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Luis Moreno
Professor Beadle
October 3, 2015
Ms. Marvel Gender Expectations
In the graphic novel Ms. Marvel by Writer Wilson, G Willow and illustrator Adrian
Alphona a young female named Kamala Khan is your average teenager until she discovers her
super powers with her hero name Ms. Marvel. Kamala was a female Pakistani American, super
hero, and student. With the novel taking place in modern society the character is confronted by a
lot of subordination and roles she is expected to meet by society. It is noticeable in the novel of
Kamala trying to meet gender roles as her self and as Ms. Marvel. Kamalas Pakistani ethnic
background made her gender expectations very evident, also as a super hero there was gendering
that comes along with being a female superhero. The superpowers help show Kamala who she
really is but also makes her feel like there are certain expectations that come along with just as
with being a daughter, student, and etc. The graphic novel and such articles like Visible or
Invisible: Growing up Female in Porn Culture by Gail Dines and also Good Girls Go Bad, For
a Day by Stephanie Rosenbloom all give evidence to support these preset gender expectations
can make it hard for anyone not just Ms. Marvel like the series of articles from Composing
Geneder. She had to go through many hardships to find success in what she was doing. I agree
with the fact that Kamala Khan is able to transgress gender expectations with the acquisition of
superpowers, however it is only once Kamala realizes being herself instead gave better results.
Kamala family role as a daughter was something that was something she found difficult
to adapt to, especially as a young teen. Kamalas difficulty derived from her parents being very
grounded to the female social manners. On one occasion Kamala is trying to go to a party but her

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father will not let her his reason being, It is not safe for a young girl to be out late at night with
strange boys drinking (Alphona, 6). This is social barrier set by her parents is very common
amongst young females. It comes from the ideal that women are not as genetically strong as men
to fend for themselves. Such restriction set on Kamala causes her to break her daughter
expectations of doing as her parents say which triggers her to sneak out for the night.
Kamala had many issues fitting in and meeting societies gender role, this led to her doing
such things just to meet the expectations. In one of the beginning chapters Kamala starts to
hallucinate and she is upon the Avengers superheros presence. During these few panels of
conversation they make her see how her misbehavior and attempt to be someone else was useless
as all it got her was her peers making fun of her. You thought that if you disobeyed your parents
your culture, your religion your classmates would accept you (Alphona, 16). This one of the
first times it was brought to Kamalas attention about her choice to try and impress someone else
which leads to her trying to be someone shes not. The Avengers confront her before she gets her
superpowers, during this time she still is trying conform to societies standards. This scenario is a
result of Kamala attempting to fit in with her peers at the party. Kamala learns the down side of
trying to fit in.
Kamala quickly became aware of her superpowers, but she wasnt to excited with the fact
of being Captain Marvel. In one instance where this is noticeable is when Kamala as Captain
Marvel said, But being someone else isnt liberating. Its EXHAUSTING if I had this amazing
hair, if I could pull off great boots, That would make me feel happy (Alphona, 33). Around
this early stage when Kamala is getting used to her new superpowers is when she takes notice
that even when being what she wished it still doesnt feel right, this was what she had wanted to
be happy but realizes being someone else isnt as pleasing. Kamala let down her own

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expectations of the typical beautiful blonde which she expected to make her happy and life
easier.
After the long night Kamala now has to sneak into the house without anyone knowing.
The task was anything but easy for Kamala, in result her brother stumbles upon her sneaking in,
he also informs her that Abu and Ammi know she snuck out. A certain example of the daughter
gender expectations is when Abu said, You disobeyed me and worse, you put yourself at risk
my precious Kamala has suddenly has become a reckless disobedient girl I barely recognize
(Alphona, 36). Once again the she is not able to fulfill her daughter roles even with superpowers.
She was not able to remain the innocent and responsible parents wanted her to be. They expect
Kamala to be the young Muslim girl who listens, is smart and dresses appropriately. Kamala
realizes even with superpowers much is still expected from her, things have not gotten easier for
her of anything they got harder and more trouble. As the story progresses Kamala manages to
balance everything.
Kamala learns from a situation that took place how being her self is triumphant over
when she tries to be someone like Captain Marvel. Many of Kamalas situations as Captain
Marvels stem from her inability to meet the expected social requirements from society or her
peers. In particular, a situation that supports this claim is when Bruno asks Kamala to come to
the convenience store he works at, as she arrives she notices what seems t be a robbery taking
place at the store. After realizing her phone is dead she feels she can fight off the robber with her
superpowers, this leads to Captain Marvel getting shot (Alphona, 64). Kamala once again isnt
able to meet her superhero expectations as Captain Marvel, Kamala continues to believe she does
her best as being Captain Marvel up until this point. In these panels the change of colors from
vibrant while beating up the bad guy to a darkish purple and dark blue give the reader more

