Iman Vellani is recalling a game she played on her press tour in London. She was asked to name all 28 movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe in under 60 seconds—a near-impossible feat for even the biggest Marvel fans, but a simple challenge for Vellani, a self-proclaimed “walking encyclopedia” of Marvel knowledge and the star of the MCU’s latest project, Disney Plus’ “Ms. Marvel” series. “My biggest fear is someone asking me a Marvel-related question and I get it wrong,” Vellani, 19, says.
Vellani listed 24 of the 28 movies in a fraction of the time she was given. Then she blanked. Before she knew it, time was up. She forgot “The Incredible Hulk,” which she doesn’t count, and the “Guardians of the Galaxy” movies, which she can forgive herself for. What she can’t forgive herself for is forgetting “Captain Marvel,” the superhero her “Ms. Marvel” character—Kamala Khan, a 16-year-old Pakistani-American teenager from Jersey City—is obsessed with before becoming a superhero herself. “I’m in the freaking sequel!” exclaims Vellani, who stars in 2023’s “The Marvels.”
Vellani, dressed in a pleated green pajama set with a pair of pink sunglasses resting atop her thick black hair, is telling the story in an elevator on the way up to a rooftop for her cover shoot in New York City. It’s the eve of the premiere of “Ms. Marvel” on June 8, and Vellani—who has interviews on “The Tonight Show,” “Good Morning America” and “Live With Kelly and Ryan” all scheduled within the next 24 hours—is on the precipice of superstardom. In many ways, she’s still a teenager. Her nails are painted an assortment of colors from a collection of polishes she brought to her hotel from home. Her wrists are covered with dozens of knitted friendship bracelets she’s accumulated over the years. And her ankle is tattooed with a stick figure she inked herself from an image she found on Pinterest. “I wear white socks everyday, so it looks like he’s running on them,” she says.
Still, there’s no denying the Marvel machine. It’s the same franchise that turned unknown actors like Chris Hemsworth and Tom Holland into household names and a phenomenon industry experts, including Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige, expects to also happen to Vellani, whose journey is a near mirror of Kamala’s. Both are Muslim Pakistani teenagers obsessed with the Avengers. Both found themselves with lives they never expected. And both are still figuring out where they fit in a world with heroes (both literal and figurative) more famous and powerful than them. “Kamala getting her powers and me getting this part went hand and hand,” Vellani says. “I was like, ‘I know I am a superhero, but I don’t feel like one.’”
Set: Showpo. Top: Beginning Boutique. Shoes: Marc Fisher LTD. Pink ring: Rainbow Unicorn Birthday Surprise. Sunglasses: SOJOS. All other rings: Talent’s own
"Marvel is
I couldn't be
more honored to
- Iman Vellani
Dress: Hutch Design. Earrings: Missoma, Rainbow Unicorn Birthday Surprise. Socks, pink ring, multicolored ring: Rainbow Unicorn Birthday Surprise. Shoes: Dr. Scholl's . Gold bracelet: UNOde50. All other rings: Talent’s own
Raised in Markham, Ontario, a suburb of Toronto, Vellani was introduced to Marvel at a young age by her older brother. “We only watched what he wanted to watch,” she says. Though she loved the movies—she was five when her favorite film, “Iron Man,” came out—Vellani’s Marvel obsession didn’t peak until she was 15 and ventured into a comic book store across from her high school to find more content on Iron Man—her “fattest” crush at the time—and picked up her first-ever Marvel comic: an issue of “The Invincible Iron Man.” She was captivated from the start. “I posed with it for my grad photo,” she says. She went back again and again to buy as many comics as she could. When she finished “The Invincible Iron Man,” she came across the comics for “Ironheart,” a spinoff of “Iron Man” about a 15-year-old who builds her own super suit. On one of the “Ironheart” covers was a character named Kamala Khan (a.k.a. Ms. Marvel), a Muslim Pakistani teenager that didn’t resemble any superhero Vellani, who was born in Pakistan and moved to Canada when she was a year old, had seen before. “It wasn’t until I got representation with ‘Ms. Marvel’ that I realized, at 15 years old, this is what was missing in my life,” she says. “It felt like you were holding a mirror in front of me with every panel and every page.” For Vellani—whose first “Ms. Marvel” comic featured a storyline around Eid, a Muslim festival marking the end of Ramadan—Kamala showed a side of her culture she wasn’t used to seeing anywhere, let alone in Marvel. “Every Muslim teenager I was used to seeing in mainstream media felt like their entire personality was being religious or they needed to get away from religion to find themselves apart from their family,” she says. “Ms. Marvel always used religion and culture as something that acted as a moral code in her hero’s journey. That’s how it was in my life. I’m Muslim but it’s not everything I do, every hour of the day.”
