Ms. Marvel's powers may be closer to her comic book origins than we first thought

Warning: This article contains spoilers for Ms. Marvel episode 2. 

Ms. Marvel episode 2 teased that Kamala Khan’s (Iman Vellani) powers may actually be more complicated than we first realized. 

In the opening episode of the MCU show, we saw the New Jersey teen get her abilities when she put on a bangle from her grandmother in Pakistan. This gave her the ability to shoot energy fields and extend her limbs.

However, in episode 2, it's suggested that the power actually comes from within her, rather than from the bangle. Khan’s best friend – and tech genius – Bruno Carrelli (Matt Lintz) discovers this as he tries to help Khan come to terms with her superhuman abilities. After scanning her while she uses the bands, he explains: "So it looks like your power isn’t coming from the bangle. It’s coming from within you. Like the bangle unlocked a superhuman part of you."

This revelation shares a lot of similarities with how Khan gets her powers in the comic books, with her latent abilities being unlocked rather than coming from a band. However, unlike the series, this happens when Black Bolt of the Inhumans releases Terrigen Mist into Earth’s atmosphere, awakening her Inhuman DNA.

While there has been nothing else to link the TV show version of Khan to Inhumans yet, there's a question of whether Bruno's comment could suggest this may be about to happen. We also know that Inhumans may be part of the MCU again after Black Bolt’s cameo in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. How exactly this will play into the Inhumans TV show, which featured an alternative version of Black Bolt, or the Agents of Shield series, which included various Inhumans, remains to be seen.

Discussing the episode on Reddit, one viewer pointed this out: "'The powers aren’t coming from the bangle, it's coming from within you' confirming she’s inhuman?" Another agreed: "At the very least leaves the door open. Making her explicitly Inhuman from the start is problematic because the only MCU Inhumans are the miniseries that doesn't exist, and [Agents of Shield] which may or may not be in continuity. This way if they do Inhumans properly they can say Kamala is one later on."

While a third speculated: "That would be crazy for them to be backing into an Inhumans reintroduction, but this would be a great way to do it. Honor her comics heritage, but update her powers to be based on an item that reacts to Inhuman DNA." Although, another suggested: "Maybe it's like in The Amazing Spider-Man that you can only use the powers if you have a specific DNA? Kamala's grandmother owned the bangles so this could make sense."

Check our guide to the Ms. Marvel release schedule to make sure you don’t miss an episode on Disney Plus. We’ve also broken down everything you need to know about Marvel Phase 4 – and how Ms. Marvel fits into the Marvel timeline.