Fantasy Book ASM #26 and the Death of Kamala Khan - Have Fun!

[exile001]

Firstly, please just let this be a positive space. This is just a bit of light relief to mitigate the constant (and mostly earned) negativity on the boards of late. Being a bit snarky towards Wells' run is fine as long as it's on topic.

Kamala Khan is going to die in ASM #26*!

This baffling decision has inspired me to take a few minutes to see if I could think of something that could be salvaged from it. Just a bit of fun, which I like to do whenever something REALLY stupid happens in fiction I enjoy (that being Spider-Man and Ms Marvel in general, not this awful run) that I’m so blindsided I can only find it funny.

So, I invite anyone to spend a little time to throw in something that can somewhat redeem Kamala’s apparent death next issue. Something to get you to buy the issue or, more importantly, the following ones.

There’s no restrictions, other than ASM #1-25 have happened as is. If you want to chuck in your own ASM #20.Kamala extra issue to flesh things out that’s cool.

Also, there’s no need to be serious.

If you want to, say, have the entire cast of ASM turn out to have been clones since just before One More Day thus also wiping that from existence and you can do it in just one issue that also featured Kamala’s apparent death, then go nuts!

Be creative! Have fun!

Anyway, here’s my take:

I'd have it be Norman.

Everyone is fighting the Scribble Man (chuck in the Avengers, X-Men and, **** it, the Justice League, too, as obviously he is the biggest and bestest villain ever) and Spidey has the battle drawn towards Oscorp as Peter discovers that Norman, behind his back, has continued working on the trans-dimensional tech he used previously in the arc (possibly drawing him back this time). The idea being to banish TSM once and for all, but also to give Osborn another tainted heroic moment.

Everyone is battling in the tower, trying to reach the lab at the top with the portal tech (why is it always the tower top of or a super low basement?), with Kamala getting separated and ultimately discovering something** that Norman has kept hidden, something that tells the audience that the evil is still inside him waiting to come back.

I’d then have Norman appear behind her and kill her in some way that, with comic book logic, can be attributed to the battle inside the tower. Maybe impaling her with a chunk of debris to mirror his own impaling.

For the shock, I’d say do it right off, but it’s better to give Kamala some good offense to treat her character with due respect. Cut between everyone vs the Scribble Man and Kamala’s battle with Norman.

There’s a bunch of reasons for this, but mostly I’d try to give the book some momentum going forward, i.e. we now know Norman is going to revert at some point. It gives a lot of story potential, albeit a reverting to the status quo, but at least it’s a reason to keep reading rather than a jumping off point.

If Kamala dies defeating the Scribble Man (as memorable and important as he is), that’s just the end of the story. Nothing is gained moving forward from it. Wells is moving straight on to Doc Ock, which doesn’t build on the previous arc (which was MJ’s anyway!).

Now, there is a problem using Norman as you’d want it to be someone Kamala can fight on returning and get a big win. Possibly set her up with a new nemesis, and obviously you can’t use Norman for that as he is Spidey-Man’s big bad.

However, the best makegood would be to bring her back in ASM, too, which leaves Norman on the table for a giant fisting (phrasing!). Run a couple of miniseries alongside it.

If they’re doing a whole bringing her back as a mutant thing, it makes no sense to do it in a non-X-Men book, but that’s just par for the course on this whole run. Lol.

Also, Paul and the kids are killed offscreen by, oh, let's say... Moe.

*or is she? You decide!

**Preferably, I’d have actually used Kamala during the run, being installed by the Avengers to keep tabs on Norman (which I think has been established?) and had her fixated on a room she can’t access. As I can’t rewrite the previous issues, I’d have Kamala do a flashback in the issue, I guess. She takes the opportunity in the fight, perhaps the entry is damaged, to check this room.

[FFJamie94]

First off, I would simply not releasing the upcoming Fallen Friend one-shot (that’s the thing that gets me the most tbh).

I would do it so that a masked character comes in, and just stabs Ms Marvel. The mask comes off and it’s… Spider-Boy!!!!
Spider-Boy then gives Paul a high five and they swing off romantically into the sunset.
The Paul remembers MJ and cries with her…

[Venomsaurus]

Mary Jane kills Kamala!

