"Time and Again" is the fifth episode of the American television miniseries Ms. Marvel, based on Marvel Comics featuring the character Ms. Marvel. It follows Kamala Khan, who time-travels from the present to 1947, and her great-grandmother Aisha before and during the partition of India. The episode is set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), sharing continuity with the films of the franchise. It was written by Fatimah Asghar and directed by Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy.
Iman Vellani stars as Kamala Khan, alongside Matt Lintz, Zenobia Shroff, Rish Shah, Samina Ahmad, Fawad Khan, Nimra Bucha, Mehwish Hayat, Adaku Ononogbo, and Aramis Knight. Obaid-Chinoy joined the series by September 2020 to direct two episodes.
"Time and Again" was released on Disney+ on July 6, 2022.
Plot
In India, 1942, Aisha takes refuge in a village, where Hasan, an Indian independence activist, offers her food and shelter. They fall in love and have a child, Sana. Five years later in 1947, Aisha's former friend Najma finds Aisha and orders her to retrieve the latter's bangle. Aisha leaves it with Sana and attempts to flee to the new nation of Pakistan with her family during the partition of India but Najma finds and stabs her. Hasan and Sana are separated in the chaos. Aisha's great-granddaughter Kamala Khan appears from 2025 and is able to interact with Aisha, who asks her to guide Sana before dying. Conjuring a projection of stars to lead Sana to her father, Khan realizes she was the one destined to reunite them.
Returning to the present, she finds that Najma's strike had opened the Veil of the Noor dimension, which separates it from Earth, but it vaporizes anyone who interacts with it. Najma transfers her power to her son Kamran before sacrificing herself to close the Veil. An older Sana and her daughter Muneeba find Kamala and the latter accepts her daughter's powers. Meanwhile, Kamran seeks refuge with Khan's best friend Bruno Carrelli. After being attacked by a Department of Damage Control drone, Kamran destroys it, but the ensuing explosion obliterates the store below them.
Production
Development
By August 2019, Marvel Studios had begun development on a Ms. Marvel television series for the streaming service Disney+. In September 2020, Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy was hired to direct three episodes, ultimately directing two episodes, including the fifth. Executive producers include Marvel Studios' Kevin Feige, Louis D'Esposito, Victoria Alonso, and Brad Winderbaum, in addition to Kamala Khan co-creator Sana Amanat, lead directors Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah, and head writer Bisha K. Ali. The fifth episode, titled "Time and Again", was written by Fatimah Asghar.
Writing
Ali revealed that more material regarding the Clandestines, Noor dimension, and the Red Daggers had been created that was unable to be included in the series because of the COVID-19 pandemic and other time constraints. She explained that the Noor dimension was never going to subsume another universe, with the ending an "emotional climax" between Najma, who was "a different kind of mother", and Kamala, who was "representing her kind of family", with Kamala "coming into her fight style" of approaching defensively first to deescalate and learning how to "deal with these difficult situations".
Casting
The episode stars Iman Vellani as Kamala Khan, Matt Lintz as Bruno Carrelli, Zenobia Shroff as Muneeba Khan, Rish Shah as Kamran, Samina Ahmad as Sana, Fawad Khan as Hasan, Nimra Bucha as Najma, Mehwish Hayat as Aisha, Adaku Ononogbo as Fariha, and Aramis Knight as Kareem / Red Dagger. Also appearing are Vardah Aziz as Zainab, Asfandyar Khan as Owais, Zion Usman as young Sana, Shyam Annabathula as Rohan, and Bilal Dar as the voice of Rohan.
Design
The series' main-on-end title sequence was designed by Perception who were given visuals by Marvel Studios of Karachi to develop the sequence. Perception designed the murals, "combining elements from the Jersey City sequence with the culture and aesthetics of Karachi".