A year later, Vellani—who even dressed as Kamala for Halloween using a blue dress she found at the thrift store—received a WhatsApp message from her aunt with a casting call for an upcoming Disney Plus show based on the “Ms. Marvel” comics. She thought it was a scam. Still, Vellani wouldn’t forgive herself if she didn’t at least apply, and so she sent in an academic résumé and the only headshot she had. To her surprise, Marvel responded asking her to film a self-tape. Though she recognized the exact comics the audition scenes were from, Vellani, who had no professional acting experience, was too intimidated to film her tape. She put it off for as long as she could, and then, at 3 a.m. the day before it was due, Vellani went down to her basement, where her dad had built a makeshift tripod, and pressed record. Too embarrassed to act in front of her family, Vellani didn’t have anyone to read the other characters’ lines, so she recorded her own voice on Voice Memos, lowered the pitch in iMovie to make it seem like she was talking to someone else, and sent her tape in. “Apparently, that’s not how you do a self-tape but that’s how I did it,” she says. The next day, she received a call telling her that Marvel wanted to fly her to Los Angeles to meet. After another audition, Vellani was asked to hop on a Zoom call on her last day of high school with Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige, where she was offered the role of Kamala Khan in “Ms. Marvel.” Vellani, who hadn’t told anyone at her school that she auditioned, took the call from her friend’s driveway. After she told her friends what happened, they celebrated by getting burritos.
their fans.
be a nerd
and represent
other nerds."
Dress: English Factory. Coat: Beacon’s Closet. Earrings, socks, clear ring: Rainbow Unicorn Birthday Surprise. Shoes: Dr. Scholl's. Sunglasses: SOJOS. Bracelets, all other rings: Talent’s own.
Vellani still remembers the first time she put on a super suit. It was her first day on set and she wore a Captain Marvel costume as she filmed a scene where Kamala flew onto a tree, did a backflip and landed. She came home with bruises all over her body. “We did so many takes that I went home completely sore, but I was grinning to the point where my cheeks hurt,” she says. “My mom was like, ‘They’re breaking you!’ And I was like, ‘But I’m a superhero.’” But while she felt like a superhero on set, off set was a different story. After she was cast in “Ms. Marvel,” Vellani found herself with impostor syndrome. She was just a kid from Canada. How could she compare to the Marvel actors she’d looked up to her whole life? “Right next to my mirror is this ‘Avengers’ poster. They all look so beautiful, strong and tough, and I didn’t feel like any of those things,” she says. “It was hard for me to put myself in that position and be like, ‘OK. I am a superhero. I have a super suit. I belong.’”
