Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 introduced a lot of new characters to the MCU, but the one that sticks out the most is almost certainly Mantis. The empathic assistant to Ego, Mantis eventually switched sides and joined the Guardians by the end of the movie. Being a comic book movie, concept artists went through dozens of different designs for Mantis before deciding on the one seen in the film. These designs can vary wildly, and early concepts for Mantis showed that she could have looked VERY different from what fans eventually saw.
Concept artist Jerad S. Marantz worked on Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 and shared an early design for Mantis to his Instagram. The art shows a green-skinned Mantis wearing a dress made of red leaves. Marantz writes that he was going for an "organic" look with the costume. It's a pretty far departure from how Mantis looks in the actual movie, where she has no green skin and wears regular green clothes. It's an early design, so they were likely covering all their bases with a variety of different takes, but I think it's a good thing they didn't explore the above design. The red leaves dress doesn't really fit into the Guardians of the Galaxy aesthetic, though, it does make some sense from a character perspective.
I think it's safe to say that we ended up with the right Mantis. Played by Pom Klementieff, Mantis was a fun addition to the movie and makes an excellent pair with Drax. Their scenes together were some of the funniest in the sequel, and Mantis' right personality and quirks make her fit right in with the other weirdos of the Marvel Cosmic Universe.
Moviegoers can next see Mantis in Avengers: Infinity War, where the Guardians team up with the Avengers to stop Thanos from acquiring all of the Infinity Stones. It's unknown exactly how big of a role Mantis plays in the movie, but not much is known about anything in Infinity War. I wouldn't count on her taking up too much screentime, though. After that, the future is wide open for Mantis. She could either appear in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, or in the proposed all-female Marvel movie that Pom Klementieff was a part of pitching to Kevin Feige.
Matis will return in Avengers: Infinity War, which is currently scheduled to arrive in theaters on May 4, 2018. That's still a long ways off, so keep your hunger satiated by reading our comprehensive guide to the massive movie to learn as much as you can. For all your movie and superhero updates, be sure to stick with CinemaBlend and we'll make sure to keep you updated with new information as soon as it's available.
