Mindy Kaling in talks to create Marvel's first Muslim hero

Mindy Kaling. Photo / Getty Images

Mindy Kaling could be the hero Marvel Studios has been waiting for, with the actress and comedian in talks to adapt comic book hero Kamala Khan - aka. Ms Marvel - for the screen.

Marvel fans will be all too familiar with Captain Marvel aka Carol Danvers, played recently on the big screen by Brie Larson, but many heroes have taken on the Ms Marvel moniker.

Kamala Khan is one such hero which Marvel has had a huge amount of interest in, as she's a Pakistani-American teenager from a Muslim family in New York.

She's also been high on Mindy Kaling's priority list, as an Indian-American actress and outspoken advocate for diversity in film and television.

In an interview with MTV News, Kaling spoke about how excited she and other Desi industry professionals were about the character, and revealed she has been in talks with Marvel Studios about bringing her to life on-screen.

She said: "I think the people I've spoken to at Marvel about it are so excited about the character and I think that they're trying to figure out what to do with it.

"I told them I would help in any way because I truly love her. They really seemed interested, and I think they will probably do something."

It's unclear whether this iteration of Ms Marvel will get the big screen treatment or will land on Disney's forthcoming streaming service Disney+, but Kaling did hint at the latter.

She said: "Now that there's this streaming service with them, it might be something like that, but I think they understand how much excitement there is."

Studio boss Kevin Feige has previously spoken about wanting to adapt Kamala Khan for the screen.

While promoting the Captain Marvel film, he told BBC the adaptation was "definitely sort of in the works", adding, "We have plans for that once we've introduced Captain Marvel to the world."

Captain Marvel released in February this year, so Ms Marvel's time could be nearer than we think.