Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2: Mantis Creator Explains Character’s Weird Origin

Steve Englehart has had a tumultuous and storied history with Marvel Comics, but the writer crafted some prolific stories while working for the publisher. In fact, two of his creations are featured in the latest Marvel Studios blockbuster, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2.

The creator already detailed his reaction to seeing Star-Lord on the big screen for the first time, and now he mentioned some interesting details that went into his use of his other character Mantis who is debuting in her first movie.

While speaking with Hitfix, Englehart said that a version of Mantis had popped up in many stories he wrote after he first created her, including comics and novels under different publishers.

“I left Marvel and went over to DC and I went to the San Diego comic book convention,” Englehart revealed. “Somebody came up to me and said, ‘Does this mean we’re never gonna see Mantis again?’ And being a young comic book writer I said, ‘I’ll figure out a way that you can.’ So that led to Mantis showing up in the Justice League –under another name [Willow] of course– because Mantis has a copyright to Marvel Comics.

“But I had a lot of fun with that Justice League story where this alien woman shows up and says ‘I can’t tell you where I come from, I can’t give you my history, but here I am.’ And that was fun! So I said, ‘Well then I’ll put her in everything that I ever do,’” Englehart said.

The character then appeared in Englehart’s indie comic Scorpio Rose as a character named Lorelai.

“But then as life continued to unfold I realized I couldn’t put her in everything I ever did,” Englehart added. “I mean I recognize there’s a fine line between fun and indulgence. So she kind of didn’t appear for a long time.”

Now that the character is gaining prominence after her big screen debut in the new Guardians Of The Galaxy movie, Englehart said he’s able to separate the comics from the movies because they’re “a different thing.”

“I mean, she is my firstborn, in a sense. She’s a character that I really learned a lot about the craft of writing comics and so forth while writing her and the rest of the Avengers and everything else,” Englehart said. “But, I mean, she is sort of deep in the DNA of what it is that I do and just again more out of just being young and creatively free. She sort of then followed me to DC. She followed me to Eclipse. She followed me to Tor. I’m not obsessed with her but she’s just kind of there for me to do that. That’s kind of part of who she is, someone I can do that kind of stuff with. I do hope they do a good job with her in this movie. I hope that she comes off well. But, I don’t know. That’s where every one of those stories always ends up: I don’t know.”

You can see the Marvel Studios version of Mantis on the big screen in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 in theaters now.

Did you like her portrayal by actor Pom Klementieff? Let us know with your vote in the Anticipation Rankings below!

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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).