Ms. Marvel episode 1 begins with a neon animated montage set to The Weeknd’s “Blinding Lights”. Kamala Khan (Iman Vellani) narrates the story of how Captain Marvel played a pivotal role in Avengers: Endgame. She is a huge fan of her despite the hero being away from Earth at the moment.
Kamala narrates this video for her YouTube channel and mentions how she’s looking forward to an Avengers convention — Avengers Con. As she finishes uploading her latest video, her mother calls her downstairs. She gets ready while saying good morning to her mother Muneeba (Zenobia Shroff), father Yusuf (Mohan Kapoor), and older brother Aamir (Saagar Shaikh).
Ms. Marvel episode 1 continues on with Kamala leaving the house for her driver’s test, cutting to her sitting in the car with her instructor about to start. At the behest of her family, she gives quiet praise of Bismillah AFTER starting the car, a cultural aspect the driving instructor confuses for a sneeze. She fails the test immediately by backing up into the car behind her, which happens to be the instructor’s car.
After the Ms. Marvel episode 1 opening credits, Kamala’s parents confront the instructor and argue with him. As her parents drive her back home and speak about how they want the best for their daughter, Kamala daydreams of Captain Marvel. The episode then cuts to Kamala at high school.
As Kamala navigates the hall, she struggles to get along with the other students who intimidate her. She is then greeted by her best friend Bruno Carrelli (Matt Lintz). The two get excited about the costumes they’re making for the upcoming Avengers convention.
After also meeting up with her best friend Nakia Bahadir (Yasmin Fletcher) in the hall, Kamala has a brief encounter with Zoe Zimmer (Laurel Marsden), the most popular girl in school. Nakia warns Kamala not to get too involved with her for being a big influence on social media. The PA system turns on and then instructs Kamala to come to the office of Mr. Wilson.
In Mr. Wilson’s office, the cat-obsessed counselor tries to empathize with Kamala’s troubles in class recently. He also brings up her daydreaming, which she does during the meeting. He stresses how she needs to think about her future but she ultimately zones out of the conversation.
Mr. Wilson tasks Kamala with self-reflection, despite quoting Mulan to get his point across. After school, Kamala meets up at the convenience store with Bruno to get slushies and discuss her Captain Marvel costume that he is assembling. They briefly bring up how controlling Kamala’s mother can be.
While riding bikes, Kamala and Bruno discuss the costume further. They try to find the different merging of superhero concepts, trying to make Marvel seem more like either another superhero or a zombie. All of these concepts are envisioned animated through the surrounding graffiti of the city.
Back at home, Kamala is instructed by her mother to help clean up some old family junk in boxes. She discovers an old bracelet and asks about it. Her mother only refers to it as junk and stashes it in the attic as she brings Kamala to a dress fitting for an upcoming wedding.
Ms. Marvel episode 1 continues with Muneeba taking Kamala to the Middle Eastern part of town where they do some shopping before heading to a dress fitting. At the dress shop, Kamala overhears her mother talking with her friend about a wedding that was called off because the bride wanted to explore the world. Kamala chimes in that the desire to explore is a good thing but only makes the room awkward.
Back at Kamala’s house, Bruno is helping Yusuf automate much of his home. The voice activation of lights and television, which recognizes both English and Urdu, impresses Yusuf greatly. Muneeba and Kamala arrive with Muneeba stressing she’ll send Bruno home with food. As Bruno departs, he quietly urges Kamala to talk to her parents about the Avengers convention.
Kamala approaches both her mother and father, telling them about the convention and how she wants to go since Bruno is going. Muneeba thinks this is a joke, not believing her daughter would attend such an event at night. Muneeba stresses how much she doesn’t trust her daughter to go to a convention with Bruno while Yusuf is a bit more lenient.
Kamala then brings up how she’s going to dress up as Captain Marvel and Muneeba is further dismayed. Aamir then enters and Kamala stresses how her parents would listen to anything he suggested. Frustrated, Kamala storms up to her room.
Aamir enters her room and tries to comfort her for her bold move. He then says he’ll try to talk to them and work something out. He lightly jokes with her before leaving for the night.
While in bed, Kamala text messages Bruno the bad news. The next morning, Kamala tries on her Captain Marvel outfit and likes how it looks in the mirror. Her enjoyment of her outfit is cut short when her mother knocks on the door, forcing her to throw on a robe in haste.
Muneeba enters and says she’s decided to let Kamala go. Kamala is excited but Muneeba stresses there are some stipulations. The most concerning is that Muneeba has decided on Kamala’s outfit and that it will be a green dress to make her look like The Hulk.
