‘Ms Marvel’ is a superhero with faith, offering hope in a secularised world

Jun 24, 2022

By Fr Jonathan Mitchican
Growing up is never easy. In some ways, it is harder today than it has ever been. The pressures that modern teenagers face are many and daunting, from the shifting ground of morality to the endless scrutiny created by social media. As Ms Marvel finally makes her way from the pages of Marvel Comics to television and movie screens, young people will finally see a hero who struggles with many of the same issues that we do, including matters of faith.

Ms Marvel’s faith
Perhaps the most remarkable thing about Ms Marvel as a character is her faith. Aside from the overly brooding Catholicism of Daredevil, religion is not something we have seen much of in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), despite the presence of literal Norse and Egyptian gods. Kamala Khan is a Muslim, and it is a significant part of her identity. While Islam and Catholicism are not the same thing, it is nonetheless heartening to see a character with superpowers for whom faith is real, even if a struggle. In the comics, Kamala often wrestles with what she believes. Even in the first two episodes of the series, there are already indications that this aspect of the character will remain consistent.

As a priest who serves full time in ministry as a high school chaplain, I spend a lot of time walking alongside teenagers as they try to figure out what they believe and why. The stereotype is that young people today have rejected religion entirely. And certainly, many of them have — the overriding pressure to accept a completely secularised account of the world is hard to escape for anyone today, but especially for those who are still just trying to figure out where they fit in the world. But often, in their attempts to make sense of their faith, teenagers are not trying to reject religion, let alone the deep ties of culture and family that come with it, but to understand how it can make sense in the world they actually live in. They are growing up, and they want to know if their religion can grow with them.

Grounded in truth
The point being that a faith that is grounded in universal truth and love need not ever be in fear of facing the particular challenges of any given moment in time. Young people who want to figure out if they can make the faith given to them by their parents their own, who struggle to fit it in with a modern world that often looks and feels at odds with how they were raised, need the freedom to be able to test the truth so as to see it in all its splendour.

Whether Kamala Khan’s relationship with God stretches to fill every corner of her world or gets overshadowed by other concerns will remain to be seen over time.

What is certain is that God loves all young people, even in the midst of their doubts and growing pains. And depicting even a small portion of that love on the screen cannot help but give those watching some hope that their own struggles are not in vain. --Aleteia