Viewer Log: My Hero Academia ep 38

While the fighting is over for now, evil is getting ready to stir once more.

Last time on My Hero Academia Izuku and Bakugo faced off against All Might. The frenemies initially butted heads over every possible means of tackling the exam, but were able to compromise and escape All Might. They both passed, but were laid up in bed afterwards for several hours. They both still consider it a win. In the last few moments of the episode, Shigaraki is introduced to two new potential recruits to the League of Villains. Let’s get to it.

Kurogiri deserves a raise after a save like that.

Shigaraki is immediately dismissive of the prospective new recruits to the League, ordering Kurogiri to get rid of them. The mass of darkness advises his master to at least hear Giran out. The dude is a respected arms dealer, so that holds some wait for Kurogiri. Giran introduces the two. The dirty looking school girl is Himiko Toga. She’s a fifteen-year-old high school drop out that’s the lead suspect of several murders where the victims were drained of blood. Well, that’s ghoulish. The big guy that looks like he listens to a lot of death metal goes by Dabi. He hasn’t done much, criminally speaking, but is a big fan of Stain. Both were “inspired” by Stain and want to join the group that the news media believes he’s affiliated with. Hearing Stain’s name multiple times sets Shigaraki off and he tries to murder them both. They try to retaliate, and everyone is only stopped from killing by Kurogiri opening multiple wormholes to keep them from each other. He again counsels that Shigaraki be open to using Stain’s agenda to boost their ranks, but the hand-covered man says screw it and storms off.

Meanwhile, the failing students are freaking out about missing the summer trip. Izuku and others try to cheer them up, but it seems to only depress the four for sure failed students even more. Before the moping gets too bad, Aizawa comes in and lets them know that while indeed five students failed (Two teams and Sero) they’ll all still be going on the trip. Yeah! Because it’s not actually a fun trip, but a high intensity week long training program! Less yeah. And the failing students will be given extra work to ensure they catch up to the other students. Now you’re just rubbing salt in wounds Aizawa.

It's a good group... plus Mineta.

The students are pumped about the trip, and the majority of the class agree to meet at a local mall the next day to get supplies. They make it to the mall and spirits are high. After meeting they all split into groups to find similar items, leaving only Izuku and Uraraka. While the two still get along fabulously, Uraraka’s mind drifts back to what Aoyama asked about her having a (SUPER OBVIOUS) crush on Izuku, freaks out and runs off on her own. Izuku is clearly disappointed that she left, but isn’t given too much time to think about it before a local fan comes up and starts talking to him. It’s not until the guy grabs Izuku’s throat and starts muttering about the USJ attack that he realizes that it’s Shigaraki. Oh damn, Uraraka’s boy friend may die because she didn’t want to admit she might want him as a boyfriend. That blows.

We jump back a few minutes to when Shigaraki walked into the mall. It’s mostly him thinking murderous thoughts toward the masses, and wondering why Stain is still such a big deal while the League of Villains is a foot note at best. It’s at that moment he spots his opposite number, Izuku.

A creepy stranger acting chummy with a teenager? What could
possibly go wrong?

Shigaraki is holding Izuku hostage. He’s got four fingers on the boy’s throat, and threatens to add the fifth (triggering his disintegration power) if Izuku draws attention to them. It’s less this threat, and more the second threat that if Izuku forces Shigaraki to kill him, the psychopath will go on a killing spree and see how many bystanders he can take with them before the heroes arrive. They take a seat in the middle of the mall, and in a tense but bizarre scene, Shigaraki seems to ask Izuku for advice. He still doesn’t seem to understand why Stain is thought of better than him, especially when you get to the core of their arguments, both men are just killing things that they don’t like. Izuku admits while he clearly hates both of them, he does understand Stain more. Of the two options, Stain is truly committed to his doctrine of purging the hero system. And he was willing to keep fighting for it even when it was clear he’d be captured, as opposed to Shigaraki who had been willing to bail on the USJ attack the moment things didn’t go how he wanted. That seems to make something Click in Shigaraki’s mind. He figures out that the reason that he hates both Stain and Izuku is because they’re both influenced by All Might. It all goes back to the hero he hates most. He personally resolves to use Stain’s ideology to make his dreams a reality.

Uraraka then walks up, having psyched herself back up after fleeing earlier. She catches on pretty quick that Izuku is being held against his will, but before things could escalate, Shigaraki lets him go and quickly departs. Izuku asks him what All For One is planning, but that white haired young man just shrugs. Apparently, his boss isn’t one to share too many of his plans. He does tells Izuku that he should be careful, as the next time they’ll meet, Shigaraki plans to kill him.

After that, Izuku and Uraraka warn the police as to what happened. Izuku is interviewed by All Might’s friend Detective Tsukauchi.  The detective applauds Izuku’s actions while being held by Stain. They meet All Might as soon as the interview wraps up. The Symbol of Peace is relieved his protégée is alright and is sorry that he couldn’t have protected Izuku. Before they can get too deep in conversation, Izuku’s mom is brought in to see him. Inko Midoriya is clearly distraught after hearing that her son almost died AGAIN (this is like the fourth time in as many months) and tells him that she’s just about at her wits end. Izuku does his best to comfort her as they’re taken back home. Left alone, All Might and Tsukauchi agree that this time they need to take All For One out for good.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm fairly certain that's a Murder Face.

The credits roll over the students getting an end of term speech by Mr. Nezu, and prepping for their week long outing. In the last few minutes, we’re shown All For One in his base of operations. He tells his doctor that he’s pleased that Shigaraki is finally stepping up, and that he plans on letting the boy have greater reign on their plans for the foreseeable. He claims he’s going to turn Shigaraki into the next Him. We close on vats worth of Nomu being processed. And that’s how they ended season 2.

So, I really liked this episode and season. We got a lot of hints at what will be coming next for Izuku and his classmates. Shigaraki has finally accepted that if we wants to get any traction on his destroy All Might plan, that he’ll need to get people to follow him with as much loyalty as Stain inspired in others. Toga and Dabi are just the first of his second generation of the League of Villains. It’s only hinted at here, but both young people are incredibly dangerous and more than a little unhinged. I especially liked that combination of burns and piercings on Dabi. They just make him look so damn scary. I think it’s clear that while the kids believe that this training camp will be fruitful, unusual training camp, the villains perspective makes it clear that it won’t be an easy outing. I also liked that little bit with Mrs. Midoriya. They’ve been subtle with her this season, but we’ve seen several examples of the kind and easily startled mother of one becoming more and more terrified by her son’s choice of career. This’ll be coming to a head soon, I promise.

