Sylvie was one of Marvel Studios’ most interesting additions to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Sophia DiMartino takes on the role of a multiversal counterpart of Loki, who has lived her own life and ends up developing a deep connection with the version we first met in Avengers: Endgame. Yet, when she was first teased many believed she was the Enchantress before the series revealed her true role.
Yet, our theories on her Enchantress routes from the comics were dead on the money according to concept illustrator Wesley Burt. In the official Art of book fo the disney+ series Loki: The Art of Series, The Direct shared an interesting segment from Burt where he reveals that the character was initially just a fusion of Enchantress known as Sylvie Lushton and the iconic Lady Loki, who had a major role in the comics.
When I started out working on concepts for Sylvie, I knew very little. Before I was able to read the script, I knew she was going to be a variant of Loki, that it was going to draw upon both Lady Loki and Enchantress Sylvie Lushton from the comics. And so the first pass of stuff I did was really focused on just seeing what I could pull from the comic book references and build from there. Then I was able to read the entire story to get a feel for who she is, what she is after, and what her personality is like.
Wesley Burt
While the name in her series gave it away, it’s quite interesting that early concept arts did pull from these comic influences to establish a brand new take on a well-established take. Once we met a younger and older version of Loki, the connection of her being this Disney+ series’ take on Lady Loki made sense but it opened the question if the Enchantress comparison was just a coincidence. Either way, they still wanted to make her stand out on her own terms as well.
Even though she’s a variant of Loki, she’s a different person in certain ways. And from there, you get the sense that she’s on a mission. So I wanted to make sure her costuming was functional; it wasn’t going to slow her down. She could fight in it; she could run and do whatever she needs to do because all that she cares about is ‘completing her mission.
Wesley Burt
DiMartino is set to reprise the role of Sylvie in the second season, and it’ll be interesting to see if we see many more influences from her comic counterparts creep in. There still is the possibility that they explore Enchantress as her own character in the MCU, as elements from her were also used in the new take on Hela in Thor: Ragnarok. So, we’ll see if she might actually make her MCU debut at some point.
Source: Loki: The Art of Series via The Direct
