Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

How Digital Domain Helped Reinvent Ms. Marvel's' Powers for the MCU

06/08/2022

How Digital Domain Helped Reinvent Ms. Marvel's' Powers for the MCU

Brie Clayton August 5, 2022

0 Comments

The Legendary VFX Studio Worked With the Production to Create a Look That Can Stand Out in Both Episodics and Feature Films

For Marvel Studios' latest episodic series, Ms. Marvel, the production faced an interesting, and somewhat rare challenge. Unlike some of the characters in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) that are firmly established through decades of exposure, the titular character in the Disney+ exclusive series is a relatively new creation. That gave the production a little more flexibility when adapting her powers for a live-action audience, and allowed the showrunners to work with Oscar and Emmy-winning VFX studio, Digital Domain, to reinvent Ms. Marvel's powers for a new audience.

From the start, we knew that Ms. Marvel's abilities were going to change for her live-action debut, but everyone involved still wanted to honor the comics, said Aladino Debert, VFX supervisor for Digital Domain. We went through several iterations with the production to find a balance that will impress people watching on TV, and still look great when the character makes the jump to the big screen.

The All-New Ms. Marvel

Debuting in 2013, the character of Ms. Marvel, aka Kamala Khan, has quickly become a fan-favorite, making her a natural choice to join the MCU. But rather than simply adapting her powers from the comics - which include physical elongation, growth and body morphing - the production reinterpreted her abilities to involve the generation and manipulation of a cosmic Noor energy, or hard light. That gave the team at Digital Domain a starting point.

Building on the new origins, the team at Digital Domain went through several iterations of Kamala Khan's (played by Iman Vellani) powers to offer a look that would suggest an otherworldly source, while still honoring the comic history. The result was a crystalline manifestation that radiated energy, highlighted by an internal luminescence, created in Houdini. The team then began experimenting with color schemes, settling on a blue-ish purple base, which highlighted Kamala's idolization of the character Captain Marvel, while still being unique.

As Kamala fully embraces her potential, artists refined and smoothed the look of her powers to suggest that they had become an extension of her. In a nod to her comic counterpart, she discovers the ability to shape the hard light to enlarge (or embiggen ) herself, using light constructs to create the sense of stretching and expanding her limbs and hands. To depict the larger-than-life Ms. Marvel, Digital Domain created a giant version of the character in Maya, then finished the scene by encasing her in the glow of hard light using Houdini.

There and Back Again

Digital Domain also handled several environments in Ms. Marvel, including a pivotal location. In the closing moments of episode four, Seeing Red, Kamala is accidentally transported back in time. Finding herself somewhere new, she climbs onto a nearby structure. The camera then pulls back to reveal that she is in a crowded rail station decades in the past, surrounded by dozens of trains and thousands of desperate refugees on the eve of the infamous Partition of India.

To create the multi-shot sequence, Digital Domain began with real footage of a modern-day train station with a small group of extras. Using that as a template, artists then extended the scene to create a massive sense of scale, including buildings for the station and background, and dozens of additional train cars and steam locomotives, all art directed to look at home in 1947. To create the crowds, Digital Domain used scans of a handful of actors in period-appropriate clothing, which they ran through Houdini's crowd tool to add people to nearly every open space. Artists then added steam from the engines, before rendering everything in Mantra.

Duplicates and Destruction

While Digital Domain contributed shots to all six episodes, the bulk of its work appears in the final one, No Normal. After a chase through Jersey City, Ms. Marvel's hometown, the episode culminates in a superpowered finale that required several VFX tricks, including shape-changing characters, digidoubles, violent explosions and more.

With heavily armed agents from the Department of Damage Control closing in on Ms. Marvel and her friends, the group decides to make a last stand at the local high school and set several traps. Along with an onslaught of softballs and smokescreens, the group unleashes a devastating trap based on a famous chemistry experiment known as elephant toothpaste . In a real high school lab, responsible teachers tend to ensure a moderate reaction, but for the episode the heroes go bigger - much, much bigger. That led artists to create an expanding gray, bubbling CG foam substance, then animate it as it expands through the lab, through hallways and down staircases, knocking over the pursuing agents as it goes.

