She-Hulk: Attorney at Law's finale was filled with intriguing moments that tested the limits of its fourth-wall-breaking approach, but it seems that those involved in its development expected that one key plot point would be removed due to it being described as "bizarre."
She-Hulk: Attorney at Law head writer Jessica Gao even noted that the team "really, really struggled with the finale," as they kept making it one's standard Marvel Studios affair.
The MCU producer also shared that Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige "was the first to pinpoint" that something was off, saying, "He was like, ‘This isn’t a Marvel movie. So why are you trying to make it end like a Marvel movie?"
While that setback would've dampened the morale of She-Hulk's creative team, the show's VFX crew appears to be one that was hit the hardest in terms of managing their expectations for a certain key sequence.
She-Hulk's VFX Crew Opens Up About KEVIN Plot
Speaking with Comicbook.com, She-Hulk: Attorney at Law's VFX crew talked about the development of the KEVIN plot point in the finale.
When Comicbook asked what it was like to work closely on a parody of their boss, Digital Domain Animation Supervisor Elizabeth Bernard admitted that it was "scary, but it was pretty cool."
Bernard also explained how they manage to incorporate Feige's mannerisms into KEVIN in the finale:
"Oh yeah, that's scary, but it was pretty cool. We dug up some old Comic-Con footage of him giving a 30-minute interview. We had that on our system, so that the animators could really dive in and see if they could find things that he did that made him feel like himself. One thing that we noticed was — he talks with his hands a lot, so we found a couple of unique ways that he would hold his hands together when he was making a point. And we ended up using that a lot in the K.E.V.I.N. sequence on the robot. We would often have visible claws come together and grasp one another. And of course, there's the hat."
Digital Domain VFX Supervisor Jan Philip Cramer chimed in, revealing that most of them were surprised that the KEVIN plot point made it in the finale due to it being "bizarre:"
"The nice thing was we started this super early. I think most of us on the team were not thinking that this would be in the show, because it seems so bizarre. We then read the dialogue that was meant to happen and saw 'Oh, it's not just that they make fun of it visually. They make really fun of a lot of things in that sequence. Let's see if that stays. And it did."
Cramer then shared that the original idea is to feature KEVIN as "this older robot that's about to fall apart:"
"It was a really nice journey, because we helped from the very beginning. I think one of the first things we did, besides She-Hulk was we did K.E.V.I.N. We did some random animations of him, and they liked it a lot. Our idea was just this older robot that's about to fall apart. We designed the room, [and] it's meant to be like an old '70s sports bar that was amazing at the time, but now it's not so cool. There's dust everywhere and scratch marks. Somebody got to clean this thing up, but he is in there and happy and all wired in. Over the months, we saw it always change and evolve, and then a year-and-a-half later or two years later, it was in the [series]. Unbelievable. Super cool."
Bernard and Cramer then recalled how KEVIN was part of their "kickoff" when explaining the show to a new animator in their team:
Bernard: "It was crazy thing to have to keep secret for all of that time, that we were working on K.E.V.I.N. The Kevin, Kevin Feige."
Cramer: "And his name is K.E.V.I.N., so you're like, 'Ugh, nobody can talk about that. This is going to be trouble.'"
Bernard: "Every time we would have a new animator join our team, I would give them a kickoff, and explain the plot and all the characters, and give them all the context for the show. My coordinator on the show always liked the moment when I would drop the K.E.V.I.N. bomb in that kickoff meeting. Because the animators, most of them know who Kevin Feige is. A lot of us have worked on a bunch of Marvel projects before, and you would just see the jaw drop, or the eyes get big like, 'What? What? What's happening?' It was so funny."
Will Fans See KEVIN Again in the MCU?
It is unknown if KEVIN will return following the events of She-Hulk: Attorney at Law's finale, but reading the comments of the show's VFX crew might warrant a return. However, a comeback seems to be only possible in fourth-wall-breaking projects, such as She-Hulk and Deadpool 3.
Still, the interview gave insight into how developing a bizarre idea like this one is a tedious yet fun process. The fact that the VFX team actually studied the mannerisms of Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige to incorporate them into KEVIN further cements their dedication to the craft.
Moreover, it's safe to say that the team handled the development of KEVIN with poise despite being scared that it might be scrapped due to both being historic and risky.
While having a parody of Feige in She-Hulk's finale is clearly a boss move for the MCU series, there is still a good chunk of fans who want the real Marvel Studios president to end up as a cameo in a future project similar to what Marvel creator Stan Lee did through the years.
She-Hulk: Attorney at Law is streaming on Disney+.
