Ms. Marvel
(Kamala Khan) (Profile #2 - Year One)
Sequence
This profile directly follows the first Ms. Marvel (Kamala Khan) (Profile #1 – Absolute beginner) article. Which you thus should read first, right ?
It also includes S P O I L E R S about the second half of Ms. Marvel volume 1.
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Background
- Real Name: Kamala Khan.
- Known Relatives: Aamir (older brother), Yusuf (father), Muneeba (mother).
- Note: A couple named Bushra and Irfan are called “aunt” and “uncle”. But this is presumably a common Pakistani turn of phrase rather than a literal kinship.
- Group Affiliation: None.
- Base Of Operations: Grove Street, Jersey City, NJ.
- Height: 5’2” (1.57m). Weight: 115 lbs. (52 Kg.).
- Eyes: Brown. Hair: Black.
Powers & Abilities
Ms. Marvel has continued to refine her powers through experience.
She is faster than before, and is better at augmenting her body mass.
Other improvements include :
- The embiggened fists are now mighty enough to pummel through thick armour plating. When she makes her fists huge they sometimes glow. It thus would seem she draws both mass and energy from an extra-dimensionalComing from another reality source. If we assume that her powers like those of others size-changing Marvel Universe superhumans.
- The stretchy legs thing lets her run at roughly the speed of a common motorbike.
- Stretched legs also allow for lengthy “jumps”. By stretching her legs to carry her from point A to point B in one step.
- Her physical coordination in combat is better. It more than makes up for her lack of formal combat training.
- She has learned to do giant feet to spread her body mass over a large surface. This allows Ms. Marvel to run over water.
- At Agent Coulson’s suggestion, she has learned to :
- Flatten herself, to pass under doors and the like.
- Turn herself into a sort of giant tarp that can be used as a living, moving container.
Other assets
She also demonstrates some basic technical skills. She’s no gadgeteerTechnnologist who builds comic book devices like those Batman uses, but she actually paid attention to her physics lessons as well as home economics lessons about how common electronics work.
Her home-made (but pretty good) costume was replaced by one professionally-made in Attilan. It presumably uses a form of unstable molecules. It’s unobstrusive enough for her to wear under her normal clothing.
More importantly Ms. Marvel has hit her stride and behaves in a smart, assertive, cunning manner. She’s still young, but she’s clearly a super-heroine.
Soundtrack
Lessee, 2014-ish music from New Jersey…
Fetty Wap’s debut with Trap Queen comes to mind since it was a big hit. It’s a good chronological marker too.
(2020 edit – no, wait, Wap just went milkshake duck . Mmm, Lil’ Sci is from Jersey, isn’t he ? I like his flow, and he had fitting material out in 2014.)
History
After the defeat and accidental apparent death of the Inventor, Ms. Marvel agreed to associate more with the Inhumans. This way she could use their training facilities and improve as a super-heroine.
At this point New Attilan had been built near New York City. This made the commute easy even without Lockjaw.
However, in 2015, the New Inhuman named Lineage (Gordon Nobili) tricked Queen Medusa and her men into leaving New Attilan and walking into a deadly trap.
He took over for a time. Lineage also recruited malcontents – including Kamala’s cousin, Kamran, whom she had not seen in a dozen years.
Kamran Khan
Kamran was sent to seduce and recruit Kamala. But he narrowly failed.
Lineage then had his allies kidnap Ms. Marvel. But he underestimated her power and she escaped from New Attilan.
By this point, Lineage was starting his takeover of Earth by making Humans insane. He began by Jersey City, apparently as his revenge against Ms. Marvel.
Humans started killing each other in the streets.
Lockjaw brought in a small cadre of NuHumans loyal to Medusa to help Kamala contain the damage. Eventually Medusa, Karnak and the NuHuman Iso took down Lineage. They stopped the maddening effect in Jersey City.
Lockjaw then returned to Attilan. He was needed there, and it was becoming clear that Ms. Marvel could take care of herself.
Last days (part 1)
An Incursion began in 2015. This is a kind of cosmic crisis where two versions of Earth collide and are destroyed – long story.
The approaching planet could clearly be seen from Manhattan. Panicking crowds futilely fled to New Jersey, and Ms. Marvel helped organize, and prevent chaos and riots.
