Last summer, Marvel’s What If…? animated series on Disney+ looked at a number of Marvel stories and wondered how different things would be if one detail changed. Like, what if Peggy Carter took the super soldier serum instead of Steve Rodgers? What if T’Challa became Starlord instead of Peter Quill? What if Thor were an only child? This summer’s Ms. Marvel series might inspire a new one: if Bon Jovi had never been signed to a record deal, would Kamala Khan (aka Ms. Marvel) have been born?
In a scene in episode 2 of Ms. Marvel (which dropped earlier this week), Kamala’s mother Muneeba Khan (played by Zenobia Shroff) claims that had it not been for Bon Jovi, Kamala (Iman Vellani) might not exist.
As the Khan family prepares to go to an Eid Mubarak celebration in their hometown of Jersey City, Kamala’s father Yusef (played by Mohan Kapur) is trying to convince her brother Aamir Khan (Saagar Shaikh) to hire a Bon Jovi cover band to play his wedding, much to his amazement. In the episode, we learn that he’s also a former Hot Topic employee who had gothy tendencies, so we can assume that, perhaps, Bon Jovi wouldn’t be his band of choice.
“Trust me,” Yusef says, “Even a cover band of Bon Jovi is going to get people to talk for a long time! Moreover, your mother loves Bon Jovi!”
“Why?” Aamir asks.
Muneeba interjects, “Hey! Don’t question my love for the ‘Captain Kidd!’” a reference to the lyrics of “Let It Rock,” the song that opens 1986’s Slippery When Wet. Further, she says, “If it weren’t for Slippery When Wet, your father and I may never have met!”
Aamir just shakes his head. “That’s gross.” Soon, his fiance Tyesha Hillman (Travina Springer) comes to the door, and he asks her, “How do you feel about our first dance as husband and wife being to ‘Livin’ On A Prayer?‘”
“By Bon Jovi?” she asks. “Yes,” he responds.
“It’s better than ‘You Give Love A Bad Name,‘” she replies, stunning her fiance.
“Yes!” Yusef cheers. “She loves the New Jersey prince too!”
Who knows, maybe we’ll get a Bon Jovi song on the show this season… or maybe the real Bon Jovi will play the wedding.
New episodes of Ms. Marvel drop on Disney+ on Wednesdays.
