Throughout Ms. Marvel there’s been a lot of mystery regarding where Kamala Khan's superhuman abilities come from. That all changed when, during the series finale on Disney Plus, a huge reveal teased her background – and it looks set to impact the wider MCU in a big way.
Before we go any further, consider this your big spoiler warning. This article contains major spoilers from Ms. Marvel episode 6, so if you haven’t seen it yet, don’t read any further. For those of you who have, let’s get stuck into the big reveal.
Ever since Kamala put on the bangle, her best friend Bruno has been attempting to work out where her powers come from. In episode 2, he told her that they were coming from within her, rather than from the bracelet. Then in the season finale, we learned more as Bruno made another discovery.
"So I went back and looked at your genetic make-up again," Bruno tells her. "I think we might’ve had it wrong the first time around. So we know why you have access to the Noor and why you can wield it but when I compared you to the rest of your family, something still seemed off. Kamala, there’s something different in your genes, like a mutation."
Kamala simply responds: "Whatever it is it’s just going to be another label." But underneath the dialogue, a clip from the X-Men: The Animated Series theme can be heard playing.
In the Marvel comics, mutants are human beings who have the X-Gene in their DNA. It’s usually activated around puberty and causes the mutant to develop superhuman powers. The most notable members of the group are the X-Men, who have not yet made an appearance in the MCU with their movies separate from the main Marvel canon.
Kevin Feige announced at San Diego Comic-Con in 2019 that "mutants" would be making an appearance in the MCU at some point. In Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, we were introduced to a version of Professor X, played by Sir Patrick Stewart. He was an alternate universe variant of his X-Men character and was also introduced by the X-Men: The Animated Series theme. However, he didn't last very long after Wanda Maximoff brutally murdered him.
But Kamala’s reveal introduces the mutant gene to Earth-616 (as we now know this universe is called) – and it’s likely to have a big impact on Marvel Phase 4 and beyond. Nothing has been confirmed yet about where this will go but with Feige planning a Hall H appearance at San Diego Comic-Con, we could soon find out more.
In the meantime, check out our guide to the Marvel timeline, and how to watch the Marvel movies in order.
