The following contains spoilers for Ms. Marvel Season 1, Episode 6, “No Normal,” now streaming on Disney+.
As Season 1 of Ms. Marvel came to a close, Kamala Khan had quite an uphill battle. She was hellbent on protecting Kamran from the Department of Damage Control, knowing they viewed him as a weapon of mass destruction and would possibly kill him. It led to a showdown at their New Jersey high school, which resulted in Kamala’s crew using Home Alone tactics to throw off the agents.
However, the sinister Agent Deever had another trick up her sleeve, which she unleashed when Kamran tried to destroy the authorities on the outside. It led to Kamala going out in public to save him, risking her civilian identity as she masqueraded as this budding superhero. In the process, the series revived The Incredible Hulk‘s most devastating weapon, which almost ended the teens.
These are the Stark Sonic Cannons, which were used to crushing effect in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Obadiah Stane used the prototype tasers to fry Raza’s brain in Iron Man. War Machine would rock a sonic cannon in Civil War, not to mention Tony Stark’s drones had these cannons, too. Killmonger would also use a portable version of it to murder Black Panther on What If?…
But the version that truly frightened fans came in 2008’s The Incredible Hulk, when Ed Norton’s Bruce Banner ran amok at Betty’s university. He turned into the Green Goliath to fight off Thunderbolt Ross’ military troops, as well as Emil Blonskly in his super-soldier form. But when the Jade Giant got the upper hand, Ross had jeeps roll up with cannons on them.
Their sound waves brought Hulk to the ground, but luckily he had metal shields he used to help smash them. Still, apart from Thanos, Thor or The Abomination, Hulk’s not an easy person to drop to his knees, which proved how powerful the weapons were. Well, Deever deployed the new and improved cannons via the DoDC jeeps in the field, which made sense given her organization has strong ties to Stark Tech.
She used the cannons to blast Kamala and Kamran, eroding the energy constructs Kamala threw up. This petrified the supportive crowd in the streets, especially Kamala’s onlooking family, as well as the friends Deever’s team apprehended. The pulse had an extra kick this time around, with Kamala’s reaction suggesting she couldn’t take another blast. Luckily, she’d harness her resilience and rally, using her “Embiggen” powers to build a giant shield around her, while extending her arms akin to Mister Fantastic. She also created giant fists, which ended with her leaping over to smash the cannons to bits. Like Hulk, she knew these emitted waves would damage not just her body, but her mind, so Kamala improvised, reminding the DoDC that they wouldn’t like her when she was angry.
All six episodes of Ms. Marvel are available on Disney+.