The science savvy Bruno Carrelli is best friends with Kamala Khan, AKA Ms. Marvel, and becomes her technologically-inclined sidekick.
A Love of Science
Raised Catholic, second generation Italian-American Bruno Carrelli and his brother Vittorio “Vick” live in Jersey City with their grandparents, immigrants from Napoli, Italy. At a young age, he meets Kamala Khan and they bond over their love of Tween Mutant Samurai Turtles. When Bruno’s grandparents struggle, the Khan family offers to pay for Bruno’s school fees.
Bruno and Kamala grow close over the years, even to the point where Bruno harbors a crush on her. As a teenager, Bruno works at the Circle Q convenience store, and possesses an aptitude for science.
Boy Genius
Bruno is a boy genius, boasting an IQ of 170. With a love of science and technical know-how, he designs and builds all kinds of technology, including a device that senses extraterrestrial activity, a miniature nuclear power generator, and his own hovercraft.
After suffering paralysis on his left side from an explosion that he inadvertently caused, Bruno receives a full-body brace to help him walk without a crutch. The brace, imbued with Vibranium, is thanks to the kindness of his friend Kwezi whom Bruno meets while attending school in the advanced African nation of Wakanda.
Super Villain Enemies
The Inventor—a clone hybrid of the famed inventor Thomas Edison whose DNA was contaminated by that of the pet cockatiel of his creator, enigmatic scientist Knox—ended up an enemy of Ms. Marvel and Bruno’s by proxy since he was her sidekick.
The psychiatrist Dr. Johann Fennhoff, AKA Doctor Faustus, is a master manipulator who brainwashes Bruno to go up against Ms. Marvel. Though he fails as Ms. Marvel and her allies defeat him.
Best Friends
Close friends with Kamala, Bruno remains at her side as she transitions into life as a the teenage Super Hero Ms. Marvel. He uses his technical knowledge and love of science to help her fight crime and helps keep her alter-ego secret from her parents Yusuf and Muneeba “Ammi” Khan. But their constant closeness results in a change in their friendship, with Bruno harboring a crush on her. But Kamala’s brother Aamir discourages Bruno from pursuing her, citing his parents as the reason who expect their daughter to marry a Muslim, to pass along their religion, their language, and their pride into the next generation. Despite being discouraged, Bruno continues working with her as her sidekick until they become divided about what was right. Bruno takes matters into his own hands, which upends their relationship and leaves him seriously injured. They eventually reconcile and end up being more than friends.
While Bruno attends a prestigious school in Wakanda, he meets Kwezi, a fellow student, his roommate, and nephew to King T’Challa, AKA Black Panther. Kwezi nicknames him “Yankee Doodle” because he’s a Yankee and he doodles. But Kwezi nearly gets Bruno into serious trouble when they steal some Vibranium together, all to design a Vibranium-imbued full-body brace so Bruno can walk without a crutch. Kwezi is a true friend that Bruno didn’t know he had until he revealed his intentions.
A Sidekick’s Story
When Kamala Khan attends a party against her parents' wishes, a concerned Bruno calls her parents behind her back, alerting them to her presence there. Kamala was subsequently grounded and angry with Bruno for getting her into trouble with her parents. She agreed to meet him at the Circle Q where he worked, only to find him at the mercy of a masked gunman. Kamala transformed into her Carol Danvers appearance after her idol, the original Ms. Marvel Carol Danvers, AKA Captain Marvel, and confronted the gunman but was accidentally shot in the abdomen. As the gunman fled, Kamala returned to her normal form, revealing her true self and powers to Bruno. The change healed her wound but prevented her from shape-shifting. Bruno surmised that his brother Vick was the gunman who attempted the robbery on behalf of the Inventor.
Bruno and Kamala worked together and tracked down Vick to an abandoned house guarded by other teens and small armed robots. Kamala was outnumbered and fled. Bruno meanwhile had been developing an elastic polymer for a college scholarship, which he shared with Kamala so she could modify her costume and become a Super Hero in her own right, as opposed to impersonating Danvers. Kamala then successfully rescued Vick. Shortly thereafter, an effigy appeared in front of Circle Q and Kamala showed up to pronounce herself as Ms. Marvel, Jersey City’s resident Super Hero. Bruno soon became Kamala’s closest confidant knowing her secret and her sidekick to boot.
When the Inventor’s robots tracked Kamala down, he demolished the school. Kamala barely fended off the robot before falling unconscious with Bruno present. Suddenly the loyal protector of the Inhuman Royal Family, Lockjaw, transported the pair to New Attilan where Inhuman physician Vinatos treated her injuries. Kamala awoke to find Medusalith Amaquelin Boltagon, AKA Medusa, Queen of the Inhumans, who revealed their shared Inhuman heritage. She and Bruno soon returned home only to find the Inventor had been using teenagers as a power source as part of a plan to reduce overpopulation and the global carbon footprint. Bruno called the local police while Lockjaw and Kamala destroyed the Inventor’s final robot, which landed atop the Inventor and apparently killed him.
