Appearing in Marvel comics during the 2010s, Kamala Khan – aka “Miss Marvel” – was originally designed to replace the “X-Men”, whose franchise was no longer owned by Marvel Studios!
Broadcast every Wednesday on Disney+, the Miss Marvel series follows the adventures of Kamala Khan, budding superheroine and unconditional Captain Marvel fan, who inherits cosmic powers once held by her great-grandmother Aisha. Of extra-dimensional origin, Kamala could maintain links with the Inhumans, heroes of an ephemeral Marvel series whose leader Black Bolt recently made a surprise appearance in the film Doctor Strange 2.
But did you know that Kamala Khan, who appeared in Marvel comics from 2014, was designed by Marvel to…replace the X-Men? To better understand the issues surrounding the genesis of this character, a little background is needed.
The Inhumans replace the X-Men
As surprising as it may seem today, Marvel publishing was on the verge of bankruptcy at the end of the 90s. In order to boost the popularity of superheroes (and boost sales of their series at the same time), the idea comes to its leaders to sell the adaptation rights of its licenses to various Hollywood studios to produce blockbusters. A risky but profitable strategy that will boost the popularity of Marvel superheroes and convince the majors to produce other adaptations, for better… or for worse.
2009 marked a major turning point with the takeover of the Marvel Entertainment company (since renamed Marvel Studios) by the Disney group, which foreshadowed the birth of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the name given to the connected universe of the various films (then series) produced by the marvel studios. Captain America, Iron Man, Black Widow, Thor, or the Incredible Hulk meet there, but not the X-Men, whose adaptation rights were sold to 20th Century Fox in the late 90s. !
Faced with the inability to bring mutants endowed with superpowers into their own productions, the decision was made within the Marvel group to no longer highlight the X-Men, despite their immense popularity with readers of comics. In 2013, a series entitled Infinity introduced the existence of a Terrigen cloud, at the origin of the triggering of powers in individuals carrying a certain gene… including Kamala Khan! Exit the mutants therefore, and now make way for the Inhumans!
marvel studios Black Bolt (Anson Mount) in the movie Doctor Strange 2!
Ironically, the Miss Marvel series was born on Disney+, just a few weeks after the appearance of Black Bolt, King of the Inhumans, in Doctor Strange 2, during which sequence also appeared… Professor Xavier, emblematic character of the X -Men (camped by his interpreter of the previous films, Patrick Stewart)!
The acquisition of Fox by Disney in 2019 has indeed made it possible to repatriate mutants within the MCU and a reboot of the franchise is currently in development. Thus, the future of Marvel studios will be written with mutants as well as with Inhumans, provided of course that we find the place to welcome all these beautiful people in the already well-filled stable of MCU heroes!
The Miss Marvel series is broadcast every Wednesday exclusively on the Disney+ platform!