Actress Angel Locsin turned down the plan to be the first Filipina superhero in the Marvel universe after the designer expressed he had her in mind to play the role.
Locsin initially showed interest in the character named Wave to the thread of Greg Pak, a comic book writer at Marvel.
I'm excited to learn more about this character! I ❤️ that her weapon of choice is a Kampilan, w/c is believed to be the sword Lapu-Lapu used to strike down Ferdinand Magellan. So, 👍🏻 for that! Regarding her costume, I wonder what’s the inspiration behind the design?
— Angel Locsin (@143redangel) March 10, 2019
“Regarding her costume, I wonder what’s the inspiration behind the design?” she asked.
To this, Leinil Yu, the Filipino artist who designed Wave, said: “It’s a collaboration of ideas between me, Greg and Marvel editorial. Would love to see you as wave, Angel!”
Days later, Locsin said as response to a fan’s post that while she’s delighted the artist replied to her inquiry, her time in performing superhero roles is over.
Tapos na ko sa superhero roles hehehe 🙂 but kilig na nag reply ang creator 🙂
— Angel Locsin (@143redangel) March 19, 2019
Locsin played the titular role of the female Filipino superhero “Darna” in the series of the namesake aired in GMA in 2005.
She was supposed to reprise the role again in its movie. However, she developed a disc bulge in her spine caused by her rigorous training regimen in 2015.
Liza Soberano has since taken the part with award-winning director Jerrold Tarog at the helm.
Locsin, meanwhile, stars in ABS-CBN’s “The General’s Daughter.”
Who is Wave?
Pak first proposed to have a Filipino superhero join the Marvel Universe during the South by Southwest or SXSW, a large festival of music, film and interactive media in Texas, United States.
He then introduced Wave on Twitter who will appear in a new comic book series titled “War of the Realms: New Agents of Atlas.”
Remember when we said we were introducing a new Filipino superhero to the Marvel Universe in WAR OF THE REALMS: AGENTS OF ATLAS #1?
— Greg Pak (@gregpak) March 9, 2019
Aside from Yu, Pak also credited colorist Sunny Gho and artist Gang Hyuk Lim for Wave’s overall visual.
“She’ll appear for the first time in War of the Realms: New Agents of Atlas #1 in May” Pak said.
According to Marvel, the story tells of a war on Earth that unites “classic” and “new” Asian-superheroes Amadeus Cho, Wave, Aero and Sword Master. The comic book series will launch this May.
Yu revealed in an interview that Wave’s real name is Pearl Pangan. She came from Cebu and she has water-based powers with weapons inspired by the Filipino sword kampilan.
“Later down the line, we’ll reveal more about her abilities and how she got them, but for now I’ll say she grew up by the sea and has always felt as comfortable in the water as on land,” he said.
Pak is a Korean-American filmmaker and comic book writer known for his award-winning film “Robot Stories” and comic book series “Planet Hulk,” and “World War Hulk.”
Meanwhile, Yu had worked on various iconic comic book characters such as Wolverine and Superman.
In 2018, Yu was tapped as the artist for Marvel’s re-launched “Captain America” comic book story with celebrated author Ta-Nehisi Coates.
