Iman Vellani Will Play Muslim Superhero Kamala Khan

The East is chronically misrepresented or under-represented in Western media. Pushing for more Middle Eastern characters that represent the diversity of the region has brought up-and-coming stars to the forefront. In the last few years Egyptian-Canadian Mena Massoud brought Disney’s “Aladdin” to life, Egyptian-American Rami Malek helped “Mr. Robot” win a Golden Globe, and now, newcomer Iman Vellani will play Kamala Khan the first-ever Muslim superhero.

The Pakistani-American superhero known as Kamala Khan is a 16-year-old Muslim teen from the suburbs of Jersey who has the inhuman ability to alter her shape and size, aka the ability to “polymorph” to fight crime. The Disney Plus live-action series now has its leading lady who in real life is an 18-year-old Iman Vellani, daughter of Pakistani immigrants to Canada. Miss Iman is an extremely fresh face—this is her first role in film or TV, but already famous faces from Hollywood like Mindy Kaling and Kumail Nanjiani are speaking out to congratulate her on her iconic role.

Vellani’s character first appeared in the comic series in 2012, but the young Pakistani-Canadian is about to take the comic character to the next level bringing Marvel’s first Muslim lead character into the lives of millions of people. Created in part by artist Sana Amanat who told The National that the character was inspired by a conversation she had with her editor Stephen Wacker about growing up as a minority in New Jersey. “I was talking about the fact it was really hard to be a young Muslim in America and the different struggles I had, like trying to go to the prom, making my own dress that was fully covered, fasting and playing lacrosse, wearing tights underneath my shorts in 90-degree weather and not being able to go on dates,” Amanat told UAE news outlet. “For me, it was so common and everyday, but my senior editor said: ‘Not a lot of people know those kinds of stories.’ That was the first spark of an idea of creating a character that maybe could resonate with young Sanas out there.” The Ms. Marvel series is now filming and will be launched on Disney’s streaming service next year.