Major spoilers follow for Ms Marvel episode 6. You've been warned.
Ms Marvel's season finale has landed on Disney Plus – and there's a fair deal to digest after the Marvel TV series' sixth episode.
Unsurprisingly, the newest addition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) superhero roster – well, if you discount Jane Foster's Mighty Thor in Thor: Love and Thunder – stepped up to the plate and saved the day. She is a superhero, after all, so it was bound to happen.
While Kamala and her family/friends/New Jersey community can bask in the glow of a world-saving job well done, though, not everything is rosy in MCU land. That's because the ending of Ms Marvel episode 6 teases the arrival of one of two new superpowered groups – and one has ties to Kamala's comic book origins. Meanwhile, its post-credits scene also set up The Marvels, aka the sequel to 2019's Captain Marvel and one of the Marvel movies set to arrive in 2023.
Below, we'll explain how Ms Marvel's ending sets up the arrival of a new superhero team. We also speculate on what the Disney Plus show's post-credits scene means for The Marvels' plot.
Full spoilers follow for Ms Marvel episode 6. If you haven't seen the season finale yet, turn back now or you'll ruin it for yourself.
Ms Marvel ending explained: Is Ms Marvel a mutant?
In short: yes, Kamala Khan is a mutant. The only problem, though, is that we don't know which mutant superhero group she belongs to in the MCU. Confused? Let us explain.
One week after episode 6's major events play out, Kamala reunites with Nakia and Bruno for one final hang out session before Bruno departs for his summer Caltech internship. Kamala meets the other two in an undisclosed part of New Jersey, with Nakia and Bruno rolling up in Kamran's souped up car. Hey, he doesn't need it anymore, so why not borrow it?
Anyway, before the trio head off to enjoy some Shawarma – nice little call back to 2012's Avengers, Marvel – Bruno pulls Kamala to one side to deliver some surprising news.
After Kamala's brother Aamir asked Bruno to check if he (or any other Khan family members) have superpowers, too, Bruno performed more genetic tests on Kamala's blood sample. Long story short: Kamala's genes contain a mutation, meaning she's not fully human. Unaware of the significance of what Bruno tells her, Kamala brushes the revelation as "just another label" before the trio drive off into the night.
Curiously, it wasn't always the plan to include the word "mutation" in Ms Marvel. However, as revealed in a Marvel.com explainer, head writer Bisha K. Ali wrote this explanation in to confirm why the rest of Khan family wouldn't be able to wield the bangle's powers if they wore it. Needless to say, the cast and crew are extremely excited to see how this "mutation" impacts the MCU moving forward.
It's understandable why Marvel doesn't reveal what kind of genetic mutation Kamala has. That's a subplot that may play out in The Marvels or, whisper it quietly, maybe a second season of Ms Marvel. However, there are four possible explanations as to what this mutation could be – and two of them relate to superhero groups we haven't seen in the MCU yet.
The first possibility is that this genetic mutation simply has its roots on the Khan family's history. We know that Kamala's great-grandmother – Aisha – is originally from the Noor dimension, belonging to the group of Djinn known as the Clan Destines. Given that Kamala can wield energy from the Noor dimension using Aisha's bangle, it's plausible that her genetic mutation is just based on one of her ancestors hailing from an alternate reality.
However, there are three other possible explanations. Firstly, Kamala could technically be the MCU's first member of the X-Men, which would be a huge turn up for the books. You know, if you discount Earth 838's Professor X in Doctor Strange 2.
Kamala isn't a member of this mutant superhero group in any Marvel comic series. But there are two reasons why she could theoretically be the first instance of a mutant/X-Men appearing in the MCU. The first is obvious – she has a genetic mutation so, like every other X-Men in existence, she's technically a mutant.
The second reason, though, is much more intriguing: eagle-eyed (or should that be eagle-eared?) fans will hear a very familiar theme tune play as Bruno says the word "mutation". That brief piece of music is none other than the theme used in beloved Marvel cartoon X-Men: The Animated Series. Coincidentally, Marvel Studios is currently developing a sequel series to that hit 1990s cartoon – X-Men '97 – as part of its Phase 4 slate, which lends further weight to the X-Men's eventual MCU arrival.
