Ms. Marvel episode 4 introduced Red Dagger and provided Kamala with her first real fight sequence as the two mistook each other as antagonists. While it was good to see more of Kamala’s comic-accurate abilities, such as punching with her enlarged fists and stretching her arms, the sequence lacked the energy necessary to make the fight choreography believable. This comes as a product of Kamala Khan’s new powers and their reliance on CGI, meaning that she needs to be stood still for extended periods while the hard light effects are added in post-production. This doesn’t appear to have the same effect when Kamala is protecting herself – the hard light standing in as a shield in these instances – but only in more complex situations, such as when Kamala’s body is required to grow to deliver an attack.

While these issues could be tweaked with a larger budget – providing the filmmakers with the chance to more regularly create a fully-CG model of Kamala – the problem of her embiggening powers in action sequences could hint at a future problem for the MCU’s Fantastic Four. With similar powers to Reed Richards, Ms. Marvel’s difficulty to create dynamic action sequences implies that the studio may come across similar problems with Mr. Fantastic in combat. The Disney+ series has so far managed to navigate this issue by focusing more on the coming-of-age narrative, with Kamala’s powers as a side issue; Fantastic Four, by comparison, is unlikely to be able to overcome the problem in the same way.

For Ms. Marvel, it appears that the series’ biggest issue is not in how it changed Kamala’s powers, but how it presents these powers in moments of heroism. Episode 4 provided a brief look at what Kamala might look like in action, but perhaps the larger budget of  power change needs to be addressed if Kamala is ever going to fight alongside the Avengers.