While it’s unlikely that Kamala destroyed Qarin’s universe, there is a chance she could be responsible for her alternate self’s demise.
Warning: The following contains spoilers for Ms. Marvel: Beyond the Limit #1, on sale now from Marvel Comics.
Since her debut in Captain Marvel #14 (by Kelly Sue DeConnick, Scott Hepburn, Gerardo Sandoval, Andy Troy, and VC’s Joe Caramagna), Kamala Khan has established herself as one of the most beloved heroes in the Marvel Universe. Not only is she a major step forward in representation through being the first Muslim character to headline a Marvel comic, but her ability to stretch and expand her body has allowed her to save the day in ways that are as effective as they are unconventional. Combined with an energetic and outgoing personality that easily endears her to others, the star of the upcoming Disney+ series, Ms. Marvel has a lot going for her.
However, despite her many triumphs, Kamala is still a relatively inexperienced hero, and there have been times when her eagerness and lack of foresight have gotten her into trouble. However, while many of these past slip-ups have resulted in minor inconveniences at best, the seemingly simple mistake that Kamla made in Mrs. Marvel: Beyond the Limit #1 (by Samira Ahmed, Andres Genolet, Triona Farrel, and VC’s Joe Caramagna) might have turned her into a multiversal murderer.
While in Chicago visiting her physicist cousin Razia, Kamala is forced to cut what was supposed to be a heroics-less vacation when a trench-coat-wearing burglar broke into Razia’s lab and attempted to steal the “Pholchinski Box” a device that allowed one to travel into alternate dimensions through wormholes. During the struggle, Kamala accidentally damaged the Box, causing her to see visions of the many different versions of herself that existed across the multiverse. Following this, Kamala began to experience several bizarre events, ranging in severity from feeling sudden pangs of hunger and fatigue to being shunted into a universe where everything follows the tropes of a big-budget Bollywood musical. Amidst all of this, Kamala’s powers began to falter while a mysterious doppelganger of her started causing trouble across New Jersey.
Eventually, Kamala managed to corner her doppelganger in Mrs. Marvel: Beyond the Limit #3 (by Ahmed, Genolet, Farrel, and Caramagna) and discovered that she was a young girl named Qarin, a shapeshifter who claimed she was from an alternate universe that was suddenly and violently destroyed by an unknown force. Although Kamala was initially sympathetic to Qarin and offered to train her to better control her powers, she began to get suspicious of Qarin after she started inserting herself into Kamala’s personal life by pretending to be her around her family and friends. These suspicions were proven true when she witnessed Qarin assaulting the trench-coated man while transformed into Kamala’s mother, with the apparent villain angrily accusing Kamala of killing her version of Mrs. Marvel and destroying her universe.
While it’s unlikely that Kamala destroyed Qarin’s universe, there is a chance she could be responsible for her alternate self’s demise. Keeping in line with the first law of the conversation of mass, Kamala doesn’t just spontaneously produce more flesh whenever she shifts the size and length of her body. Instead, as revealed in Mrs. Marvel #34 (by G. Willow Wilson, Nico Leon, Ian Herring, and VC’s Joe Caramagna), she essentially, “borrows” matter from her future self, performing a form of molecular time-travel whenever she uses her power. This aspect of her ability has always been limited to herself in the past, but her encounter with the Pholchinski Box might have changed that.
Because Kamala’s interaction with the Pholchinski Box appears to have created some kind of mental connection between her and her alternate selves, her powers may have somehow “synchronized” with those of her alternates as well. This could explain why Kamala’s been getting so tired and hungry at seemingly random moments, as her alternate selves could be using her matter to use their powers without even realizing it. If that’s the case, it’s just as likely that Kamala’s also borrowing matters from them, and the kind of disasters that can happen when she can’t use her powers at a crucial moment has already been shown. This means that there’s a distinct possibility that Kamala’s use of her powers might have negatively affected her counterpart within Qrin’s reality at an extremely inopportune moment, potentially costing her alternate self her life. Considering Kamala’s prominent position within the superhero community, this could have started a domino effect that could have led to the destruction of Qarin’s universe.
Regardless of whether or not Kamala was responsible for the destruction of Qarin’s universe, this doesn’t excuse her attempts to destroy Kamala’s life, and the two shapeshifters will likely come to blows. However, even if Kamala does manage to defeat her new enemy and ensure that she can’t cause any more harm in her universe, she may still have to live with the guilt of indirectly killing another.
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About The Author
Drew Kopp (130 Articles Published)
Drew Kopp is a Comics Features Writer for CBR who holds a Bachelor’s Degree of Fine Arts in Creative Writing. As a die-hard fan of comic books, fantasy/sci-fi literature, and video games, he loves nothing more than injecting his love of storytelling into his writing, and he also loves nothing more than writing about all things nerdy. When he isn’t busy obsessively theorizing over comic book plots or drooling over the next big indie game, he can be found writing about those topics.