Who has been DC's Ms. Marvel-style breakout?

[Sutekh]

My own thoughts? She has a bizarre looking unaesthetic power, especially for a teen girl superhero, ESPECIALLY For the demo Marvel attempts to attract with her. Sailor Moon has a magic locket, tiara boomerang, a pen that can disguise her into what she wants, a magic moondust wand, and a talking cat. Ms. Marvel...becomes deformed? Um...if I was in the writer's room when they came up with this character, I would have voiced an objection here.

Actually that's one of my favorite things about her. She doesn't have a sexy power. It's kind of cool when a superheroine doesn't have a power that conveniently makes her look great in buttfloss and a bustier.

[Agent Z]

Kamala does not become deformed when she uses her powers. And the idea that there isn't a demand for her is laughable given all the positive press she has been receiving especially in light of her upcoming show on Disney+.

[9th.]

Actually that's one of my favorite things about her. She doesn't have a sexy power. It's kind of cool when a superheroine doesn't have a power that conveniently makes her look great in buttfloss and a bustier.

Yeah she's more Peter Parker than magical girl, she's not supposed to be sexy.

[Flash Gordon]

It could be Jessica Cruz, if she got the right push.

[Aahz]

Kamala does not become deformed when she uses her powers. And the idea that there isn't a demand for her is laughable given all the positive press she has been receiving especially in light of her upcoming show on Disney+.

It is still a power that doesn't look good (or convincing) in life action.

[Ascended]

It is still a power that doesn't look good (or convincing) in life action.

Looks fine in the trailer for the new Avengers game. If a video game can make it work live action should be more than capable.

I mean, it's a weird ass power, yeah. But the fx isn't nearly as crazy as a lot of super powered people in films and tv.

[Aahz]

Looks fine in the trailer for the new Avengers game. If a video game can make it work live action should be more than capable.

I mean, it's a weird ass power, yeah. But the fx isn't nearly as crazy as a lot of super powered people in films and tv.

Look at the the Fantastic 4 Movies or Elasticman in Flash,

The problem is not to do it with CGI, but that it just looks very awkward and unappealing (and not like the body mechanics could actually work) in life action.

[kurenai24]

DC doesn't have one...

[Korath]

Perhaps Naomi, if DC invest more on her. So far, Bendis's pushing her just right, and she had the benefit (and drawback) of having been created by such an extremely talented artist that her solo series can't really continue without him. But since Bendis is here and can use her elsewhere to grant her more exposure, she's also spared limbo.

Still, Naomi 2 can't come soon enough !

[BlackClaw]

As others have said, it’s definitely Jessica Cruz. I’m hoping it will also be Naomi but DC is gonna have to commit to putting her name out there like Marvel did with Kamala. And giving how DC fumbled the ball with other black characters (especially Cyborg) I don’t have much hope, but I’d love to be wrong.

[krazijoe]

Wallace West, Kid Flash (N52)

[WebLurker]

I agree that Jessica Cruz seems to be the closest DC has to a Ms. Marvel-breakout character in recent years; pretty popular (as far as I can tell), good origin story (IMHO), and having an impressive representation in non-comics media considering how new they are. Ms. Marvel may be more popular, but I do kinda think that those kind of comparisons are tricky to make.

Honestly, I think his biggest problem was, "I'm like Spider-Man, guys!" And when your entire shtick is basically being what amounts to an homage character, it doesn't give the character enough ground to gain traction. That's the only reason I think the Terrifics are working in the same vein - They're a lot like the F4, but they feel like they're not basically the F4 done slightly differently.

Deadpool might disagree with you there.

The timing doesn't match up but I think the closest DC equivalent to Kamala is Cass Cain. Kamala is the Cass of the 20teens. I don't think Marvel had an equivalent breakout star like Cass in the 00s--did they? I'm probably forgetting someone obvious...

As another poster noted, X-Men's X-23 would be it, and not just because she has a similar backstory to Cain (e.g. child raised to be an assassin overcoming their intended destiny to become a superhero). While she was created for a cartoon first (making more of a Harley Quinn-type in terms of franchise history, albeit not in the same popularity bracket),X-23 rose pretty quickly in terms of becoming a notable X-Men character despite being only a few years old and, I think, is arguably the last new X-Men character to have any level of staying power and isn't showing any signs of stopping. (I don't think X-23 is a A-list star yet and I have no idea if she's more or less popular then Cassandra Cain, but I think they both found their audiences.)

[Digifiend]

Bumblebee is a popular character. She's been known from her days on the Teen Titans cartoon and her merchandise regularly sells out.

If she's that popular, why isn't she regularly appearing in the comics? In fact, DC had the chance to give her a solo book. They turned down the pitch, which became Marvel's Unstoppable Wasp.

Yeah Harley and Deadpool both have massively more cultural cache than Kamala, and they have similar functions in their universes.

The timing doesn't match up but I think the closest DC equivalent to Kamala is Cass Cain. Kamala is the Cass of the 20teens. I don't think Marvel had an equivalent breakout star like Cass in the 00s--did they? I'm probably forgetting someone obvious...

Kate Bishop comes to mind. Like Kamala, she's about to get a show on Disney+.

Regarding Jessica Cruz:
She was created by the (at the time) Chief Creative Officer of DC Entertainment. I'm going to guess she was made SPECIFICALLY FOR things like DC Superhero Girls, and that she was NOT put in that spot because she was a breakout success in comics...because she wasn't.

She definitely wasn't made for DCSHG, she was around for a few years before she even joined that show.

[Superfan90]

Jon Kent and Damian Wayne.

[CrimsonEchidna]

I think there's kind of a fundamental misunderstanding of Kamala Khan's popularity. Thing with her is she broke through and managed to achieve a lot of "non-traditional" comic book readers to actively pick up her book ad TPBs. There's been plenty of (relatively) popular teen legacy characters created at DC over the past 2 decades but one of the unfortunate trends is DC has had a nasty habit of walking back on them and pulling the rug from under them. Cassandra Cain, Stephanie Brown, Jaime Reyes, the Young Justice crew.

I'd say the closest equivalent is maybe Naomi but the jury is still kind of out how long her lasting appeal will be.