Amanat was born in New Jersey to Pakistani immigrants. Her family is Muslim.[3] Throughout her childhood, Amanat had trouble fitting in and struggled with self-identity.[8]
After college, Amanat worked in magazine publishing for a few years. She then worked for an indie comic book company, Virgin Comics.[9][11] There, Amanat learned about graphic storytelling. Two years later, the company went out of business.[9]
Amanat's next career move was to join Marvel Comics in 2009. According to Amanat, an executive at Marvel approached her for the job because she was different from their average employee. She said that the executive told her she had "something different to offer than the regular fanboy who has read comics since he was a kid. She has a different voice, and they need her voice in order to change Marvel."[12] Amanat runs the annual Women of Marvel panel at Comic Con and does work to make Marvel characters more diverse.[2] Since 2014[update], Amanat has also co-hosted the Women of Marvel podcast;[13] by 2020, the podcast had released over 200 episodes.[14]
At TEDxTeen 2014, Amanat gave a talk titled "Myths, Misfits & Masks"[15] where she spoke on "how societal constructs and stereotype affect self-image and worth and how comic book storytelling in particular helps manage the expectations of others through a positive lens".[16]
In 2014, she co-created Marvel's first solo series to feature a female Muslim superhero, the relaunched Ms. Marvel comic; the series was headlined by a new character, Kamala Khan. The conception of Khan came about during a conversation between Amanat and Marvel editor Stephen Wacker. Amanat said, "I was telling him some crazy anecdote about my childhood, growing up as a Muslim American. He found it hilarious." The pair then told G. Willow Wilson about the concept and Wilson became eager to jump aboard the project.[17] Amanat said that the series came from a "desire to explore the Muslim-American diaspora from an authentic perspective."[18]Ms. Marvel Volume 1: No Normal was the best-selling graphic novel in October 2014[19] and it won the Hugo Award for Best Graphic Story in 2015.[20] Several volumes of the series have been on The New York Times Best Seller list of paperback graphic books.[a] As of August 2018, Ms. Marvel has sold half a million trade paperbacks, not including digital sales.[25][26]Ms. Marvel has also sold well digitally,[27] and has at times been Marvel's top digital seller overall.[28][needs update]
Amanat has been the Director of Content and Character Development at Marvel Comics since February 2015[update].[2][29][30]Vox called her the "Shonda Rhimes of Marvel comics" in 2015.[2] Amanat was co-executive producer on the animated television filmMarvel Rising: Secret Warriors (2018) and the subsequent animated specials in the Marvel Rising series.[31][32] She was also co-executive producer on the unscripted documentary series Marvel's Hero Project (2019).[33][34] Amanat joined Marvel Studios by mid-2019, where she is an executive of production and development.[35][1]: 23 She is as an executive producer on Marvel Studios' Ms. Marvel (2022), a Disney+ television adaptation based on the comic series of the same name;[36][37] she cameos in the third episode of the series.[38][39]
Inspiration
In her Ted Talk, Amanat stated that "the big idea behind Ms. Marvel [was] very much about minority representation, the bigger idea was about finding your authentic self". While creating the comic, she drew on her own experience as the child of Pakistani immigrants in the New Jersey suburbs in hopes that the next generation will not experience identity rejection as she did through a relatable superhero.[9][7]
^By November 2014, Ms. Marvel Volume 1: No Normal reached No. 2 on The New York Times Best Seller list of paperback graphic books.[21] In April 2015, Ms. Marvel Volume 2: Generation Why debuted at #4 on The New York Times Best Seller list of paperback graphic books.[22] In July 2015, Ms. Marvel Volume 3: Crushed debuted at #3 on The New York Times Best Seller list of paperback graphic books.[23] In July 2016, Ms. Marvel Volume 5: Super Famous debuted at #3 on The New York Times Best Seller list of paperback graphic books.[24]