Even worse, Muneeba says Yusuf will accompany her and he enters the room in his own Hulk outfit. The parents show a lot of energy to share her enthusiasm for the convention but Kamala is dismayed. Kamala tries to stress that it would be humiliating to be at this convention with her parents.
Realizing how hurtful that sounded, she tries to apologize. A bitter Muneeba says Kamala can’t go dressed in the costume she wants. As Muneeba leaves, Yusuf offers no help, reiterating that she can’t go.
Kamala sneaks out of her house to hang out with Bruno on top of his family’s convenience store business. Kamala has a moment of self-reflection by stating maybe she is too obsessed with superheroes. She states that perhaps it’s childish to adore heroes and then brings up how it’s not the brown girls from Jersey City who save the world.
Bruno doesn’t share this point, stressing how brave Kamala truly is and that she could save the world. He then shifts the conversation to the costume. He reveals the lighting-up gloves he designed for the costume and Kamala is excited to try them out.
At school, Kamala gets hit in the face during dodgeball and tries to stop the bleeding from her nose. Back at home, Kamala merely goes straight to her room but notices problems with the automation device in the house. This gives Kamala a great idea.
The next day at school, Kamala discusses a plan with Bruno to sneak out for the Avengers convention without her parents knowing. She runs him through her own imagination of how the plan will perfectly go down. Her plan will have her keeping an eye on the house with a surveillance system and making a daring dash across the city.
Bruno, however, stresses that the Captain Marvel costume isn’t quite finished. He brings up how it might be more unique if Kamala added something from her Pakistani culture. She decides to use the old bracelet from her family that her mother tossed aside.
The convention day arrives and Kamala and Bruno put their plan into motion. Unfortunately, it doesn’t quite go according to plan. Kamala falls out her window, nearly misses the buses, and loses her bike on the way to the convention.
Despite these issues in her journey, she and Bruno still manage to make it to the Avengers convention. They’re amazed to enter the convention center brimming with Avengers merch and costumed attendants. Kamala is particularly dazzled by witnessing a giant Captain Marvel display.
Kamala and Bruno check on the dining room feed from her house and the parents don’t suspect a thing. Kamala notices that Zoe is present at the convention and is wearing a much more elaborate Captain Marvel suit. Bruno tells her not to worry and suit up for the competition.
In the bathroom, Kamala changes and prepares to put on the old bracelet. While she rushes out of the bathroom, she forgets her gloves. With the competition requiring all contestants to hit the stage now, Kamala freaks out that she left the gloves in the bathroom.
Bruno tells her that it’s not a big deal and to just use the bracelet to give her costume character. Kamala finds her powers in Ms. Marvel episode 1. When she puts the bracelet on her wrist, a glow consumes her body. She finds her soul briefly transported to a different plain of reality before realizing she needs to enter the stage for the costume contest.
Kamala takes the stage but finds the constant photography lights overwhelming. She tries to shield her eyes by placing her hand outward. In doing so, she creates a wave of energy that makes a bigger hand, revealing the bracelet has given her superpowers.
Kamala finds herself unable to control her powers, however, as she starts shooting out energy from her hands without a way to manage it. Her attempt to control it leads to her damaging an Ant-Man display. The crowd, however, believes this is all a part of the show.
The head of an Ant-Man display topples over and starts breaking displays. The carnage leads to a display of Thor’s hammer coming loose and swinging across the crowd. Zoe is knocked back by the hammer.
Kamala uses her powers to save Zoe from hitting the floor too hard by extending an energy hand. With the chaos still unfolding, Kamala and Bruno flee the scene. They return to Kamala’s house on Bruno’s bike.
Bruno helps Kamala up to her window and finds herself using her powers to lift herself. As Bruno leaves, Kamala attempts to sneak in quietly in the dark. Muneeba, however, is waiting inside her room.
Muneeba, horrified to find her daughter in a Captain Marvel outfit, speaks about how she doesn’t recognize her daughter anymore. She speaks with anger and sadness about being betrayed. After Kamala apologizes, Muneeba again stresses that Kamala needs to focus more on her grades and her future than her imagination.
Muneeba leaves Kamala to think about her choices. A frustrated Kamala lies back on her bed and looks at the bracelet. She then observes the energy coursing through her fingers, smiles, and remarks “Cosmic.”
In a post-credit scene in Ms. Marvel episode 1, an office finds itself looking at viral footage of Ms. Marvel. Two people observing the footage of Avengers Con remark on how this is yet another superhero. One of them says casually they need to bring her in.
Episode 1 of the Ms. Marvel series is now streaming on Disney+.
