Taking a comics character from the printed page to the big screen isn’t as easy as you might think, and Guardians of the Galaxy’s Gamora was no exception. Just ask Charlie Wen, former head of visual development at Marvel Studios, and take a look at some of the designs that didn’t make the cut.
Before 2014, there’s a good chance that if you said the phrase “Guardians of the Galaxy” to your average moviegoer, their reaction would be pretty similar across the board:
“Who the h*** are you guys?”
And that’s exactly what Charlie Wen was banking on when he started adapting the characters from Marvel Comics’ long history of spacefaring weirdos for Guardians of the Galaxy.
That freedom to experiment is probably why the screen version of Gamora, as well as the concept art Wen created, has very little in common with the comic book depictions that have appeared in the pages of Marvel Comics over the years.
Some comic book characters are relatively easy to adapt to the screen, at least when it comes to knowing what to keep and what to junk. Batman, Spider-Man, and Wonder Woman may have outlandish comic book outfits, but they also feature iconic details that make them recognizable.
Captain America without his shield and super-outfit suddenly becomes a guy who’s a little too excited every July Fourth. And Wolverine without his claws is just your hairy Uncle Lou, back with another case of Molson.
Gamora, by contrast, doesn’t really have any features that truly define her look in the minds of comic book fans, and that presented a major design challenge for the team. Where do you begin? For Wen, it started with archetypes… but it didn’t end there.
While this concept art doesn’t seem too out there, it also doesn’t really communicate many ideas about who Gamora is or what she wants or needs. Gamora’s adventuring gear seems like she’s ready for battle, but we can’t tell much about her character beyond that.
Keep watching to learn more about what Gamora almost looked like in the MCU.
#Gamora #MCU #CharlieWen #CharlieWenExclusive
From comics to screen | 0:15
Geared up for adventure | 1:10
Bald and badass | 2:14
A killer stare | 3:11
On the hunt | 3:44
A purple barfly | 4:47