Text from the dccomicsciclejerk sub (full thing there)
Meet Bilal. A character introduced in 2024 as part of a family of Muslim Pakistani immigrants. He exists solely to challenge Ms. Marvel, who is learning about oppression for the first time in Lanzing and Kelly’s NYX (2024)*. She just found out she’s a mutant, of course, and only mutants know what it’s like to face prejudice, scrutiny, and systemic violence.
To drive that point home, they’ve created Cousin Bilal. Cutting edge bigotry. A first or second gen Pakistani immigrant prejudiced against Americans who moved away for five years then came back.
As of issue 5, he’s a terrorist. Or at least, an aspiring one. It’s a really bold new direction for marvel because instead of being a religious extremist type terrorist like about 20% of their Muslim characters, he’s a Proud Boys white-supremacist style terrorist. Note the tacit endorsement of the guy famous for blowing up school busses full of children (Stryker).