As for the season, they packed a lot into just 25 episodes. We got to see not only Izuku, but several of his classmates grow as future heroes. Bakugo and Todoroki got a fair amount of development, going from a ball of fiery rage, and one of chilling disinterest into two very interesting secondary characters. It seems to me that, while the two may never be BFF’s, that Izuku and Bakugo were able to get passed a few of their differences during that final fight with All Might. Which is a major bit of growth for both of them. Getting to see Izuku battle Todoroki full force during the sports festival was a feast for the eyes, just saying.  Iida got to do the whole nearly fall from grace but picking himself back up again thing beautifully. The ultimately three-on-one brawl with Stain was just tons of fun to watch. All the ice and fire blasts, bone breaking punches and sword slashes were just amazing. And, while it wasn’t a breeze by any stretch of the imagination, it only gets harder from here. But we’ll talk about that some time in 2020. Have a good night everybody. 
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Viewer Log: My Hero Academia ep 37

It's a mentor/mentee smack-down.

So… Spider-Man is back in the MCU now, for at least one more solo film and to probably appear in guest spots across the film franchise. Guess that month of general melancholy was for nothing. Eh, I’m use to it by now. I’m just going to focus on the fact my favorite character is staying where he belongs, and not on Sony’s rather moronic decision to add a solo Madam Web movie to their separate Spider-Verse roster. Who wants to see an hour and a half of a spider themed mystic exposit? Anyway, back to My Hero Academia.

Last time on My Hero Academia the minor characters continued testing. Using cunning, brute force, and tactics, eight more teen heroes were able to continue on. Well, seven. Minor spoiler but tape elbow Sero got a failing grade because he got knocked out right away by Midnight. No real shock there, though. Oh, and Uraraka just barely escaped having to explain to Izuku why a question her partner Aoyama asked caused her to blush and seize up slightly. Not sure if it’s good or bad that she’ll be keeping her fondness for a green haired fanboy to herself for some time longer. Speaking of green haired fanboys, up next is Izuku Midoriya and Katsuki Bakugo’s final exam, against their shared idol, All Might. Let’s get to it.

Izuku should probably be glad that smack didn't cost him any teeth.

We open with Bakugo being angry and giving Izuku a death glare. So, it’s just kind of an average Tuesday for them. Bakugo is still furious that Izuku has been making so much progress as a hero, but doesn’t actually say anything to Izuku as he starts marching through the test city. For the umpteenth time, how do they afford these things! Izuku does his best to try and formulate a plan with Bakugo but the furious young man refuses to listen. Probably because Izuku is dead set on running from All Might, while Bakugo is dead set on beating All Might to a pulp. Kids got spunk; I have to give him that. Bakugo ends up pimp slapping Izuku when he insists on the running plan, much to the watching students shock.

Their disagreement is interrupted by All Might butting in. He DEVASTATES the area with the shockwave his punch created. He walks up to the boys and gives them a pretty chilling villain speech before resuming the attack. Bakugo rushes to meet him, and while the young man puts up a decent fight, he’s still a sixteen-year-old charging the greatest hero alive. He lasts like 20 seconds before being put on the ground. He fires off about a dozen weaker blasts at All Might, but they don’t even seem to annoy him. Izuku tries to run to Bakugo’s aid, but he just gets targeted instead. He avoids a hit by All Might, but runs into Bakugo in the air as the other hero-in-training tried to leap at All Might.

All Might tries a different tactic, pinning Izuku to the ground under a ripped off railing and then taking on Bakugo alone. He hits the kid so hard that he barfs. Gross. Izuku has a flashback to when he and Bakugo were kids and when he saw his frenemy gush about how awesome All Might is and how the real heroes never back down. All Might chastises Bakugo for squandering his potential, in not working with Izuku to reach their shared goal. Bakugo flips out and says he’d rather lose than accept help from Izuku. All Might winds up a finishing blow, but is beaten to the punch. Literally. Izuku charges up, breaks free and punches Bakugo out of the way of All Might’s fist. He grabs Bakugo and makes a break for it.

This teacher is about to School you.
(I regret Nothing!)

The boys drop a few blocks away, after Bakugo punches Izuku. Izuku tries to convince Bakugo to run, but he still refuses. But this time he decides to not be a colossal dick and explain why he keeps saying no to running. He already figured out that All Might is too damned fast for them to run to the gate, he’ll just catch up to them. And to make matters worse, he’s too powerful for them to hurt with anything less than their full powered strikes. That’s what he was testing when he fired off a bunch of weaker blasts at All Might’s face. The boys seem to be formulating a plan.

Back with All Might, he’s searching for the boys pretty nonchalantly. Bakugo leaps at All Might and fires off a few more explosions. This, as it turns out, was just to distract All Might. Izuku leaps behind the hero, aims one of Bakugo’s gauntlets and fires off one of the stockpiled shots that Bakugo creates. The blast actually stuns All Might and the boys make a run for the gate. All Might is actually impressed that they were able to devise a plan that’s a compromise between running and fighting. He muses that their history has led them to both have pretty complex feelings towards each other, making it difficult, almost impossible, for them to work together properly. He admits that working together for a test won’t fix everything, but it’s a good step forward. He charges at them, shattering both gauntlets when he catches up. He knees Bakugo into a building, grabs Izuku and whips him around to collide with Bakugo as the kid charged at him again. Dude is great at that whole “use people as improvised weapons” thing. He keeps holding Izuku by the wrist and pins Bakugo under his boot. He tells the boys that working together was a prerequisite for completing the test, so he’s glad they were able to do that. Bakugo hits him with a point-blank full power explosion. The force of it clearly distorts his arm to do so. It launches All Might into the air and drop Izuku. Bakugo grabs Izuku and hurls him toward the gate, using another explosion to add propulsion. He makes it to within sprinting distance of the gate, but All Might New Hampshire Smashes to launch himself back towards Izuku, colliding with him. Bakugo runs up and keeps hitting All Might with full power blasts, despite the pain it clearly is causing him.