So what are the two other options? For one, Marvel Studios may be laying the groundwork for the Inhumans' MCU arrival. In the comics, Kamala is an Inhuman – she gains her superpowers after she's exposed to Terrigen Mist, a substance released by Black Bolt (another superpowered being who made a cameo in Doctor Strange 2) to unlock the Inhuman gene in any human who possesses it.
According to MCU insiders, such as Greatphase and CineStealth, The Marvels may explore some Inhuman elements as part of its plot. We won't spoil those story beats here – you can read each leaker's tweet if you really want to know about spoilers concerning The Marvels. But, if Marvel Studios is preparing to add the Inhumans to its ever-growing MCU hero roster, given their comic book ties to Kamala's superhero origins, it would make sense to use Ms Marvel as a way to bring the Inhumans into the MCU fold.
The Marvels won't arrive in theaters until July 2023, so we've got 12 months to wait before we find out whether Kamala is an Inhuman, the MCU's first mutant/X-Men, or whether her mutation is simply Djinn, Clan Destine, or Noor-based.
Speaking of Marvel-ous superheroes, plus that fourth possible mutation theory, though...
Ms Marvel end credits scene explained: hey, Carol Danvers
The post-credits scene in Ms Marvel's final episode is a short but significant one, which ties the Disney Plus series to an upcoming MCU superhero flick.
Kamala – who seems to walk around wearing her superhero costume every day now, it seems – collapses on her bed after a long day of, well, studying and heroic antics. Her mom calls up to her, saying "that doesn't sound like science homework" and, as Kamala replies, her bangle starts to illuminate. However, the glow emanating is unlike anything Kamala has seen before, which makes her sit up and take notice of it.
As she stands up from her bed, she shakes her left arm, where the bangle is situated. Rookie mistake. Kamala teleports away to an unknown location, crashing through her closet as she does so.
That's not the biggest shock of the scene, though. Viewers expect Kamala to emerge from the wreckage of her closet but, in her place, Brie Larson's Carol Danvers – aka Captain Marvel – appears instead. Carol looks shocked as she stares at her purple glowing hands before she realizes she's in Kamala's bedroom. Although, she doesn't know this room belongs to Kamala – just that it's the bedroom of a serious superhero fan. And a Captain Marvel one at that.
"Oh no no no," Carol says to herself before she runs off camera, presumably to find someone to tell her where she is. Expect Carol to run into the Khan family early on in The Marvels, then!
What does this scene mean for The Marvels? For one, Kamala hasn't shapeshifted into Carol. There's been a lot of confusion and plenty of discussion about this online post-finale. But, as a Marvel.com article confirms, the duo simply swapped places.
The end credits scene also intrinsically links Carol Danvers and Kamala Khan together, which is sure to be a big deal for the latter, given that she worships the former. It seems that the duo will want to find a way to warp back to their original locations – Kamala to reunite with her family and Carol to get back to whatever superhero stuff she was up to pre-warp.
It's also possible that Kamala's powers could end up being of Kree descent, which is our fourth mutation theory (we told you we'd get to it). Remember, Carol obtained her powers from the Kree-developed lightspeed engine – not the Tesseract itself – in her first MCU movie, which made her a Kree-Human hybrid. If she's able to trade places with Kamala (based on the latter's bangle), it might mean that Kamala is also a Kree-Human hybrid. Okay, that would dispel theories about her being an Inhuman or X-Men in the MCU, but it would explain why she swapped places with Carol in Ms Marvel episode 6's post-credits scene.
Finally, Carol might have unearthed the second bangle that Aisha, Kamran's mom Najma, and the other Clan Destine members were searching for during a flashback sequence in episode 3. We don't see Carol wearing the bracelet but, given she just traded places with Kamala, it's plausible that she'll have acquired it without knowing its true capabilities. Carol was last seen in Shang-Chi's post-credits scene, where she went off in search of other magical items like the Ten Rings. Maybe she found the other bangle and activated it without knowing what would happen? We think that's a possibility.
Again, we have a long wait on our hands before we find out for sure. In the meantime, read up on our content for other upcoming MCU projects, including She-Hulk: Attorney at Law and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.
