I will protect Kamala Khan’s father at all costs

In this week’s episode of Daredevil: Born Again, Matt Murdock finds himself in a hostage situation at a bank. Well, more accurately, he heads right back into a hostage situation after leaving the bank, because he overhears the robbers conspiring. It’s a pretty thrilling episode, made all the more wonderful by the fact that Matt’s partner in escalating the hostage situation is none other than Yusuf Khan, Ms. Marvel’s father.

[Ed. note: This post contains spoilers for the fifth episode of Daredevil: Born Again.]

Matt actually meets Mr. Khan before the hostage situation, because he’s come to the bank to ask for a loan. Mr. Khan adorably gushes about his daughter, Jersey City, and his custom Ms. Marvel Funko Pop, but unfortunately he can’t give Matt the business loan he needs for his firm. 

What he can do, however, is step up and assist Matt as he deals with the criminals. He’s a capable ally, and while ultimately everything ends up OK for him, there were some close calls. I was particularly stressed and if anything happened to Mr. Khan, I would’ve sobbed. I will protect him at all costs — which is a much-needed feeling for any MCU character.

Twenty years ago, the character in a hostage situation would probably be some superhero’s love interest, à la Green Goblin dangling Mary Jane off the Queensboro Bridge. We’ve more or less evolved past the damsel-in-distress trope in superhero movies, but at the same time, the bad guys do have to threaten someone. And it’s always more interesting if that someone has a personal connection to the hero or the audience. 

But at this point in the MCU not many heroes have families or even friends who are just plain ol’ civilians. And if they do, those characters aren’t really active parts of their story. Sure, it’s fun when the whole gang gets to kick ass together, but it’s hard to be worried when everyone can hold their own in a fight. As for Normal Civilian Characters who are just mentioned sometimes (hello, Hawkeye’s family), we don’t actually care if they’re threatened because we just do not really know who they are outside of their most basic one-word character description (anyone remember Clint’s son’s name?).

The big exception is Kamala Khan. She’s a teenager, which means she lives with her parents and has to navigate her superpowered life and her mundane one more directly than some of the other heroes. Her family, while being wonderfully entertaining characters in their own right, also remind us that she has a life outside being a hero, one that she wants to protect. She may not be keeping her superhero identity a secret from her family, but they’re also not suiting up and fighting alongside her. They are, however, pulled into her wacky adventures, be it getting swallowed by Flerken or watching Captain Marvel smash up their living room. 

Kamala’s superhero antics tend to be more lighthearted than the heavy crime-drama vibes in Daredevil, so holy hell it’s tense to see her goofy father in a dangerous scenario. That’s Mr. Khan! I know him! I know that he dressed up in a Hulk cosplay to make his daughter happy, and keeps a little Funko Pop of her on his desk! I know he loves his daughter, even when her superpowers keep pulling him into increasingly bizarre situations! I figured he’d come out unscathed, since this show isn’t even his own property, but I felt way more invested in his fate than I would’ve with random strangers simply because I actually know who he is outside of this specific scenario. The MCU needs more mundane characters we care about, so that when they’re in danger, we actually give a damn.