Who Are The ClanDestines? Ms. Marvel's Djinn Explained

Ms. Marvel changes up the ClanDestine and Djinn from the comics considerably, but their new backstory and origin make perfect sense in the MCU.

Warning: SPOILERS for Ms. Marvel episode 3.

Ms. Marvel episode 3 confirmed once and for all that Kamala Khan is not an Inhuman, as in the comics, but one of the ClanDestine, Marvel’s version of the Djinn. Even before Ms. Marvel premiered, it was made clear that certain fundamental aspects of Kamala Khan’s (Iman Vellani) story would be changed for the live-action MCU show. The first and most notable of these changes was to Ms. Marvel’s superhero origin and powers, which have been modified from her “embiggen” morphing abilities in the comics to powers based more on cosmic energy.

But the other biggest question surrounding Kamala’s origins as Ms. Marvel was whether or not she’d be an Inhuman as she is in the comics. Since the failure of the Inhumans TV show, Marvel has worked to bury the Inhumans in the MCU, clearly hoping audiences don’t remember the show. Recently, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness went a step further, bringing back Anson Mount’s Inhuman leader Black Bolt and promptly killing him in a gruesome and darkly hilarious fashion.

Ms. Marvel episode 3 finally confirmed once and for all that Kamala/Ms. Marvel is not an Inhuman, or even a Nuhuman, but one of the ClanDestine. It adds a brand-new dimension to Kamala’s origins, an MCU origin that’s arguably even more fitting than in the comics. Her culturally appropriate new backstory as one of Clan Destine now has strong ties to Kamala Khan’s Muslim faith and Pakistani heritage. Here are Ms. Marvel‘s ClanDestines explained.

Marvel’s Djinn Comics Origin & Powers

In the comics, the ClanDestine, the appellation given to Clan Destine, are the descendants of Adam of Destine and the Djinn Elalyth. Adam lived in the 1100s, and when he was 16 years old, he experienced a near-fatal accident. However, as he lay close to death, he had a vision of a strange, beautiful woman calling to him. Years later, after having fought in the Crusades, Adam was tasked with fighting and killing the evil wizard Sujanaa min Raghbah. Sujanaa had a mystical gem that granted him enormous powers and fulfilled all his wishes. However, when Adam and Sujanaa fought, the gem refused to respond to Sujanaa’s commands. During the fight, the gem was broken, and from it emerged the same woman Adam had seen in his dreams. She explained she was a genie named Elalyth, and, after destroying her captor, she granted Adam immortality. The two developed an unbreakable bond and became lovers.

Eventually, they had children, and those children and their descendants became known as Destines, or Clan Destine. Thanks to being human-Djinn hybrids, the ClanDestines gained the superpowers of Djinn and they are quasi-immortal. Similar to Ms. Marvel, the powers of the Djinn in Marvel comics are not well-defined, but they have immortality and vast magical powers. This manifests in different ways with various members of Clan Destine; Adam, for example, can not be harmed by any weapon or attack, including psychic attacks, while one of their sons, Albert, has the ability to heal others.

Why Ms. Marvel Changes The Clan Destine So Much

As with Kamala’s powers, Ms. Marvel considerably changes Clan Destine from the comics. Instead of being a mystical, but very much Earth-born race, the Djinn of Ms. Marvel are more akin to how Thor, Loki, and the Eternals fit into the MCU. In their cases, they are races from another realm or planet, and their interactions with humankind over the years have led to the creation of multiple mythologies. In this case, ClanDestines have seemingly become the basis for the Djinn myth. It’s unclear if they had visited Earth before the 1940s ClanDestine flashback in Ms. Marvel episode 3, or if so, for how long had they been visiting. Seeing as how they’re referred to as the Djinn, it would appear they’ve been around for quite a long time. Not only that, but they’re trying to get back to their own realm, the Noor Dimension, which does not exist in Marvel comics.

The changes make sense, however. Keeping to the Clan Destine origins of the comics would have created many of the same problems that the introduction of the Eternals did: Namely, if these superpowered creatures had been living on Earth for millennia, why haven’t they gotten involved with humanity? Changing their backstory so that they are from another dimension but only became trapped on Earth relatively recently (in theory) negates the need to explain where they’ve been and why humanity hasn’t known of them.

Changing the ClanDestines to be from another dimension, and linked to cosmic energy, also brings Ms. Marvel more in line with the rest of the MCU. This is especially important considering that in Kamala’s next adventure, The Marvels, Ms. Marvel will be teamed up with two cosmically powered superheroes in Captain Marvel and Monica Rambeau. Her powers being of the same fundamental cosmic origin as theirs makes for much smoother storytelling.

Even if Marvel hadn’t changed up the ClanDestines’ origins and backstory for Ms. Marvel, it was smart to change Kamala’s own origins from Inhuman to ClanDestine. Considering their deep ties to British Occupied India (now Pakistan) and the Djinn’s influence on Islamic culture, it’s a far more fitting background for Kamala. Ms. Marvel has done a fantastic job of honoring Kamala Khan’s Muslim faith and her Pakistani heritage. Making her one of Clan Destine, however, goes one step further in honoring Kamala’s roots in a really clever way.