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information. The reader can infer that from past actions scenes and this occasion that being
Captain Marvel is not working out for Kamala the way she would like. She finds her internally
finds herself and who she should be after these scenes.
As the novel moves along she confronts more people who are important in the process of
Kamala finding herself. During the following scenes she confronts the villain The Inventor, she
realizes who she really is, she specifically told the villain that asked who she was, Who am I? It
seems like an easy question. Then I realize You can call me Ms. Marvel (Alphona, 79). At
this point in the graphic novel Kamala finds who she really is but if the reader looks back there is
a big gap Kamala came to meet her gender expectations. Kamala had to go through many downs
to find herself, on the way to finding herself she let down Abu and Ammi as finding herself
caused her to make decisions that led to disobeying them. She also had not been able to meet her
gender expectations because of her inability to feel confident in her self from the start. One
example of her failure to meet expectations was when Abu told Kamala, You dont have to be
someone else to impress anybody you are perfect just the way you are (Alphona, 91). This
reinforces that fact that although she discovered who she really was supposed to be to her peers,
her unusual actions led to them to the conclusion she wasnt being her self.
Being that the graphic novel takes place in the modern times it can be inferred that
Kamala was possibly influenced by the media in what her gender expectations were. In young
girls it is not abnormal for them to look up to celebritys or pop culture figures, at times these
people are what set certain expectations and gender roles for the younger generation. In the
article Visible or Invisible: Growing up Female in Porn Culture by Gail Dines she describes
how today there is no way to escape the image and how celebrities are setting the expectations
that the younger audience tend to try and imitate (Dines, 252). This can be said to be true with

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Kamala when she would go and try and be Captain Marvel which resulted in her failing at the
task at hand and not meeting certain gender expectations. She wanted to be someone else to be
happy but it turned out to be the opposite for her. Kamala could be categorized into the younger
audience mentioned by Dines, in the beginning Kamala thought the amazing hair and boots
would be the thing to make her happy as that was she had perceived. At least that was she
thought to be true as her idol Captain Marvel who had that celebrity influence on her made it
seem.
Kamala was one to be influenced heavily by her peers and those around her, she was very
easy to manipulate. In the story Good Girls Go Bad, For a Day by Stephanie Rosenbloom the
author talks about how media had a big influence on how it was that girls dressed (Rosenbloom
165). One example of how his is seen in the novel Ms. Marvel is by when Kamala was still
dressing as Captain Marvel and she complained about how hard and complicated it was to try
and be someone else, in these panels she also mentioned how the outfit she was wearing was
very uncomfortable. Kamala felt that was what she had to wear, even if she didnt want to. This
was because it was what Ms. Marvel wears and that was who she was imitating.
Overall Kamala had a rough time with meeting her parents expectation and most social
expectations. Kamala gaining superpowers didnt help meeting those expectations easy, during
some points in the graphic novel her super powers made it reaching those social gender
expectations harder. Kamala goes through a series of event that lead to helping finding who she
is, these situations help open her eyes to the reality of her imitating Captain Marvel. Her peers
helped by putting her in these situations even if those werent their intentions. Articles from
Common Gender gave the reader more information on the issues Kamala was going through.

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Works Cited Page

Wilson, G. Willow, writer. Ms. Marvel. Illustrated by Adrian Alphona. Colorist Ian Herring. New
York: Marvel Publishing, 2015. Print.

Groner, Rachel. "Visible or Invisible: Growing Up in Porn Culture." Composing Gender: A

Bedford Spotlight Reader. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2014. 252 -261. Print.

Groner, Rachel. "Good Girls Go Bad, for a Day." Composing Gender: A Bedford Spotlight
Reader. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2014. 165-170. Print.