Marvel’s initial foray in cosmic action-adventure, 2014’s Guardians Of The Galaxy, proved to be a major critical and financial success despite being super weird. So we can probably expect writer-director James Gunn to push the boundaries of acceptable oddness even further in its sequel next spring. And we’re getting the first hints of how that oddness might manifest itself, via this concept art tweeted out by illustrator Andy Park:
Let’s see what we’ve got here. Blue lady, blue guy, walking tree, green lady, anthropomorphic raccoon, other blue guy, dude from Parks & Rec. Regular summer blockbuster stuff. Wait a second! Who’s that lady with the antennae there behind the dude from Parks & Rec?
That would be a Marvel character named Mantis, who made her first comic book appearance in The Avengers back in 1973. She’s traditionally a half-Vietnamese/half-German former prostitute with powers of telepathy, astral projection and plant control. Oh, and she has antennae, obviously. It’s unknown exactly how she’ll be portrayed by Pom Klementieff (Spike Lee’s Oldboy) in Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2, but it’s a safe bet that she’ll be quirky.