Canadian actress cast as Muslim hero Ms Marvel
LOS ANGELES- Agence France-Presse
The actress who will play Muslim comic book superhero Ms Marvel on TV has been announced as Canadian newcomer Iman Vellani.
Ms Marvel is Pakistani-American teenager Kamala Khan, and the character will front a live-action TV series.
This was announced in August and the show is currently slated for a 2021 release.
Little is known about Vellani, as this is her first role in TV or film. However, she was on the Next Wave panel at 2019
Toronto International Film Festival, which worked to pick films that would suit a younger audience.
She picked Minhal Baig’s “Hala,” which tells the story of a Muslim-American teen trying to navigate cultural codes and differences.
Famous faces in Hollywood have already started to congratulate Vellani over her casting, including Mindy Kaling and Kumail Nanjiani.
Comic book author and “Ms Marvel” co-creator Gwendolyn Willow Wilson vouched for Vellani by tweeting the news and then writing, “she is the real deal”.
An Instagram account in her name was created after the casting announcement.
It already has more than 16,000 followers (showing the power of Marvel fandom) but isn’t verified and many commenters are saying it isn’t run by Vellani.
Marvel studio chief Kevin Feige has said that the character of Kamala Khan (Ms Marvel) will also appear in future films
in the franchise, but they may of course cast a different actor for the big screen.
Sixteen-year-old Kamala Khan, or Ms Marvel, is Marvel’s first Muslim lead character. She first appeared in an August 2013 edition of “Captain Marvel,” and landed her own comic book series in February 2014.