One moment of belonging came a couple months ago when she screened the first episodes of “Ms. Marvel” in her hometown of Toronto and ran into another South Asian girl from her high school who was a freshman when she was a senior. They didn’t know each other well, but there was a sense of understanding between them. “She was in tears. She hugged me and just thanked me for the representation,” Vellani says. Vellani had a similar experience filming “Ms. Marvel,” which saw episodes set in Pakistan and Kamala’s parents speak to her in Urdu, the same language Vellani’s mother and father use with her. “I didn’t think being brown was cool because I was so enamored with Hollywood, and those two things never went hand in hand,” she says. “This show makes being brown cool again.” However, not everyone felt the same. While “Ms. Marvel” was met with positive reviews from critics and fans (it has a 98 percent score on Rotten Tomatoes), there was still a group of viewers who review-bombed the show online, making it the second lowest-rated Marvel show on IMDb—a move many fans blame on racism and sexism. Vellani wasn’t surprised by the response—a similar reaction happened when the “Ms. Marvel” comics debuted—so she couldn’t care less about the haters. “We’re not taking anything away from Captain America and Spider-Man by letting this character exist,” she says. “There’s two billion Muslims and South Asians in the world. There’s space for her.”
While she pays the haters no mind, Vellani is open to valid feedback. One concern she’s been fielding is the change in Kamala’s powers from the “Ms. Marvel” comics, which sees her have the ability to stretch, grow and shapeshift. For many fans, the powers are key to the themes of the comics, given an early scene where Kamala transforms into the white, blonde Captain Marvel believing that’s what superheroes are supposed to look like. As a comic book fan, Vellani was also confused when she learned that Ms. Marvel’s powers had been changed from shapeshifting to energy projection from a bangle passed down by Kamala’s grandmother. But after a conversation with the show’s creators, Vellani came to the conclusion that Kamala’s story, not her powers, were what made her a superhero. “We’re invested in these characters because of their motivations and because of who they are and their humanity,” she says. “We don’t relate to shooting webs or giant fists.” She also hints that the change was a part of the MCU’s greater plan for Kamala. “The same people who made ‘Avengers: Endgame’ also had a hand in our show,” she says. “You have to trust that Marvel knows what they’re doing.”
Part of the MCU’s plan for Kamala is a role in 2023’s anticipated “Captain Marvel” sequel, “The Marvels,” which will see Ms. Marvel team up with Brie Larson’s Carol Danvers and Teyonah Parris’ Monica Rambeau. Vellani met Larson over FaceTime a few days after she was cast in “Ms. Marvel,” but it wasn’t until they arrived on the set of “The Marvels” that they saw each other in person for the first time. “Because of Marvel security, we can’t just be walking around in our super suits. We have to be fully covered up in face shields and these Sith Lord-looking capes,” Vellani recalls. “I just saw this shadow floating up to me, and it was Brie. She pulled me into a long hug. It felt nice, like I could finally breathe.” As the only actor in a super suit in “Ms. Marvel,” Vellani learned a lot from watching Larson and Parris, especially when it came to adjusting to the life of being a Marvel star. “I didn’t know how to take care of myself on the show. I didn’t know what I needed to do a 10 to 14-hour workday,” she says. “These are really demanding hours. Your sleep schedule is constantly messed up and you forget to eat. Asking how Brie and Teyonah recuperated and took care of themselves at work and at home, I learned a lot.”
“I didn’t think being brown was cool because I was so enamored with Hollywood, and those two things never went hand in hand.”
- Iman Vellani
Aside from “The Marvels,” nothing has been confirmed for Kamala’s next steps in the MCU. Vellani hopes for a second season of “Ms. Marvel.” “It would be fun to see Kamala post-’The Marvels’ after she’s fought with her idol,” she says. “It’s similar to what Spider-Man went through after fighting with the Avengers in ‘Civil War’ and going back to the friendly neighborhood thing.” And then there are the theories, including a popular fan thought that the MCU is setting up a “Young Avengers”-type project featuring characters like Kate Bishop, America Chavez, Ironheart and Ms. Marvel. Vellani has heard the theories, but doesn’t know if any of them are true. “I feel like Marvel could do something like that, right?” she says. “There should be something. There’s one man you’ll have to convince.”
