Marvel’s Loki Villain Was Inspired by Iconic Studio Ghibli Movie

Marvel Studios has never been a studio to shy away from the unknown, turning groups of characters like the Guardians of the Galaxy into household names. When Loki (Tom Hiddleston) got his own series on Disney+ last year, the Kevin Feige-led outfit dove into the furthest reaches of the Marvel stable for one of the show’s primary antagonists—the time monster known as Alioth. According to the show’s new artbook, Alioth’s final look was inspired in part by one of the most popular Studio Ghibli movies ever released.

“They wanted it to be smoke, but the smoke is not just smoke,” visual development artist Alexander Mandradjiev says in Marvel’s Loki: The Art of the Series. “It needed to feel like there’s something inside of it that’s alive. So that triggered some ideas. After the first designs I did, Head of Visual Development at Marvel Studios Ryan Meinerding came to me and was like, ‘They want to see it have more of a creature shape, but Alex, don’t do creature. It needs to still feel random and nature-like, but it’s constantly twisting and kind of shifting shape.’”

That’s when Mandradjiev says he looked to Studio Ghibili for inspiration. “I immediately thought of Princess Mononoke—the first board demon and the wormlike effect with the many legs. I was wondering how I could get that across with clouds,” the artist adds. “And I did that, I used that feeling and that image from Mononoke to capture a squatting god. I wnated this guy to feel like he’s on the ground, on his knuckles, but if he was to stand up it would be just a huge, weird trhing that probably also dissolves into a much more massive cloud shape. There was also lightning that would surge through. And something that could feel like a face, hinting at just eyes.”

When does Season 2 of Loki premiere?

Season 2 of Loki will premiere on Disney+ in the summer of 2023. If you haven’t checked out Disney+ yet and you want to give it a go, you can do that here.

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