Ms. Marvel (Kamala Khan) - Marvel Comics

Ms. Marvel aka Kamala Khan.Kamala caused a little bit of a stir because she is a teenage Muslim-American from Jersey City, New Jersey.

I know right?
A superhero from Jersey?

No...actually the interest was that Kamala was a Muslim-American.
Now this is not by any means Marvel's first Muslim superhero.
Dust showed up in 2002, the mutant M way before that in 1994 and The Arabian Knight way, way back in 1981.
So Marvel has had Muslim heroes.
But this is the first Muslim character in Marvel to have her own comic book.

The character is not bad and if you removed the religious ties, you have a hero worthy of the 1960s Marvel style.
Teenager, doesn’t fit in, is different because of something, is VERY different because they have superpowers.
It's the classic Spider-Man template.

And to make sure the stories are authentic, she was created by Muslim-Americans Sana Amanat and G. Willow Wilson.

Pushing religion aside, we come to the meat and potatoes of every superhero.
Powers.
Well...before that, let me state that she does have a pretty well done costume...and that is very important.
Anyway, Kamala has an Inhuman heritage (see Medusa) and because of that has shape-shifting abilities.
Which is kind of a letdown for me because I have never really been a big fan of that power.
And yes I know that Mister Fantastic is a great hero, but who yells, "I wanna be Reed!" when kids play superheroes?
Kamala is kind of a cross between Reed and Mystique.

By the way, she came by her name honestly, having been a huge fan of Carol Danvers, the original Ms. Marvel.

Ms. Marvel - Marvel Comics

Marvel character Carol Danvers has been through a lot. She was created by Roy Thomas and Gene Colan and first appeared in Marvel Super-Heroes #13 in 1968. At that time she was a supporting character in the Captain Marvel (later Mar-Vell) saga. Carol was injured when a Kree device blew up and was in a coma. And since this is comic books, explosion + alien radiation + coma = (you guessed it) superpowers!

Yes Carol emerged from that coma like a butterfly from a cocoon. The explosion had her into a human-Kree hybrid, with that hybrid being Mar-Vell. So this was a seriously butt-kicking butterfly. She called herself Ms. Marvel (it was the 70s) and she did some serious superheroing.

But like most superheroines, the writers just seemed to like to mess with her. I really think a LOT of them are grown men with the mental capacity of adolescents. Or worse.... In Avengers #200, Ms. Marvel was kidnapped, brainwashed and raped. Yep. What did the Avengers do? Not a damn thing. The story line got so much attention that comic book critics all over went after the writing staff for it. Of course they kinda shrugged, wondering what all the fuss was about. It took over a year and comic book writer Chris Claremont to fix it. He retconned the whole incident in Avengers Annual #10 in 1981.

Chris also gave us the story where Rogue permanently absorbed all of Carol's abilities and memories. This is what originally powered Rogue in the comics. Flying, smashing Rogue is brought to you courtesy of Ms. Marvel.

As female characters are run through the wringer, Carol was Binary and then Warbird before finally winding back up with her powers and the name "Ms. Marvel".

Now the Ms. Marvel name is gone and she has a new costume, haircut and name....Captain Marvel.

As far as powers go...Carol is a pretty tough lady. She has superhuman strength (she can lift 70 tons), enhanced durability, she can fly at around 400 mph and she has a "Seventh Sense" kinda like Spider-Man's "Spidey Sense". She can also fire power blasts out of her hands. Her ability to absorb energy allows her to boost all all of these powers...with possibly no upper limit... Oh yeah and due to her military and SHIELD training and hanging out with the Avengers, X-men etc, Carol is a pilot, marksman and very good hand to hand fighter.