Okay, so this completely differs from everything I'm used to doing. I know this is also exactly the type of reaction that the people who made this dumb ass decision want from me. Fuck I even know I'm doing this at a time when it's not even remotely relevant or monetizable to do this. But I think I will explode if I don't get this shit off my chest.
For those of you who need some context in 2022, Zeb Wells became the current writer for The Amazing Spider-Man. In pivotal issue #26, It was revealed that Kamala Khan, Ms. Marvel sacrificed herself to defeat a powerful villain while saving MJ's life. However, the more you start to peel back the layers in the context, the more I realize that this isn't just a gross death and a little emblematic of everything wrong with comics.
Context
The only proper way to build context around this "event properly" is to discuss Comic books in general and their cyclical nature, especially in terms of Marvel and DC. When most of the main players in the medium have been around for decades, certain character bibles and status quos get set in editorial stone. Some basic examples are simple Stuff like Superman working on The Daily Planet or Batman not killing.
This comes with positives (every character being able to temporarily reinvent or add more depth to a character from a different angle) and negatives (characters feeling stagnant in an endless sandbox of ideas that will be forgotten), but that isn't to say change doesn't happen. If it hadn't, Wally West would've gone from Kid Flash to a father with three kids.
Even more, recent developments like the X-men forming their island nation of Krokoa and a system to revive dead mutants have completely upended their status quo. Sometimes events and writers can create earth-shattering events that revitalize age-old characters, except if you're Marvel's biggest punching bag and pay-pig Peter Parker.
As a character who's been marketed for his relatable coming-of-age narrative, it's frustrating, to say the least, that Marvel Editorial will often stagnant the natural next step of his life. To the point where we'll even get entire groundbreaking alternate universe stories dedicated to how much more interesting Spider-Man would be as a father/husband.
Zeb Wells' run exemplifies those issues greatly by constantly dangling a pointless will-they-wont-they narrative with Mary Jane Watson, fully character assassinating fan favorite Ben Reiley, and having Peter's job fights left and right. Yet the main dramatic question for the main plot can be summarized as. What did Peter do?
And the all-encompassing answer is nothing, at least nothing outside of his control. Some mystical nutjob Rabin just wanted to kill MJ to summon an eldritch god. Leading up to the arc's conclusion in Issue #26, Wells himself highlighted this as the spiritual successor to the Death of Gwen Stacy, excited that someone in the grand story issue would die.
Rabin then tears through the heroes till he finally stabs MJ in the stomach, only to reveal that it is Ms. Marvel disguised as MJ. Due to him getting a fake, Rabin's master haphazardly destroys him, vanishing into nonexistence, while we witness one of the most unnecessary deaths ever conceived.
What's wrong with this (for me)?
Look, as I said in the beginning, Marvel deliberately wanted to get people shocked and outraged. From a story perspective, though, this is a peak example of "Just because I didn't expect this, doesn't mean I find it to be a good twist." In the 25 previous issues leading up to this event, Kamala has been nothing more than a background character.
It gets revealed in a flashback Kamala seeks to investigate a newly reformed Norman Osborn by working underneath him, but her appearances overall can legitimately amount to 12-15 pages. Hell, Ms. Marvel has never even had that deep of a relationship with Spider-Man, or at least not Peter. In her nearly decades-long history, the two of them have only teamed up twice if we discount they have to interact with different superheroes.
Do you want to know a Spider-Man she does have relevance with? Miles Morales. Hell, the two of them have been close friends for years and are two of the founders of the Superhero team Ms. Marvel herself started: The Champions. There's even an entire storyline where Miles made a literal deal with the devil so he can save Kamala in the titular team's third volume.
The marketing for Kamala's Death ignores all of that. I've not seen one variant cover of a promotional image highlighting any of Kamala's friends or family, superhero or otherwise. I get that she hasn't had a solid ongoing since 2019, but to throw away her well-developed supporting cast (Zoe Zimmer, Bruno Carreli, Nakia Bahadur, MikeGutierrez Miller, Red Dagger, etc.) to the point where they don't acknowledge it is disgusting.
An even more disgusting detail is that most covers don't make Kamala the main focus. The literal "Death of Ms. Marvel" it's all about Peter Parker's pain and Norman Osborn's pity, but never actually the tragedy of the character. The fucking Inhumans have more reason to be outraged, and I don't see them anywhere. At least Kamala is one of them.
