Now that all six episodes of Ms. Marvel have been released, fans can fully take in the origin story of teenager Kamala Khan as she discovers her powers and her place in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The Disney+ series, in addition to being well-received, does some major setup for the upcoming MCU film, The Marvels, which will see Kamala team up with Monica Rambeau and Brie Larson's Carol Danvers.
There's a ton that goes into making a television show like Ms. Marvel. Thousands of hours are spent developing and refining the overall look and feel, with concept artists often turning in dazzling works that illustrate the scope of what the studio is trying to accomplish. Pieces of concept art from the series have been making their way online as of late, with some showing concepts and ideas that didn't make it into the final cut.
And that's the peril of working as a concept artist for a major studio like Marvel; it might not use everything one creates. If it does, it could be heavily revised. Such is the case of some newly-revealed illustrations by Emmanuel Shiu, who worked on Ms. Marvel long before cameras began rolling.
Ms. Marvel Art Shows a Mysterious World
Emmanuel Shiu, a concept artist on Ms. Marvel has posted pieces that he created for the show's production. As he points out in his tweets, the otherworldly realm seen in the art below didn't make it into the show and was left on the cutting room floor, something that appears to have brought Shiu a great deal of disappointment.
A figure, perhaps Kamala herself, is shown in a red-hued world with an ominous-looking structure before her:
In this drawing, Kamala uses her abilities to create a series of platforms leading up to what looks to be a temple of some kind:
Then, there's an interior of some sort of castle with a purple crystal in the center. Could this be part of the Noor dimension that the Clandestines were so intent on getting back to?
More Clandestine Exploring Meant for Ms. Marvel?
Emmanuel Shiu should feel justified in his disappointment over Marvel not using this art for the series as it's striking. One has to wonder what this strange world's place was in the narrative.
In Episodes 4 and 5 of Ms. Marvel, Kamala's bangle transports her back in time to 1947 in order to rescue her grandmother. Maybe instead of that sequence, Kamala was meant to be whisked away to whatever place is depicted in Shiu's artwork. It's interesting to speculate on, and if that was indeed the case, then it probably wasn't fully realized due to budgetary issues. All those environments would likely have been done with CGI and that costs money.
As speculated above, could this art possibly be showing the Noor Dimension? Fans of the show will recall that Kamala meets resistance in the form of the Clandestine, a mysterious group from another plane of existence. The Clandestines wish to go back to the Noor dimension, where they originally called home. Audiences don't see what it looks like inside this world, but it's quite possible that it resembles what's shown in Emmanuel Shiu's art.
Whatever the case may be, the entire season of Marvel Studios' Ms. Marvel can now be streamed exclusively on Disney+.
