As a geeky, bespectacled brown lady with a monobrow, I by no means thought I'd see myself on display screen. So watching Ms Marvel has been an emotional expertise. I grew up within the 90s, and was a comic book e-book geek within the days earlier than comics had been cool. The times when HMV stocked Marvel T-shirts, when Athena bought DC posters, and 13-year-old me couldn’t consider her luck when she discovered a Wolverine ring binder in a reduction store in Bradford.
You’ll perceive how deep my love is after I let you know that one of many causes I married my husband is as a result of he knew what an adamantium exoskeleton was, and that he unequivocally agreed to call our third son after the Ragin’ Cajun, Gambit.
I’ve waited nearly 40 years to observe a lady like me don a superhero outfit. The truth that this hero comes with a kameez and dupatta has been definitely worth the wait, and I can’t cease buzzing the soundtrack.
I tucked into biryani as I watched episode one. Having the ability to relate to Kamala Khan’s conversations along with her Urdu-speaking mother and father, and the complexities of being a brown Muslim child in an enormous white world was one thing I’d by no means skilled earlier than. And when the tune Ko Ko Korina got here on, I knew the creators had performed their analysis. This was intelligent storytelling, devoid of stereotypes and unashamedly steeped in what it’s wish to be a second-generation Pakistani lady.
It has by no means been cool to be of Pakistani heritage, so the truth that this stunning Disney collection – with excessive manufacturing values, sort phrases, loving mother and father and a lady who loves superheroes – has been created by two ladies appears like success for all of us. Ladies of our heritage have been pressured to the sidelines for a lot too lengthy. However all that's altering and it’s time to take centre stage.
Saima Mir is a journalist, author and creator of the novel The Khan
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