Ms. Marvel

Ms. Marvel is Marvel's best TV series yet. 

Sixteen-year-old Kamala Khan (Iman Vellani) is a huge fan of Captain Marvel but suddenly becomes a superhero in her own right when she is gains powers from a mysterious bangle. Kamala soon finds herself fighting the hugely powerful Clandestine who want to return to their dimension while probably destroying Earth in the process and has the Department of Damage Control hunting her down. 

There are many reasons why this show works but centre of all of them is Iman Vellani. Few studios cast so successfully as Marvel and Vellani is a fantastic find, this being her first acting job. She has so much energy that every scene she's in engages you and she perfectly embodies the character. Kamala serves as something of an avatar for fans of the MCU, she is an in-universe fan of the Avengers and that aspect of the character is also a lot of fun. 

It's really awesome to see a Muslim Pakistani-American superhero. The show takes things much further by exploring in some depth her family and their background as well as casually setting scenes inside a mosque. It's really noticeable that you just don't see this stuff on TV other than when some white spies are investigating terrorism and it's so refreshing to see a culture and religion portraying in a positive and everyday way. There's also lots of elements focusing on what life is like for immigrants and their children in the USA. The show goes even further, telling the story of the partition of India, a hugely important piece of history that is rarely taught. 

I also loved that the show is really funny. You expect a bit of humour in the MCU and often it feels a bit too try-hard or doesn't quite fit the tone of what is happening on screen. Here though every single episode has at least one moment which is genuinely laugh-out loud funny, delivering expertly by a hugely talented cast. 

One of the biggest criticisms of the previous MCU shows is how pretty much every one of them seemed to rush the finale and not give us an entirely satisfactory conclusion. This one doesn't, giving you a penultimate episode which surprises you and then a final episode which wraps things up really nicely and isn't just focused on a superhero battle. I love the journey Kamala goes on in this series, going from a geek with limited self-confidence with a tense relationship to her family to a confident superhero who keeps her family close. 

I think a lot of Marvel fans consider that this isn't for them but that's a shame because they are really missing out. Kamala Khan has a a similar teenage-energy to Spider-Man and this series gives her a really satisfying emotional journey which is so much fun and full of surprises.