The Daily Show: Ears Edition - Iman Vellani - “Ms. Marvel”

Episode Date: June 12, 2022

“I felt like the comics were written about me, for me, and only me.” Iman Vellani chats about her debut acting role as Muslim superhero Ms. Marvel, how she found the casting call through a WhatsApp message, and her promise to Kevin Feige.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You're listening to Comedy Central. Please welcome, Imman Villani. Ms. Marlowe. Ms. Marvel. Ms. Marvel. Welcome to the Daily Show. Thank you. Thank you.

Are you used to that yet? The fact that you are Ms. Marvel, and to the Daily Show. Thank you, thank you. Are you used to that yet? The fact that you are Ms. Marvel, and not just Ms. Marvel, by the way, not just the most liked show on Rotten Tomatoes in the Marvel universe? 95%. How does it feel? It feels great. It's weird that like people who doubted us, like we're the underdogs now. so the amount of actually actually actually actually actually actually actually actually actually actually actually actually actually actually actually actually actually actually actually actually actually actually actually actually actually actually actually actually actually actually actually actually actually actually actually actually actually actually actually actually actually actually actually actually actually actually actually actually actually actually actually actually actually actually actually actually actually actually I I I I th. th. thi thi. th. th. th. th. th. th. thi. thi. thi. thi. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. to. to, thi. to. to. thi. to. to. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi.'s weird that like people who doubted us like we're the underdogs now. And so the amount of actually is in a sentence. Oh, it's actually pretty good.

Actually, I think I'm kind of liking it. So that's that's my favorite part, yeah. You've been a fan for a long time. A hot minute. Yeah. I want to know, I want to know how because everyone has a story about how they became a when Iron Man came out. So the MCU's always been in my life and then like, my high school's right across from a comic bookshop and I have a fattest crush on Robert Downey Jr. so I just like needed more Iron Man. So I was like constantly reading more Iron, and then I picked up Iron Heart and then threw up her. Okay. And I was like, oh my God, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, th, th, th, th, th. And, th. And, th. I, th. I, th. I, th. I, thr, thr, th. I, thr, tho, th. I thr, thr, thrown, th. I was like, th. I was like, th. I was like, th. I was like, th. I was like, th. I was like, th. I was like, th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I, th. I, th. I, th. I, th. I, th. I, th. I, th. I, th. I, th. I th. I threw, threw, threw, the. I the. I the. I the. I the. I the. I threw, like, threw, threw, threw, person, who's this? And fell in love with her. It feels like, I mean, it feels like you were made for this character.

It was crazy. I felt like the comics were written about me, for me, and only me. Yeah, like, it really does, like, how many stories can you say where you go like, oh, who is like, oh, who is this girl who is born to immigrants from Pakistan? And then, it, it, it, then, then, th.. the, th. th. th. the, th. th. th. the, th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. thi, thi, th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, I, I, to, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, where you go like, oh, who is this character? OK, here you have this girl who is born to immigrants from Pakistan. And then she's like living in this different world. And it's like, you're that. That's wild. Like Muslim superhero? Fully?

Fully, that's a fuer. Fully, that's a fuer. thau. that's crazy. , that's, th. It, th., th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. It. It. It. It. It. It. It. It. It. It. It. It. It. It. It. It. It. It. It. It. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. thi. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th....................................................................................... every Halloween. That's what I would do. I dressed up at their own Halloween when I was 15. Oh, you did? I fully manifested this.

Yeah. Did people know who you are? No, I went to school and I was so excited. I had like my grandma helped me stitch the costume. And I went to school and everyone was like, it was. You had to reference the, you realize that's never going to happen again now, right? You know, that's one of the coolest stories of all time.

You know, the story is really great because some people, you know, feel like it's a different world. They'd be like, oh, how do you have a Muslim superhero? And, you know, she's from Pakistan away, but everyone doesn't seem to understand that every hero comes from somewhere and they just have their story and that it's just like normal for them. I love how the show is seamless. I love how it's not something that just like it's not 100% of her personality being Muslim or being Pakistani it's just she's this

Avengers loving fanfic writing Dork who just happens to be Muslim in Pakistani and that side of her kind of you know guides her is it's their moral code and and it uplifts her and elevates her story in a real unique way that we really haven't seen in the MCU, so I think that's cool. It is very cool. It's super cool as well. Okay, that was something I was intrigued by because like, like, I remember seeing some of the old comics of Ms. Marvel and she had like stretching abilities. I know you can't give anything away, but you know, you have different powers in the beginning.

You can, you can like shape, shift things and you can, you know? Yeah. Is that, are she going to get like more powers? More powers? Yeah? There's purple light coming out of that. I'm not being ungrateful. I'm just saying, well, that sounded like I was just asking if she's going to get like different. Are there like, like, you don't going to tell you anything if you ask her about her to... I like swore an oath to Kevin Vagiam, like you will not get a Tom Holland out of me, nothing coming out.

No spoils! No spoilers whatsoever. So this is just the beginning. You realize this. You are. I mean, this is such a fun, wild story. You got this role in one of the craziestiest, tha, tha, tha, thiiiiiiii, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, thi, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, th. th, th, th, th, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, th. thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi. thi. to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, thi. to, in one of the craziest ways possible, because I heard a rumor that you heard about this from, like a family member, they didn't call you directly. What's app?

Which is like funny, because like brown people thrive on what's appa? the fact that this happened. So like, the fact that this happened. the fact that this happened? How? My aunt was a part of some brown group chat that she never opens. And what did she opened it? And someone forwarded this casting call. And she sent it to me. And I'm like, look, this is what a scam is.

Um, we don't, I'm not an actor. I can't like, it was fully a blank page. I said, send head shot and resume. to their, their, their, their, their, their, their, the, the, the, the, the, thine, thine, thine, th. the, I. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. thi. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. I, th. I. I. I. I. I, th. I. And, th. I. th. I. And, th. I. I. I. I'm. I'm. t. t. t. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. t. t. t. t. tape and an NDA and I was like, oh my god, it's real. I know exactly which comic books they pulled these scenes from. And so I wasn't going to do it just out of like sheer fear of failure. No, really? Yeah, and then like 3 a.m. hit the night it was due. I was like, oh, I'm going then just like acted off of my own voice and the next day I get a call they're like to have a lawyer we want to fly you to LA.

I was like, cool. I mean, I mean, you know what, you know what this means though is now, you know what this means though is now your aunt is going answer every single WhatsApp that ever comes her way. You've messed up her life, like she's never gonna be the same now. No, she holds this on me now. Yeah, congratulations on the show. Congratulations on the show. Congratulations on to be so successful.

Thank you for being here. Everybody's gonna watch. You can give us any spoiler. Ms. Marvel. thi. th. M is is is is is is is is is is streaming is streaming is streaming is streaming. M. M. M. M. M. M. M. M. M. M. M. M. M. M. M. M. M. M. M. M. M. M. M. M. M. M. M. M. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. thi. thi. th. to. thi. to. thi. th. th. thi. th. ato. The Daily Show with Trevor Noah Ears Edition. Subscribe to the Daily Show on YouTube for exclusive content and stream full episodes anytime on Paramount Plus.