Juco 1

Joshua Juco
Professor Beadle
English 115
3 October 2015

Catalytic Superpowers
For all ages, young and old, its just about everyones dream to gain superpowers. The
superhero genre in entertainment is growing day-by-day, especially with companies like Marvel
and DC leading the way. From the classic comic books to the Hollywood-level movie
productions, this out-of-this-world genre gave an alternate reality for everyone to dream about. It
let us fantasize and playfully explore what life would be like with supernatural abilities, like
Thors thunderous powers or Captain Americas enhanced strength. The more popular this genre
gets, the more it tries to cater to the entirety of the general masses by planting hidden messages
and morals behind the storyline. Consequentially, this usually leads to a prejudice in gender
composition, glaringly presenting societys prescribed expectations on how certain genders
should be following a common guideline.
With the relevance of gender composition becoming more prevalent in todays society,
artists and authors are using different methods to tell their tale to specific crowds, utilizing the
popularity of movies, the classic approach of reading books, the convenience of online videos,
etc. Trying to reach to a younger demographic, authors, Wilson and Alphona, team up to create
the modern day comic book of Ms. Marvel: No Normal, Vol. 1. In Ms. Marvel: No Normal, Vol.
1, Kamala Khan, a Muslim teenager tries to fit in and conform to the American culture in Jersey
City. According to Oxfords Islamic Studies sector, women have been caught between

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traditionalists and reformers as they compete for dominance in Islamic society (Women). This
is the position Kamala is in, wishing to find a perfect balance enough to find a comfort with her
native, but restrictive, Muslim culture and a looser, American culture. Eventually, Kamala was
able to transgress societys prescribed gender expectations of what a woman should be.
Thats just what happened. Eventually, Kamala was able to transgress societys
prescribed gender expectations of what a woman should be. After a party, she passes out cold but
regains hallucinated consciousness in a misty, dream-like state to the face of some of the most
popular Marvel superheroes, who name themselves as Faith, as opposed to their superhero
titles. After speaking with them and explaining how she just wants superpowers to strengthen
her, both physically and spiritually, in hopes to alleviate the rough transition into American
culture, she asks for and is granted powers similar to that of Captain Marvels, even donning her
outfit for a while. Now acquiring these superpowers, she now feels larger than life, all in terms of
the mind, body, and spirit.
Kamalas journey of transgression is even supported by a couple of articles in Composing
Gender. Patricia Hill Collins article and Gail Dines article basically embody all the issues
Kamala has to deal with, as both articles explain and expose our societys flawed expectations of
others, specifically those of opposing gender and international culture. From the Ms. Marvel
comic book itself to supporting articles in Composing Gender, Kamala Khans newfound
superpowers do justice for what she is fighting for breaking the barriers of societys prescribed
gender expectations in women, especially dealing with her race and how shes looked at
comparatively to a normal woman.
Now with access to superpowers to physically and spiritually fight away all the prejudice,
Kamalas uphill fight doesnt stop there. There is a racial aspect to her journey to transgression,

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since she is a Pakistani Muslim female living in the U.S. Patricia Hill Collins article,
Hegemonic Masculinity and Black Gender Ideology, talks about how gender and race plays a
role in social tier structuring, presenting these racial issues in society in her article and stating
that social categories of race, age, and sexual orientation intersect to produce comparable
categories of hegemonic, marginalized, and subordinated femininities within hierarchies of
femininity (Collins 225). Its these social guidelines that create this food chain where certain
people are categorized. Collins continues to list out the certain benchmarks and guidelines
women must follow in order to obtain and keep a high position in our hierarchical-structured
society. These social guidelines are actually shown through one of the minor characters in Ms.
Marvel the male police officer that was called up to the robbery crime scene, looking for Ms.
Marvel. In this scene between Kamala and the officers, Kamala, obviously acting oblivious to
the situation, asks the male officer, Whats Ms. Marvel supposed to look like? With a
suggestive hand gesture, the officer replies, You know, tall, blonde, with bigpowers (Wilson
74). Its interesting how Kamala doesnt really fall into the category of a hegemonic woman.
Shes not Caucasian; shes not considerably wealthy; shes doesnt live up to the ideal womans
figure; she tends to do masculine things, like playing videogames. These are her natural traits
that have stuck with her since the beginning, but with the introduction of her new superpowers,
she can further strengthen these traits of hers instead of shying away from them to try and fit in.
With nothing to fear, Kamala, for example, can openly enjoy hobbies that are normally correlated
with males, like playing videogames and reading comic books.
However, some readers do look at Kamalas newly found superpowers as a hindrance and
an ability that symbolically presents how weak she is. Kamala superpowers simply consist of
varying in size, being able to shrink or enlarge parts or the entirety of her body. Regarding the

