This post contains full spoilers for Ms. Marvel and other MCU properties. If you're not caught up yet, check out our spoiler-free Ms. Marvel finale review.
Ms. Marvel's debut season appeared to be a slice of life family drama about New Jersey's most famous young superhero, Kamala Khan. Throughout her introduction, the six episodes have explored intergenerational relationships, introduced a new secret society in the Clandestines, and told a heartbreaking family story about partition. But in its final episode the show had an immense final reveal which shifts everything we know about the MCU. Don't worry, we're here to break down that massive ending and answer your burning questions about what it all means.
Ms. Marvel Ending Explained
In a finale episode that distinctly shifts tone, suddenly feeling very much like a certain '00s superhero franchise, Ms. Marvel–in her new Muneeba-designed costume–and her friends have to evade the grips of an ever-encroaching Department of Damage Control (DODC). The ragtag crew end up hiding in the local high school where they face down against the militarized government forces with wit and grit. Kamala and her friends ultimately come out on top but a new threat has emerged in Kamran's unbelievable–and understandable–grief. The loss of his mother and new powers mean he's become a danger to himself and others. Luckily, Kamala manages to convince him that he can still have a life and do good even after making violent mistakes. It's an emotional moment and one that seeds a lifelong connection as she saves Kamran from the DODC . In a classic comic book moment, when the DODC tries to take Kamala, the New Jersey community who was watching the whole thing comes together to protect her from the cops.
As the episode comes to an end we see Kamala celebrated as a hero with TikTok trends and videos, including an appearance from Ms. Marvel co-creator G. Willow Wilson. As she sits on the roof with her father, he helps her come up with her superhero name. It turns out that Kamala in Urdu means wonder…. or Marvel, so to them she's always been their Ms. Marvel.
However, the show's biggest reveal comes in the final moments of the episode when Bruno tells Kamala that her powers seem to come from her genes, but not in the way they originally thought. Bruno reveals her "genes are different, like a mutation." And as he says it, they play the iconic X-Men '97 (nee '92) theme, confirming that Kamala is likely a real X-Men style mutant.
Was Kamala Khan a Mutant in the Comics?
That's a no. In the comics, Kamala Khan followed a long tradition of characters who were teased to be mutants but actually weren't. Rather, she's an Inhuman, a race of highly evolved humans that live on the moon and get their powers through Terrigenesis. That process means that Inhumans are exposed to the Terrigen Mist and it reveals their superpowers. In the comics, Ms. Marvel got her powers after a Terrigen bomb was dropped on New Jersey. A lot of comic book fans felt like the only reason that Kamala was made an Inhuman was because of the fact that at the time Marvel Studios didn't have the license to make X-Men movies and were trying to introduce more Inhuman heroes. So the choice to retcon that here and make Kamala a mutant feels full circle.
Does This Mean Kamala Khan is the First Mutant?
She seems to be the first mutant that we've met on the MCU's Earth-616. While we met Charles Xavier in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, he was in an alt-universe – Earth-838 – and was quickly killed by the Scarlet Witch.
So taking that into account, we should also mention that we've heard the word mutation before. But the reason this feels relevant is that it's accompanied by that famous X-Men theme points to Kamala being an actual mutant, the very important kind that MCU fans have been waiting for.
Her existence more than likely means that we'll meet more people with strange mutations sooner rather than later. Also, the fact that she's a teenager in the tri-state area means it would be very easy for her to become a student at some kind of School for Gifted Youngsters in upstate New York… just saying. But for that to happen we need to ask another question…
What Other Mutants Could Exist in the MCU?
This is the biggest question. We know that in the Earth-838 world Charles did exist and had powers, but that isn't the main MCU timeline. So does Kamala's mutant reveal mean that we could see other mutants on Earth-616 in the MCU?
