In an industry plagued by a stark lack of diversity, Marvel’s newest video game, Marvel’s Avengers, offers players and video game developers alike an example of representation to emulate with the addition of Ms. Marvel.
Ms. Marvel (also known as Kamala Khan), a Pakistani-American Muslim teenager from Jersey City, is the superhero the gaming industry has long needed. She serves as Marvel’s Avengers’ main protagonist, making her more than a pawn meant to exploit people’s desire for diversity—a theme much too common in the gaming industry.
The gaming industry is defined by its lack of diversity, with white male protagonists regularly treated as the safe default for commercial success. When attempting to remedy these failures, game developers usually miss the mark in delivering authentic racialized representation, instead reducing characters to offensive and limiting stereotypes.
Some of the more notable examples of this industry practice emerge from the blockbuster franchise Call of Duty. The first-person shooter series is populated with Muslim villains such as Khaled Al-Asad, appearing first in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare and more recently in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (2019). The series has exploited the stereotypical image of the warmongering Islamic terrorist to comprise its antagonists on several occasions.
Yet, Call of Duty is far from being the only offender in delivering this skewed, sensationalist portrayal. Many other popular gaming franchises—Gears of War, Fire Emblem: Awakening, Resident Evil 5, Watch Dogs, BioShock, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, and Battlefield, to name a few—have also taken part.
Given these games are generally played by and aimed towards a younger audience (age 12 and up), these incorrect representations can result in serious biases against certain racialized groups by players whose only exposure to these groups is through Western media.
Khan escapes this industry standard in her headlining role in one of the largest AAA games of the year in her presentation as a complex and multifaceted character.
Khan’s coming-of-age story, as she goes from being on the run because of her powers to stepping into her mantle as Ms. Marvel, is one every gamer can relate to. She is an avid Avengers fangirl who is just as excited by this superhero world as we are. Her fresh perspective, resilient positivity, and desire to do good breathes life into a cast of damaged heroes weighed down by their failures following the story’s inciting battle scene (‘A-Day’).
Khan’s Muslim, Pakistani-American background is acknowledged throughout the story. These important facets of her identity are addressed through conversations with her abu, the Urdu word for “father.” Even her makeshift superhero outfit—which she constructs using a burkini—also pays homage to her upbringing.
Khan is a nuanced character: along with being an international superhero, she also happens to enjoy fast food and writing, and engages her nerd side with her talent for hacking. In essence, her story accurately depicts her diverse background without stereotyping the character or allowing her to be subject to tokenism.
Muslims, like many minorities in North America, are often negatively depicted in mainstream culture. It is a religion and culture which, after years of being demonized in television, cinema, news media, and games, has become severely maligned and misunderstood.
This history of poor media representation makes it even more refreshing that one of the most positive media depictions of a Muslim person in recent years has emerged from the world of comic books, and now continues to prosper in the world of video games.
Ms. Marvel’s story is universal. It is a story about feeling different, confronting the labels you’ve been forcibly assigned, and defining your own identity.
Khan is a trailblazing hero motivated by the desire to do good and the belief that she can make a difference in righting the wrongs of the past. Ms.Marvel is the perfect vehicle for gamers to enter the world of Marvel’s Avengers. She is a reflection of her increasingly diverse, angry, and hopeful audience.
As a long-time fan of the character, it has been deeply moving to witness how both Marvel and its fan base have embraced and pushed the character’s continued growth as she continues to weave herself into the fabric of mainstream superhero culture.
It is thrilling to see Marvel now considers Khan to be in the same league as the Avengers, and I look forward to what is in store for her character beyond Marvel’s Avengers.
Featured graphic provided by Marvel Entertainment LLC.
