Ms. Marvel Cinematographer Jules O'Loughlin Reveals How The Multiverse Saved an Episode

By Liam Crowley

Ms. Marvel is the latest Marvel project to tackle bigger picture elements. The series integrated familiar storytelling beats like utilizing time travel (Avengers: Endgame), navigating high school as a secret superhero (Spider-Man: Homecoming). While the infamous M-word was never uttered, Ms. Marvel very much toyed with Multiversal concepts.

Speaking with ComicBook.com, cinematographer Jules O'Loughlin revealed that he used the Multiverse as a way to explain why Ms. Marvel's Karachi Railway Station is not a mirror image of the one in the real world.

"I will add this one thing that happened, which is really interesting. We had a location for the Karachi Railway Station, and it was a railway station in Bangkok that was really amazing," O'Loughlin explained. "And when we first saw that location, [director] Sharmeen [Obaid-Chinoy] said, 'Listen, we can't use this because Karachi Railway Station doesn't look like this.' It has elements that are similar to the Karachi one, but it's nothing like it. And I said, 'Well, okay, but it's an amazing railway station. There's a lot of production value here that we can get from this location, and I think we should really consider it.' And it was the only time that Sharmeen and I had, I wouldn't call it a creative difference, but it's that push, pull thing that a director and a cinematographer often do to get the best out of each other and to get the best for the scene.

"It's really important for Sharmeen that it's true to the Karachi Railway Station. And then something popped into my mind, and it was the Multiverse. And it was just then that there was all this stuff about how one of the shows had gone to air and this idea of the Multiverse had really come to the fore. And so I went, 'Oh my God, that's the end.' And so I said to Sharmeen, 'Listen, this location is Karachi, but it's just in an alternate universe.' And I spoke to her about this multiverse idea, and then she came around to it, and we ended up shooting there, and she loved the railway station. It's not exactly Karachi, but added a lot of production value to that sequence. And thank God for the Multiverse!"

That creative obstacle turned out to be one of the simpler barricades for Ms. Marvel to bypass. O'Loughlin gave insight into some brutal weather conditions the production team hit going into filming its international installments.

"We shot episode four and five in Thailand, and that was unique to our episodes of Ms. Marvel, the rest were shot in Atlanta," O'Loughlin said. "And so most of it, we shot in Bangkok, but there was a week that we had in Pattaya. And when we were shooting, we had some really inclement weather conditions. As the shoot progressed, the closer we got to monsoon and the more we were affected by weather. And there was this one day in Pattaya where this almighty thunderstorm came in and it was drama. It was the biggest storm I think I've ever been in, and it almost washed our set of the way. And it closed us down for about five hours.

"And as a result, we got less time to shoot that day. And I wouldn't say that the scene was somewhat compromised, but it wasn't probably what we wanted it to be. And so if I could have one day back, it would be that day. But having said that, I'm a guy that loves drama. And so this thunderstorm was so cool, and it was so big that when I really think about it, would I really want to change that day? It was something to behold. We had a lot of fun, but we did lose a lot of time. And I think at the end of the day, you want the show to be as good as possible."

All six episodes of Ms. Marvel are streaming now on Disney+. Watch O'Loughlin's full interview above!

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