If Kamala has been able to exist without her mutation being discovered then there could be an entire community of mutants doing the same. Which mutants will be introduced in the first MCU X-Men movie has long been a source of conversation between fans, and that'll only be heightened now. In the comics, the original five X-Men were Jean Grey (Marvel Girl), Scott Summers (Cyclops), Hank McCoy (Beast), Warren Worthington III (Angel), and Bobby Drake (Iceman), led by their mentor Charles Xavier (Professor X). The Fox X-Men movies took pretty extensively from that lineup while building in fan favorite characters from the even more iconic Giant-Size X-Men relaunch. That series introduced a team including Logan (Wolverine), Ororo Munroe (Storm), Kurt Wagner (Nightcrawler), and Piotr Rasputin (Colossus). So all of those are good bets for characters that we could see appear in the MCU sooner rather than later.
Before any of that, though, we have the next big MCU movie, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, which is rumored to introduce Namor. He's relevant here because in the comics he's now known as Marvel's first mutant. And if the movies follow that logic, he could be the MCU's second.
Will Damage Control's Drones Become Sentinels?
Throughout this series we've seen the DODC use what look like Stark Industries drones to hunt down "enhanced individuals." This aspect would have felt very familiar to anyone who's a fan of the X-Men movies, cartoons, or comics because those stories feature Sentinels — robots who can find and hunt mutants. Before this episode it felt more like an echo of that threat rather than the direct thing. But now we know that Kamala has a "mutation," it wouldn't surprise us to see at least some of the DODC begin what could become the MCU's version of the Sentinel program. Speaking of which, that leads us to our next query…
Where Will We See Agent Deaver Next?
After she was rightfully fired at the end of the finale, the fate of Agent Deaver seems unclear. But if the MCU wants to tell a true mutant story then it needs to introduce a figure who hates and fears powered people and can stoke that hatred. We saw the beginnings of that here as Agent Deaver broke DODC protocol and regularly tortured, oppressed, and targeted both "enhanced individuals" and Kamala's New Jersey Muslim community.
During WandaVision we saw S.W.O.R.D. building what looked like giant-sized mutant mechs, which many fans theorized were actually Sentinels. Perhaps Deaver will betray DODC, taking their drone technology to S.W.O.R.D. and potentially creating the giant-sized mutant hunting robots? If that seems a little far-fetched, perhaps she'll take on the vital X-Men role of a politician who runs on the danger of powered people, crafting legislation to punish and hurt them. Either way, this likely isn't the last we've seen of the nefarious ex-DODC agent.
Will We See the ClanDestine Again?
Seeing as Kamran survives and is–along with Kamala–a Clandestine, then the answer is probably yes. The larger question would be will we see other members of the Djinn and more of the Noor? Seeing as Ms. Marvel is clearly meant to be a big part of the MCU going forward, we think it's safe to say that she, Kamran, and likely the world behind a veil will be back soon.
Ms. Marvel Post-Credits Scene Explained
Unbelievably, the mutant reveal wasn't the only shock that Ms. Marvel episode six had in store. The post credits sequence plays into a key piece of classic Captain Marvel lore and has an epic cameo from none other than Brie Larson. So what does it all mean? Strap in cuz we're getting into some extremely weird and fun comic book canon with this one.
The stinger shows Kamala chilling in her bedroom being a cute teen as she is want to do. Suddenly, the bangle begins to glow. The next thing we know she's sucked into a void, smashing through the door of the closet. Someone emerges but instead of Kamala it's her hero Carol Danvers who is looking extremely confused, only growing more so as she sees she's in a room full of drawings, photos, and art depicting herself. She quickly runs away and Kamala is nowhere to be seen. So where is she? The comic books would say the Negative Zone, but before we get into that we need to talk about Rick Jones.
One of comics' most maligned sidekicks, Rick Jones has tagged along with heroes like Hulk, Captain America, and most famously the original Captain Marvel, Mar-vell. In those latter stories he wore a pair of gauntlets known as the Nega-Bands. Many of us wondered if that was what Kamala's bangle was and this seems to prove that the artifact is exactly that. In the comics, Rick and Mar-Vell both wore the Nega-Bands but the important part here is that they had to switch places to use them, with one of them being in our world–like Kamala–and the other being stuck in the Negative Zone. That seems to be what we're seeing here with Carol apparently returning from the void space and Kamala being sucked into it. It's a massive reveal and one that will likely play heavily into the pair's upcoming movie The Marvels.
