Plot holes are bound to happen in nearly every movie and show in the MCU, but Ms. Marvel episode 4 goes even further with this problem.
Warning: Spoilers for Ms. Marvel episode 4
Ms. Marvel episode 4 has proven to be a disappointing lesson in MCU plot holes. Of course, continuity issues and moments that simply don’t make sense aren’t unheard of when it comes to the movies and shows set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. But in most situations, they’re easily overlooked and don’t distract too much from the action and the main story.
Thus far, it appears that problems like this haven’t held back Ms. Marvel. It didn’t take long at all for Kamala Khan’s Disney+ show to break MCU records in terms of its Rotten Tomatoes score. While it’s currently the least-watched MCU show on the platform, it’s still the one that’s received the greatest degree of critical acclaim up to this point. While it follows a fairly impressive list of successful MCU shows like Loki and WandaVision, Ms. Marvel is Marvel’s highest-rated TV series. The characters, the story, the humor, and the tone have all garnered a significant amount of praise.
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However, that’s not to say that Kamala Khan’s new show has succeeded in avoiding the MCU’s plot hole problem. They've popped up in most Phase 4 installments, including Eternals, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, and Spider-Man: No Way Home. It too has had its fair share. In fact, Ms. Marvel episode 4 was unusually heavy on headscratchers. Here’s what all of them were.
Early in the episode, Kamala and her mother were picked up at the airport by family members at night. This presented the show with an opportunity to show off Pakistan. In a short sequence, Kamala was seen gazing in awe at the spectacular streets, buildings, and lights in Karachi, the biggest city in the country. It made sense for the series to show different sides of Pakistan and its culture, except it was a bit odd when Ms. Marvel suddenly shifted the atmosphere. They arrived at the home of Kamala’s grandmother in broad daylight. Apparently, they were on the road for several hours.
If Damage Control is going to be villains, Ms. Marvel episode 4 is a sign that Kamala shouldn’t have that much to worry about. As a result of their capture in the previous episode, the threat posed by Namja really should have ended with that. With the ClanDestines rendered helpless by chains that bound their hands to the ceiling, it was hard to imagine any of them breaking free of their shackles and getting away. Plus, each DODC agent had the firepower to easily deal with the prisoners if one were to prove troublesome. But in the end, none of these things mattered. Having weapons, combat training, and the advantage of not being in restraints didn’t make any difference for the DODC agents, who easily fell to the three ClanDestines.
In light of how the MCU's ClanDestines escaped, it’s clear that the three agents tasked with transporting them were less than competent. That’s not a good look for Damage Control, considering that the organization had good reasons to be wary of Namja and her minions, who were under suspicion of having super powers. The sloppy measures used by Damage Control to contain the three villains was highly convenient for Ms. Marvel’s plot. Their uncharacteristically amateur mistakes made it unbelievably easy for Namja’s group to cross paths with Kamala Khan again.
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The DODC wasn’t the only thing that one would expect to stand in the way of the ClanDestines getting to Kamala in Ms. Marvel episode 4. It shouldn’t be forgotten that she was well-protected in the headquarters of the Red Daggers – and obviously a long distance away from her enemies since she went all the way from New Jersey to Pakistan after episode 3. But again, this wasn’t an issue for the ClanDestines, who mysteriously found their way to Karachi despite having just escaped DODC custody.
When they came crashing into the Red Daggers’ lair, Namja and her lackeys were all wielding weapons that were conjured out of nowhere. This strange ability was on display during the wedding fight, and repeated in Ms. Marvel episode 4 without any explanation for how it works. Somehow, Clandestines can just manifest weapons on demand. Adding further confusion to the powers of the Clandestines is their apparent super strength. At least one of them – Aadam – is strong enough to dent floors and walls with his punches. How they’re doing this is a major Ms. Marvel mystery, especially when taking into consideration the fact that these characters are supposedly unable to draw power from the Noor Dimension. Unlike Kamala, they don’t have a bangle or a special device that gives them powers. For now, it’s hard to say what exactly is making these villains such formidable forces in Ms. Marvel.
Throughout the show, Kamala’s mother has been one of several characters who’s been in the dark about what’s really going on and what Kamala Khan has been up to since she got her hands on the bangle. But interestingly, Ms. Marvel episode 4 has confirmed that Muneeba knows a bit more than she’s been letting on – she just refuses to believe what she’s been told. It was revealed in the episode that many years ago, Sana (Kamala’s grandmother) shared the truth about their origins with Muneeba, but the latter chose to dismiss her “fantastic theories”.
In her youth, it would have been understandable for Muneeba to have such a skeptical outlook about Sana’s claims. Talk of the Djinn being real naturally would have sounded bizarre, so it’s not surprising that the neighbors saw her as “crazy” at the time. But Ms. Marvel’s place in the MCU timeline shouldn’t be ignored. It’s set after the events of every MCU movie and show that’s been released, which means that there are so many extraordinary things that people like Muneeba must already be aware of.
Muneeba’s position on Sana’s “theories” draws comparisons to the state of the world in Ghostbusters 2. Even though the movie followed the events of the catastrophic attack of the gigantic Stay Puft Marshmallow Man in the first movie, the main characters still encountered skeptics. Muneeba is experiencing the same unfathomable sense of denial, regardless of the fact that the existence of talking, raccoons, Norse gods, aliens, and giant green squid monsters are all public knowledge at this point. Enough has happened in the MCU that Sana’s stories are far from “fantastic” in the timeframe of Ms. Marvel’s story.
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Ms. Marvel releases new episodes on Wednesdays on Disney+.
Nicholas Raymond is a staff movies & TV features writer for Screen Rant. He has a degree in journalism from the University of Montevallo, and is the author of the psychological thriller and time travel novel, "A Man Against the World." Nicholas' love for telling stories is inspired by his love for film noir, westerns, superhero movies, classic films, and ancient history. His favorite actors are Tyrone Power and Eleanor Parker. He can be reached by email at cnrmail@bellsouth.net and on Twitter at @cnraymond91.