It’s a week after the premiere of “Ms. Marvel” in June, and Iman Vellani is on a Zoom call from her hotel in Los Angeles. She’s been on the road for who knows how long. Later that night, she’s flying home to Toronto for a few days before she’s off again to London for more press. Her time in Toronto will be the first time she’s back home since the premiere of “Ms. Marvel.” “I come from a very small town. Everyone knows you, and it’s kind of awkward walking down the street,” she says. She wants to return to her high school comic book store—she needs to pick up a lot of comics she fell behind on while busy with “Ms. Marvel”—but doesn’t know what to expect. “Everytime I walk in, they’re like, ‘Ms. Marvel in the house!’” she says. “It’s cute. But sometimes I just want to not be seen.”
Hmmmmm. No, yeah. It’s Robert Downey Jr.
SO CANDID
with
MY FIRST CELEBRITY CRUSH:
A Billy Joel song. Maybe ‘Vienna’ or ‘Leave a Tender Moment Alone.’ Both great songs.
Be kinder to yourself. Also you don’t have to have things figured out at sixteen. That’s not normal.
THE ADVICE I'D GIVE TO MY YOUNGER SELF:
IF I COULD LISTEN TO ONE SONG FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE, IT WOULD BE:
“Into the garbage chute, Flyboy!” When Princess Leia tells Han Solo to go down the chute.
Nutritional yeast. It’s good. It’s high in protein. It tastes like cheese. You can put it in anything.
THE MOVIE OR TV SHOW QUOTE I SAY ALL THE TIME:
THE FOOD I LOVE THAT EVERYONE ELSE THINKS IS GROSS:
I’m a Leo. My moon and my rising are both Libras. I think that grounds me otherwise I would be going crazy
MY ZODIAC SIGN:
Just a thumbs up. I like giving people acknowledgements.
MY MOST USED EMOJI:
No one. I don’t think there’s anyone like me. I have gotten Hailee Steinfeld a lot recently. People have been comparing me to her, but I don’t think it’s a look thing. It’s a personality thing maybe. But I don’t see myself in any other celebrity.
A CELEBRITY I'M OFTEN MISTAKEN FOR:
In Vellani’s eyes, not much has changed. She still considers herself a member of the Marvel fandom. “Marvel is their fans. I couldn’t be more honored to be a nerd and represent other nerds,” she says. And she still has the same Reddit account she made when she was 13 to argue with “middle-aged dudes” in Marvel threads and hunt for spoilers. “I like trolling people now cause I know actual secrets,” she says. Though she’s stayed the same for the most part, there’s no denying Vellani’s life is different. For one, she can’t watch Marvel movies the same way again. “I can always tell when something is CG,” she says. And in the past two years, she’s met more Marvel stars than she can count: Tom Hiddleston (while she was in pajamas at the gym), Tom Holland (while she was in a puffy jacket and bra in the hair and makeup trailer), Chris Pratt (on a set visit to “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3”), Paul Rudd (while they were filming different Marvel movies in London). “I have a checklist of all the people I’ve met,” Vellani says. “I want to meet anyone and everyone. If they have a Marvel Studios logo somewhere, I want to meet them.” One person she hasn’t met yet is the man who played her all-time favorite character, Iron Man: Robert Downey Jr. “I don’t want to,” she whispers. “I’m terrified of what would happen if I were to meet him. I would explode.”
Vellani doesn’t know what’s next for her. She knows she doesn’t want to only be seen as Kamala Khan for the rest of her life. “People will come up to me and be like, ‘Kamala?!’ And I’d be like, ‘Iman?!’” she says. But even she recognizes the uncanny similarities between them. “I don’t even know where I draw the line between Iman Vellani and Kamala Khan,” she says. As for if she wants to continue acting, Vellani has a simple answer. “I’ve decided to not decide anything,” she says. “This job came out of nowhere. I could never have imagined anything like this, and it happened.” She continues, “I’m going with the flow and seeing where this takes me. Ask me again in six weeks.”
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