The confrontation soon comes down to a three-sided fight, with government agents against the similarly light-powered character Kamran (played by Rish Shah), and Ms. Marvel trying to keep them both in check to protect the crowd of onlookers. With Kamran beginning to lose control, Digital Domain was tasked with showing the damaging effects of his powers. Artists began by depicting a pulsating shockwave of energy, causing a combination of digital debris and CG damage to nearby objects. With each new pulse, his hard light powers send craggy tentacles in every direction, featuring an amber/gold coloration to differentiate them from Kamala's powers. With Kamran at the epicenter of a growing disaster, Ms. Marvel takes the brunt of the onslaught while defending the crowd. For both visual cohesion and safety, both perfor
LINK: https://creativecow.net/how-digital-domain-helped-reinvent-ms-marvels-...
See more stories from creativecow

North America Stories

10/06/2026

SVG Sit-Down: Team Whistle's Joe Caporoso on Building World Cup Content Around Fans, Culture, IRL Experiences

DAZN-owned digital-media company launches three fan-first series leaning into cr...

10/06/2026

Clear-Com Appoints Jason Dino as Southwest Regional Sales Manager

Clear-Com has announced the appointment of Jason Dino as Southwest Regional Sales Manager USA, covering Southern California and the Southwest region. Dino joins...

10/06/2026

Caretta Research: 2026 World Cup Revenue Growth Due to More Matches; Rights Revenue Up 32%

An 11% decrease in number of global broadcast deals reflects the organization...

10/06/2026

Women Without Boundaries Awards Are Back!

The Women Without Boundaries Awards recognize women whose work is advancing the future of media, broadcast, AV, workplace technology, digital experience, and re...

10/06/2026

On Eve of World Cup Kickoff, FIFA and HBS Offer Deep Dive into IBC Operations, Commentary, and Ref Cam

Today is match day minus two for FIFA and HBS. On Thursday, there will be two ma...

10/06/2026

SES Supporting World's Biggest Soccer Tournament Broadcast Distribution Worldwide

SES is supporting broadcast distribution of the world's biggest football tou...

10/06/2026

BirdDog Achieves Full NDI 6.3 Compatibility Across Entire Product Line

NDI has announced that BirdDog has become the first hardware manufacturer to achieve full NDI 6.3 compatibility across its complete lineup of cameras, encoders,...

10/06/2026

Emmy Award-Winning Audio Team To Present at SVG Audio Symposium

Vince Caputo and Scott Carter, winners of the 2026 Sports Emmy for Outstanding Post Produced Audio have been announced as presenters for the 2026 SVG Advanced A...

10/06/2026

FOX One Set to Deliver World Cup in 4K; Personalization via AI Drives Experience

FOX One today unveiled a slate of new product features and enhancements designed to elevate the viewing experience for fans on the official streaming platform o...

10/06/2026

PWHL Scales Broadcast Operation in Season 3, Relying on World-Feed Model and Key Vendors

Primary production partners Dome Productions and Raycom Sports once again played...

10/06/2026

NFL Films Application Deadline for Women in Sports Filmmaking Experienceship, Augusts 26-29 in Mount Laurel, Closes June 18

The Women in Sports Filmmaking Experienceship is an immersive professional devel...

10/06/2026

NBAs In-House Broadcast Ops & Engineering Teams Power Global Finals Coverage From NYC, San Antonio

The league has expanded its HSAN architecture for the NBA Finals to manage more ...

10/06/2026

MoonPay X Games League Winter Draft Set for September 16 at Cosm Los Angeles

The inaugural MoonPay X Games League (XGL) Winter Draft will take place Wednesday, September 16, 2026 at Cosm Los Angeles from 7-9 p.m. PT. The event will strea...

