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New Miss Marvel is Muslim-American female superhero

By Aileen Graef

The new Miss Marvel is a 16-year-old Muslim-American girl named Kamala Khan making a much-needed change from comics where racial and religious diversity are not prevalent.

Kamala is a geek who lives in New Jersey with her Pakistani parents. She will be replacing Carol Danvers who was promoted to Captain Marvel and is already a huge success. Creator G. Willow Wilson, who also practices Islam, says she was completely surprised and overwhelmed by the response.

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"You know I have to say I'm really blown away," said Wilson. "When I got the call to be a part of this project, I thought it would be something fun, you know kind of a one-off that we could all be proud of but that probably, realistically speaking wouldn't sell very well. So to see it got to number one on digital downloads on the week it was released and the first issue has had a couple of reprinting is just incredible to me."

Wilson says her goal is to show that teenagers everywhere have many of the same issues and to help remove the stereotypical view of Muslim-Americans.

"I think this is a great opportunity to shed some light on family dynamics, to show the love that's there, to show what goes on in these situations. You know what are these family tensions like? And I think it will be familiar to a lot of people." Wilson told HuffPost Live.

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Issues of Ms. Marvel are available on the Marvel website for digital purchase.

[HuffPost Live]

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