The Marvels star Iman Vellani shared who she would love to see as the villain for a Ms. Marvel Season 2 if it ever happened.
While a continuation of Kamala Khan’s Disney+ series remains unconfirmed, the MCU character seems to be a clear favorite across the board when it comes to the reception of The Marvels.
So far, the hero has gone up against the Clandestines, the Department of Damage Control, and Dar-Benn, making one wonder who will be next to go up against Kamala.
Iman Vellani Reveals Her Choice Ms. Marvel Season 2 Villain
In an exclusive interview with Iman Vellani, The Direct spoke with The Marvels actress behind Kamala Khan about which villain she hopes could appear in a hypothetical Ms. Marvel Season 2.
When asked, Vellani was quick to suggest “Doc.X,” someone she feels would “really resonate with the Gen Z audience:
“Definitely Doc.X. I think that’s a great villain from the comics and can really resonate with the Gen Z audience. It would be so interesting—I don’t know, messing with kids’ psyche almost when you have this villain who only exists on your phone, and on your laptops, and on all your screens that we can’t avoid. I think it’d be really interesting position to put them all in to fight against something that you can’t even see, right? Yeah. Yeah, that’s one of my favorite comic storylines. So I would love to see that play out.”
In the comics, Doc.X is an artificial intelligence and sentient computer virus, which comes into contact with Kamala through her online gaming, and eventually goes on to blackmail Ms. Marvel into doing what it wants.
The last time viewers saw Ms. Marvel, she was on a Disney+ streaming show. Now the hero is headlining a blockbuster film—that’s quite a shift. What was that change like for Vellani?
“It didn’t feel that crazy of a transition,” admitted Vellani, though she was quick to appreciate the more constant production schedule of The Marvels:
“Honestly, it didn’t feel that crazy of a transition. I went from ‘Ms. Marvel.’ And only a couple of weeks later, I went to London to film the movie, I think, because the movie was like, we weren’t on location all the time, or at all, really. So it was nice to actually have more of a schedule.”
Vellani compared it to the more hectic time on Ms. Marvel, where they’d be “waking up at 5 a.m. and then 5 p.m. another day for night shoots:”
“Whereas on ‘Ms. Marvel’, we were waking up at 5 a.m. one day and then 5 p.m. another day for night shoots. And then we were in Thailand to film like two episodes. It was like the most hectic schedule ever. So it was nice to kind of like have a routine and be in London and on the studio.”
Another big difference between the two was how The Marvels utilized the Volume tech, as seen in The Mandalorian, Thor: Love and Thunder, and Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania:
“And then I think the craziest part for the film was like the tech–We leveled up like crazy. I think we got to use the Volume, which was super cool. It really elevated the entire filmmaking experience for me. You know, it’s funny, like the most exciting scenes that you see in the movie are probably the most boring or like technical, embarrassing scenes that we’re filming in real life.”
She joked how doing some of those scenes “in front of a green screen” can feel “embarrassing” to film:
“You know, it’s like in front of a green screen and dead silence, then you’re like dangling from a harness with dots on your face in midair. And it’s just so embarrassing because you have to remind yourself, Oh, you’re saving the world–But don’t forget your blocking and don’t move too much because they’re gonna make the background move behind you. And, oh, what’s it like being on an alien planet? Like how much gravity?”
But with the Volume, Vellani explained that it adds “just a little bit of realism that you need to kind of fully immerse yourself into the fantasy:”
“So, there’s like, your mind is doing like multitasking cartwheeled. But with The Volume, it just adds that, slight like realism that–just a little bit of realism that you need to kind of fully immerse yourself into the fantasy of the world that they’ve created. So that was a very cool thing for me out of the film.”
There are many changes in Kamala Khan’s life in The Marvels, but one of those is how she gets a brand new superhero suit. But whatever happened to her original outfit, created by her mother?
Iman confirmed that “It’s safe,” and Kamala now “has two suits:”
“It’s safe. She changed at home. If you remember, she changed into that flannel look. After. So, why did she change? I don’t know. But she changed. So she can get a new suit. So now she has two suits. I think it’s good. We’re expanding the closet a little bit.”
Is Doc.X a Good Fit for Ms. Marvel Season 2?
It would be interesting to see how Marvel Studios could implement Doc.X, a tough computer virus and AI, in a unique way. While it does fit well for the Gen Z audience, as Iman Vellani points out, it would not be the first time an evil AI would show its face in the MCU.
Perhaps it could be some offshoot of Ultron. This would give fans some fun connective tissue and provide the AI with an established foundation to work with.
Another angle could be that it is an AI inspired by Ultron’s brief time in the world, and it’ll do anything it can to bring him back to reality.
Other potential picks for Season 2 villains could be the insane human/cockatiel hybrid that is The Inventor, Kaboom, Stormranger, and more. There is a Variant of Kang the Conqueror who has a history with Kamala Khan, so perhaps that storyline could be explored as well.
But first, for any of that to happen, a Season 2 has to be greenlit—the odds of which don’t look so great after the performance of The Marvels. But fans should keep their fingers crossed for more of Iman Vellani’s Ms. Marvel.
The Marvels is now playing in theaters worldwide and Ms. Marvel Season 1 is streaming on Disney+.
