Marvel Studios: Assembled

In times of uncertainty.

Fear. Darkness.

The world needs a little light.

Some heroes are born. And others are emboldened.

This is the story of...

Ms. Marvel.

And Bruno. Wait, what?

Huh? Ms. Marvel and Bruno?

Yeah. I mean, who helped design the suit?

Who cheered me on in that training montage?

Who crafted that epic booby-trap in the finale?

Bruno. That's right.

Bruno.

Now, don't you think it's time the sidekicks get a little love?

Okay, but then, what about Nakia? Sure.

Assembled: The Making of Ms. Marvel and Bruno and Nakia.

What about Aamir? Yeah, yeah, Aamir too.

And Zoe. Muneeba.

Yusuf. What about Auntie Ruby?

The gyro guy.

You know I can't say no to a gyro.

Kamran? Ugh, not Kamran.

What, you're fine with the gyro guy, but not Kamran?

All right, all right.

So, it's Assembled: The Making of Ms. Marvel and Bruno

and Nakia and Aamir and Zoe and Muneeba and Yusuf

and the Gyro Guy and Auntie Ruby and Kamran.

Should we throw in Sana and the directors

and producers and writers and...

Let's just start the show.

Ms. Marvel's one of the newer characters

that had been brought into Marvel Publishing.

Marvel's been around for 80-plus years

and most of the heroes we know have been around for 50-plus years.

So when there are new characters that come in, it's pretty momentous.

The idea of Kamala Khan came around 2012-2013.

And I developed that with G. Willow Wilson.

The entire point of it was to be able to create a character

that not even just like looked like me but really was for a fan like me.

You know, I connected to comics 'cause of the X-Men

and the X-Men were very diverse

and, um, it wasn't about brown skin and white skin.

It was about blue skin, you know.

It was a different kind of story but it still told the minority story.

And so, when we had this opportunity

to create a story about a young Muslim girl, or young South Asian girl,

it was really new and then it wasn't.

Because it was the principles of what Marvel had always stood for,

which was, creating a character that, yes, was powerful and fantastic,

but really just like you and me.

I was a fan of the comic books since the day they came out years ago.

I remember going out and buying every single variant cover.

It was a watershed moment,

when I could finally see myself represented in comic books.

That's why I was so drawn to Kamala.

Beyond being a nerd, beyond being a young girl of color,

she's a teenager and she's going through

all those awkward, ugh, dreadful, cringeworthy moments.

So, she's just such a relatable character to anybody reading it.

We always said that the show needed to be able to exist

without Kamala having superpowers.

We're really focused on building the stakes of Kamala's personal life.

The stakes of her friendships, of her family,

and the things that she wants before she ever gets powers.

Yo, all these spices.

Bilall and Adil are our episode one and six directors.

Ms. Marvel!

For life!

They're kicking it off and they really have brought

an interesting visual style that is very distinct from the other shows

that also really complements what the comics are all about.

The stylization is slightly heightened, the colors are slightly heightened.

As Iman actually said one day on set, she's like, "I'm living in a comic book."

This was so fun.

When we talked to our agents, we said,

"Hey, yo, is there any... You know, we're gonna do a Muslim superhero.

For Marvel maybe, yo." And they said, "Hey, actually, they're doing it."

And that... Right away, we thought...

-Holy... -Holy bleep.

That we gotta... We gotta be part of this.

It was not only that the comic book was so good,

it just felt so personal to us.

Uh, just relating to the character of Kamala being between those two worlds,

between the Western world and the traditional world.

We grew up like that.

And her being a big fan of all the superheroes,

it reminded of us looking at Hollywood and looking at the big directors like,

"One day we will be a part of that."

We're living the dream, man.

-Lot of emotion. -Lot of emotion.

Movie history right there. In front of our eyes.

I think you're just like, you know, still kinda whirling from that excitement.

Meera and Sharmeen, our other two directors...

-That was fun. That was fun. Who do you want me to follow then?

...really are fans of the comics as well and understand what it needs to be,

but also are coming from their own experience

of being South Asian women and from two different perspectives.

Sharmeen's Pakistani and Meera is Indian-American

and she grew up in Jersey.

