Ever wondered how Brianna Hildebrand’s Negasonic Teenage Warhead would have looked like in “Deadpool” if she wasn’t almost bald?
Thanks to these newly released concept designs from artist Joshua James Shaw, Marvel fans can get an idea of how Negasonic Teenage Warhead was supposed to look like in the Tim Miller directed film.
Before “Deadpool” hit the big screen, the majority of us had never heard of Negasonic Teenage Warhead and who can blame us? She was basically an obscure character, having only made 3 appearances in the comics, 2 of which she died in and wasn’t even real in the third. Because of her anonymity, the creators of “Deadpool” took the liberty in not only reinventing her mutant ability, but also giving her a complete visual overhaul.
As you can see from the image above, the final version of the costume worn by Hildebrand in the movie was vastly different from Shaw’s early designs. It’s evident that the initial sketches bore a far more likeness to her comics counterpart. Little of these goth-inspired outfits made their way into the final product for this mutant.
“It turns out I was going overboard with the goth look for NTW and Tim wanted us to do a pass of her in a suit close to what Josh Middleton designed for his New Mutant covers. Then the costume department would put together something over the suit to give her the goth look. I’ve learned over the years that some directors care about the source material, and you can guess which ones don’t,” Shaw wrote on his website.
In the end, the powers that be opted for the distinctive shaved head and classic New Mutant-like costume we saw on Hildebrand in “Deadpool”. To echo John Casteele’s words, it’s always a treat for fans when concept arts differ significantly from the final version we see in the film. Because then, we are able to get a better look at how the design progressed.
Even though some of the original iterations bare better resemblance to the comic character’s look, we agree that film version worked better with how the mutant was portrayed. In the comics, Negasonic Teenage Warhead was a telepath with the power to see into the future through her visions and dreams.
The movie version however, choose to abandon this ability “in favour of giving her a power more befitting her name (which was essentially taken from the mutant Cannonball) and an attitude to match”. Based on her costume, fans are already speculating that she will be appearing in the X-Men spinoff, “The New Mutants”, which is currently in development.
Though no official announcement has been made, Hildebrand is expected to reprise her role as Negasonic Teenage Warhead in “Deadpool 2”.
You can see more of Joshua James Shaw’s work at his portfolio here.
Sources: Screen Rant, Movie Pilot, Movie Web.