As the Avengers were working, Captain Marvel (Carol Danvers) came to Jersey City. She warned Ms. Marvel that no backup was coming.
Last days (part 2)
Over the moon as she finally met her idol, Khan convinced Danvers to stick around for a bit and help.
During that time the two Marvels saved Aamir. Kamran had exposed him to Terrigen Mist in an effort to create another New Inhuman.
Danvers eventually told Khan that the world was about to end.
Trusting her idol, Kamala tried to settle some personal accounts.
- She told her mum that she was Ms. Marvel, only to learn that she already knew.
- She mended fences with one of the popular girls who had made fun of her culture.
- She had a heart-to-heart with Bruno to discuss their feelings.
Reality then faded unto nothing.
Battleworld(s)
The Incursion destroyed both Earth-616 (main Marvel Earth) and Earth-1610 (Ultimate Earth).
But the machinations of Doctor Doom (Victor Von Doom) allowed for a patchwork mini-reality called Battleworld to survive. In this reality, Queen Medusa was one of the feudal lords under Doom.
Medusa’s fief was once breached by a squad of Ultron drones. This raid slew the family of Kamala Khan, a subject of Queen Medusa. Which drove her to join the military and eventually the personal guard of Queen Medusa.
This version of Ms. Marvel seemed better-trained. Her much better mastery of her powers made her a super-spy.
On hair majesty’s secret service
While spying on anti-Doom rebels, Khan was intercepted and captured. But she was soon freed, as Medusa’s troops captured most rebels.
However, Medusa then revolted against Doom. Rebellion leader Blackagar Boltagon had revealed to her that New Attilan was a mind control system to ensure obedience.
The vast majority of Inhumans, including Khan, joined their Queen in rebelling.
Sur les Terres truquées
Unbeknownst to them, similar events had occurred several times before as an experiment by Doom. Remarkably, in every single variant and iteration, Medusa and Black Bolt fell in love and revolted against Doom.
Using his cosmic powers over Battleworld, Doom “rebooted” this domain of his world once again.
In his new scenario Black Bolt was his local lord, and Medusa was the resistance leader. On which side Kamala stood this time is unrevealed.
In another iteration of this Battleworld domain, Ms. Marvel was an employee at the Circle Q built into a sort of motor death sports arena, Doom’s Killiseum. Her boss had her do product placement by offering food to the champion Robbie Reyes.
Reyes and Ms. Marvel ended up stopping an alien monster instead.
The future ?
Eventually, the heroes restored Universe-616. Earth-1610 still had been destroyed, albeit some refugees made it to Earth-616.
As of this writing, all specifics are unknown.
In a possible, close future of Earth-616 (a few months or weeks after the events on Battleworld), Ms. Marvel is/will be, along with Spider-Man (Miles Morales) and Nova (Sam Alexander) recruited as new blood for the Avengers.
Personality
By this point it’s clear that Kamala Khan was born to be a super-heroine. Almost literally so, given her Inhuman genes.
- She’s very strong on her responsibility to serve and protect people, and Jersey City in particular.
- She fights smartly and bravely.
- She takes charge.
- She convinces and organises people.
- She comes up with plans that more or less work.
- She takes plenty of initiatives.
Kamala is still obviously a high-school nerd. She makes incessant references to Star Wars, The Simpsons (nothing is ever enlarged, it’s always embiggened) or World of Warcraft.
But she now comes across more as a young adult than as a teenager – and a smart and collected one to boot.
Other traits
The big exception to this remarkable maturity is love and romance.
Kamala is kept aggressively sheltered away from boys by her family. Any possible romantic involvement must be filtered by her family. Her brother will be dispatched as a morality enforcer for anything that even vaguely resembles a date. Any interest in a man without Pakistani origins would also be nixed by her parents.
Thus it’s not really a part of her life, beyond exposure to love songs and movies. She has zero experience with it. She’s interested in romance, but she’s painfully aware of how awkward and controlled it all would be. To her, it’s not worth the hassle.
Eventually, when discussing with Bruno, she realised that being Ms. Marvel was everything that she wanted and that she wished to pour her whole heart in it. Being Ms. Marvel is so huge to her that it makes a relationship impossible for the time being, and eclipses many aspects of her life.
But how sustainable is that for her ?
