RYAN PENAGOS: Kamala Khan made her heroic debut in Marvel
Studios' Ms. Marvel, so to talk about designing this instantly
iconic character I'm speaking with members
of the Marvel Studios visual development team--
Jackson Sze, Jana Schirmer, and Mushk Rizvi.
Hey, everybody.
So let's do this.
OK.
I want to start by going all the way back to maybe when you
were thinking about the initial designs and the concepts
for Kamala.
What were some of her key characteristics
that you were drawing from for these designs?
Kamala is just a regular teenager.
She's Pakistani American who lives in Jersey City.
I feel like her personality is very playful.
The quirky, silly things she does or like the way she
is daydreaming.
She grew up in the MCU.
So she is as big of a fan of our heroes as we are.
One of the many things I loved, and we got
to talk about right now, is Kamala's Captain
Marvel cosplay she created for AvengerCon,
because it's so cool.
But Jackson, Mushk, you two designed
some incredible sleek superhero costumes, the real deal.
How was it designing something that had to look homemade?
We were looking at Carol Danvers, Captain Marvel,
because Kamala is a fan.
We wanted to make sure that it authentically
feels like a cosplayer made this suit.
We took a lot of inspiration from our own Marvel fan
community.
MUSHK RIZVI: Yeah, I was mainly looking at the DIY tutorials
and how these people are using all
these homemade items and materials you can find at home.
Like maybe, if she's putting this look together,
is she going to like 3D print her shoulder pads
or maybe like her arm guards?
Or maybe her knee pads?
Or is she using like bike or knee pads or something?
We did a lot of variations on her helmet,
which is like, one was basically just her wearing like a cloth,
like almost like a sock on her head.
We did several versions where the helmet
has the lights on it.
There were also some versions where she actually is
not wearing the helmet at all.
JACKSON SZE: Ultimately the challenge that we were tackling
mostly is, what is believable for a teenager to be
able to make with her friends?
We wanted to cue the audience to the materials
that the suit is made out of.
So you could see that her helmet is made out of cardboard
and it's not exactly very smooth.
One of the things that's so cool about the series, and I
think everybody agrees with me, is we really get to see
Kamala in her everyday life.
And Mushk, you really got to work on a lot
of these designs for Kamala.
Where did you find inspiration?
I guess it all depends on what the subject matter is.
I worked on this one piece where she's taking a driving test,
which was really funny because I took my driving
test like just the week before.
So it was a very relatable experience.
It was like, oh yeah, I know exactly what
to do, having like a teacher that's like, don't drive here
or like don't do this.
That was really fun.
RYAN PENAGOS: Yeah.
You know, one of my favorite pieces that you worked on
is Kamala at the family wedding.
You just made it look so much fun.
MUSHK RIZVI: So Pakistani weddings are very extravagant,
and they can go on for days and there's
a lot of tradition going on.
There's a lot of like rose petal showers
and I tried to put that feeling in there,
so you kind of feel that warmth from the piece.
All right.
So, of course later in the show we
see Kamala in her own proper superhero costume.
Please give me the details on how this look came to life.
So for Kamala being Pakistani American,
we wanted to base her superhero look on a kurta,
because in the comic it's already
based on a traditional Pakistani garment.
So her outfit is going to reflect her heritage,
but also her nerdiness and being a fan of Captain Marvel,
so you see the same colors and similar style elements.
We were mostly referencing the comics where she first
got her superhero costume.
We made different variations.
For instance, should she have a scarf or not?
Should she have a mask or not?
MUSHK RIZVI: So the lightning bolt,
we actually got like a direction on it
that it could be this alphabet, K, which is from Urdu.
Kamala is K, but in Urdu, it starts
with the letter alphabet, qaf.
And so, it kind of like, if you write it in a slanted way,
it looks like a lightning bolt.
JACKSON SZE: We played with a lot of different proportions
for that, and also meaning.
I realized that the symbol on the front
can be designed as a graphic representation of her scarf
twisting in the wind.
And I thought that would add some meaning to the symbol
in front of a costume.
All right.
Let's get into Kamala's powers because the way
that the team has visually imagined Kamala's powers
is so super cool.
Please walk us through that design process.
Kamala's powers are channeled through her bracelet,
and it is light that she can manipulate.
We mostly thought about how she could use this power
to traverse through the city, and also
mostly as a defensive tool.
And definitely we wanted to make sure
that we could channel this light to form
the iconic Embiggen Fist.
We definitely thought about inspirations
from video game platformers-- how a character would jump
from one platform to another, how they would traverse
spaces, even different distinct shapes
that might recall video games.
We started looking at different elements
from like mosques, like architectural stuff which
were more like geometrical.
Initially, I did a lot of this floral patterning,
but what they were liking was the facets.
And so, they asked me to do like a more simpler pass
encompassing like what her powers are in the comic
and then adding those facets and light to it.
Let's talk about Kamala's bangles because they're
really intricately designed.
How did you develop their look?
Our goal with the bangles is to design something that
looks aged, authentic, and looks appropriate for an heirloom
that can be passed down in Kamala's family.
And knowing that Kamala's powers would be light,
and that the light will filter through the bangle,
we thought that the intricate design and the patterning
on the bangle could lend to a very beautiful and maybe even
mysterious look.
So looking back, what was the most
rewarding part of bringing this beloved fan
favorite character to screen?
A lot of people grew up with the previous generation
of superheroes, so to be able to work on a new generation
has been challenging, but really exciting.
I'm super thankful for this opportunity
to be able to do this while being
a Pakistani Muslim working on a Pakistani Muslim hero.
It makes me like super excited that I got to be a part of it.
I'm really proud of the way our team has brought Kamala
Khan from the pages onto the screen, retaining, I think,
a lot of her iconic look while making it make sense in the MCU
as well.
Well, speaking as a fan, it was amazing to see
Kamala come to life on screen.
Thank you all so much for talking with me.
And for everyone out there, if you
want to relive your favorite Kamala Khan moments,
go watch Marvel Studios' Ms. Marvel, all episodes now
streaming only on Disney Plus.