To Ms. Marvel actor Iman Vellani, joining the X-Men is a lot like joining the MCU

polygon.com:

Iman Vellani, star of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Ms. Marvel TV series and November’s The Marvels, knows a thing or two about being a teenage, Muslim, superhero-loving nerd who is suddenly rocketed into fame and public expectation alongside the folks she once admired from afar.

She also knows a thing or two about Ms. Marvel, the teenage, Muslim, superhero-loving nerd who just rocketed into fame and public expectation (when she realized she was a mutant) alongside the same folks (superheroes) she once admired from afar. Namely, the X-Men. This year’s Hellfire Gala event story revealed that while Kamala’s powers come from her Inhuman ancestry, she also has a dormant mutant X-gene.

So while Vellani has never written a comic before her new Marvel Comics miniseries, Ms. Marvel: The New Mutant, you can’t say that it doesn’t make a lot of sense. Today, Kamala Khan is embarking on a brand-new adventure as the newest member of the X-Men. Unfortunately, an alliance of mutant-hating humans and computer intelligences framed mutants for the massacre of dozens of human dignitaries and exiled almost all of Earth’s mutants to parts unknown.

You could say it’s not the best time to realize that you’re a mutant, but at least Kamala is in good hands. Ms. Marvel: The New Mutant is co-written by Vellani and Sabir Pirzada (co-writer of the Ms. Marvel TV series) and drawn by Carlos Gómez and Adam Gorham, with covers from Marvel legend Sara Pichelli.

Polygon sat down with Vellani over video chat this month to find out what it’s like to go from playing Ms. Marvel to writing Ms. Marvel — and from reading comics to making them.

“I thought I was working with the biggest nerds at Marvel Studios,” Vellani quipped, “but then I met the folks at