Emmy-award winning actor, rapper and activist Riz Ahmed has thrown his name into the ring to write Marvel Studio’s Ms. Marvel movie. He’s also invited actors/writers Kumail Nanjiani and Mindy Kaling to join him in his bid to take on the project.
Ahmed took to Twitter following MCU boss Kevin Feige making headlines by saying there were big screen plans for Ms. Marvel, a character whose real name is Kamala Khan, a teen Pakistani-American Muslim.
https://twitter.com/rizmc/status/996541121537994752
And it seems like Kaling is well up for it, replying that she’s obsessed with the character Kamala Khan.
https://twitter.com/mindykaling/status/996557999807369221
Ahmed is a British-Pakistani actor who became the first ever Muslim to win an Emmy for Best Actor for his lead role in The Night Of. He’s also starred in movies including Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Nightcrawler and Four Lions. Kaling is an American of Indian descent, who has starred in The Office, Inside Out, Ocean’s 8 and her own show, The Mindy Project. Nanjiani is a Pakistani-American who won acclaim for his semi-autobiographical romantic comedy film The Big Sick. He also stars in HBO’s hit comedy Silicon Valley.
Though no Ms. Marvel film has been announced, Feige recently said the character was in development to debut in the Marvel Cinematic Universe sometime after the introduction of her in-story inspiration, Captain Marvel.
However, should Ms. Marvel get her own feature film, there’s likely to be pressure on the studio to ensure it’s made by filmmakers with a heritage similar to that of the character, as was the case with Black Panther. Marvel Studios is currently enjoying a massive degree of success with Black Panther, a film set in Africa, written and directed by African-Americans and with a predominantly black cast. Having filmmakers and a cast of similar heritage would be a giant leap forward in terms of on-screen representation.
Source: Riz Ahmed, Mindy Kaling (via Twitter)