Yes, Young Midoriya, now that's a real Fight Face!

Izuku tries to run for the gate, but that last collision screwed up his back enough that he’s limping toward the gate. All Might hits him to the ground again before turning to Bakugo. He keeps blasting All Might, swearing to never stop fighting until he wins. He’d rather be destroyed than give up. Izuku, hearing this, rushes All Might and Smashes his face. He grabs Bakugo and starts limp running to the gate. All Might gets up to follow, but he’s hit his limit and starts steaming again. The boys cross the finish line, passing the test. The boys are taken to Recovery Girl for healing. All Might is clearly proud of both of them for their recent growth. Izuku muses about how everyone has grown in different ways following the tests, some are dealing with defeat, some regained confidence, and some can just enjoy their growth. Good times had by all.

Believe it or not, but she's actually the scarier of the two.

Meanwhile, the League of Villains seem to be plotting. Tomura Shigaraki is staring at a photo of Izuku from the sports festival when Giran walks in. He’s a new character, a villainous black-market arms dealer that has been apparently to spread the League of Villains reputation amongst the underworld. Giran brought two new recruits for Shigaraki, a young man covered in piercings and burns, and a dirty looking school girl that is super excited to meet Stain. Something wicked this way comes.

This was a very good fight to close the student’s exams on. The focus was as much on the rather odd frenemy dynamic between Izuku and Bakugo as much as the fight itself. What I’ve liked about Bakugo’s characterization from the get-go is that Kohei Horikoshi has done his damnedest to not show Bakugo as a one-dimensional bully. Pretty early on, at least within the first ten episodes, we were shown how and when he developed this superiority complex of his, why he’s unusually vicious to Izuku and why he’s hell bent on being the strongest. It’d have been really easy to make Bakugo a dick without any redeemable qualities, but instead he’s shown to be as much an early idol to Izuku as a tormentor. He’s strong, smart, and driven. I liked the bit where it was made clear that, while he was being short with Izuku, he had good reason to shoot down the running plan so hatefully. It wasn’t just pride; it was because it was impossible to do. It was also interesting to see how Izuku would work through fighting his hero mentor.  While he was able to give a few solid hits to All Might, it was clear that Izuku was forcing himself to do so. All Might, as Recovery Girl observed, is pretty close to a God in Izuku’s eyes, so any kid who would strike his ‘God’ would really have to fight to do it. It was also nice to see Izuku taking the risk to grab Bakugo and carry him through the gate, rather than just sprint to the finish. I’m a fan of risking a win to spread the glory around. And finally, while they might not seem like much, those two new recruits for Shigaraki’s organization are just the start of the villains gearing up for their next big plan. And it will cause tremors throughout their world. 

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Viewer Log: My Hero Academia ep 36

The side characters continue to fight on.

Last time on My Hero Academia, the student’s end of semester exams continued. The amphibious Tsuyu Asui and shadow wielding Tokoyami were able to best the cloning Ectoplasm. High speed Iida and big tail Ojiro got a relatively easy win against the tunneling Power Loader. And the creative Yaoyorozu and freezing flame Todoroki were able to pull a win out against the power canceling Aizawa. High fives all around. We closed on Uraraka and the fake Frenchman Aoyama in a tough spot against the blackhole wielding Thirteen. The two were holding onto a railing while being sucked up. And it’s at this moment, Aoyama asked the wildly inappropriate question of if Uraraka had feelings for Izuku. Whoops. Let’s get back to it.

So, we open on Aoyama asking that question again. In shock, Uraraka cups her face, and in doing so, releases the railing. She flies back at Thirteen, who turns off his quirk in shock. She reacts on instinct, and kicks Thirteen in the face before he can react. She and Aoyama are able to handcuff Thirteen and they pass. Hooray. And in the booth, we learn that, oddly the sound wasn’t working in that match. So, spectating Izuku Midoriya didn’t hear Aoyama’s query or understand the context of why Uraraka suddenly attacked. Double hooray, or at least Ochako Uraraka thinks so.

Somebody didn't listen to Edna Mode's speech about capes,
did they?

Iida and Yaoyorozu join Izuku and Tsuyu in the observation room. Just in time for the next match to start. It’s the electric flinging Kaminari and the acid shooting Ashido vs. Principle Nezu. You’re probably wondering how a… let’s say weasel, with super intelligence face off against these two. Well… he gets to use a crane with a wrecking ball. Using his super intelligence, he’s able to calculate the cascading destruction that smashing one building can cause. You know, knock over building A, the debris continues on and smashes building B, which causes pipes C to be destroyed, and so on. He’s able to systematically block off the paths to the exits. He was trying to get two of the dumbest students, I believe their ranked 19 and 20 out of 20 respectively, to think creatively. It didn’t work so well. They both fail when the time limit elapses. Whoops. Present Mic and Recovery Girl explain a bit about Nezu’s background. He’s an animal with a quirk, that was experimented on for most of his childhood. As such, he kind of takes a sadistic glee in being the one experimenting on others. Huh, that’s a little messed up. Let’s continue!

I wish I looked half as elegant doing anything as this weasel(?)
does drinking tea and smashing buildings.

Between matches, Uraraka returns to the observation room. Everyone present congradulates her, but Tsuyu asks what Aoyama asked her that caused her to freak out. She rather inelegantly dodges the question, but the next match is about to start so no one delves deeper.

Next up is Jiro and Koda vs. Present Mic. Jiro is the girl with extendable earlobes that can weaponize her heartbeat, and Koda can talk to animals. If you’re able to keep track of all of the names without reminders, you’re probably asking who the heck is Koda and if I’m just making up names and characters at this point. No, I am not. The reason why Koda hasn’t come up really at all before this point is because he doesn’t talk. The kid is super anxious and communicates almost entirely in sign language. Kind of ironic given his powers. The two are quickly overwhelmed by Present Mic’s sonic blasts. Aizawa takes over his buddy’s voice over duties and explains a bit about Present Mic’s powers. That he can amplify the power of his voice, that his parents and doctor’s ears bled when he cried for the first time, and that thing on his neck is a directional mic. He sonic blasts the kids several times while they try to think of a plan. Jiro tries to get Koda to talk to some bugs, as they’re the only animals not fleeing the area, but Koda freaks out. The kid has a problem with insects, apparently. Seeing Jiro’s bleeding ears, and remembering Mama Koda’s excitement at him getting into UA, get’s him to step up. The funny thing is, once Koda starts talking, he’s a chatterbox. He gives a swarm of insects a long-winded speech before they attack Present Mic from underground, defeating him. Hooray, again!

