The following contains spoilers for Ms. Marvel Season 1, Episode 2, "Crushed," now streaming on Disney+.
When Ms. Marvel was announced in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, many fans wondered what the source of Kamala Khan's powers would be since the Inhumans have been largely ignored. In the character's comic book origins -- which are homaged in the series -- Terrigen Mists that spread across the Earth activated Kamala's Inhuman genes. However, the Disney+ premiere made it seem like Kamala's family bangle gave her abilities.
The latter fit the narrative of the MCU, which has featured a number of magical and cosmic relics over the years. Fans even began to speculate that Kamala could be connected to the Eternals instead of the Inhumans because of it. However, one key incident in Season 1, Episode 2, "Crushed," seems to have quashed that theory. A discovery by Kamala's best friend Bruno indicates that Kamala may still be an Inhuman after all.
Kamala put herself through rigorous training sessions in "Crushed" to ensure she could control her powers and not endanger the public again. As part of that training, she worked on solidifying her crystalline projections, and Bruno ran tests on the energy signature when she did. Those tests revealed that the bracelet wasn't the source of her powers, meaning that her superhero abilities came from inside her.
This may mean Kamala's Inhuman essence was activated by the bangle. Why could the family heirloom could do this? Ms. Marvel could explain it as being related to her missing great-grandmother Aisha. Aisha disappeared in 1947 when the family fled to Pakistan so maybe she and her missing daughter Sana somehow experienced Terrigenesis -- but only Sana came back.
If Sana developed superpowers, she could then have passed them down to Kamala's mom Muneeba, who then passed them to Kamala. That would allow Ms. Marvel to organically create a lineage of Inhumans who didn't know their potential, and explain why Muneeba found Sana to be silly when she ranted about the "trail of stars" that brought her back that night. Aisha's presence could even be harnessed in the bangle. That would be a fascinating and very personal story rather than a Terrigen bomb accidentally giving Kamala a new purpose.
Should the Disney+ series develop this way, Kamala's destiny remains tied to her ancestors and the character is still tethered to the cosmic realm -- not unlike Captain Marvel. Kamala has already experienced visions of a world filled with either slaves or immigrants; another idea is that they were test subjects and Aisha stumbled into someplace where Terrigenesis was being forced on these victims. The show can use a Kree story angle from the comics, in which they attempted to create a perfect army by experimenting on humans.
What this explanation would do is not only preserve Kamala's Inhuman backstory, but leave her with the prospect of exploring the tragedy and trying to discover if any other family members could also be heroes. It would add nuance to her journey, use key elements from the comics and give Kamala an emotional mission to embark upon in addition to her self-discovery. Bringing the Inhuman part of her story to the screen is still possible -- and opens up several possibilities.
New episodes of Ms. Marvel stream Wednesdays on Disney+.