She-Hulk: Attorney at Law has come to an end (for now). The super-powered streaming comedy introduced audiences to a different type of MCU story, playing much more like TV comedies akin to The Office or Ally McBeal than the typical Marvel fare. This departure saw a creative fourth wall-breaking finale in which Tatiana Maslany's titular hero broke reality, ventured into the real world, and came face-to-face with the mind behind the MCU, an all-knowing AI named KEVIN.
This KEVIN moment, even though it may have felt perfect for the self-aware tone of the series, took a long time to perfect. She-Hulk showrunner Jessica Gao has been quoted as saying the finale (and in turn this moment) took about "20 versions" before the team ultimately settled on what viewers got.
With all these iterations came any number of concepts for the KEVIN robot himself, something fans are only just getting to see for the first time.
The Many Faces of KEVIN
Concept artist Jeff Simpson tweeted early concept drawings of the KEVIN AI seen in the She-Hulk finale, which are a major departure from the design the show ended up with.
Early versions of the robotic Marvel Studios head all featured a Marvel ballcap similar to the one worn by real-life MCU headman Kevin Feige.
A couple of these early drawings had the robot looking much more like a droid from the Star Wars franchise, being a little more rigid and fridge-shaped than what fans ultimately got.
Another design had the AI look like something pulled straight out of Akira, with long tendrils splayed out the back of it.
And the last concept for this costumed hivemind looks awfully similar to the one seen in the series with a couple of small changes including a more round headpiece and a long cylindrical body below it.
The artist also shared a couple of photos of concepts for the group of demon beasts .
These included a full evolution of these bright red monsters going from a terrifyingly-adorable infant to a horned more mature beast.
This horned adult looks much more anthropomorphic being able to stand upright and sporting some sort of flying-squirrel-esque webbing.
And another of these concepts donned what looks to be a bat demon, looking much less human, with wide black wings and a set of massive fangs.
The demon concepts bear the broad strokes of the final design seen in the episode, though She-Hulk's monsters are far less terrifying.
A Different-Looking She-Hulk
Having now seen what the actual KEVIN looks like, it will be neat for fans to take in what could have been. Most of these concepts have the same overall vibe as what audiences ultimately got in She-Hulk's finale, but with a few differences.
Of course, the biggest departure is the burgundy and gold hivemind-looking concept. This one look has a completely different tonal feel to what the show ended up going with, being much more based on neo-science fiction/cyberpunk than an actual practical-looking machine.
Seeing these it is probably best the way that She-Hulk's creative team went the way they did with KEVIN. The robot seen on screen, while not a straight humanoid, does feature more human elements like a trio of lenses that resemble eyes. And that is the one drawback with a few of these designs, some of them come off looking like an industrial computer tower with no discernable human element for viewers to latch on to.
She-Hulk: Attorney at Law can be seen now on Disney+.