After that is the invisible girl Hagakure and multi-webbed armed Shoji are up against Snipe. A name like Snipe kind of says it all, doesn’t it? They’re able to take cover from his bullets for a while, before the sniper throws a smoke bomb to distract them. Hagakure goes full stealth. Shoji charges Snipe, distracting the hero long enough for Hagakure to sneak up and snap the cuffs on him. Wins all around today.

I think the boss battle music is about to start playing.
...
Hopefully, it's not a Dark Souls tune.

The final match of the episode is the adhesive ball creating Mineta and elbow tape shooting Sero vs. Midnight. And in the first thirty seconds, Sero is knocked out by Midnight’s knockout gas (she excretes it in a mist from her skin) and Mineta is sprinting and sobbing. Midnight decides to chase after Mineta, as she enjoys tormenting her opponents. Mineta is almost cornered, but then reveals that this was all part of his plan. He’s a fan of… we’ll say more risqué heroes and so knows about as much about Midnight as Izuku knows about All Might. He knew she’d chase him if he started sobbing, and that her gas doesn’t work if he’s not breathing in. He covers his mouth with some of Sero’s tape, disables Midnight with his purple balls, and runs for the exit. So, one more win under the belt.

We end on Izuku meeting up with Bakugo as they’re about to face off against All Might. Because of course.

Another solid episode focusing on the minor characters. Aside from Uraraka, everyone who tested in this one was a minor character. As such, most of their matches were short. Just enough to cover who they’re facing, why they might be facing the teacher they are, and whether they win or lost. I’m not sure why Uraraka’s was so short to be honest, but I suppose some stories had to be whittled down. I roll my eyes at yet another “platonic-opposite-gender-friends-are-attracted-to-each-other-but-are-too-scared-to-do-anything-about-it” bit, but Uraraka’s reaction is adorable enough for me to let it go. The other fights were short, sweet and to the point as well. Some had to learn to fight smarter, some had to over come their own issues, but all were wrapped up nicely by the end. Next up we’ll see if Bakugo and Izuku can work together to defeat their idol. It’ll be a hell of a match.  

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Hero Profile: Ms. Marvel

While the name isn't new, she does her damnedest to make it hers.

As I said in the Moon Knight hero profile, Disney has revealed that they’re going to add several Marvel centric shows for the Disney+ streaming service. Moon Knight is one, She-Hulk is another, and one that I’m rather curious to see how it’ll play out is Ms. Marvel. Originally the codename for Colonel Carol Danvers after her lab accident that turned her into a Human-Kree superweapon, the name was kind of up for grabs after she took up the Captain Marvel Mantel. The name has been used by a handful of ladies of Marvel, but it didn’t find it’s perfect fit until Kamala Khan. Let’s get to it.

Tis a brave person indeed that asks for a selfie
with James "Logan" Howlett.

Kamala Khan is the first-generation Pakistani-American daughter of Yusuf and Muneeba Khan. For the first decade and a half of her life, Kamala’s life was largely uneventful. Or as uneventful as any young person’s is in the Marvel Universe, I imagine that the occasional alien invasion and entire universe rewrite has given the average citizen of the Marvel universe a very askew view of normal. As she got older, she became a bit of a gamer nerd, and developed into a massive fan girl for superheroes, gravitating towards the notorious X-Men, and above all Carol Danvers, aka Captain Marvel. She writes fan fiction about them, which feels weird when you think about a fictional character writing fan stories about other fictional characters that are real to her. Ugh, I think I went cross eyed for a second, lets move on.

Things didn’t really shake up for Kamala until she was sixteen and went through that most troubling of teenage phases, the rebellious phase. Wanting to shake up her public image a bit, she went against her parents wishes, and best friend Bruno’s advice, and went to a party at the Jersey Waterfront. While she tried to have fun, most of the other students continued to tease the nerdy Muslim girl. Yeah know, “you smell like curry,” type barbs. Bruno tells her she should probably go, as he’s worried that when the meat heads at the party get drunk things will get bad for her. She walks off in a huff. She was on her way home from the Party when Jersey City was hit by a Terrigen Mist cloud.

I've heard of growth spurts but this is ridiculous.

Okay, a bit of background info for ya to explain this. Around this time, the Mad Titan Thanos had come to Earth seeking his illegitimate son, a young man named Thane. He discovered that the boy was of Inhuman stock and came to Attilan to use a semi-secret archive they had to locate Thane. Black Bolt, king of the Inhumans, faced off against Thanos and unleased a massive amount of Terrigen Mist to be released across Earth. The Mist is a vapor that coves off Terrigen Crystals, one of the main power sources to the Inhumans. Being exposed to the Mists causes Inhumans to mutate and develop additional powers, but also runs the risk of causing random Atavistic traits. Example, a member of the Royal Family of the Inhumans, Gorgon, has superhuman strength but also bull legs. Makes the power boost seem less than ideal, doesn’t it? Anyway, he did that as a delaying tactic against Thanos, and to trigger Thane’s latent Inhuman abilities, as the Terrigen Mists are a key component to that. He just kind of overshot the mark a little.

