Ms. Marvel has been the highlight of Marvel Studios’ Disney Plus output, with Iman Vellani’s Kamala Khan quickly cementing her place in the MCU ahead of next year’s The Marvels. Throughout the show, careful attention was paid to accurately depicting the Khan family’s domestic and social lives, as well as being culturally and architecturally accurate on the show’s two-episode trip to Karachi, Pakistan.
The political situation in that country meant it was impossible to shoot there, so the Karachi scenes ended up being filmed on location in Bangkok, Thailand. Most Pakistani viewers seem to consider the show did a good job disguising one city as the other, though a new interview gives us some behind-the-scenes details that show it wasn’t all plain sailing.
Ms. Marvel cinematographer Jules O’Loughlin explained in an interview with ComicBook.com that the railway station scene caused some problems:
“We had a location for the Karachi Railway Station, and it was a railway station in Bangkok that was really amazing. And when we first saw that location, [director] Sharmeen [Obaid-Chinoy] said, ‘Listen, we can’t use this because Karachi Railway Station doesn’t look like this.’ It has elements that are similar to the Karachi one, but it’s nothing like it. And I said, ‘Well, okay, but it’s an amazing railway station. There’s a lot of production value here that we can get from this location, and I think we should really consider it.’ And it was the only time that Sharmeen and I had, I wouldn’t call it a creative difference.”
O’Loughlin then played the multiverse card and argued that this could simply be a variant of Karachi’s railway station:
“It’s really important for Sharmeen that it’s true to the Karachi Railway Station. And then something popped into my mind, and it was the Multiverse. … And so I went, ‘Oh my God, that’s the end.’ And so I said to Sharmeen, ‘Listen, this location is Karachi, but it’s just in an alternate universe.’ And I spoke to her about this multiverse idea, and then she came around to it, and we ended up shooting there, and she loved the railway station. It’s not exactly Karachi, but added a lot of production value to that sequence. And thank God for the Multiverse!”
Seems like a fudge to us, though the railway station fight was a fun scene, so it looks as if this was for the best.
Fans are already wondering what the future beyond The Marvels holds for Kamala Khan, particularly after the bombshell reveal in the show’s closing moments that she’s officially the MCU’s first mutant character (and no, Xavier in Multiverse of Madness doesn’t count). We’re hopeful for a full-on second season of Ms. Marvel, though we wouldn’t be surprised if Kamala eventually transfers upstate to Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters to complete her superheroic education.
Will she one day stand alongside the MCU’s Cyclops and Wolverine? The future is looking increasingly X-shaped.
Published: Aug 2, 2022 03:46 am