty of support from some of the franchise's most influential minds.