So yeah, Kamala was hit by the Mist. Much to her shock, Kamala went through Terrigenesis, the metamorphic process Inhumans go through that unlocks their powers. Turns out, the Khan’s had Inhuman ancestry. Who knew? Kamala was wrapped in a cocoon of sorts, and had a vision of her three favorite heroes, Iron Man and Captain’s America and Marvel, scolding her for being disobedient and asking her what she wanted out of life. She admitted she wanted to be more like Carol, beautiful, awesome, butt kicking and less complicated. Her words. Kamala awoke from her Terrigenesis and was shocked to discover she’d turned into a young Carol Danvers, Ms. Marvel Costume and all. After nearly barfing, she partially turns back to normal. After several minutes of shifting between Classic Ms. Marvel and Ms. Khan, she seems to get her body back under control. She heads back toward the party when she sees the massive Terrigen Mist cloud still hanging over it. While trying to avoid a pair of the popular jerks that mocked her earlier, she discovered that she could also shrink down to about an inch in size. Day just keeps getting weirder. She takes on the Ms. Marvel appearance and regrows to normal size in order to save the bitchy girl of the pair from drowning when the bitchy boy accidently knocks her into the waterfront. She stretches and enlarges her hand to scoop the girl out and put her on the dock. She beats a hasty retreat when the other kids start asking Ms. Marvel for an autograph. She makes it back home, but not before her parents got a call from a frantic Bruno telling them about how he’d lost track of her at the party. Whoops. While she’s definitely grounded after that, she feels hopeful that her new powers will make things… interesting.

She spends the next couple of days trying to figure out the extent of her new powers, avoiding Bruno whom she is still mad at, and freaking out about people talking about “Ms. Marvel” appearing again. Stressful week, me thinks. She discovers that she can grow to massive size, shapeshift, and stretch her limbs to impossible lengths. All of which end up being useful when she has to save Bruno from being held up at his part time job. Or so she thinks. In actuality, the thief is Bruno’s brother Vick. While he had actually planned on robbing the place, Bruno had swapped shifts with the guy Vick thought would be on duty, saw through his little brothers disguise and basically had been chastising him when Kamala walked up. She, still unaware of the fact that Bruno was in zero danger, grabbed Vick in her supersized hand, squeezed him and told him to leave the store and not come back. In that scuffle, however, Vick accidentally shot Kamala in the stomach. Oh no.

Denial, thy name is Thomas Alva Edison...'s Cockatiel clone.

Vick scampers while Bruno calls the cops, much to a slowly passing out Kamala’s horror. But, to both of their surprise, she suddenly turns back into her normal self sans the bullet wound in her stomach. Turns out she can basically instantly heal by reverting to her normal self. After explaining the gist of things to Bruno and getting the cops off their backs, Bruno tells her about his brother. Turns out Vick had gotten wrapped up with some villain calling himself the Inventor and now Bruno needs to help him out. Kamala offer to help out too, provided that he gives her an hour to get a costume together. Turns out she can’t shapeshift back into her Carol-form while she was still recovering from her previous GSW. She runs home and throws together a ‘burkini,’ the sort of swimsuit you buy when a wetsuit is still a little too immodest for ya, and a fanny pack and calls it good.

She initially tries to sneak into the apparently abandoned house to rescue Vick, but quickly “embiggens” as she likes to call it to wreck stuff up. Unfortunately, Vick’s captors have robots and lasers on their side and Kamala is forced to beat a hasty retreat. And once she’s back home, her parent’s find out she snuck out again, she’s double-grounded, and her father is going to have her talk to their Sheikh (think the Muslim equivalent to a Rabbi or Priest if the word is unfamiliar). So, kind of a sucky night. She and Bruno meet up again the next day and start designing her an actual functional costume. They use an experimental polymer that they’d created for some Stark or Richards scholarship to create for her a super elastic costume that will stretch and shrink with her, which will in theory help her use her powers more effectively. She’s able to bust in, beat up some goons and get out with Vick again this time. Woo!

The next day, they find a giant doll of a hanged Ms. Marvel outside the convenience store. Kamala puts on her costume and gives the crowd of gawkers a rousing speech about Jersey folks not taking stuff laying down.

Over the next few days, Kamala continues to break her curfew to disable and destroy robots that the “Inventor” sends after her across Jersey. She then has to speak with the Sheikh, much to her own discomfort. But, as it turns out, the old religious leader actually listens to her and gives her decent advice. Specifically, to seek out a teacher to help her get better at “helping others” as she put it, to hopefully improve her skills so she doesn’t have to disobey her folks as much. And thankfully said teacher appears shortly thereafter. She’s lured into a sewer trap by the Inventor, who’s revealed to be an abominable horror, a Cockatiel man. Turns out he’s a clone of Thomas Edison whom had accidentally been spliced with cockatiel DNA when his creator, a fella named Knox used a contaminated equipment. He decided to clone a super scientist, and didn’t CLEAN the Petri dishes? Stupid. He has some crocodiles in a sewer hooked up with cyborg lasers and stuff and wants to see how Ms. Marvel handles them. The experiment is interrupted by Wolverine. He was in the area hunting for a runaway from his School for Gifted Youngsters. Kamala kind of fan girls out at first, as she’s been a huge fan of Wolverine for a while too. But she gets herself under control.

Even for someone like Loki, this has to be one of the most
unique introductions to a hero he'll soon be facing. 

The two make their way out of the sewer, and Wolverine gives her a few pointers on Superhero work. He starts with some of the basics, work efficiently, a planned fall is better than an unplanned fall, that sort of thing. And then Kamala learns a somewhat big secret from Wolverine, that his healing powers are no longer working. He’d been infected by a virus that was repressing his healing factor a short time back. Before they can talk more, they’re attacked by a mondo-croc that the Inventor sicced on them.

They’re able to kill the giant sewer beast, and make their way out of the sewer. Wolverine gives Ms. Marvel a few more pointers, namely that trying not to hurt anyone while protecting people usually means that you’ll get hurt the most, appreciate the powers that you have while you have them, and that the best abilities are the ones that help you get out off bed each morning. They almost make it out of the sewer when they’re trapped in one of those shrinking rooms. They’re able to disable the crushing walls, and discover that the whole damn place they’ve been exploring was being powered by Wolverine’s runaway, she was being used as a person-battery. That’s bonkers. They save the girl and Kamala and Wolverine part ways.

After that, she gets teamed up with Lockjaw. He’s a massive Inhuman canine with the power of teleportation. Turns out, ol’ Logan made a call to Captain America, who spoke with the Inhuman Queen Medusa, whom sent the dog to look after her. She and Lockjaw track down several more of the Inventor’s machines, discovering that the big ones are all somehow using Teenagers as batteries. Eventually, the Inventor tracks her to her school and sends a massive robot to fight her. Kamala puts in her best effort, but her injuries had been compounding, so she was more or less powerless at that point. Lockjaw teleports her and Bruno to New Attilan, the Inhuman capital. She gets healed up and informed that she’s an Inhuman, much to her own shock. Can’t blame her, the Inhumans have kind of been C-listers for years now. Kamala and Bruno leave, intent on facing the Inventor again. Using Lockjaw’s teleportation and Vick’s knowledge, she finally tracked down the Inventor’s lair. She intended to free the captured teens, but to her shock most of them were there willingly.

