The following article contains spoilers for episode four of Ms. Marvel.
This week, we followed Kamala Khan to Pakistan – but the journey didn’t end in the present day.
The time travel twist in this week’s finale has been heavily signposted all season, which has featured plenty of flashbacks and visions of the train already.
But it is a massive game changer, further altering Khan’s origin story for the screen – no other MCU adaptation has thrown the (comic) book out of the window quite like this.
Here’s what that ending means for the series from here on in.
Back In Time
Marvel Studios
Kamala has spent the season wondering what on earth the deal is with this mysterious bangle. And now it looks like she’s going to be present for the very moment it was discovered.
We once again revisit the partition of India during the 1940s, but this isn’t the history lesson that’s going to be the most significant for Kamala going forward.
Instead, throwing her back into the past means we might get the answers to several Easter eggs carefully laid out throughout the series.
Marvel Studios
Kamala’s grandma has previously shared the story about how a “trail of stars” saved her mother. Now that our hero is stuck in the past, it’s hard to imagine this referring to anything other than Kamala herself.
We might also get some answers regarding the Easter egg in last week’s prologue, when we saw that the bangle was taken from what looked to be a bright blue Kree hand.
In the comics, Kamala became Ms. Marvel after the Kree hit her with Terrigen Mist – we’ve sharply deviated from that origin story here, but the Kree are still central to the lore, so it would make sense for the alien race to factor into this story in some way.
Marvel Studios
Of course, there’s another explanation too: this is just Kamala’s most intense vision yet and she hasn’t gone back in time at all.
There’s also the not inconceivable chance she’s gone to the Noor real and an alternate version of the past – we know that Marvel currently love a multiverse moment.
As we’re told in this episode, tearing down the veil of Noor will lead to the imminent destruction of Earth, which means there are some colossal stakes for the rest of the series.
Meet Red Dagger
Marvel Studios
The episode’s other big reveal came in the present day, when we were introduced to Red Dagger (Aramis Knight).
After a brief skirmish in a train station, the pair realised they were on the same side meaning Kamala has a new ally and the third potential love interest in as little as four episodes. Lucky girl.
Of course, Red Dagger doesn’t have much in the way of powers – in the comics, his fighting skills are learnt through YouTube tutorials.
He may be able to do parkour and have a utility belt full of weapons, but when it comes to more than hand-to-hand combat, Red Dagger can only try his best.
Marvel Studios
But wait a second – didn’t Red Dagger say he “sensed the Noor” when they first bump into each other?
Yes, it looks like another Ms. Marvel character has been completely reimagined from the pages of the comics – there Red Dagger is close friends with Kamala’s family and lived with her aunt, while here he’s a Karachi native who seems to have the same abilities as the ClanDestine.
With this much changed from the source material, we’ll see just how much he can be trusted next week. Hopefully the show can clear up more than a few things.
Ms. Marvel airs weekly on Disney+.
