The Marvel Cinematic Universe is, by this point, a grand tapestry of content produced by Kevin Feige and his team at Marvel Studios. Spanning twenty-seven feature films and five television series (numbers which grow all the time) the MCU has continuously pleased its general audience and devoted fanbase, by faithfully adapting characters from the comic books in cool and interesting ways.
Heroes like Tony Stark aka, Iron Man and Captain America may have led the charge in the early days of the shared universe, but the MCU has only gotten more and more diverse and inclusive since then. Marvel made its first two female-led films in 2018 and 2019 with Ant-Man and the Wasp and Captain Marvel, respectively, and shattered box office records and expectations with Black Panther and Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings which were headlined by mostly Black and Asian cast members.
The Marvel Studios Visual Development Team is crucial in bringing these heroes to screen and is largely responsible for the signature looks and visual stylings possessed by each character. The MCU would not look nearly the same without this vital department.
A Tribute To The MCU's Leading Ladies
Andy Park, Marvel Studios' Director of Visual Development, who has worked on popular MCU projects like WandaVision and Black Widow has been taking to Instagram recently and posting a portrait a day.
These illustrations center on the women of the MCU and hang at Disneyland's prestigious and notoriously private 1901 lounge. The club is reserved for members only and is not open to the public.
As one can see, starting from the top left-hand corner, the drawings include Carol Danvers aka, Captain Marvel, Natasha Romanoff aka, Black Widow, General of Wakanda's Dora Milaje Okoye, brilliant inventor, Shuri, ex-Asgardian Valkyrie Brunnhilde, and the Scarlet Witch herself, Wanda Maximoff. The Bottom row also shows Hope van Dyne aka, The Wasp, Gamora, Daughter of Thanos, and empathic Guardian of the Galaxy, Mantis.
Here, Park himself stands alongside his work.
Park shared the following with the images:
And finally here are some pics I took at the 1901 Lounge with the drawings I did of nine “Women of the MCU.” It’s an honor to have been part of this Marvel Studios takeover of this classic & prestigious space w/in Disneyland California Adventure!
Side note: I wish I could’ve drawn more than just 9 as there are so many significant & awesome women in the MCU. But at the end of the day I could only draw 9. So these are the ones I picked. MAYBE I’ll draw more eventually… 🤔 WHO would you want to see??
Park also posted a display case containing Natasha's white suit from 2021's Black Widow.
Also in the Instagram post is a photo of Park and a woman sitting at the bar in the 1901 Lounge.
The Marvel Cinematic Universe is, by this point, a grand tapestry of content produced by Kevin Feige and his team at Marvel Studios. Spanning twenty-seven feature films and five television series (numbers which grow all the time) the MCU has continuously pleased its general audience and devoted fanbase, by faithfully adapting characters from the comic books in cool and interesting ways.
Heroes like Tony Stark aka, Iron Man and Captain America may have led the charge in the early days of the shared universe, but the MCU has only gotten more and more diverse and inclusive since then. Marvel made its first two female-led films in 2018 and 2019 with Ant-Man and the Wasp and Captain Marvel, respectively, and shattered box office records and expectations with Black Panther and Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings which were headlined by mostly Black and Asian cast members.
The Marvel Studios Visual Development Team is crucial in bringing these heroes to screen and is largely responsible for the signature looks and visual stylings possessed by each character. The MCU would not look nearly the same without this vital department.
A Marvelous Collection of Illustrations
These drawings are quite cool and seem to be done primarily with charcoal, which would account for the dark markings on the striking white backgrounds.
It's also significant that these female heroes are being honored in such a fashion. And while Park says in his Instagram post that he wishes he could've done even more illustrations for this set, he also leaves the door open for more of these depictions of MCU women at some point in the future.
The next female-led MCU project looks to be She-Hulk on Disney+, featuring Tatiana Maslany as Bruce Banner's attorney cousin and superhero, Jennifer Walters. The series will drop sometime in 2022.