When Kamala became attracted to Kamran, a well-to-do son of family friends, Kamala’s brother Aamir noticed Bruno’s affections for Kamala and told him that they’d never amount to anything—their parents wanted to see their daughter with someone like them, a Muslim who shared their values and heritage. Despite this setback, and not admitting his feelings to Aamir, he helped Kamala escape Kamran and his ally, the electricity-manipulating Kaboom, who attempted to recruit Kamala into the Inhuman Lineage’s diabolical plan to destroy the non-Inhuman population.
When the final Incursion occurred, marking the end of the universe, Bruno finally admitted he had feelings for Kamala. However, she gently rejected him despite openly reciprocating because she wanted to devote her time to her heroic career, should they survive. After the subsequent collapse and restoration of the Multiverse, Ms. Marvel joined the Avengers while Bruno became brainwashed by Doctor Faustus, who was using Ms. Marvel’s likeness to promote gentrification in the form of the Hope Yards Development and Relocation Association—actually a front for the global terrorist organization Hydra. Thanks to Kamala and Bruno’s new girlfriend, Michaela “Mike” Gutierrez Miller, Bruno was released from Faustus’ control, suffering a migraine afterward.
Bruno later wanted to make a form of armor out of Kamala’s mother’s bangles and asked permission. Kamala’s mother, Ammi, knew about her daughter’s alter-ego and allowed him to take them. He also saw an opportunity to make use of their hollow design so Kamala could hold her cell phone and other items in them.
Later, Bruno, Mike, Kamala and a couple other friends entered a science competition held in Madison Square Garden, presenting their project, Skyshark—pressurized environments for endangered marine animals to combat the threat climate change poses to the world’s oceans and its majestic mammals. Their competition, the brain-from-Brooklyn, Miles Morales, AKA Spider-Man, was steep and it put both Kamala and Bruno on edge. When Mike called them out for taking it personally, Bruno snapped at her but quickly apologized and hugged her. For round two of the competition, Bruno presented an unfinished project, the Fusionmaster 2000, a miniature nuclear power generator, which soon exploded. Kamala changed into her Ms. Marvel costume and got to saving people, alongside Spider-Man and another hero, Sam Alexander, AKA Nova.
Ms. Marvel then joined Captain Marvel’s new task force, the Cadets, formed to use the Inhuman Ulysses’ visions to predict crime before it happened. After she and the Cadets arrested fellow high school student Josh Richardson for planning on melting down her high school, Bruno joined their friends Zoe Zimmer and Nakia Bahadir at the Cadets' prison at a warehouse on the Jersey City waterfront, where they believe the Cadets were holding Josh illegally. Bruno fought with one of the cadets for locking someone up before a crime was committed but Kamala interrupted and insisted Josh stay in holding. Bruno was pretty upset, calling the Cadets “Junior Fascists,” and stormed out with their friends.
Bruno, with his technical know-how, built a device that would help him break Josh out, but little did he know that the Cadets put an electromagnetic lock on the door of the warehouse. The ensuing explosion left Bruno with lingering paralysis on his left side and he lost the use of his left hand as well—his dominant hand. After awakening at the hospital to discover his sad state of affairs, Kamala visited him but Bruno felt bitter towards her. He was faced with having to relearn how to walk and be without his dominant hand, and chose to leave her side as her sidekick since she had put the Cadets first over her friends. Despite losing the scholarships he was up for and getting expelled from Coles Academic High School, Bruno gets accepted into Golden City Polytechnic Prep, a prestigious science school in Wakanda. He told her he didn’t want to see her again and she left. He also broke up with Mike before he left, which she took hard.
While at the prep school, Bruno felt he was the idiot American, two years behind everyone else, and hated by his fellow students who thought of him as a charity case. When fellow student and Bruno’s roommate, the math genius, Kwezi, asked for his help with dating issues, Bruno goes along with it as opposed to remaining a loner. Kwezi had this idea to steal Vibranium—a rare, ultra-resilient metal mined in Wakanda. While Bruno distracted the guards outside of Golden City Advanced Research where Vibranium was stored, Kwezi snuck in using his Kimoyo Band then blew up his car as a distraction to get Bruno past the guards.
Once they found an unrefined chunk of the metal, Kwezi handed Bruno a device to carefully remove a piece of Vibranium. At first, he refused, but Bruno realized that he needed to figure out how to use his non-dominant hand, which he did successfully. Meanwhile, Kwezi was busy turning off alarms along the outer perimeter, but failed to consider that the Vibranium might have alarms if tampered with as well. Making their escape, Kwezi kicked through a window. Hesitant at first, Bruno climbed onto the ledge outside, but tripped. Kwezi caught him, but he was dangling far above the ground. Afraid for how a fall could alter his life even more so, Bruno had an epiphany—he had a lot to live for. Suddenly, he and Kwezi were saved by Wakanda’s king T’Challa, the Black Panther.
