A meta-human named Ulysses uses mathematical probabilities to identify people who are about to commit a crime, and Ms. Marvel’s idol “Captain Marvel” assembles a team to intercept the people whom Ulysses identifies.
Ms. Marvel is given the task of being Captain Marvel’s liaison and supervisor for the team.
At first Ms. Marvel is relieved at at the idea of no longer having to worry if people she cares about are in danger, by stopping dangerous criminals before they can hurt anybody. And so excited is Ms. Marvel to be in a position of responsibility that was given to her by her idol, that she doesn’t listen when friends and family raise ethical concerns.
When Ulysses casts his predictions toward someone Ms. Marvel actually knows — a boy she goes to high school with, not a “dangerous criminal” — she begins to have her doubts.
Ms. Marvel learns that no matter how accurate are Ulysses’ mathematical probabilities, interpretation by humans is still prey to human fallacies and biases. This knowledge does not come without cost, however; it may forever jeopardize Ms. Marvel's relationships with people she cares about.
In ordinary life, Ms. Marvel is a teen named Kamala Khan, and one of the aspects of this character that appeal to me is that she is young and inexperienced; she doesn’t have all the answers, but tries to make her way as best she can.
Kamala obtained polymorphic powers when a “Terrigen mist” descended upon Jersey City — and the reason that Kamala was affected is because she has inhuman genes.
This volume offers glimpses at Ms. Marvel’s family background, as it relates to their inhuman origins. It begins with her great-grandmother and her family fleeing Mumbai in 1947.
India has won independence from Britain as a British colony, and in many major cities, sectarian violence has erupted between Hindus and Muslims.
As she leaves with her family to resettle in the newly-formed state of Pakistan, Kamala's great-grandmother reflects that she’s always felt that the child she carries “comes from somewhere else, somewhere safe, beyond the falling stars.” That child will be Kamala’s grandmother.
Later, we’re privy to a conversation between Kamala’s mother Muneeba and her own mother, Kamala’s grandmother, as Muneeba and her husband prepare to move with their family from Pakistan to the United States.
“Sometimes,” Muneeba says, “I look up at the stars and I feel like I’ve already traveled thousands and thousands of miles.”
Muneeba’s mother reassures her that there is nothing wrong with her, sharing, “I’ve always thought there is some ... secret we carry, a strength that is waiting to appear ... and one day, when it is most needed ... it will appear.”
Disclosure of material connection: My taxes support local libraries’ acquisition of this and other resources. I consider the access I enjoy to be a “priceless” return on my investment.
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