Quotes
(Leaping atop a giant robot while preparing an enlarged haymaker) “Embiggened fists of rage !”
(Reeling from what the Inhumans told her) “I’m a Pak-American, part-alien morphogenic nerd. I’m alone in the universe.”
Kind Inhuman doctor: “Unique is not the same as alone.”
“This is personal. He attacked our schools. With our friends inside it. I like not being scared. I want to keep not being scared. So I have to finish this myself, my way.”
“You think that being tough is the same as being mean. But you’re not even a villain. You’re just a bad guy’s lackey in a pair of nice shoes.”
(Fangirl-throwing herself at an embarrassed Captain Marvel) “Everything sucks except for you !”
(Scolding inept looters) “You ! You have skills ! Go use them for good instead of stupid ! Everybody’s gathering at the school… go see if you can help the AV club get a better wi-fi signal.”
“I’m not short ! I’m *petite* !”
Nakia: “I had to find out from my sister who found out from her friend’s fiancé who found out from some uncle at the mosque that you were, like, almost dating that Kamran guy !”
Kamala (facepalming): “I’m so glad the Muslim gossip wire service is still fully functional.”
DC Heroes RPG
Tell me more about the game stats
Ms. Marvel
| Dex: 05 | Str: 02 | Bod: 05 |
| Int: 05 | Wil: 05 | Min: 05 |
| Inf: 05 | Aur: 05 | Spi: 05 |
| Init: 016 | HP: 030 |
Powers:
Chameleon: 03, Growth: 10, Jumping: 04, Regeneration: 04, Running: 06, Self-Manipulation: 07, Shrinking: 12, Stretching: 01, Swimming: 04
Bonuses and Limitations:
- Both Growth and Shrinking can apply to selected body parts, such as her hands.
- This has most of the effects of full Growth use but one AP lower. Or two APs lower if she only enlarges one hand.
- Growth has no land speed component. Use Running instead, and Running is Contingent Upon Growth.
- Chameleon can mimic inanimate objects (such as a mannequin or even a sofa).
- Chameleon has a one CS penalty to OV/RV when attempting to do the likeness of a specific person or item.
- Jumping is Contingent Upon Stretching since it’s done via stretchy legs.
- Regeneration increases her nutritional needs by as many APs when active. For instance 2 APs quadruple her necessary intake.
- Regeneration decreases her APs of Chameleon and Shrinking by one AP for every active AP of Regeneration.
- Her Growth APs are decreased by one AP for every 2 active APs of Regeneration.
- Self-Manipulation only to flatten herself. She can then manipulate herself into simple shapes (usually a container or a sort of tarp) with a volume of 7 APs but no other Power or Attribute (she retains her BODY).
- Swimming only on the surface, and is Contingent Upon Growth.
Skills:
Artist (Writer): 02, Artist (Video games): 03, Gadgetry (Identity Gadget): 02, Scientist (Research): 02
Powered skills:
Acrobatics: 05, Martial Artist (AV, Techniques): 06
Bonuses and Limitations:
All Powered Skills are Contingent Upon her Powers.
Advantages:
- Buddy (Bruno).
- Conditional Soaking (Unarmed attacks).
- Familiarity (General Muslim traditions, Video games of the 2010s (particularly computer RPGs and primarily World of Warcraft), Internet memes and social networks, High School-level physics, Major Bollywood movies).
- Expertise (Super-heroes and super-villains).
- Insta-Change.
- Language (Urdu).
- Lightning Reflexes.
- Schtick (Wounds rejection).
- Misc.: Wound suspension.
Bonuses and Limitations:
Conditional Soaking, Insta-Change, Schtick (Wounds rejection) and Misc.: Wound suspension all become inactive if she’s depowered.
Connections:
Queen Medusa of the Inhumans (Low), Lockjaw (Low), Agents Phil Coulson and Jemma Simmons of S.H.I.E.L.D. (Low), Princess Sparklefists Forum (Captain Marvel online fan community, Low).
Drawbacks:
- Age (Young).
- MPR (farsighted – wears glasses to read).
- Power Loss (DEX and BODY would drop to 02 if her Powers were offline).
- Secret Identity.
- Misc.: various religious restrictions such not consuming pork or alcohol, doing the Ramadan, etc..
