TV - Movies
The Untold
Truth Of
Ms. Marvel
By JULIET KAHN
The first Ms. Marvel was actually Carol Danvers and before she traded in her leotards for a flight suit, she was fighting for equal pay and military respect in her 1977 self-titled solo series. The use of "Ms." instead of "Mrs." or "Miss," was purposefully aligned with the feminist movement's celebration of the title as an identifier of women unto themselves, with or without a man.
Superhero Gloria Steinem
Carol isn't the only woman to have stepped into Ms. Marvel's boots and 1986 saw Sharon Ventura take on the moniker. Her path was a strange one indeed, originally part of the super-powered wrestling circuit that hooked its wrestlers on addictive substances to boost their strength.
Wrestling Ms. Marvel
Not all who have called themselves Ms. Marvel have been eager to make the world a better place, particularly, Dr. Karla Sofen, an inveterate evil-doer who was part of the 2000s "Dark Avengers" storyline. Typically known as Moonstone, she's responsible for acts like needling her patients into self-harm and murdering her own mother.
the Dark Avengers
Debuting in 2014's Ms. Marvel #1, Kamala Khan arrives and was an immediate sensation. A young Pakistani American teenager from Jersey City, she's a hardcore superhero fangirl, a lover of her local hot dog stand's "Doom Dogs," and an unstoppable believer in doing the right thing.
Superpowered nerd
Kamala has already impacted the world of language. In 2018, Merriam-Webster added the word "embiggen" to its dictionary, declaring it a "real" word. Though an episode of The Simpsons was the first to coin the phrase, Kamala's use of it to describe her powers was likely part of its path to respect.
Creating New Words