What came before this was meeting Kamran

and what comes after this is hanging out with him.

-So you can't dip too low, you know? -Yeah.

It's just how you feel about things even though you feel overwhelmed.

It's still all very exciting.

I had been a fan of the comics since they came out,

namely 'cause a friend of mine had gifted it to me and she was like,

this girl is like you.

I mean, I grew up in Jersey, I'm a kid of South Asian immigrants

and I was kinda blown away.

I hadn't really read any piece of pop culture

that so completely reflected my childhood experiences.

You are the new, big, great superhero called...

Called what?

Still thinking about it.

Ms. Marvel matters because she is a superhero

for so many people beyond the Marvel fandom.

She represents something that we've never seen on screen before.

A brown Muslim female superhero.

And when young girls around the world watch her,

they will see a reflection of themselves on screen that they've never seen before.

We may not know who this girl is, or understand her motivations,

but we owe it to her as much as anyone,

to let her show us in her own time.

And so, as a Pakistani filmmaker,

it is a dream to be able to bring Ms. Marvel to life.

The way it happened is, I was like,

it was on the last day of school,

so I literally got cast on the last day of high school,

and, um, I'm hanging out with my friends

and casting director called.

She's like, "We need you on a call right..."

I'm like, "I can't, I'm busy."

And then, she's like, "I just sent you the link. Get on."

And, I download the app, I get on it, I open my phone,

it's Kevin Feige's face. All the producers and the directors on the call.

My friends are watching me from the car, they don't know anything.

I'm roaming around her driveway and then Kevin's like, saying,

"It was unanimous," like, "We want you to be Ms. Marvel."

And I was like, "'Kay."

-Yeah. Hey, Iman, how do you feel?

-Really cool. I'm a superhero. -Yeah? Yeah. That's supercool.

Iman is Kamala Khan. She was absolutely meant to play her.

And we saw that a year and a half ago,

the first time we brought her to LA for that screen test.

I mean, it was just so clear she knew who this character was to her core

and she embodied that completely.

Look at us, just a couple of superheroes teaming up. Solving puzzles.

You know, we kinda forget where the character in the comic ends

and Iman starts, at this point.

Yeah.

You know, the parallels between me and Kamala are like, like this now.

We're like... We are so much alike,

and I have so much love for the character,

which is why I auditioned for it.

Like, I didn't wanna be an actor, but, because it was Ms. Marvel

and I loved her comics for years, it was like, I had no choice.

I would like... I know my ten-year-old self

would hate me if I didn't audition.

It's so cool.

Powers.

-You're gonna get activated. -Her powers just got introduced.

And Bruno doesn't know what's going on.

Neither does Kamala.

So we just dance.

Three, two, one, go.

My first day was in full Captain Marvel costume.

Like, the original one.

The one that Brie Larson's stunt double wore.

You know, the first thing you film in a superhero costume,

that's pretty insane.

Iman, what do you think so far?

- It's the greatest day of my life. - This is so cool.

I don't know. I'm very happy.

And in a bit we're gonna be in the full helmet of my costume

and then I won't be able to smile so I'm getting it out right now.

Kamala Khan is this passionate, creative, high school kid

who just wants to find simplicity in her life through, you know,

this fantastical world of the Avengers.

She represents everything about nerd culture that there is, you know.

When she gets powers for the first time or when she meets Avengers,

it's like, you root for her because you see that excitement

and that fascination in her eyes and it's...

It just makes you so happy and you wanna follow her story.

She is a fan just like us.

I got this, right?

Totally.

We're at Circle Q. It's my humble abode. It's where I work.

And tonight we're shooting a bunch of stuff

with Rish and Iman and all of them coming back from the party.

-I'll be driving the Porsche from now on. -No.

I did it. That was great.

Iman and I have been through

over a month and a half of rehearsals prior to filming.

- I'm Bruce Banner. - Hulk smash.

Hulk smash, Hulk smash.

I knew it was gonna be great, because

right from the start, we had such a great bond

and chemistry and just getting to know her

and become really good friends with her has been amazing.

Kamala and Bruno's relationship is a classic