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Aaron Felkai
Mr. Beadle
English 115
8 December 2015
Using Superpowers to Break Down the Barriers of Society
Kamala Khan, the main character in Ms. Marvel: No Normal, written by G. Willow
Wilson and Adrian Alphona, is a Muslim girl from New Jersey, who receives powers from
Captain Marvel, which allow her to pull off tremendous feats. Kamala comes from a traditional
Muslim family, and she is very restricted in the activities that she can and cannot involve herself
in. She is not allowed to go to any parties which include any kind of alcohol, men, or even
people that her parents do not know or trust. Although some may argue that Kamala Khan is
judged unfairly because she is a woman, Kamala Khan is able to transgress prescribed gender
expectations due to gaining superpowers.
Growing up as a Muslim in New Jersey leads Kamala to her destiny of receiving
superpowers because she was so restricted, and had to break free from her religious restrictions.
She was born into a traditional Muslim family, which comes with many constraints. Many
teenage activities that are considered normal in other sects of society are not allowed in the
Muslim culture, thereby putting Kamala under much angst to break out of her shell. At the
mosque, during prayers and sermons, the genders are separated and not treated equally. Men are
allowed to be heard in prayer and are allowed to be interactive with the service, while women are
supposed to be quiet and acquiescent. Kamala and Nakia are whispering quietly in the mosque
when Sheikh Abdullah says, Sisters! No talking during the lecture, please (Wilson and

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Alphona 47). Kamala responds, S-sorry, Sheikh Abdullah, but its really hard to concentrate
when we cant even see you (Wilson and Alphona 47). Sheikh Abdullah explains, Sister
Kamala! How glad I am that youve joined us today. The partition and the side entrance for
women are there to preserve your modesty and dignity (Wilson and Alphona 48). This
uncomfortable interaction in the middle of service at the mosque just makes Kamala want to act
out more and feel as if she is not adequate because she is a woman. This causes her to act out
against these experiences and boundaries. As a result of these limitations, Kamala decides that
she has had enough constraints that she was forced to comply with, so she sneaks out to a party.
This outright disobedience of her parents and her cultures rules is the start of her breaking out
of her mold and trying new things. At the party, people were very surprised to see her, and in this
moment of vulnerability, someone tricked her into drinking alcohol. This made her feel
uncomfortable because she felt like she was taking too big of a step out of her shell. In the next
scene, where she gets her superpowers, Kamala seems to have put the party behind her, and
immediately understands that she is growing up and doesnt have to comply with all of her
parents rules and regulations. Another reason that Kamala wanted to break out of her bubble was
that people were always watching over her, making sure that she was the perfect Muslim girl that
everyone thought of her as. She wants to be her own person, and not have to care what people
think about her, due to being forced into this perfect, constraining mold for her entire life.
Kamala received her superpowers because she was constricted for so long, and using
superpowers is the way for her to realize her true self and break through the prescribed gender
roles. The early seeds of rebellion came from the environment around her, but gaining
superpowers was when she realized that she could really do something about big, regardless of
previous limitations. She is led to her superpowers because of the limitations that were placed

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upon her, and this was the most comfortable and appropriate way for her to show her maturity
and growth.
When Kamala is in the mosque, listening to a sermon, she is treated differently than men
in the mosque. She and other women are told to be quiet and nit passively, while the men in the
mosque are encouraged to be more engaged with the teachings. The idea of men being the
dominant leaders in social groups is called hegemonic masculinity. This idea stems from society
molding men into these power-hungry authorities, who have the ability to, like Tarzan, with one
infamous yell, subdue all the beasts of the jungle (Collins 222). As Patricia Hill Collins says in
Hegemonic Masculinity and Black Gender Ideology, hegemonic masculinity is fundamentally
a dynamic, relational construct. Because it is constantly tested by the behaviors of others, such
masculinity must always be achieved (Collins 223-224). The struggle for males to be masculine
is prevalent in Ms. Marvel in many places. In Kamalas and all of Islams case, men are always
the hegemonic figures, and females are definitely the submissive characters. When Vick tried to
rob the Circle Q convenience store, he clearly went to great lengths to show his masculinity,
especially when he says, You shoulda stuck to rescuing bimbos, lady (Wilson and Alphona 62),
to Kamala when she is trying to fight him. He tries to display his male dominance over women,
even if the woman is clearly more powerful and more capable. When Kamala obtains
superpowers, she is able to overstep the barriers of hegemonic masculinity and prescribed gender
expectations. She is now put in a position of hegemony and she is able to be a hero in her
societal circle and surmount the gender and racial norms that were before her.
Because femininity is so focused on womens bodies, the value placed on various
attributes of female bodies means that evaluations of femininity are fairly clean-cut (Collins
232). In general, the idea of hegemonic femininity is different than hegemonic masculinity.