Turns out that the confabulation of Edison and a bird had been preying on the self-esteem issues that we all faced in those damnable years between twelve and twenty and convinced these kids that all their good for is powering his devices. Kamala gives the kids a rousing speech about how their lives are worth more than being the batteries for an insane scientist out of time, and rallies them to take back their lives. This causes the Inventor to flip out and send more robots are her. With the aid of Lockjaw, the teens and Bruno calling the cops, Kamala is able to defeat the Inventor. He’s seemingly crushed by the falling debris created by his giant robot. I’m SURE we’ll never see him again. And it’s only after that that she becomes certain normality is something she probably won’t have ever again.

Since then, Kamala has gone on to be one of Marvel’s up and coming heroes. She helped defeat a terrorist named Kaboom from causing an Inhuman revolt to overthrow Medusa and dominate the Humans. She also did her best to help keep things together while their Earth was falling apart due to the Incursions, multiple realities falling in on themselves. She had just enough time to gather her friends and family in one place, reveal to her mother that she was Ms. Marvel, and say goodbye before reality was destroyed. Thankfully, she returned once the Main and Ultimate Marvel Universes were smoothed out into a new prime Universe. Just before the end of the Incursions and for a time after she did get to meet and was mentored by Captain Marvel herself, who gave Kamala a special beacon to call her in if the younger Marvel needed help. She served alongside many of the new generation of heroes, guys like Miles Morale’s Spider-Man, Sam Alexander aka Nova, Riri Williams aka Ironheart (an heir to Iron Man’s legacy), the new Hawkeye Kate Bishop, the Totally Awesome (gag) Hulk Amadeus Cho, the Vision’s robot daughter Vivian, and a young time displaced Cyclops.  Actually, all of them sans Kate would form a team they called the Champions. Nice title. She’s also served along side the Inhumans on a number of occasions. All in a days work for a teenage hero.

Kamala is a human with some Inhuman heritage. I don’t really know if that means she had an Inhuman ancestor that chose to live amongst humans, or if she just had the base genetic code that the Kree used to create the Inhumans millennia ago. Either way, she reacted to exposure to the Terrigen Mist and became superhuman. The comics explain that her powers are morphogenetics, and it gets weirder from that name. Basically, on a molecular level Kamala shifts her mass to different versions of herself across time. This allows her to grow “embiggen” and shrink “debiggen” on a pretty massive scale, stretch her limbs, torso and neck, as well as thin her body to about the width of a sheet of paper. She can also rapidly heal, but can’t use her other powers while doing so. Turns out self-regeneration is a little too draining to work in conjunction with stretching and shrinking. She can also shapeshift in the classic sense, taking on another’s appearance, but she does so sparingly as that sort of shifting is draining. She also has a form of bioluminescence, as she’s shown to glow when using her powers.

Kamala learned the subtle but oh so important rule of hero work,
Never blindly trust a pretty face.

Kamala is another of those characters that seems to violate that earlier rule I stated. You know, the one that said that if a character or plot is less than ten years it’s highly unlikely to show up outside the comics. Yeah, she made her debut back in 2014 and was a pretty smashing success. What a shock, that taking a risk on a character that is both a woman and an underrepresented non-white character would have a big impact. I swear, that rule held up for years before the 2010s.

She made a couple of appearances on the show Avengers Assemble. She had a cameo appearance in the third season, “The Inhuman Condition,” where she’s shown being captured by Ultron with the rest of her people. She gets a proper introduction in the next episode when she and another Inhuman named Inferno help the Avengers deal with Ghost, an old enemy of Iron Man’s that was using his new Inhuman powers to enhance his phasing and planned to steal Iron Man’s AI Friday. She’s a recurring character from then on, appearing in the episodes “Civil War Part 2: The Mighty Avengers,” “Avengers No More,” “Show Your Work,” “Under the Spell of the Enchantress,” “The Vibranium Coast,” “Shadow of Atlantis,” and “Mists of Attilan.”

She made an appearance in the second season of Spider-Man. Interestingly, while this show has a separate continuity from Avengers Assemble, they both used the same voice actress for Kamala, Kathreen Khavari. She comes across Peter while the two were both separately investigating an elite but shady boarding school. Turns out it was a front for the Advanced Idea Mechanics or AIM and the groups Scientist Supreme had already kidnapped several heroes like Captain’s America and Marvel, and the Hulk to experiment on. They team up and kick evil’s butt.

She appeared in the miniseries Marvel Rising: Initiation, once again voiced by Kathreen Khavari. That gal is either an amazing voice actress, or was able to negotiate one hell of a contract. Just saying. She and her friend Squirrel Girl team up to track and capture Ghost Spider, an arachnid themed hero that had recently gone rogue following the murder of a young man named Kevin. They track down and battle Ghost Spider a few times before GS, really Gwen Stacey, (ha, I literally just got that) convinces them to listen to her side of the story. Kevin had been her best friend from grade school whom had just recently developed Inhuman powers. She’d found his corpse in a warehouse and was framed for the Murder. The two heroines let Ghost Spider go, so she can hopefully clear her name.

She returned in full length animated movie, Marvel Rising: Secret Warriors. Kamala along with Squirrel Girl, Inferno, Patriot, Lockjaw, America Chavez, Quake, and Captain Marvel, end up on a team that defends Earth from a Kree Invasion. Their team, dubbed the Secret Warriors, maybe tasked with doing some undercover work for Captain America.

She’s appeared in several video games, including Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3, Marvel: Contest of Champions, and Lego Marvel Super Heroes 2. These are largely ensemble games, without her doing much specifically, hence why I’m just mentioning them.

She’s also got an up-and-coming Disney+ series. I’m curious to see how they’ll have her come up with the Ms. Marvel ID, as in the MCU continuity, Carol jumped right into being Captain Marvel. We’ll just have to wait and see.

