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
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
01/06/2026
January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026
Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...
02/05/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
01/05/2026
January 5 2026, 18:30 (PST) NBCUniversal's Peacock to Be First Streamer to ...
06/04/2026
Michigan legends bring a new voice to the broadcast as TNT Sports and CBS Sports...
06/04/2026
From high school sports all the way up to the major leagues, building high-quali...
06/04/2026
Quickplay, an AI company for the media and entertainment industry, has been accepted into the Advanced tier of the TwelveLabs Ecosystem Partner Program. Quickpl...
06/04/2026
Grass Valley has announced the Future Playmakers Program, a global initiative to...
06/04/2026
El l der de operaciones impulsa la producci n en estudio mientras encuentra insp...
06/04/2026
The ops leader helps lead the charge in studio for the Spanish-language broadcas...
06/04/2026
Behind The Mic provides a roundup of recent news regarding on-air talent, includ...
06/04/2026
The National Hockey League (NHL), in partnership with Verizon and the New Jersey Devils, today announced the opening of the NHL Innovation Lab powered by Verizo...
06/04/2026
Rock League, a new professional curling league, has announced that ESPN+ will stream its inaugural 2026 season for fans in the United States. The first Rock Lea...
06/04/2026
Advanced Systems Group has announced the appointment of Andrea (Andy) Cummis as Vice President of Systems Design and Engineering. In this role, she will lead de...
06/04/2026
Backed by Bolt Ventures, the venture brings Bryson DeChambeau, Grant Horvat, and...
06/04/2026
With this environment we can start that collaboration even earlier because we ca...
06/04/2026
Like the immortal lives of vampires, some stories never really end. That's t...
06/04/2026
As podcasting continues to evolve, growth increasingly means building beyond aud...
06/04/2026
Multiband dynamics plug-in enhanced
California-based developer FSK Audio have released a significant update for their innovative multiband dynamics processo...
06/04/2026
Share official & user-created full-rig presets
IK Multimedia's latest TONEX update makes it possible for users of the popular amp and effects modelling ...
06/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
06/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
06/04/2026
Dalet Showcases Dalia Agentic AI and End-to-End Media Workflows at NAB Show 2026
Brie Clayton April 6, 2026
0 Comments
Dalet, a leading technology and...
06/04/2026
OpenDrives Shows Off Sports Expertise in Sports Business Hub located in NAB Show...
06/04/2026
Proton to Demonstrate 3D Application at NAB 2026
Brie Clayton April 6, 2026
0 Comments
Yet further creative potential unleashed through innovation in ...
06/04/2026
Autoscript Highlights Voice-Driven Prompting and PTZ Solutions at NAB 2026
Brie Clayton April 6, 2026
0 Comments
Experience Autoscript Voice, PTZ prom...
06/04/2026
Mediaproxy Highlights Significant Enhancements to its LogServer suite at NAB Sho...
06/04/2026
Back to All News
Netflix Expands Kids Entertainment Lineup With Playground App ...
05/04/2026
Tackles all reported bugs!
SoundBridge have just announced the launch of a new update that introduces a couple of minor changes to their remote collaboratio...
04/04/2026
The University of Arizona's Men's Basketball team has only loss twice th...
04/04/2026
1080p HDR arrives, a new generation of storytelling tools takes center stage, an...
04/04/2026
Michigan legends bring a new voice to the broadcast as TNT Sports and CBS Sports...
04/04/2026
Faster, cleaner and more intuitive than ever
The control software for Flock Audio's digitally controlled patchbay systems has just been treated to an up...
04/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
04/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
04/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
04/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
04/04/2026
DHD Introduces AI-Based Audio Noise Reduction to XD3 IP Core
Brie Clayton April 3, 2026
0 Comments
The accompanying image shows the rear panel of the ...
04/04/2026
Macnica Redefines ST 2110 Flexibility with Two Speeds on One Card
Brie Clayton April 3, 2026
0 Comments
New for NAB Show 2026, MEP100 SmartNIC now sup...
04/04/2026
Unified Media Workflows for Story-Centric Production
Brie Clayton April 3, 2026
0 Comments
Framelight X unifies field capture, editing and publishing ...
03/04/2026
Michigan's Fab Five will reunite for an alternate presentation of the Mich...
03/04/2026
Avid will exhibit at NAB Show 2026 (April 18-22, Booth N2226, Las Vegas Convention Center), demonstrating its Content Core platform and new AI-driven workflow c...
03/04/2026
Mark Roberts Motion Control (MRMC) has announced the appointment of Nick Barthee as Chief Operating Officer.
The announcement follows MRMC's transition fro...
03/04/2026
Interra Systems has announced that Elite Media Technologies has selected its BATON file-based QC solution for media workflows. Elite Media Technologies speciali...
03/04/2026
Ateme has announced that Moldtelecom has deployed Ateme technologies across its streaming workflow, covering encoding, delivery, operations, and analytics.
Mol...
03/04/2026
Grass Valley will demonstrate Framelight X, its content management platform, at NAB Show 2026. The platform connects capture, ingest, editing, and publishing in...
03/04/2026
Encompass Digital Media and Techex have announced a cloud-native Master Control ...
03/04/2026
Live Vertical Video automatically track the action on the court via AI technology and delivers a fully optimized, 9 16 live feed for viewers...
03/04/2026
As the Illini make their first trip to college basketball's biggest stage si...
How Digital Domain Helped Reinvent Ms. Marvel's' Powers for the MCU 