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Although women are generally more obedient and passive, Kamala as Ms. Marvel pushes past
that by not wanting to wear skimpy clothing that makes her an objectified sex symbol, but
instead, clothing that makes her feel comfortable, while she saves the world. At the Circle Q
convenience store, Kamala stops a robbery, not because of anything relating to gender, but
because it was her duty and her friend was in danger. Women are identified as weak and less
potent then men are, but Kamala shatters these expectations. Women are seen as fragile, but
Kamala shows that she can even take a bullet (Wilson and Alphona 62-68), and keep calm and
stay on her feet. At first, Vick judged Kamala in Ms. Marvel form as weak based on her physical
appearance of a women, but as Kamala exhibits, she can push past any gender-based obstacle
and show that the evaluations of femininity are not fairly clean-cut. This changes the evaluations
of femininity, because Kamalas story shows that the idea of hegemonic masculinity is nothing
more than societys bias, and that Kamala can push past that, as a woman, and as a result of her
gaining superpowers.
Although she breaks social molds by receiving superpowers, some may argue that she is
still very much judged in society as a result of being a woman. Kamala is always concerned with
how she dresses, because she wants to make sure that she isnt being objectified as a sex symbol.
She sees Captain Marvel dressed in very skimpy clothing, and decides that she wants to be just
like her, so she is originally put into Captain Marvels clothing, and Kamala looks very risqu in
her costume. As she grows as a superhero and as a person, she refines control of her powers and
understands her capabilities, so she makes her own costume, to better fit who she wants to be.
Even after she makes her costume, she is still somewhat objectified for being a woman, as
depicted in the scene with the robber in the convenience store. She tries to stop the robber, and in
the midst of fighting, the robber says, Go back to saving bimbos, lady (Wilson and Alphona

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64), implying that Kamala should stick to people in her own league and not attempt fighting with
men, who are obviously superior to women, especially when it comes to fighting. This encounter
restricted her abilities as a superhero because she is being judged for being a woman, when she
wants to be accepted by all, and be able to help everyone in need, regardless of sex. Although
these comments do come up and these encounters do happen, Kamala grows immensely due to
receiving superpowers. Even though she is at times judged unfairly due to her sex, she still
perseveres, and is able to break down the gender barriers, and transgress the societal gender
expectations.
Society nowadays shows trends focusing on women being sex symbols and encouraged
to wear risqu clothing. For example, Halloween costumes for women are created with the idea
of sexuality in mind. Halloween has even turned into a night when even a nice girl can dress
like a dominatrix and still hold her head up the next morning (Rosenbloom 165). This pressure
for girls to wear short skirts and revealing clothing, and to look ultrasexy to please men is what
feeds the idea of hegemonic masculinity. Costumes designed for men on the other hand, are
generally goofy or grotesque ensembles with Animal House-inspired names like Atomic
Wedgie and Chug-A-Lug Beer Can. And when they dress up as police officers, firefighters and
soldiers, they actually look like people in those professions (Rosenbloom 166-167). Kamala
Khan sees this in what Captain Marvel is wearing, and she decides that she is not going to put
herself through being objectified, and makes her costume practical and comfortable, not to feed
hegemonic masculinity, but instead showing her dominance and contributing to hegemonic
femininity.
Even after countless struggles, Kamala continues to push through, time after time to craft
herself into an individual. Very soon after acquiring superpowers, Kamala encounters a girl who

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needs to be rescued out of a body of water. Kamala decides that she needs to intervene, and saves
the girl, not because of any gender bias, but because it is the duty of a superhero to save those in
need. After the Circle Q incident, Kamala builds up enough confidence to go and infiltrate the
enemys base to save her friend, and she pushes past many obstacles that come in her way, some
directly relating to sex. All of this contributes to Kamala becoming an individual and growing as
a person.
I have had many of the same experiences that Kamala has had, especially when it comes
to being stuck in a restrictive religious bubble. Growing up in a traditional Jewish house, I had to
go through many struggles as I grew up. Similarly to in Islam, in the Jewish faith, men and
women are separated in Synagogue to preserve modesty, and men generally participate in prayer
much more than women. I always struggled with my image because I grew up with very strong
morals that stemmed from Judaism. I grew up as the perfect child, that never did anything
wrong, and naturally, as I grew up, I felt constricted because I did not want to tarnish my image
that I had built, but at the same time, I wanted to break free and not care about my image in the
eyes of others, I decided to make that change, and I, to a degree, stopped caring about how others
viewed me, but I struck an even balance between self-control and freedom. Both Kamala and I
were put into these similar religious molds that made it very difficult to transition into the stage
of life where the most growth in a person occurs.
As the evidence shows, Kamala is able to supersede her prescribed gender expectations
because she gains superpowers that give her the confidence to grow. On multiple occasions,
Kamala has shown that she is not held down by societal biases such as hegemonic masculinity.
Kamala understands that the way she dresses has a huge impact on how she is viewed in the eyes
of the public. As Kamala moves on with her life, she can learn to mature, so she is not all on one

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side of the spectrum of restrictedness or freedom. For now, Kamala is finding herself through
utilizing her superpowers to break down the barriers of society.

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Works Cited
Collins, Patricia H. Hegemonic Masculinity and Black Gender Ideology. Composing Gender.
Comp. Rachel Groner, Comp. John OHara. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2014. Print.
Rosenbloom, Stephanie. Good Girls Go Bad, for a Day. Composing Gender. Comp. Rachel
Groner, Comp. John OHara. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2014. Print.
Wilson, Gwendolyn W, and Adrian Alphona. Ms. Marvel: No Normal. New York: Marvel
Worldwide, Inc., 2015, Print.