Ah, the ever-important origin story; the who, what, when, where, why, and how of some of fiction’s greatest superheroes. Whether it’s a fated spider bite or a tragic night in Gotham City’s Park Row, the origin story has become something of a folk tale.
And we were just treated to one of the best origin stories to ever come out of the MCU in Ms. Marvel, which detailed the rise of 16-year-old Kamala Khan as the latest superhero to join the ranks of Earth’s champions. Backed by her supportive family and friends and armed with an irrepressible drive for justice, Kamala’s origin story was a dazzling sight.
Behind these efforts were the likes of executive producers Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah, who also shared the director’s chair for the first and last episodes of the season. And once their work on Ms. Marvel concluded, the duo set their sights on another superhero origin story; the DCEU’s upcoming Batgirl film, which they served as directors for.
In an interview with ComicBook.com, El-Arbi noted how he and Fallah channeled their Ms. Marvel momentum into Batgirl, confident that they have the art of the origin story down pat after their successful MCU stint.
Well, because it’s also an origin story, it’s trying to get the audience to know that character. [Seeing] her evolve from start and see how the arc goes, from starting to learn to be a superhero to finally be a superhero. That’s sort of what we tried to do with Ms. Marvel. And that experience, we’ve used that in the back of our mind as we are making Batgirl right now.
With all the attention Ms. Marvel ended up gathering, one can only hope that the pair will find similar success with Batgirl, which is set to release to theaters and HBO Max sometime in 2023.