Iman Vellani is Kamala Khan in new Disney+ series Ms Marvel. Photo / Disney
Iman Vellani is Kamala Khan in new Disney+ series Ms Marvel. Photo / Disney
Iman Vellani still remembers the first time she saw someone that looked like her on the cover of a Marvel comic.
"I picked up an Ironheart comic and Kamala [Khan] was on the cover and I immediately went, who's this person? I fell in love with her ... I dressed up as her on Halloween," says the Pakistani-Canadian, who frequented the comic book store across the road from her high school growing up.
Now Vellani, who was "obsessed" with Iron Man as a teen, has swapped the Halloween costumes for the real thing to become Khan, the star of Marvel's newest series Ms Marvel, streaming on Disney+.
In the comics, Khan is a 16-year-old Marvel superfan navigating the ups and downs of high school life who discovers she has secret powers.
The similarities between Pakistan-born Vellani and her character are "insane" - "I basically think that we've lived the same life," she reflects.
"Being a child of immigrant parents and being obsessed with the Avengers, it was all I talked about when I was in high school and elementary school. So I definitely have an attachment to Kamala.
"She goes on this whole journey of self-discovery and I think I get to share that with her. I learned a whole lot about my culture and my heritage and being Pakistani in general, 'cause it was never a part that I really identified myself with too much growing up," she admits.
In the series, Khan discovers she has secret powers and becomes Ms Marvel. Photo / Disney
Vellani is no stranger to the "loneliness" that can come with a lack of representation on screen, and she hopes this series will change that for others. She's also aware that representing a Muslim and Pakistani character comes with "a lot of pressure".
"It's just incredible that this is happening. I know how important representation is because I've felt that isolation and loneliness," she says.
"Film and TV literally shape how we see people in this world, and unfortunately a lot of the time people of colour, especially Muslims, have been misrepresented and stereotyped.
"I think it's so great that Marvel is providing space for a character like Kamala to exist. I think she's going to do so much for so many young people who never got to see people like themselves on screen in a positive light before."
Not only does she want to represent her culture and faith on screen, she wants viewers to see a realistic portrayal of life as a high schooler in modern-day America.
Vellani, who plays a high school student in Ms Marvel, says "not every high school's Euphoria". Photo / Disney
"All those things that come with being a kid - it's important to represent teens in a realistic way. Not every high school's Euphoria," she jokes.
For Vellani, it hasn't quite sunk in that she's joining the ranks of Tom Holland, Brie Larson, and Robert Downey Jr in the Marvel franchise.
This show is her very first acting stint, and she's already lined up to star in the movie Marvels alongside Brie Larson's Captain Marvel.
"It's honestly so weird, I feel like I've infiltrated the MCU [Marvel Cinematic Universe] somehow," she says. "I don't know how I got here and it's real now."
She's simply excited for fans to see her take on a Marvel hero.
"I think it's so great that I get to show off my interpretation.
