Review: The Ms. Marvel Finale Suffers From the MCU’s Biggest Problems

The Ms. Marvel Finale may have moved back to its very likable Jersey City setting it struggled to bring the series back to its greatest heights — creating a middling ending for Kamala’s MCU debut. 

It’s finally time to acknowledge that six episodes is just not enough for these Marvel or any other Disney+ series. All of these shows are always trying to force big reveals and story arcs into the final episodes. Ms. Marvel becomes another victim of this as it attempts to turn Kamala (Iman Vellani) into Ms. Marvel. This comes off as forced and there are some drastic missed opportunities. Given that Kamala’s mother Muneeba (Zenobia Shroff) just found out about Kamala being a superhero and that they just got back from Pakistan, it’s a little unbelievable that Muneeba whips up a new suit for Kamala just in the nick of time — especially one that’s so amazing. Kamala’s Ms. Marvel suit design is legitimately impeccable with its colors that pop and Stark-tech look, but it comes almost too soon.

Even Kamala gaining the Ms. Marvel moniker from her father Yusuf (Mohan Kapur) feels jammed in at the end. This happens because of a heartfelt discussion between Kamala and Yusuf but it comes off super corny. It’s also a shame that the Ms. Marvel Finale doesn’t take the opportunity to talk more about Captain Marvel’s impact on Kamala. Frankly, outside of all the posters plastered on her wall and an occasional mention, Kamala really doesn’t talk much about Captain Marvel. The series really should have shown why Captain Marvel matters to Kamala instead of making her a distant hero. Kamala talking about why Captain Marvel inspires her or carries such a strong meaning for her even though she’s never really on Earth would have really done something for both characters and led into the upcoming The Marvels better than the quick post-credit scene we get here. 

It is worth noting though that this series has taken a vastly different approach in establishing Kamala’s character and powers, both of which have good payoff in this finale. Kamala’s unique powers have been a little strange as they haven’t really embodied much of what Ms. Marvel does in the comics. Her ability to conjure solutions and ideas through her powers hasn’t even been creatively played around with. In the finale though, Kamala finally uses more stretchy abilities and even goes to Embiggen for a memorably awesome final fight. It’s a nice way to finally have Ms. Marvel feel like Ms. Marvel and the visual look of her powers making her bigger is a visually creative way to evoke the comics.  

Kamala, herself though, is the true highlight of this finale as her story and Vellani’s performance continue to impress. The series heading back to the characters and community that fans have come to love is a warm and welcomed return. Kamala coming out to her family about being Night Light is perfectly adorable and the supportive nature of it easily warms your heart. It’ll be interesting to see how Kamala’s family knowing about her being a hero affects her story going forward and it’s an aspect that helps make them more unique in the MCU. It was a total blast to see Kamala not only devise a wild plan to trick the DoDC, but also watch that plan play out with all her cohorts. Admittedly, it was a little odd to see Zoe (Laurel Marsden) join the group because of how little she’s been in the series, but it was still nice to see the group come together for a finale-worthy plan. 

The best part of this finale though is how the series utilizes the sense of community it has built for a tense and emotional final moment between Kamala and the DoDC. With the DoDC constantly escalating their advancements to capture or seemingly kill Kamala and Kamran (Rish Shah), all the escapades eventually lead to a tense showdown that sees the community rally around Kamala. The depiction of Kamala’s Muslim community has not only been beneficial in creating more positive representations of Muslim culture, but also has really showcased a strong sense of community that’s felt in this finale. When everyone surrounds Kamala to protect her, it feels like a real moment, and it’s perfectly followed up with some fun social posts talking about her that show the impact of what she’s done as a hero. 

Maybe the series could’ve done a little more to make Kamala becoming Ms. Marvel a little more earned or less forced, but for Kamala as a character, it is satisfying to see her become the hero she wants to be. She’s certainly gone through an emotional and personally fulfilling journey and Vellani has become a breakout force in making Kamala as loveable and connective as she is in the comics. It’s going to be great to see Kamala transition to the big screen for The Marvels and this series and Vellani’s performance has really made Kamala one of the strongest characters to come out of Phase 4 so far. Hopefully, in her future adventures though, she comes across more compelling villains and some of the ideas introduced in the series come to clearer conclusions. 

After Najma (Nimra Bucha) and the Clandestines basically bit the dust at the end of last week’s episode, the threat level and stakes dropped heavily, especially when all that’s left is the clumsy and dimwitted DoDC. Truthfully, the DoDC just isn’t a compelling enough force to end this series on and it’s a shame that the series couldn’t close off one of the many threads it leaves hanging with Kamran. Kamran gaining powers that are basically like Kamala’s continues the MCU’s trend of heroes fighting corrupted versions of themselves and the effects for his powers look terrible compared to Kamala’s. The color palette just looks off and it just felt like this series needed one more episode to flesh out this sudden change and marinate on everything that happened leading up to this episode. Also, Kamran now going off to be with the Red Daggers adds another story thread to the MCU when there are just too many. 

After Thor: Love and Thunder and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, it just feels like the MCU is completely directionless and adding too much. Along with Kamran going to the Red Daggers, there’s an idea introduced that Kamala might be a mutant because of a genetic mutation Bruno (Matt Lintz) sees in her DNA, which could lead to the X-Men being introduced, and a post-credit scene with Kamala being swapped out with Captain Marvel (Brie Larson) through the bangle. There’s honestly so much we don’t know about bangle still and now adding more things with the Red Daggers and mutants coming into the MCU, there’s just so much going on that the MCU is running the risk of being over bloated. 

The Ms. Marvel finale can’t exactly get back to the heights of its best moments and presents more lingering story beats in an MCU already overloaded with unanswered questions, but it delivers a personally fitting close to Kamala’s personal journey that allows her to truly become Ms. Marvel.

The Ms. Marvel Finale is now streaming on Disney+