- Misc.: social OV/RV raised by one CS for rolls where Kamala tries to lie, due to lack of practice.
- Misc.: if Kamala doesn’t have a sufficiently stretchy costume, she takes a -1 on all her rolls due to her concentration (either to make her clothing expand and compress along her body, or to morph part of her body into a costume).
Motivation:
Responsibility of Upholding the Good.
Occupation:
High school student.
Wealth:
001
Equipment:
She keeps her smartphone in her bracer thingie.
Wound suspension
If she is wounded, Kamala can suspend all pain, blood loss, etc. by sticking to her baseline form and not using her powers.
Wounds do not transfer to her normal form, and heal “in the background” while Khan is in her normal form. She can use her Regeneration as Kamala to heal her Ms. Marvel wounds (Regeneration is assumed to include Stabilization).
However, her wounds return in their current state of healing as soon as she uses any of her Powers beside Regeneration.
As noted in the P&A section, using her healing factor leaves her depleted. In game terms, this corresponds pretty well to Ms. Marvel using her Hero Points for Last Ditch Defense.
Levelling up
Early during this era, many of Ms. Marvel’s Mental and Mystical Attributes were lower by one AP.
She also had 25 Hero Points.
DC Adventures RPG
Tell me more about the game stats
Ms. Marvel (year one) — Averaged PL 8.2
| STR | STA | AGL | DEX |
|---|---|---|---|
| 00 | 01 (03) | 01 (03) | 01 |
| FGT | INT | AWE | PRE |
| 03 (06) | 02 | 01 | 02 |
Powers:
Body alteration ● 30 points ● Descriptor: Terrigenesis
– Morphing into action — Enhanced Stamina 2, Enhanced Agility 2, Enhanced Fighting 3.
– Morphing into action — Enhanced Doge 2, Enhanced Fortitude 2.
– Morphing into action — Protection 2 (Limited 2 to Unarmed Descriptors).
– Embiggened fists of rage — Enhanced Advantages (Defensive Roll 2, Defensive attack, Improved grab, Improved hold, Improved initiative, Improved trip).
– Embiggened fists of fury — Enhanced Skills (Close Combat (Unarmed) 2, Athletics 5).
Body alteration ● 48 points ● Descriptor: Terrigenesis
– Morph 4 (Limited 1 – Needs a Deception Skill Check to make a specific likeness).
– Growth 10.
– Shrink 14.
– Elongation 1.
– Leaping 4.
– Swimming 4.
– Regeneration 1 (Quirk 1 – multiplies her food intake).
Combat Advantages:
None at this point.
Other Advantages:
Equipment 1 (cell phone, costume), Language 1 (Urdu).
Skills:
Athletics 5 (+5), Close Combat (Unarmed) 2 (+9), Expertise (High scool education) 3 (+5), Expertise (Super-heroes) 6 (+8), Expertise (Geek lore) 4 (+6), Expertise (Writer) 2 (+4), Expertise (Basic physics and technology) 3 (+5), Insight 4 (+5), Perception 4 (+5), Persuasion 2 (+4)
Offence:
| Initiative +7 |
| Unarmed +7, Close, Damage 0 |
| Embiggened fists +9, Close (but will use her Elongation Rank), Damage 10 w/max Growth |
Defence:
| Dodge | 08 |
| Fortitude | 08 |
| Parry | 08 |
| Toughness | 03*/05 |
| Will | 07 |
* Without Defensive Roll.
Complications:
- Didn’t take levels in privilege Kamala is a minor, a girl, Pakistani-American, Muslim, from New Jersey, working class, without an income, etc..
- Need heal plz When Regeneration is active, Ms. Marvel loses 3 Ranks of Growth and 5 Ranks of Shrinking until she stops using Regeneration.
- Terrible liar Kamala takes a -3 penalty to any Deception roll where she attempts to lie.
- Uma Ms. Khan follows most Muslim obligations (dietary restrictions, Ramadan, etc.).
Powers Levels:
- Trade-off areas. Attack/Effect PL 10, Dodge/Toughness PL 7, Parry/Toughness PL 7, Fort/Will PL 8.
- Points total 131. Abilities 22, Defences 14, Skills 15, Powers 78, Devices 0, Advantages 2. Equiv. PL 9.
Notes
See the DCH design notes.