OK, hear me out. So a lot of fans have complaind about MJ being OOC. How she's so cold and cruel to Peter. There's gotta be a reason, right? While I'm worried issue 26 will be a Nothing Burger, as some have expressed, here's one way to explain it and tie it to Kamala dying.

MJ has been corrupted! That fancy watch she's wearing actually channels EVIL Mayan God energy and has been affecting her for months now. It's turned her into a cruel, heartless monster. She thinks the world needs to go back the way it was so she can be at peace with her family. So she's willing to help Wayep do just that. She breaks bad, using her powers on everyone and somehow lucking out each time to wipe everyone out. She then joins with Rabin and around them Wayep is reborn! Bigger than ever! His two Emissaries powering him for eternity. Nothing can hurt him, nothing can stop him! Paul (UGH) reveals the only way to stop him would be to remove one of the Emissaries. But no one can get to MJ! No one except Kalama!

There's like, a tiny hole or something near the area MJ is being held. She shrinks her fist down, then grabs MJ and pulls her free! But in doing so she got too close to Wayep, and he does a stab on her. Or drains her life force. Or whatever Wayep does, it's been kind of incosistent. So Kamala saves MJ, we finaly get that damn explanation, and I dunno, Paul leaves with the kids and they go start a family Oyster place down at the coast.

Honestly I don't think there's any way to make Kamala dying look good, but if she at least goes out and it's tied to MJ, her being the focal point of the arc, it would make sense.

[CaptainUniverse]

Paul a.k.a. Future Peter becomes Captain Universe and saves the day! Oh, but not before Rabin kills Kamala. Spider-Boy also shows up and says "Spider-Boy, what a joke.", takes off his mask and becomes the new Mister Marvel!

[Rift]

After surviving a huge, heroic battle and risking her life to save hundreds of innocents and Paul, Kamala trips on a rock and dies.

The reason why MJ is clinging to Paul is so she can hide her laughter, because it's so anti-climactic. Realizing that both Peter and MJ are jerks, Paul dumps her and takes the kids.

Hellion shows up, stuffs her in a bag and brings her to Krakoa. By convincing people she's a mutant, she gets revived. What does he get out of it? A friendship with Kamala, which will get him into her next book as a recurring character.

Then Paul dies because Romephanie and Owen are secretly evil or w/e who cares

[Tapioca Blitzkrieg]

After surviving a huge, heroic battle and risking her life to save hundreds of innocents and Paul, Kamala trips on a rock and dies.

The reason why MJ is clinging to Paul is so she can hide her laughter, because it's so anti-climactic. Realizing that both Peter and MJ are jerks, Paul dumps her and takes the kids.

Hellion shows up, stuffs her in a bag and brings her to Krakoa. By convincing people she's a mutant, she gets revived. What does he get out of it? A friendship with Kamala, which will get him into her next book as a recurring character.

Then Paul dies because Romephanie and Owen are secretly evil or w/e who cares

For a split second i thought Helion wouldn't have factored into the pitch, thank goodness!

[Digifiend]

After surviving a huge, heroic battle and risking her life to save hundreds of innocents and Paul, Kamala trips on a rock and dies.

The reason why MJ is clinging to Paul is so she can hide her laughter, because it's so anti-climactic. Realizing that both Peter and MJ are jerks, Paul dumps her and takes the kids.

Hellion shows up, stuffs her in a bag and brings her to Krakoa. By convincing people she's a mutant, she gets revived. What does he get out of it? A friendship with Kamala, which will get him into her next book as a recurring character.

Then Paul dies because Romephanie and Owen are secretly evil or w/e who cares

Hellion? That sounds more like something Gwenpool would do! In fact Kamala's responsible for Gwen being on Krakoa to begin with. She theorised that Gwen was a reality warping mutant (despite her first showing up in the middle of the Inhuman push) and not someone from an AU. Sure enough Gwen was able to walk through a Krakoan gate. She's been on Krakoa ever since.

[Rift]

Hellion? That sounds more like something Gwenpool would do! In fact Kamala's responsible for Gwen being on Krakoa to begin with. She theorised that Gwen was a reality warping mutant (despite her first showing up in the middle of the Inhuman push) and not someone from an AU. Sure enough Gwen was able to walk through a Krakoan gate. She's been on Krakoa ever since.

Yeah, but Gwen isn't Hellion. You see the problem here, right? It won't work if it's not Hellion.