10/06/2026

University of Oklahoma and Learfield Extend 30-Year Partnership, Announce Sooner Evolution Center

The University of Oklahoma (OU) Athletics Department and Learfield have announce...

10/06/2026

VSF Releases RIST Satellite-Hybrid Out-of-Band Specification

The Video Services Forum (VSF) has released TR-06-4 Part 8, a new specification for RIST Satellite-Hybrid: Out-of-Band Method. The specification creates a mecha...

10/06/2026

Riedel Artist Intercom Powers Live Neurovascular Conference in Lisbon

Riedel Communications provided the communications infrastructure for the 14th World Live Neurovascular Conference (WLNC) in Lisbon, supporting live medical proc...

10/06/2026

Sundance Film Festival 101: Films by LGBTQ+ Directors

A still from The Doom Generation by Gregg Araki (Courtesy of Sundance Institute) By Lucy Spicer Have you checked out our Sundance Film Festival 101 list yet...

10/06/2026

Nielsen launches Four-Screen Ad Deduplication measurement on YouTube campaigns in Japan

Media buyers and sellers can now compare YouTube reach from computer, mobile, an...

10/06/2026

Ecoflow X Launches as Experimentation Arm for Sustainabil...

Accedo, Humans not Robots, and the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) have announced the launch of Ecoflow X. Formerly an IBC Accelerator project, ...

10/06/2026

Frequency Appoints James Smith as General Manager - Monet...

Frequency, the engine powering the world's leading streaming television channels, today announced that James Smith has joined the company as General Manager...

10/06/2026

Riedel Artist at the Heart of the 14th World Live Neurova...

At the 14th World Live Neurovascular Conference (WLNC) in Lisbon, Riedel Communications provided the communications infrastructure for live medical procedures s...

10/06/2026

Globecast Unveils Content Exchange Platform Powered by Or...

Globecast, a leading provider of broadcast, media, and entertainment managed services, today announced the launch of its Content Exchange platform powered by Or...

10/06/2026

Venues and integrators shift toward professional recharge...

Klvr will showcase how venues, integrators and production teams are rethinking disposable battery usage at InfoComm 2026 (Las Vegas, June 17-19, booth #N6311). ...

10/06/2026

VSF Releases Specification for RIST Satellite Hybrid Out-...

The Video Services Forum (VSF) has further enhanced the Reliable Internet Streaming Transport (RIST) protocol by incorporating a new feature, RIST Satellite-Hyb...

10/06/2026

Microphone Maker Audix Adds Eric Reese as VP

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

10/06/2026

Netflix Showcases New Mobile Experience, Collections and Games Vision in APAC

Back to All News Netflix Showcases New Mobile Experience, Collections and Games Vision in APAC Product 10 June 2026 GlobalSouth KoreaJapan Link copied to c...

10/06/2026

Ready to Join? The Netflix Fan Club Arrives at Cannes Lions

Back to All News Ready to Join? The Netflix Fan Club Arrives at Cannes Lions Business 10 June 2026 Global Link copied to clipboard Download all assets N...

10/06/2026

June 10, 2026

Chemists snap together complex 3D molecules from highly reactive radicals-without losing their shape Scripps Research team develops stereoretentive radical-radi...

09/06/2026

Kiswe Expands Partnership With ONE Championship To LaunchGlobal Subscription Platform

Kiswe announces an expanded long-term partnership with ONE Championship (ONE), t...

09/06/2026

SiriusXM to Carry All 104 FIFA World Cup 2026 Matches via FOX Sports Commentary

SiriusXM will broadcast FOX Sports' English-language commentary for all 104 FIFA World Cup 2026 matches from June 11 through July 19, available to subscribe...

