Marvel Issues Statement Denying Kevin Feige's Involvement in the Death of Ms. Marvel

As quickly as Ms. Marvel died and was resurrected as a mutant, Marvel has denied a rumor that Kevin Feige was involved with the decision to kill Kamala Khan and synergize the character with the MCU. Feige, who has long served as president of Marvel Studios, was named Marvel's Chief Creative Officer in 2019, putting him in charge of the overall creative direction of Marvel across mediums including film, TV and animation, and publishing. But spokespeople for Marvel Comics and Marvel Studios have issued statements refuting claims that Feige requested the comics storyline, which saw Kamala heroically die in the pages of Amazing Spider-Man #26 last May.

The Marvel Universe mourned Kamala in the one-shot Fallen Friend: The Death of Ms. Marvel #1, which hit stands in July. Just two weeks later, in X-Men: Hellfire Gala 2023 #1, Charles Xavier and Krakoa's The Five resurrected Kamala using mutant technology, and the issue revealed she's both mutant and Inhuman. She then joined the X-Men and headlined her own comic, Ms. Marvel: The New Mutant, co-written by Iman Vellani, who played Kamala in Marvel Studios' Ms. Marvel and The Marvels.

Miles Morales: Spider-Man writer Cody Ziglar — who has featured new mutant Kamala in recent arcs— recounted on the Amazing Spider Talk podcast (via ComicsXF) how The Marvels co-writer and current Amazing Spider-Man scribe Zeb Wells was tasked with killing Kamala, purportedly at Feige's request.

"[Wells] had told me months before the plan, which was, Feige was like, 'Hey, I don't do this very often but, can you please do this to make things in line with Marvel because we have some stuff we want to do with Kamala,'" Ziglar said. "So [Wells] was like, 'F—, I'm the guy that drew the short straw? People are going to be very mad that I have to kill Ms. Marvel.'"

Gizmodo reports that a Marvel Comics spokesperson "flatly denied" the rumor and added that Kamala's death and resurrection as a mutant was an "explicitly editorial decision," one planned long before Amazing Spider-Man #26. (Following Ms. Marvel: The New Mutant, Kamala will headline upcoming X-Men spinoff comic NYX, part of July's X-book relaunch From the Ashes.) A separate statement from Marvel Studios also denied Feige's involvement in the decision.

Disney+ series Ms. Marvel ended with the revelation that MCU Kamala is a mutant, rather than a NuHuman like the comics. However, Sana Amanat — Kamala's co-creator and Ms. Marvel's executive producer — revealed in 2022 that original plans for comic Kamala envisioned her as a mutant in 2013. Because she was created at a time Marvel was downplaying the X-Men and other (at the time) Fox-controlled characters in favor of pushing the Inhumans, it would take another decade before Marvel Comics could overhaul Ms. Marvel as a mutant.