Kamala is a very fun character. I read the first dozen or so comics of her initial run, and fell in love with her on the firsts page. It involved her basically glaring at a sandwich for daring to have bacon on it, since that food is not halal (Muslim equivalent to kosher). She’s got a great energy to her. She’s incredibly determined and peppy when she needs to be, but has also learned to watch where she steps as she’s grown as a hero. Her powers are also very impressive, being reminiscent of other heroes, like Mr. Fantastic, Ant Man and so on, but mixed together in a way that is wholly her own. And the fact that her original nemesis was Thomas Edison that was also a Cockatiel was just stupid funny. It’s also interesting to see how a child of immigrants handles that side of her life, as she tries to balance being a good hero with being a good daughter and a good Muslim. Its clear that while there are aspects of her faith that bother her, the dietary and gender restrictions being the most obvious, that she’s still proud of her faith and wants to keep being a good Muslim. Hey, the majority of heroes that are religious have either expressly stated or implied to being some variety of Christian, Jewish, or a being of a mythological pantheon. It’s nice to see more representation is all I’m saying. I think that in the short time she’s been a hero, she’s met that lofty goal of being worthy of her namesake and surpassed it by leaps and bounds. So yeah, in short, she’s fun, unique, and I’m glad she’s caught on as quickly as she has. 

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Hero Profile: Moon Knight

He's either the Avatar of an ancient God, or a crazy person. It's the viewers choice sometime.

Okay, I think I’ve processed enough about Spider-Man’s, at the time of writing this, confirmed departure to talk about Marvel stuff again. Sorry that took a bit, I was vey disappointed. It’s a shame too, as around when that particular bomb dropped, Disney unveiled it’s plans for several Disney+ shows on it’s streaming service. One of the ones that fans were most excited for was the reveal of the Moon Knight TV series. If the name is new to you, he’s basically Marvel’s Batman… the other Batman, besides Daredevil. He dresses in white and believes he is the avatar of a Moon God, so he might also fit into Bat’s Rogues Gallery, if I’m being honest. But I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s get to it.

He puts the Lunar in Lunatic.

Moon Knight was born Marc Spector, in Chicago, the oldest son of a rabbi. Marc had a somewhat… turbulent career before donning his superhero identity. He’d been a heavyweight boxer, a US Marine, and a freelance mercenary all by the time he was thirty. Somethings from that time in his life were good, like meeting another mercenary named Jean-Paul DuChamp, later dubbed Frenchie, whom became Marc’s closest friend and ally. Other things were bad, like his brother Randall betraying the US government by double-dealing with hostile nations. This led to the two brothers trying to murder each other, resulting in the death of Marc’s then girlfriend and a savage beating to him that left him psychologically scarred. So, it was kind of a mixed bag.

Marc’s life changed forever while working in Egypt for another mercenary named Raoul Bushman. The African mercenary led Marc and the rest of their group into an archaeological dig. The dig had unearthed several Egyptian relics, including a statue to their moon god, Khonshu. Bushman, who was always a bit too unstable, murdered the chief scientist, Dr. Peter Alraune, and attempted to loot the dig. Deciding that Bushman went too far, Marc challenged him to a duel and got his ass kicked. Bushman left the horribly beaten Marc to die in the freezing temperatures of the desert after sunset. Dr. Alraune’s daughter, Marlene, and a small cult of worshipers to Khonshu saved Marc by dragging him into the temple. Despite their efforts, Marc’s heart stops and he dies beneath the statue of Khonshu. The Egyptian God then appears before Marc in a vision. He offers the warrior a second chance at life if he’s willing to serve Khonshu as his new Avatar on Earth. Marc agrees and revives. He wraps himself in the silver shroud that covered the statue and then gets a rematch with Bushman. He defeats Bushman, and then returns stateside with Marlene, Frenchie, and his souvenir from the temple, the statue of Khonshu.

Once back in the US, Marc invests the rather hefty sums he’d accumulated as a mercenary and develops a small fortune. He uses that money to invent a new identity, Steven Grant, to best use the money and to distance himself from his mercenary past. He created a few fake ids to help with his work, like a cabbie named Jake Lockley to help him interact with the criminal element in New York. These develop from mere aliases to full on alternate personalities. Turns out the crap he’d been through plus the mental shock from dying and possibly being made the Avatar of a God caused Marc’s mind to splinter into multiple personalities. Yes, it’s a largely debunked condition, but this is a world of fiction. We can suspend our disbelief. He also buys the initial equipment and costume for his superhero persona, the Moon Knight aka the Fist of Khonshu.

Marc is a big fan of the low blow.

His first job is working as a merc for the criminal organization called the Committee. They provide him with a lot of his early gear. The job he’s hired for is hunting down the monster-themed anti-hero Werewolf-By-Night (yes that is his alias) aka Jack Russell (yes, that is his legal name). He does capture Russell for the group, but then almost immediately frees him and the two heroes end up dismantling the Committee.

Marc has worked pretty much all over the US since his debut, spending time on both coasts and in Chicago. He’s been on both the Main Avengers Team and their West Coast branch in LA. He’s also on decent terms most of the street level heroes. I’m talking guys like Daredevil, Spider-Man, Iron Fist, Luke Cage and Jessica Jones. He’s got kind of a frenemy’s thing going with Punisher, as the two have worked together about as often as one has hunted the other. He’s also buddies with Ben Grimm, a fellow Jewish hero. He’s also been killed a few times, but Khonshu refuses to let him rest for long, using his powers to revive him within a few years of death.

His mental health has gotten through some major changes. For a time, the personas of Jake Lockley and Steven Grant were repressed and replace by ones modeled after heroes that he either admired or was closely linked to, chiefly Spider-Man, Wolverine, and Captain America. These were later dropped and Jake and Steven returned to prominence. Hell, for a time, Marc Spector’s persona “died” and was replaced full time with Jake. During which, Moon Knight seemed far more stable than he had when Marc was in the driver’s seat. He ever was able to patch things up with Marlene, his on-again-off-again girlfriend and the two had a child together. Marc returned after a few more years, after a particularly brutal final showdown with Marc’s brother Randall, who’d taken up the moniker of Shadow Knight. He’s also routinely harassed by Khonshu, whom often chastises Marc for not being the best Avatar he can be. He’s taken on the form of a man in a Moon Knight costume with a bird skull for a head and tried to goad him into killing people. And Khonshu wonders why people stopped worshipping him. Marc’s had something of a bumpy ride.

