Ms. Marvel Directors Reveal Season Finale's Anime Influences
The first season of Ms. Marvel gave fans so much to think about, while sending the story of Kamala Khan / Ms. Marvel (Iman Vellani) into a whole new territory. One of the things that fans have been loving about the finale is its approach to Kamala's powers, which took some distinct visual liberties within the climactic battle scene. While Kamala's powers haven't been a straight translation from the comics, the show utilized various cosmic constructs to convey her stretchy powers — and according to the episode's directors, those were rooted in a unique place of inspiration. In an interview with ComicBook.com following the Ms. Marvel finale, directors and executive producers Bilall Fallah and Adil El Arbi revealed that some of Kamala's fighting style was inspired by Dragon Ball Z.
"With our visual effects artist Nordin Rahhali, we were exploring what we could do with this power and having that 'Embiggen' moment," Fallah explained. "That was that image that's that really manga, almost like Dragon Ball Z influence. "All these cool things that, yeah, that we explored. And I just think that when we were doing it, we felt there is so much more we can do. And I think we just hit the tip of the iceberg."
Fallah and El Arbi also dove into how the finale was influenced by the work of Edgar Wright, something they had cited in a recent social media post about meeting him.
"It was important that the last episode is a climax," Fallah said elsewhere in the interview. "It has to go 'boom, boom, boom,' to a climax that hits you in the heart at the end. That was really our intention, to make it fast paced, but at the same time, really have those emotional moments. So, finding that balance was tricky, but I think we managed to get it there and still have the big action, still have those emotional moments with the mother and with the father. Which were, for me, very special scenes that really touch you emotionally. And then you have her the bigger moment that she's really being Ms. Marvel. That contrast — it was tricky to find it, but I think we managed to."
"We also wanted to put the animation in it, because in the pilot, that was something that was very, very important to us," El Arbi added. "That fantasy sequence and all that. We still wanted to have a version of that in the finale, so that's why we came up with that Home Alone sequence, where she would explain it on the chalkboard and all that. You really see that flavor that's obviously also inspired by Edgar Wright. That's how we managed, after all, to still have that kind of identity of the show and of the thing that we tried to do in the pilot."
The first season of Ms. Marvel is now available to stream exclusively on Disney+. If you haven't checked out Disney+ yet and you want to give it a go, you can do that here.
Note: This is not a sponsored post, but if you purchase one of the awesome products featured above, we may earn a small commission from the retailer. Thank you for your support.
