GETTY IMAGES, MARVEL
Ms Marvel is
set to transform
the MCU
Here’s what
Kamala Khan could
bring to the Marvel
Cinematic UniverseTackling police brutality and racial tensions
head-on, Queen & Slim is set to be one of
2020’s most essential filmsTHE DEADLY SERIOUS
Queen & Slim was born at
a party, when Lena Waithe —
the multi-hyphenate star of
Ready Player One and writer/
cast member of Master Of None
— bumped into A Million Little
Pieces novelist James Frey. “I’ve
got this idea for a movie,” Frey
told her, “that I can’t write
because I’m a white guy.” He
outlined the scene. Waithe
listened, then nodded. “I can
write that movie,” she said.
“I know what that movie is.”
A few years later, that
casual chit-chat has turned
into one of the most urgent
and significant films in
development. Because Waithedid go away and write that
movie (Frey gets a “Story By”
credit): the tale of two
African-Americans on a Tinder
date who become nationally
famous when, at the end of the
night, the guy shoots a police
officer in self-defence. “I’m
grateful that he told that idea
to me,” Waithe says. “Because
in somebody else’s hands it
could have been trite or cheesy.
And I tried to always do the
opposite of that. Other people
can do bland, mediocre shit.
But me, I’m striving for
something special.”
While the title is a
deliberate play on Bonnie And
Clyde, fugitives Queen (JodieSHE’S FUNNY
Khan is hilariously
awkward — especially
around other heroes such
as her mentor, Carol
Danvers. Her goofy,
down-to-earth humour
has earned the attention
of Mindy Kaling, who
recently confirmed she’s
in talks with Marvel about
an adaptation — bringing
an entirely different comic
style to the universe.SHE’S GROUNDBREAKING
A Pakistani-American
teenager from Jersey
City, Kamala Khan became
the first Muslim character
to headline a Marvel
comic when she debuted
in 2014 — and was an
instant hit, the comic
soon outselling more
established heroes. She’d
be equally trailblazing on
screen in a universe still
mostly white and male.SHE’S POWERFUL
After her dormant
Inhuman heritage is
unleashed by Terrigen
Mists, Khan gains
multiple powers,
including morphogenetics
(she can turn into any
shape), elongation
(stretchy powers), and
accelerated healing factor
(basically indestructible).
Thanos would have met
his match.a second-class citizen in my
country,” she says. “I wanted to
explore what happens when
we stand up and revolt — in
defence, mind you. And how
a regular person can
become an icon.” If she
gets it right, Queen & Slim
could well be something
special. NICK DE SEMLYENQUEEN & SLIM IS IN CINEMAS
FROM 30 JANUARY 2020Taylor-Smith) and Slim (Daniel
Kaluuya) aren’t carnage-
causing bank robbers, but
innocents fleeing for their lives.
The movie, directed by
music-video supremo Melina
Matsoukas, is an unblinking
look at modern-day America,
with all its egregious injustices.
And it’s a tale that’s intensely
personal for Waithe. “As I wrote
it I was grappling with the
feeling of being treated likeAbove: Slim
(Daniel Kaluuya)
and Queen (Jodie
Turner-Smith)
on the run.
Below: Writer
Lena Waithe.The birth of a
thriller for the
Black Lives
Matter era