Moon Knight is a skilled hand-to-hand combatant, having been trained in several forms of martial arts. These include but are not limited to, boxing, kung fu, eskrima (Filipino martial arts), judo, karate, ninjutsu, savate (French boxing), and Muay Thai. He’s also a skilled acrobat and gymnast. He’s good with a variety of weapons, including throwing darts, nunchaku, bo staff and truncheon. Basically, he’s a master at punching, kicking, throwing, and hitting things with blunt objects. Oh, and he can pilot a helicopter. His suit was originally made of Kevlar but was later upgraded with an Adamantium weave for better protection. The suit is designed to maximize his strength. It’s been noted by Taskmaster, a mercenary supervillain that specializes in copying fighting styles, that he HATES coping Moon Knight and tries to avoid doing so. Why? Because the dude isn’t a fan of dodging and due to a pretty high pain tolerance will more often than not take a punch rather than block it. It’s not a style most would favor, but hey, the dude is admittedly nuts.

The Fist of Khonshu is gonna mess you up.

When it comes to superhuman powers, he’s had a few. The most notable is enhanced strength, endurance and reflexes. This power is said to be a gift from Khonshu and is tied to the lunar cycle. At a full moon he’s at his strongest, the new moon his weakest. But his weakest is still supernaturally strong as he’s able to lift several hundred pounds. His dissociative identity disorder also makes him largely immune to telepathic intrusion, similar to Deadpool’s brain cancer making him immune. In that it’s a pain in the ass that could kill him, but there is a silver lining. It’s unknown if his powers are truly mystical in origin, or a form of intense self-hypnosis created by his damaged psyche. The Profile, a mercenary with the mutant ability to instinctively analyze and predict (otherwise profile) an individual just by observation, has confirmed that Marc’s powers maybe supernatural in origin. In that The Profile’s own powers don’t work on him, something that is true of all beings of a mystical persuasion, and causes him extreme headaches to even look at Moon Knight. He explains either Khonshu is real and interfere with his powers, or Marc’s mind is so messed up and unstable that his belief in the Egyptian god is tantamount to magic and is disrupting him. It’s a comic book superhero, I know you’ve heard crazier ideas.

Marc Spector has made a few appearances outside of the comics. Mostly in the last decade. The character, I assume, was relatively obscure enough that he didn’t warrant an adaptation until the semi-recent superhero movie explosion that the MCU created.

Marc Spector was mentioned in Blade, the 2006 sequel series to Blade Trinity. It starred Sticky Fingaz as Blade. The show was cancelled before introducing him.

He appears in the Ultimate Spider-Man Christmas special “The Moon Knight Before Christmas.” Trust me, this isn’t the dumbest idea that Ultimate Spider-Man went with. In it, Spider-Man is house sitting for Doctor Strange (I’m rolling my eyes reading and typing this), spots and ends up stopping Moon Knight from chasing a young woman. It’s revealed that she’s Frances Beck, the daughter and would be successor to Quinten Beck aka Mysterio. The two heroes work together to both stop Frances and reunite her with her father. And the episode ends with everyone having dinner with Aunt May. Oh yeah, this is another version where she’s figured out Peter’s secret identity and is cool with it. Marissa Tomei was not the first.

I mean, if you're going to model the voices in your head off of
heroes, you might as well go with three of the best.

He later appeared in Avengers Assemble. His first appearance was a cameo in “Avengers World” where he’s listed as a candidate for initiation into the Avengers if they expand their roster. He appears in full in “Beyond.” This was the start of the Beyonder, one of Marvel’s close-to-but-not-quite God beings, slicing together various parts of the Earth and the rest of the universe into Battleworld. Captain America and Black Widow along with Iron Man end up in Egyptia, where they run into Moon Knight guarding a pyramid. Moon Knight initially attacks them along side an army of mummies, but is freed of the mind control he was under by Iron Man. He helps them defeat the rest of the mummies but bids the group goodbye after, as he needs to guard the Pyramid for Khushu. Captain America lets him know that the offer to join the Avengers is an open one and they’ll save a spot for him when he’s ready.

The TV series for Moon Knight has apparently been in the works off and on since 2006. It took 13 years but they’re finally getting on with it. While an official release hasn’t been announced, the show is expected to be released in “Phase Four” so at the latest it should be airing in 2021. Fingers crossed.

The last appearance I’ll mention was his minor role in Spider-Man: Web of Shadows in 2008. He appears as a support character on top of his skyscraper Spector Tower following a fight Peter had had with Black Cat. The player is given the “Evil” choice of teaming up with Black Cat to defeat the Kingpin or the “Good” choice of working with Moon Knight… to defeat the Kingpin. Yeah, the moral choice in this game was largely “Will Peter be a Spider-Man or Spider-Ass?” He can be called in to help the Player during difficult fights as an NPC, and is seen doing his best to help thwart the Symbiote invasion in the last quarter of the game.

Marc Spector as Moon Knight at a glance does seem a bit like a Batman clone. He’s a multi-millionaire that fights crime in a protective costume, wears a cape, and is kind of difficult to work with. But that’s just the surface layer. He’s also a deeply damaged individual that is trying to help people, all the while battling with his internal demons. Be they the alternate personas in his mind or the possibly real possibly fictitious God of Justice that tells him to beat up the unworthy. Plus, Batman wears a black costume, Moon Knight wears a bright white one. Totally different. But in all seriousness, I do enjoy the look of this character, his quirks, and the fact that he’s all but compelled to bring justice to the world. Khonshu is somewhat vague on what that can mean sometimes. And I mean come on, a Jewish Avatar of an Egyptian God? The irony alone makes this character worthwhile. I’m curious to see how the show will tackle his multiple personalities and his relation to the rest of the MCU. It seems like he’s on a respect but mostly tolerated standing with most of the characters he works with. Not that I can blame them, the fact he’s constantly talking to himself is kind of unnerving if you aren’t used to it. Next up, we’ll talk about the newest heroine to go by Ms. Marvel. 

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