T’Challa noted the serious nature of their foolishness, but Kwezi claimed it was for a good cause. Bruno called him out stating it was all to impress a girl, but Kwezi revealed his true aim—to create a full-body brace for Bruno, where the Vibranium could absorb kinetic energy and amplify the signals from Bruno’s nerves to help him walk without a crutch. Kwezi took responsibility for his actions, addressing T’Challa as “uncle,” to Bruno’s surprise. Bruno came to two realizations—how Kwezi had accessed the facility with his Kimoyo Band, and that Kwezi and the others didn’t hate him.
Bruno traveled back home with Kwezi, who upon arriving at the Newark International airport, insisted he use a wheelchair as a precaution. He reluctantly agreed, but his time at home was scheduled to be short; he had two weeks to decide whether he’d stay in Jersey City or return to Wakanda. He expressed to Kwezi that he wasn’t sure where he belonged anymore. They arrived at the Circle Q only to spot Ms. Marvel kissing a masked young man, Kareem, AKA Red Dagger. Bruno and Kamala caught up on the steps of Coles Academic High School, with Bruno revealing that he had some time to decide whether he was coming home or not, and if he did, that they needed boundaries, but were soon interrupted by a new student, Kaylee Kirk. As school was about to begin, Kamala offered to hold Bruno’s hand if he should feel unsteady; shortly thereafter, Mike appeared and, upon seeing them together, ran off crying. Kamala filled Bruno on everything he missed while he was gone, and he filled her in on his time in Wakanda. He told her about his doubts about returning and that he felt useless in Wakanda.
Later at their school’s Spring Fling dance, Kaylee turned out to be a robotic Super Villain, which Ms. Marvel revealed to everyone. With Red Dagger’s help, they defeated her. After reconciling with Mike and Kamala, Bruno decided to stay in Jersey City and said his goodbyes to Kwezi, thanking him for being such a great friend. Kwezi reminded him that he could always come back to Wakanda.
Bruno then made an extraterrestrial threat detector for Jersey City, which started to go nuts at the Circle Q while he was working a shift. Upon Kamala’s arrival following Bruno’s 911 text, a monstrous wolf in gold-plated armor wielding a medieval weapon crashed through the Circle Q. Ms. Marvel fought the beast, and after throwing it into a wall, it melted into a big pile of blue goop. Bruno asked if they were going to talk about their almost-kiss at the end of summer vacation (which had been interrupted when Kamala spotted her father with another woman, she thought was his mistress). However, Bruno’s device was still going off again, indicating something else was at the waterfront. When they arrived, it was a giant squawking bird firing blasters and wearing silver-plated armor. Bruno watched as Ms. Marvel fought the next attacker back until she enlarged her hands and crushed it between them, resulting in more blue goop. The signal was then showing up at Kamala’s house; she rushed off with Bruno telling her to be careful. She found her parents, but they too turned to goop. Bruno deduced that what Kamala saw was a trick and together they tracked down her real parents who had been captured by three peculiar mages from outer space who believe Kamala to be the “Destined One,” the one who would save their planet from destruction. Ammi insisted that she and her husband Yusuf would come to outer space with Kamala, and the mages departed immediately with them, leaving Bruno behind.
Kamala and her parents ended up on the distant planet of Saffa where the Beast Legions were about to attack, but Kamala discovered that a Kree soldier in a special nanotech suit was the original “Destined One.” By donning their suit, she drove away the attackers. She kept the suit and returned home to discover her father wasn’t cheating on her mother, he had a rare illness without a cure, and the woman Bruno and Kamala saw him with was his nurse.
Bruno started working out before school which helped with his mobility. While running, he caught up with Kamala at school and brought up their almost-kiss. Kamala admitted that maybe they should have, but things were different now with her dad’s incurable disease.
Later, while Yusuf was undergoing a procedure led by fellow Avenger Stephen Strange, AKA Doctor Strange, Bruno showed up at the hospital to offer emotional support to the Khan family. But then someone called for help, leading Kamala to rush off to be a hero. She found Calvin Zabo, AKA Mister Hyde, about to attack; saving the victim, Ms. Marvel fought Hyde back. He escaped into the parking lot and disappeared. Bruno caught up with Kamala, reassuring her that her family was safe. Kamala wasn’t sure what to do, but Bruno reassured her she would do the right thing, and told her he loved her, resulting in a kiss.
As Kamala’s new suit electrocuted her a couple times, Bruno saved her from drowning in the Hudson River with his new hovercar that he spent months building in his uncle’s garage. When he asked her what happened with the suit, Kamala surmised that the nanotech suit had absorbed impressions of her and extrapolated a version of her like a bad copy. She eventually defeated the copy and returned to her old suit. Afterward, Bruno and Kamala started dating but kept it a secret at first.
