Riz Ahmed, Mindy Kaling want to co-write Ms. Marvel's script with Kumail Nanjiani
So Riz Ahmed has thrown his name into the ring to write Marvel Studio’s Ms. Marvel movie.
This comes after Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) boss Kevin Feige announced that there were big screen plans for Ms Marvel, a character whose real name is Kamala Khan, a teen Pakistani-American Muslim superhero.
Read more: Is a Ms Marvel movie in the works?
But Riz doesn't just want it all for himself; the actor, rapper and activist wants to co-write the script with Mindy Kaling and Kumail Nanjiani.
And Kaling is already onboard!
Given their respective backgrounds (Ahmed is British-Pakistani, Kaling has Indian heritage and Nanjiani is Pakistani-American), it's obvious Ahmed wants to have a diverse creative team who can do justice to Kamala's story. But we have to ask: are Kaling and Nanjiani really the right people to narrate this story? Just being brown shouldn't be an all-access pass.
Ahmed himself is no stranger to the comic book movie world; he’ll be playing the villainous Carlton Drake in the upcoming Venom flick.
Ms. Marvel was created by editors Sana Amanat and Stephen Wacker, writer G. Willow Wilson and artist Adrian Alphona. Khan is Marvel’s first Muslim character to headline her own comic book and made her first appearance in Captain Marvel #14 (August 2013) before going on to star in the solo series Ms. Marvel in February 2014.
Khan is a teenage Pakistani American from Jersey City, New Jersey with shapeshifting abilities and assumes the mantle of Ms. Marvel from her idol, Carol Danvers after Danvers becomes Captain Marvel.