Ms Marvel finale teases X-Men arrival

Look away now if you haven’t seen the Ms Marvel season one finale, as we’ll delve right in with some spoilers.

Still here? Ok – time for some background. Over the course of the series, New Jersey teenager Kamala Khan (Iman Vellani) put on an old bracelet that activated a strange power within her, allowing her to create and control hard-light projections.

It was explained to her that this came from her family genetics – she was descended from a group of beings from another dimension called the Clan Destines (or the Djinn), and she was uniquely able to access the light – or Noor – of that dimension. It was theorised that this was because she had the genetics of a Djinn but was born in this dimension, unlike other Clan Destines living on Earth.

In fake Marvel science/magic terms, this made sense – but the finale reveals this wasn’t the whole story. After Kamala has saved Kamran (Rish Shah) and realised her superhero potential, we jump forward a week to when she’s hanging out with her friends and making plans for the future.

At this point, her genius friend Bruno (Matt Lintz) makes a confession – he’s been studying her DNA to work out why she alone in her family had access to the Noor, and not her brother, mother or grandmother (who were all descended from Djinn and born in this dimension as well).

Yes, her Djinn DNA gave her a connection to the Noor – but something else allowed her to use it (possibly also explaining why Clan Destine Kamran, who also developed similar powers, suffered great pain and lack of control when he tried to use them).

"Kamala, there’s something different in your genes. Like….like a mutation," he says, ominously, while music plays which appears to be a riff on the classic X-Men cartoon theme (based on the credits).

Kamala shrugs this off – "Whatever it is, it’s just gonna be another label," she says – but plenty of fans are sure to pick up on this clue. It appears that Kamala has just been unveiled as the MCU’s first mutant (excluding multiverse appearances), one of a group of naturally super-powered evolved humans who are traditionally hated and feared by normal humans and include characters like Wolverine, Magneto, Cyclops and Professor X among about a hundred others.

This is hugely important for the MCU, as it hints that the arrival of mutants could become a major storyline in upcoming Marvel projects, and where there are mutants the X-Men themselves are sure to follow. The use of the X-Men cartoon theme, also recently heard on-screen in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and confirmed by the episode’s closing credits, is certainly suggestive.

It’s also an interesting twist on Ms Marvel’s comic-book origin story, where she was presented as an Inhuman activated by a release of magic mist (long story) along with plenty of others, at a time when Marvel Comics was trying to rely less heavily on mutant or X-Men characters (it’s complicated, but at the time any mutant character created became the domain of then-rival movie studio Fox).

With this short scene, the whole mutant-Inhuman-Ms Marvel story comes full circle. And who knows? With Marvel promising a full San Diego Comic-Con panel later this month with plenty of new projects unveiled, it could be that Ms Marvel’s mutant tease is here to tee up the X-Men announcement fans have long been waiting for.

But even if not, it’s a sea change. Mutants are real, and they’re in the MCU. Things are about to get a lot more complicated…

Read more:

• Ms Marvel finale post-credits scene includes major MCU hero
• Will there be a Ms Marvel season 2? Latest news on MCU series
• Martin Freeman confirms Marvel return in Secret Invasion
• What are Ms Marvel’s powers? Fan complaints and changes explained

Ms Marvel season one is now streaming in its entirety on on Disney Plus – sign up for Disney Plus for £7.99 a month or £79.90 a year.

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