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shrinking aspect of her ability, some readers see this power was a visual representation of her
anxiety and self-consciousness building up, even affecting her performance out in the field as a
superhero. So, how come, in her second encounter with Doyle and his gang, she managed to take
them down in a shrunken state? In this fight scene, Kamala rides into battle on top of one of
Doyles little creatures, rescuing the hostage, and thrashing the hideout down (Wilson 74). While
struggling to maintain her shrunken state, Kamala still had all the strength to defeat Doyle and
his gang. The superpowers do indeed push Kamala to beyond what she can do, easily boosting
her confidence and breaking down the barriers that hold women to what they can and cant do.
Furthermore, Kamalas story basically supports all what Gail Dines exposes in her article.
In Gail Dines article, Visible or Invisible: Growing Up Female in Porn Culture, she talks
about the hypersexualization of women presented in media and how it affects societys common
outlooks about them. She talks about how the commercial industry, especially in mass
entertainment, is using the womans figure to set the norm for other women, thus encouraging
men to chase only after what the media presents. Its incredible how much the comic, Ms.
Marvel: No Normal, Vol. 1, portrays Dines article, like with the scene with the officer looking
for Ms. Marvel at a crime scene, mentioned earlier. Dines states how this popular
hypersexualization of women took on an aura of such familiarity that we believed them to be
our very own personal and individual ways of thinking (Dines 258). This is exactly what the
male officer represented, describing Ms. Marvels physical characteristics, being suggestive
and hinting at what an ideal woman to him was. It goes to show how even comic books, a form
of entertainment that isnt normally expected to preach such a message, can come to expose and
support the message on the hypersexualization of women.

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Kamalas superhero outfit for her Ms. Marvel persona is also a large aspect of storyline.
As soon as Kamala received her superpowers from Faith, specifically from the spiritual
embodiment of Captain Marvel, she was fully transformed into this blonde, slim, toned, and
generally attractive female. Even with new powers to play with, Kamala knew that this wasnt
what she envisioned, complaining and asking herself why [she] doesnt feel strong and
confident and beautiful? (Wilson 24). Of course, as the story progresses and as Kamala learns to
develop and control her transformative powers, she is able to create her own superhero character,
thus donning the altered title of Ms. Marvel. Regarding her superhero outfit, she begins her
transition into her own threads when she decides to tackle a situation that included Doyle and his
gang. Being a smaller scale situation compared to the robbery heist, she creates a homemade
outfit so she doesnt have to fully transform into Captain Marvels body. By gaining superpowers
and taking full control of them, she is able to take down another prescribed expectation of
women clothing. Clothing is heavily emphasized in Dines article, stating that the fashion
industry has always pushed clothes that sexualize womens bodies (Dines 253). She means by
how the general public has always seen this hypersexualization in clothing as a norm, so it must
be followed. Being a Muslim female, and according to Oxfords Islamic Studies sector, Kamala
is to present modesty by concealing their hair and neck and covering themselves from the neck
to ankles[their] arm coverings extending to the wristsbelieving that a woman demonstrates
virtue by wearing such dress (Clothing). She does indeed keep this tradition alive by making
a full suit to cover what Captain Marvels didnt. Its simply incredible how Kamala is able to
break down societys barriers even within her superpowers. So far into her story, shes found a
perfect balance enough to find a comfort with her two cultures.

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A lot sure can happen within Issues 1 through 5! Kamalas story doesnt even end there,
as weve basically analyzed her origin story only. It really makes you want to look further into
how shes progressing in her life with how much her superpowers have helped her and how shes
capable of handling certain situations regarding societys prescribed gender expectations,
especially regarding women and those of varying cultures.
From the hegemonic structuring of races and its effects on gender to the
hypersexualization of women, Ms. Marvel: No Normal, Vol. 1 and the story of Kamala Khan
truly highlights how gender is played out in modern society. The story uses the popular and fun
format of a comic super heroine to address the glaring social problems of gender composition.
The story constructs Kamala Khan as a relatable teenager who progressively becomes stronger to
show how she, a girl with nothing special to start with, can really make an impact on the issue of
gender and race.

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Works Cited
"Clothing." In The Islamic World: Past and Present. Ed. John L. Esposito. Oxford Islamic
Studies Online. 15-Oct-2015.
<http://www.oxfordislamicstudies.com/article/opr/t243/e75>.
Dines, Gail. Visible or Invisible: Growing Up in Porn Culture. Composing Gender. OHara,
John F. Groner, Rachael. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2014. 02116. Print.
Wilson, G. Willow, writer. Ms. Marvel: No Normal, Volume 1. Illustrated by Adrian Alphona.
Coloring by Ian Herring. Lettering by Joe Caramanga. Scott, QC, Canada: Marvel
Publishing, 2014. Print.
"Women." In The Islamic World: Past and Present. Ed. John L. Esposito. Oxford Islamic Studies
Online. 15-Oct-2015. <http://www.oxfordislamicstudies.com/article/opr/t243/e370>.