Ms Marvel fans call out character's death for exploiting sexist, racist tropes

Ms. Marvel fans have called out the character's death for exploiting sexist and racist tropes.

Before we proceed, we will of course briefly talk about spoilers featured in an upcoming issue of the comic book series, The Amazing Spider-Man.

As reported by CBR.com, Kamala Khan aka Ms. Marvel dies in The Amazing Spider-Man issue 26, which is set to release on 31 May 2023. Many fans have expressed their disdain for the death of Kamala Khan as “fridging”, a term used to describe the practice of a character existing to die in order to help advance the story of another character.

Of course, characters die all the time, especially in the comic book world. After all, Peter Parker has died on more than one occasion, the most famous of which featured in the 2011 issue Death of Spider-Man. So what’s the problem with the recent death of Kamala Khan?

Some believe that Khan only featuring in this particular comic book series for a short period of time, lends to the opinion that she simply existed in this story to add drama to Peter Parker’s tale aka fridging.

“A white male American comic book writer has killed off a Brown female Muslim character in a white character-centred comic book for... No real good reason outside of a Fridged trope,” said Tamala Khan. “He killed Ms Marvel Kamala Khan to motivate Peter Parker Spider-Man.”

A white male American comic book writer has killed off a Brown female Muslim character in a white character centered comic book for... No real good reason outside of a Fridged trope.

He killed Ms Marvel Kamala Khan to motivate Peter Parker Spider-Man. pic.twitter.com/TN3kXYKWkn

— Tamala Khan (@TamTV_) May 16, 2023

“Killing off Ms Marvel, a Muslim girl, is both sexist and racist. As well as the fact she’s dying in a title of a character she’s unrelated to and having played very little in this storyline” expressed a passionate Aidan BLM. “And using it to further a white man’s story is so fucking awful. Hope you get fired,”

Killing off Ms Marvel, a Muslim girl is both sexist and racist. As well as the fact she’s dying in a title of a character she’s unrelated to and having played a very little in this storyline. And using it to further a white man’s story is so fucking awful. Hope you get fired https://t.co/OOZRtv2BV4 pic.twitter.com/BMNCoJr9Cb

— Aidan BLM. (@jokergatack) May 16, 2023

It’s not been confirmed by Marvel Comics, but there is a rumour floating around that Ms. Marvel’s death will result in her being revived in a later issue or in a different series courtesy of X-Men Krakoa’s resurrection protocols.

Interestingly, in the MS. Marvel Disney+ series it was revealed that Kamala Khan is a mutant, and the upcoming movie, The Marvels is co-written by Zeb Wells, who just so happens to be the writer of her death in the comic.

So to lean into speculation, could Ms. Marvel’s comic book death be inspired by some part of her mutant heritage in the Disney+ series, thus linking into the X-Men movie that is rumoured to release in late 2026 during Phase 7 of the MCU? Only time will tell.