This year, DC & Marvel looked to a new generation, opting to put their first impressions on young teenage girls. Naomi McDuffie & Kamala Khan would each go on journeys of self-discovery as they attained new abilities and strengthened friendships along the way. Both women would face family issues and go head-to-head with powerful enemies while solving mysteries that originated before their time.
Naomi would only last one 13-episode season before being canceled shortly before the CW was bought out, but in its time, it would prove to be an excellent addition to the CW’s superhero lineup. Ms. Marvel would have a six-episode limited series run. Still, there are already confirmed plans for Iman Vellani to reprise her role in the MCU film The Marvels (2023). We will examine different factors to analyze which of these two young women is better. Still, audiences can be sure that they’ll enjoy both series and the adventures of powerful young women, leading into the next generation of heroes.
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The Inspirations
Warner Bros. Television Distribution
These women had superhero figures they idolized before they took their turn wearing the metaphorical cape. Naomi is the biggest Superman fan in the world. And it can be hard to outpoint the Man of Steel regarding inspirational figures. The Kryptonian stands for truth, justice, and the American way. However, in Naomi’s world, Superman is a fictional character. Naomi would believe this to be the case until one day she witnessed Superman from an alternate Earth arrive. This encounter would lead to the activation of her powers and set her on her journey.
Kamala would be the biggest Captain Marvel fan, centering an entire Youtube video on explaining the different exploits that Carol Danvers executed in her time as a cosmic superhero. Kamala’s journey would begin with sneaking out of the house to go to a convention dressed in Captain Marvel cosplay. During this contest, the bangle that Kamala borrowed for her costume would activate an innate power within Kamala and lead to the awakening of the first confirmed Mutant in the MCU’s Prime-Earth. While Carol can be very abrasive in her role, her intense Firebird powers could prove to be a rival to Superman under the Red Sun. That said, Superman could inspire even when he was just a fictional character.
The Powers
Disney Platform Distribution
Throughout the show, Naomi would seem to gain a new power every other episode. Beginning with super strength, we would see Naomi gain super speed, invulnerability, and the power of flight. While it’s not confirmed that we’ve seen the limit of her abilities, the range of these powers proves that Naomi would make for a strong superhero.
Ms. Marvel would discover that her powers came from within her. She would have the powers of light manipulation and the power to form constructs, giving the appearance of creating a large hand or developing platforms for herself and others to use. One of her more notable abilities would be to “embiggen” herself to grow larger and gain proportionate strength. While there was some backlash for changing Kamala’s powers from the source material, many are thrilled to see that the changes to Kamala could lead to wide-reaching impacts on the rest of the MCU.
Allies
While Naomi didn’t want to get anyone else involved, she had surrounded herself with people that cared for her, so it was inevitable that her friends would be by her side. Naomi could always rely on someone to back her up, whether it be her mentor Dee, her best friend Annabelle, or one of her many love interests. Now, if only she didn’t try to leave them behind every episode.
Kamala primarily relies on her best friend Bruno, the tech prodigy, to help her figure out where her powers came from and how to train her to use them in the field correctly. Over time, she would gain even more friends from across the globe, including Kareem, the Pakistani hero, The Red Dagger. And while there was a rift, in the beginning, Kamala’s family would come to support her once the truth finally came out about her powers. While Naomi had a team with more diverse skills, Naomi was always reluctant to use them. In contrast, Kamala was more willing to accept help.
Enemies
Marvel Studios
Naomi’s main enemy wouldn’t reveal himself until the end of the season, being some omnipotent being that had driven Naomi and others of her kind away from their home universe. Otherwise, Naomi would mainly contend with the monsters of the week and the U.S. military, as the various parties would seek to discover the power that Naomi wields and use it for nefarious purposes.
Kamala would also contend with government agents with an agenda against powered individuals. But her primary foe would come from the Clandestines, a group of beings from the Noor Dimension. Exiled to Earth and, at one point, believed to be Djinn, the Clandestines sought to return home and were willing to force Kamala to use her powers to do so, despite the risks such an act would pose. While both characters face supernatural threats, Kamala is constantly pressured by her foes, even having to fight her love interest at one point. These events would help make the Clandestines more intriguing foes.
Actresses
Kaci Walfall plays an excellent Naomi. Coming across as headstrong and independent, Kaci encapsulates a young woman’s journey in discovering more about her identity during the formative years of high school. While her credits outside of Naomi consist of one-off appearances or from her days as a child actress, Kaci has a bevy of experience to pull from when it comes to portraying the superpowered teen.
Iman Vellani is a fresh face to the world of acting, making her debut under the bright lights in Ms. Marvel. While DC tends to let their smaller projects do most of the attention-grabbing within the show, Marvel was more than happy to sign Iman up for appearances on multiple talk shows and internet segments. Iman would endear herself to audiences everywhere with her passion for the source material and the spark of energy she brought to the show, a trait greatly needed to pull off a character such as Kamala Khan.
Representation
Naomi would be a strong lead and inspiring role model for women of color. Being featured throughout the show with her powers, one thing that isn’t picked up on nearly enough is Naomi’s sense of style. From her clothes to the different ways she wears her hair throughout the series’ run, Naomi is a realistic representation of a young woman of color. She is also an excellent representation of the LGBT community, showing attraction to men and women and a tendency not to want to conform to the societal view of attraction. She is constantly drawn to all three of her different love interests.
Kamala is the first ever Pakistani-American hero the MCU has seen. With the show giving us glimpses of Kamala’s everyday life, from attending religious events at the local mosque to celebrating Eid al-Fitr and participating in a wedding surrounded by the culture of her family, audiences get to see what life is like for an average Pakistani-American woman, with plenty of heroic action in between.
