Ms. Marvel: Remnants of the Past

by Saadia Faruqi

Genres: Young Adult; YA Family

Synopsis

Ms. Marvel trips into a mystery that brings her from Jersey City to Lahore, Pakistan, and back again, all on a chase for a magical artifact in this adventure from Marvel Press.

Kamala Khan is Jersey City’s premier super hero, Ms. Marvel! She’s stretched between going to the mosque, posting Avengers fanfic on the internet, and fighting crime.

But then a clash ends with a pair of priceless spectacles in the wrong hands—Ms. Marvel’s! Now she’s on a mission to return them to where they belong, once she’s figured out where that is. A mysterious new bad guy drops hints at magical secrets the spectacles hold, setting Ms. Marvel on a quest to Lahore, Pakistan. It’s the trip of a lifetime, seeing the land of her father’s youth, but Kamala is forced to grapple with what to do when the choice between right and wrong isn’t so clear.

Saadia Faruqi delivers a beautiful exploration of the Pakistani American experience through the eyes of Marvel’s Kamala Khan.

Release date: January 6, 2026

Publisher: Random House/Marvel

Print pages: 384

Sample

Chapter One

People thought patrolling was easy.

How hard could it be, really? You put on your Ms. Marvel costume. Stretched your limbs long, long, long. Climbed on top of a streetlight and viewed your kingdom.

Well, Jersey City. Same thing.

Then you waited for the villains to arrive.

I didn’t think it was easy, though. That was the wrong adjective. Some nights it was thrilling, like when a bunch of villains came roaring through the streets thinking they’d cause some mayhem and scare off some civilians.

It was always my extreme pleasure to let them know this was my city, my streets, and they could just crawl back into whatever sewer they came from.

Of course, patrols could be boring too, if the night was quiet and nobody came out to play. That’s when I tried to get some homework done.

Ugh. I was so not a fan of that. Physics was kicking my ass this semester.

My phone buzzed. It was Bruno Carrelli, my best friend, tech wizard, and maybe, possibly, something more one day in the future. I wasn’t sure about that part yet. “You heading downtown, Kamala?”

“That’s Ms. Marvel to you,” I teased.

“Sorry, Ms. Marvel.” I could hear the smile in his voice. “I’ve intercepted some chatter about villain activity near the museums.”

Bruno’s sigh was so loud, I heard it clearly through the phone. “Kamala, just get over there. I’ll text you the coordinates.”

I rolled my eyes. “I know where the museum is, Bruno. No need for coordinates.”

“I meant where the chatter is coming from.”

“Oh, yeah. That’d be great. Can’t wait to protect some innocents!”

Bruno paused. Then: “Be safe, Kamala.”

Whoa. What was that voice? And why did the mood of this conversation flip so fast? “Yeah, yeah. Safety is my middle name.”

“It really isn’t. If you had a middle name, it would be Excitable. Enthusiastic. Dramatic, maybe?”

“Okay . . .”

“Oh, how about Nerdy? That fits you.”

“Shut up, doofus.” Grinning, I ended the call and walked faster. Tonight, I was patrolling downtown Jersey City, near the art museum. It was one of my favorite places to patrol, because you could see glimpses of the Hudson River from the streets. And if you climbed up a streetlight, like I loved to do, you could see clear across the river to New York City.

My phone buzzed again with the coordinates of whichever villain Bruno had found chattering over the airwaves. The magic my friend could weave using his laptop and brain cells was astounding. I sent back a thumbs-up emoji and hurried to my destination.

Uh, sorry, coordinates.

I was a few blocks from the museum when a deep, gentle vibration shook the ground. “What the . . . ?”

“Aw, did that scare you, Ms. Marvel? I was just getting started.”

I looked up. A huge figure dressed in yellow-and-brown armor stood at the end of the street. Its wrists were encased in steel gauntlets that gave off an electrical charge. “Shocker,” I muttered in the same tone I’d say scum of the earth.

“At your service,” he replied, striding closer.

I held my ground. I’d come across Shocker’s vibro-shocks plenty of times, and I knew what to expect. Painful shock waves that vibrated the air around him like little earthquakes.

Too bad I was a brave first-gen Pakistani American girl. A little shock wave didn’t hurt me. Much.

“What are you doing here?” I asked, eyes narrowed.

He shrugged his giant shoulders. “Got bored. Decided to come outside and check things out.”

I took a deep breath. So it was going to be a thrilling kind of evening.

Perfect, just what I needed to get my blood pumping.

“Well, check this out.” I clenched my right fist and then yelled, “Embiggen!”

It was more for effect than anything else, because my powers worked just fine without words. My arm elongated like a writhing snake, then shot outward. A second later, my fist went crashing into Shocker’s jaw.

He staggered into a big green trash container, grunting. With all that armor, Shocker wasn’t exactly light on his feet.

Ha. Dude wasn’t expecting my attack, even with all my yelling.

“Are you okay?” I asked with mock concern. “Maybe you need to go home and nurse that wounded ego.”e als

“You think you can defeat me, kid?” He straightened quickly and held out an arm. A tunnel of air blasted at warp speed, colliding with my entire body and flinging me into the air.

“Oof!” I flew across the street and landed on the pavement.

I didn’t stop to think. Still on the ground, I whipped my legs into long ropes and snapped them around Shocker’s legs. “Yes, actually, I think I can!”

He tumbled down but threw air blasts at me, again and again.

My legs shrank back. I flew farther down the street like a paper in strong wind. “Is that the best you can do?” I cried, sending a long arm to a streetlight and pulling myself up.

Shocker stood up too. “Oh, no, I’m just getting started!”

I knew what was coming, and I ducked. A blast of air vibrated around me, and a building to the right began to shake.

RRRR-RUMBLE!

Alarmed, I looked to my right. I’d seen Shocker destabilize buildings with his vibro-shocks. My eyes fluttered in relief when I realized it was just a parking garage. At this time of night, there shouldn’t be any people inside.

Still, it was time to shut this down. We were too close to the museum to have Shocker shaking things up.

I made both hands big as cars and strong as trees. Then I sent them shooting through the air to pummel Shocker. Once, twice, three times . . . I kept at it, ignoring the air blasts to my skin.

God, those things hurt!

“Gah! Stop!” Shocker grumbled. “I give up! This isn’t worth the abuse!”

I panted and grinned. “Not until you tell me what you’re doing here this fine evening.”

“I heard rumors!”

“Such as . . . ?” I slowed my punches so he’d have a chance to spill the beans.

He groaned. “I heard Kingpin’s got some valuable items here, so I thought I’d get them first.”

I brought my arms back to my side. “Kingpin? What does he want in Jersey City?”

“I don’t know, something legendary.” Shocker jumped back so quickly, I didn’t have time to blink. In a flash, he’d leapt on top of a building, then another one. “Good luck finding out, Ms. Marvel!” he yelled as he disappeared.

Great! Now I had a dozen questions running through my mind. There was no way I’d get any homework done tonight.

I elongated my legs again and climbed on top of a streetlight, where I had a lovely view of the river. Any villain who got close would have the enthusiastic, excitable, and maybe even dramatic Ms. Marvel to deal with.

Reprinted from Ms. Marvel: Remnants of the Past. Copyright © 2026 by Saadia Faruqi. Published by Random House/Marvel, an imprint of Random House Children’s Books, a division of Penguin Random House LLC.