There's A Theory About Why The Ms. Marvel Trailer Feels Off To Some Fans

Marvel’s latest project is taking some creative liberties with its source material, and some superfans think the decision may be hinting at a major arrival in the MCU. The theory all revolves around an unexpected component in the first-look trailer for Disney+’s Ms. Marvel, which showed off Kamala Khan’s purple energy manipulation powers. The problem is... that’s not actually Khan’s superpower in the Marvel comics. So, why did Ms. Marvel’s powers change for the new series? Fans think it all points to one long-awaited hero: Mr. Fantastic.

In the Marvel comics, Kamala Khan adopts the mantle of Ms. Marvel after she discovers she has powerful shapeshifting abilities. Her powers allow her to grow, shrink, and even alter her appearance, but she mostly uses her abilities to stretch her body into unreal positions. Since her elasticity is her most iconic power, fans were perplexed when the trailer for Ms. Marvel didn’t feature her stretchiness at all. Instead, the clip revealed the MCU version of Ms. Marvel will have entirely new powers, seemingly related to cosmic energy manipulation.

The trailer shows Khan firing energy blasts from her glowing purple hands and creating giant forcefields. The powers are much more similar to those of her idol, Captain Marvel, than the superpowers her comic-book counterpart possesses.

The change may seem to have come out of nowhere, but many fans quickly took it to mean Mr. Fantastic is about to make his MCU debut. Although Khan’s powers are actually pretty different from those of the Fantastic Four frontman Reed Richards, they look incredibly similar, as both heroes rely on stretching their bodies to fight evil. Shortly after Khan’s new powers debuted, fans took to Twitter to point out her powers may have been changed to avoid looking too similar to Mr. Fantastic’s powers... which of course leads to the theory that Marvel must be planning to introduce Mr. Fantastic very soon.

It’s not exactly new information that Mr. Fantastic is coming to the MCU, but the Ms. Marvel alteration could be a hint he’s coming sooner than expected. Marvel first announced plans for a Fantastic Four movie in 2021, but didn’t specify a release date. Given the scores of movies and TV shows on the studio’s slate, it didn’t seem like it would be coming too soon, especially since the announcement was simply a logo, without any cast in place.

Fan-casting the Fantastic Four has become a frequent pastime for Marvel fans ever since Disney acquired the rights to the superhero team in 2019, with John Krasinski being the far-and-away frontrunner to play Mr. Fantastic.

However, before anyone gets too carried away: While many fans took Ms. Marvel’s power change to mean Mr. Fantastic is about to make his MCU debut, others questioned the theory, pointing out Marvel has portrayed several characters with similar powers to one another before.

Whatever the reason for the power change, it definitely looks like this new iteration of Ms. Marvel will have an even stronger connection to Captain Marvel and cosmic energy, so fans can look forward to her majorly shaking things up in the MCU when Ms. Marvel premieres on Disney+ on June 8.