Spoiler: Leaked death of beloved character in ‘Spider-Man’ comic draws outrage online
By Bryan Ke
May 18, 2023
The death of Kamala Khan, also known as Ms. Marvel, in an upcoming issue of “The Amazing Spider-Man” has drawn massive backlash on Twitter.
A leaked image of Khan’s death came in the form of a grainy last-page picture of “The Amazing Spider-Man No. 26” uploaded to the Spiderman subreddit on Tuesday, showing Peter Parker slumped on the floor while hugging Ms. Marvel’s corpse. The Fantastic Four, Mary Jane and a reformed Norman Osborn (formerly the Green Goblin) can be seen in the background mourning.
Details in the leaked image were eventually confirmed when Entertainment Weekly reported on “The Amazing Spider-Man No. 26,” which was written by Zeb Wells and is set for release on May 31.
The outlet also revealed that Marvel is planning to release a special one-shot issue on July 12 titled “Fallen Friend: The Death of Ms. Marvel.”
The upcoming anthology will reportedly feature three writers who previously worked on Khan for the Marvel comics: G. Willow Wilson, one of the character’s creators; Saladin Ahmed, one of the writers for “Ms. Marvel” No. 38; and Mark Waid, who brought Ms. Marvel onto the Avengers in “All-New, All-Different Avengers.”
Many Ms. Marvel fans were left outraged by the news, with some accusing Marvel of using Khan’s death to promote their upcoming film “The Marvels.”
“The “death” of Kamala Khan is a publicity stunt designed to upset and enrage fans and get the character trending to promote a new movie/soft comic book reboot,” one Twitter user wrote. “I suspect they’re trying to mimic past cheap stunts to show they’ve moved on. But… it just looks like a cheap stunt.”
“I hate deaths in Marvel comics 99% anyway because they never hold any weight and are usually just promotional like Stephen Stranges death but what they did to Kamala Khan is just disrespectful to the character and her fans wtf,” another user tweeted.
One Twitter user even pointed out that Khan’s death occurred at the worst time possible: Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month.
Other users consider Khan’s death to be “racist” and “misogynistic.”
“Hey so what the f*ck were Zeb Wells and Nick Lowe thinking by killing off Kamala Khan – the ONLY mainline brown character Marvel has – in a Spider-Man book,” one user wrote. “Sh*t feels racist and misogynistic. And why on earth was she even in this in the first place.”
“A white male American comic book writer has killed off a Brown female Muslim character in a white character centered comic book for… No real good reason outside of a Fridged trope,” another user said. “He killed Ms Marvel Kamala Khan to motivate Peter Parker Spider-Man.”
In addition to Wells, another fan also blamed C.B. Cebulski, Marvel Comics’ highly controversial editor-in-chief, for Khan’s death.
“Marvel (predominantly excellent creators and editors) put so much work into Kamala Khan’s rise as a superstar character, with a compelling ongoing comic from 2014 to 2019. Best new teen hero since Peter Parker,” the user wrote. “And the CB Cebulski administration has completely squandered that.”
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