The more I ponder about the whole thing, the more I can't help but think about this as one of the most obvious attempts at "fridging" a character in my life. And here's a little comic book history lesson for those who don't know that icy term. Back in the 1990's Kyle Rayner's Green Lantern famously found his girlfriend Alexandra Dewitt was virtually killed and stuffed in a refrigerator by a supervillain called Major Force.
Compared with Alexandra's lack of character against Kyle's rage, the brutal death caused the famous comic book writer Gail Simone to call it out. As such, the "Women in Refrigerators" term and website formed a negative trope to highlight a woman getting brutalized to further a male character's story.
The term and overall execution are one-to-one with each story. Hell, it's even been subverted and used even to this day. How Ms. Marvel herself was already a well-established character before the event happened, but given how Marvel decided to spoil themselves weeks before the issue came out while at the same time drawing out every bit of suspense by having her shapeshift into MJ, a power she's used so rarely that it might as well not exist. This feels like textbook fridging. Of course, even bringing this up leaves a question.
Why should this even matter?
I think this is the part where I should also point out the damn obvious.
"Yes, I do know death happens constantly in comics."
The fact that Batman was still kicking strong in Chip Zdarsky's Batman run when he was supposed to be dead in DC's Dark Crisis should tell you how far we've fallen in comic deaths. I have no freakin doubts that Ms. Marvel will finally get a new ongoing comic by the end of the year. They would be foolish not to give how she's ⅓ of the title characters in the upcoming Marvels.
That movie is probably the reason we're even having this event happen in the first place. Unlike the comic version, MCU's Ms. Marvel is implied to be a mutant like the X men, so the ongoing theory is that with the X-Men currently resurrecting mutants, Editorial will use this as an opportunity to revive Kamala. Thus, she became a mutant and possibly changed her powers from shapeshifting to light constructs.
All of which I find to be a pulsating negative. Not only because I found the MCU's fundamentally changing Kamala's abilities to suit some grand narrative rather distasteful, but I also believe it's due to finding it reductive to Ms. Marvel's character and why I've grown attached to her.
Superman and Batman may have been my introduction to superheroes. Spider-Man may have engaged me with them, but I wouldn't be keeping up with comic book characters as feverishly as I do now if it wasn't for Kamala Khan. I may not remember in the next five years what happened at my regional 7th-grade science fair. But I will remember sitting underneath by display, reading the awkward adventures of Kamala Khan on my Kindle.
I'll remember how Kamala accidentally transformed herself into Carol Danvers because she idolized superheroes and felt trapped by the looks she got from her "weird" culture. Only to learn through her superheroes that there is "No Normal" and that she can forge her future while still holding desperately to where she comes from.
I'll remember how this was characterized wonderfully by how we later discovered Kamala's shape-changing works by exchanging mass with different versions of herself. Displaying just how much potential and power the young generation can truly wield when put on the right path.
I'll remember how Kamala believes in the next generation so strongly that she stood against both the illicit Inventor and her mentor and fellow Avengers during Civil War 2 to create the Champions—a group dedicated to causing social change and leaving the world better than we found it.
I'll remember how despite those who constantly detract from this character (not you have to like her) say, Ms. Marvel continues to be the comic's most popular current legacy character behind Miles Morales. Or how her first issue needed seven prints to satisfy a new market of readers and sell 500k in trade paperbacks while highlighting the Musilm-American experience.
I may not be a Muslim-Pakistian girl from Jersey City, but I won't say that Ms. Marvel is "MY" Hero. But she is the one I can confidently say I grew up with. And I sincerely hope that I forget about this terrible disservice amongst all of the sweet memories of this character I hold in my heart.
Epilogue
This rant lasted longer than I ever expected, but before I sign off, I wish to share some thoughts. Do not harass Zeb Wells, Nick Lowe, or the rest of the ASM team. As I said before, both characters mentioned here will either be revived or get some good stories in a while. I also hope that some understand that I particularly hate the Disney Plus adaptation of the character.
Imani Vellani is the perfect Kamala Khan, and she did so much to bring that character to life. So I encourage those to read an alternative and voice their complaints with the company and story itself. I can use this travesty as an excuse to fall in love with a character again. Hopefully, I can also one day create someone that so many can positively see themselves. With Kamala being alive and well, to see them with open arms.