Ms. Marvel Episode 1 Easter Eggs: Powers, End Credits, and More!

Kamala’s Powers

• Worry not, comic book fans. Her fist does, in fact, embiggen. This doesn’t answer the thematic concerns about her literally turning into Captain Marvel, though. 

• It is kinda cool that her power comes from the gauntlet, which means it comes from Pakistan and her grandmother. Stay tuned for an answer on whether her powers are inherently part of her or external.

• While the setting is different, Kamala getting her powers and saving Zoe the same night while out somewhere that her parents don’t want her to be is straight out of the comics. Her mom calling Avenger Con a drinking party could even be considered an Easter egg, since in the comics the rescue of Zoe took place at a more typical high school party, down on the Jersey City waterfront!

INHUMANS?

Speaking of the changes to Kamala’s powers, in the science classroom there’s an explosion with a blue cloud that looks suspiciously like Terrigen mist, AKA the way Kamala’s powers were activated in the comics and the Inhumans were activated on Agents of SHIELD. Ah, SHIELD. We miss you, old friend.

THE INVENTOR

• That bird glimpsed in the opening credits. looks an awful lot like a reference to The Inventor, an early Ms. Marvel comics villain. He was a half-man, half-bird incarnation of Thomas Edison (yes, the inventor of the lightbulb) who was kidnapping the kids of Jersey City, including Kamala’s classmates, until she put a stop to it. Plus, it looks like a drawing of Hela underneath the Inventor bird, because Kamala Khan knows a bad bitch when she sees one.

• Later in the episode, we get another nod to the Inventor, when the sign Kamala and Bruno sit in front of on the roof is for Edison Electric—a totally legit name, but also a shout out to The Inventor, the evil bird clone of Thomas Edison (but please don’t call him a bird to his face. He’s very sensitive about it). Just…just read the damn comic.

ANT-MAN

Kamala poses in Ant Man’s hand when he’s enormous and standing in the harbor from the finale of Ant Man and Wasp. Are these even Easter eggs anymore at this point or…?

Speaking of Scott Lang, the graphic for his podcast makes it seem like an individual episode, titled “Big Me, Little Me” on This Powered Life, which I’m hoping is the MCU version of NPR’s take on This American Life but for powered people. (Sorry, Sam!)

THE HULK

• It’s pretty rad to see the Hulk next to bismillah, the transliteration for “in the name of God” in Arabic. And I guess Bigfoot is there too? In Kamala Khan’s imagination, all are welcome!

• Big Hulk/Little Hulk is mortifying but adorable!

THE MUSIC

When Kamala first gets to school and walks down the hall, there’s a song playing by Riz MC AKA Oscar-winning British-Pakistani actor Riz Ahmed. Back in 2018 when Kevin Feige first talked about bringing Kamala Khan to the MCU, Ahmed spoke up about the importance of hiring South Asians and Muslims for the job, jokingly suggesting himself, Mindy Kaling and Kumail Nanjiani for the job. He later went on to say there were more qualified people for the job, and he said he wanted South Asian women and Muslim women to write the script and lead the effort. It’s good to see that the Ms. Marvel team is as diverse as Ahmed hoped and found a way to include him in the show.

CAPTAIN AMERICA

• The entirety of AvengerCon is a reference so we’re just going to mention a few of our favorites, starting with holding it at Camp Lehigh, home of Captain America, and the song “The Star-Spangled Man” from Captain America: The First Avenger playing as Kamala and Bruno walk in. There’s even a girl on the bus and at Avenger Con dressed as one of the Captain America USO Show dancers. 

• The “America’s Ass” artwork and “Fight like a girl” Captain Marvel hat are both self explanatory and absolutely something that would exist in real life. 

THOR, NEW ASGARD, AND VALKYRIE

• A fan at the convention is wearing an Asgard Pride t-shirt, which might make it both the gayest thing to actually happen in the MCU thus far and the most actual on-screen acknowledgement of Valkyrie’s sexuality (this is not a compliment).

• Check out the tourism booth for New Asgard! We’ll just have to wait for Thor: Love and Thunder to see if it’s as good as the brochure looks.

The Post-Credits Sequence

• The Ms. Marvel/Ms. Marvel (Kamala and Carol) lightning bolt ⚡ is featured on the street art during the credits, as well as the Edison Electric sign. 

• A bunch of iconic Kamala and Carol art is superimposed as street art during the credits. Cover art from the first issue of Ms. Marvel is in the credits when they show EP Sana Amanat’s name. Amanat is one of the creators of the character.

• Artwork of Nakia and Aamir from the comics is shown when those actors’ names appear during credits.

• The stinger features Tony-nominated Iranian-American actor Arian Moayed–who you might know as Stewy from Succession–reprising his Spider Man: No Way Home role as Agent Cleary. Moayed has had a helluva year, starring in Love Life season 2 and Inventing Anna in addition to the previously mentioned projects, and writing the upcoming film The Courtroom.

We wrote more about that post-credits scene here.