As Ms. Marvel debuts on Disney+, many are being introduced to Kamala Khan / Ms. Marvel for the first time. Many are also being reintroduced to the character after reading her comic book debut, but not keeping up with her beyond that. In celebration of Pride month, it’s worth reflecting on one four-issue storyline from one of her later runs that explores the life of one of Kamala’s closest friends and allies: her bully-turned-friend Zoe Zimmer.
In Ms. Marvel Vol 4 #16-20 (written by Gwendolyn Willow Wilson with art by Takeshi Miyazawa and Ian Herring), Kamala Khan is forced to grapple with a villain that threatens to out both her and Zoe Zimmer in two different ways: outing Kamala as a superhero and outing Zoe Zimmer as a lesbian, who is secretly in love with her best friend Nakia Bahadir.
Zoe Zimmer first debuted in Ms. Marvel Vol 3 #1 (written by Wilson with art by Adrian Alphona and Herring), where she is one of Kamala’s bullies and also the first person Kamala saves as Ms. Marvel. In these early stories, Zoe Zimmer is a passive-agressive white woman who says blatantly racist and xenophobic things towards Kamala and her friends under the guise of “just asking questions.” During 2015’s Secret Wars event, Zoe fundamentally reconsiders her past behavior and strives to improve herself, ultimately becoming Kamala’s friend.
In “Damage Per Second,” Kamala faces off against an unusual foe: a sentient computer virus that mimics human behavior. This virus, Doc.X, learns the internet’s signature brand of toxicity from its experiences in a World-of-Warcraft-inspired MMORPG and begins trying to take over the world. As part of its scheme for control, it tries to manipulate Ms. Marvel into doing its bidding, threatening to reveal the secrets of both Kamala and Zoe.
Doc.X’s threat is the first time Kamala learns about Zoe, who had previously come out to her ex-boyfriend during a Civil War II tie-in comic book. After she realizes that she cannot give into Doc.X’s demands, she approaches Zoe with news of the threat. The two bond over their experiences with protecting secret identities. Zoe suggests that most people in Kamala’s life are probably choosing to look past Kamala’s true identity, similar to how her friends and family treat her as a closeted lesbian.
This comparison, between a super-hero hiding their identity and a closeted queer person, is not an entirely unique one. This year’s DC Pride issue had a similar exchange between Barbara Gordon / Batgirl and her transgender roommate Alysia Yeoh, with Aliysa offering the masked vigilante her advice on coming out. These sorts of comparisons highlight how the seemingly unique struggles of superheroes are not that unique at all. Zoe and Kamala relate to each other on a deeper level due to their distinctive, but parallel, experiences.
Doc.X ultimately goes through with its threat and reveals Zoe’s sexuality to the public. In the following scene, Kamala narrates about humanity’s capacity for kindness and empathy as a variety of queer and other marginalized students engulf Zoe in an increasingly-growing group hug. Kamala later defeats Doc.X literally using the power of kindness and models positive behaviors for the virus to learn from, sedating it for the time being.
While Kamala is one of Marvel’s newer heroes, she’s already covered a lot of thematic ground. Through her friendship with Zoe, she has brought a new layer of meaning to the secret identity trope. While it’s unclear if Zoe’s sexuality will be explicitly depicted in the Disney+ series, as Disney’s record with explicit queer storytelling is inconsistent to say the least, it is exciting to see Kamala and her friends finally get their MCU debut nonetheless.