09/06/2026

EVS Broadcast Equipment Rebrands as EVS

EVS has announced it is changing its corporate name from EVS Broadcast Equipment to EVS, reflecting the company's expanded portfolio beyond broadcast equipm...

09/06/2026

FOX and NFL Announce Multi-Year Agreement for NFL Coverage in Mexico Starting in 2026

Fox Corporation and the NFL have announced a multi-year agreement to bring NFL c...

09/06/2026

FOX Sports and ReachTV to Carry All 104 FIFA World Cup 2026 Matches Across U.S. Airports

FOX Sports and ReachTV, an airport media network, have announced an agreement to...

09/06/2026

Cosm Atlanta Opens with Private Preview, Public Opening Set for June 10

Cosm Atlanta, a 70,000-square-foot, three-level immersive entertainment venue located within Centennial Yards adjacent to State Farm Arena and Mercedes-Benz Sta...

09/06/2026

NESN Wins Five New England Emmy Awards

NESN captured five awards at the 2026 Boston/New England Emmy Awards, including four program honors and one individual award. These awards reflect the passion...

09/06/2026

Ateme Referenced by Apple at WWDC26 for Apple Immersive Video Workflow Support

Ateme has announced that its support for Apple Immersive Video workflows was referenced by Apple during its 2026 Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC26). Atem...

09/06/2026

Axel Springer Deploys Bitmovin Player Web X for WELT Audio News Experience

Bitmovin has announced that Axel Springer SE has deployed Player Web X, Bitmovin's web video player, to power audio readouts of news articles and an audio-o...

09/06/2026

Grass Valley and Lawo Announce Technology Collaboration on AMPP and HOME Integration

Grass Valley and Lawo have announced a technology collaboration to validate orch...

09/06/2026

LiveU Deploys Remote VAR for Oceania Football Confederation, First in Pacific Islands

LiveU has announced a deployment with the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) t...

09/06/2026

Globecast Launches Content Exchange Platform Powered by Oracle Cloud Infrastructure

Globecast has announced the launch of its Content Exchange platform, powered by ...

09/06/2026

OT7 Championship Weekend to Air on NBC and Peacock for First Time

NBC Sports will present live coverage of Overtime's OT7 football league Championship Weekend from Sullivan Field at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angel...

09/06/2026

UFC Freedom 250: Inside the One-in-a-Lifetime Production Behind the White House Fight Card

We're in three different locations, three different production teams. Coveri...

09/06/2026

Murray States Brandon Banks on Firing Up Racers Basketball Fans Through Creative Video

The intro video for Men's Basketball won Outstanding In-Venue Video in the C...

09/06/2026

SVG Sit-Down, Part 2: FIFA's Oscar Sanchez, HBS's Paul King Dive Deep Into IBC Operations, Commentary, and Ref Cam

Today is match day minus two for FIFA and HBS. On Thursday, there will be two ma...

09/06/2026

Designing the Modern Scorebug: How Broadcast Graphics Teams Are Rethinking the Most Important Element On Screen

Since their debut, the clock-and-score graphic has drawn the affinity and ire of...

09/06/2026

Nielsen launches Four-Screen Ad Deduplication measurement on YouTube campaigns in Italy

Media buyers and sellers can now compare YouTube reach from computer, mobile, an...

09/06/2026

Andrew Beaudet Joins Brompton as Head of Sales, Americas

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

09/06/2026

Mediaset Italia Deploys Mediagenix Platform To Modernize Scheduling

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

09/06/2026

Mediaset Italia Modernizes Content Supply Chain and Chann...

A project aimed at modernizing scheduling operations across Mediaset's channel portfolio Mediagenix, a global leader in smart content solutions to profitab...

09/06/2026

ACT Entertainment Debuts tvONE 4RU CALICO PRO at InfoComm...

tvONE, an ACT Entertainment brand, debuts its most powerful video processor ever built: the 4RU CALICO PRO (C7-PRO-4200), at InfoComm 2026 (Booth N6813). Engine...