Guardians Of The Galaxy 2: Alternate Designs For Mantis

Cosmic Book News has gotten their hands on “Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2: The Art of the Movie” book and has posted four alternate designs for Mantis, an alien that was raised by Ego and has the ability to sense and change someone’s emotions by touching them.

As you can see in the concept art below, Marvel Studios’ art department initially gave Mantis green skin like her comic book counterpart. However, by the time filming began, they instead applied an artificial flesh-tone to Pom Klementieff (Spike Lee’s Oldboy). I’ll assume they made the change in order to help audiences differentiate her from the Guardians’ other green-skinned member: Gamora.

Aside from her skin color, concept artists also explored the addition of (yellow, red, and grey) facial markings and the positioning of her antennae.

In the comics, Mantis is a half-Vietnamese, half-German hero with psychic powers, martial arts skills, and ties to the Kree empire. She’s the daughter of the morally ambiguous character Libra and has been a member of both the Guardians and the Avengers.

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Set to the backdrop of ‘Awesome Mixtape #2,’ Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 continues the team’s adventures as they traverse the outer reaches of the cosmos. The Guardians must fight to keep their newfound family together as they unravel the mysteries of Peter Quill’s true parentage. Old foes become new allies and fan-favorite characters from the classic comics will come to our heroes’ aid as the Marvel cinematic universe continues to expand.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 is written and directed by James Gunn (Slither). The film marks the return of the original Guardians, including Chris Pratt (Jurassic World) as Peter Quill/Star-Lord; Zoe Saldana (Star Trek Into Darkness) as Gamora; Dave Bautista (Spectre) as Drax; Vin Diesel (Furious 7) as the voice of Groot; Bradley Cooper (American Sniper) as the voice of Rocket; Michael Rooker (Jumper) as Yondu; Karen Gillan (The Big Short) as Nebula; and Sean Gunn (Gilmore Girls) as Kraglin. New cast members include Pom Klementieff (Oldboy), Elizabeth Debicki (The Great Gatsby, Everest), Chris Sullivan (The Knick, The Drop) and Kurt Russell (The Hateful Eight, The Thing).

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 is scheduled to hit theaters on May 5, 2017.