Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur

Premise

Lunella Lafayette is a 13-year-old genius living with her parents and grandparents on the Lower East Side of Manhattan in New York City. One day, she activates a portal and a red Tyrannosaurus steps out of it. With the support of her friend Casey, she becomes a superhero named Moon Girl and names the dinosaur Devil Dinosaur.

In the second and final season, Lunella and Devil are in their prime element as the super heroes, Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur. However, as Lunella's superhero life intertwines more with her personal life, especially after a multiversal encounter with a powerful alien villain named Molecule Man, she must decide if the cost of keeping her identity a secret is worth the toll it's taking on her family.

Characters

Main

Diamond White as Lunella Lafayette / Moon Girl, a gifted African-American girl who lives a double life as a superheroine and accidentally brings Devil Dinosaur into present-day New York.

Fred Tatasciore as:

Devil Dinosaur, a red Tyrannosaurus with horns that was accidentally brought to present-day New York City by Lunella. He is shown to have a big appetite for food, especially hot dogs.

Coach Hrbek, Lunella's gym teacher at Intermediate School 833 who also works as a substitute science teacher.

Alfre Woodard as Miriam "Mimi" Lafayette, Lunella's paternal grandmother who is a snack bar attendant at Roll With It and is an expert cook. In the first-season finale, it is revealed that Mimi was the original Moon Girl, having operated under that code name as a scientist, and that she secretly knows that Lunella and Moon Girl are one and the same.

Sasheer Zamata as Adria Lafayette, Lunella's mother who is a social activist and DJ at Roll With It.

Jermaine Fowler as James Lafayette Jr., Lunella's klutzy father and a sneaker clerk at Roll With It.

Gary Anthony Williams as James "Pops" Lafayette Sr., Lunella's paternal grandfather and the proprietor of Roll With It.

Libe Barer as Casey Calderon, Lunella's manager, best friend of Puerto Rican and Jewish ancestry, and confidant in regards to Lunella's identity as Moon Girl.

Villains

Alison Brie as Ms. Dillon / Aftershock, a supervillain with electrokinesis and former science teacher.

Fred Tatasciore as:

Devos the Devastator, a robotic being that speaks in the third person.

Moon Dinosaur, an alternate reality version of Devil Dinosaur.

Carlee Baker as Sofie Slugfoot / Instantanegirl, an ex-hurdler who took a chemical compound that enhanced her leg muscles to give her more speed, which got her banned from the Olympic games.

Aaron Drown as Timmy Grubbs / Man Baby, the infant son of a scientist who was accidentally enlarged by his scientist father's growth rays

Ace Gibson as Gravitas, a supervillain whose gloves can shoot liquid that negates the gravity of his targets.

Jennifer Hudson as Mane, Lunella's vengeful living hair.

Maya Hawke as Abyss, a teleporter who is the daughter of an unnamed female supervillain.

Daveed Diggs as Rat King, a humanoid rat villain who lives in the sewers and is served by the rats that live there.

Kari Wahlgren as Linh Pham / Stiletto, a supervillain and shopaholic of high-heeled shoes whose special stilettos can expand to long heights.

Gary Anthony Williams as:

Rockin' Rudy, a villain that always manages to evade capture despite not having any superpowers other than a working car.

Recurring

Laurence Fishburne as the Beyonder, a trickster with immense cosmic powers who is described as "curious and mischievous". He is here to judge humanity to see if they are worthy of existence. The Beyonder also provides background information about Lunella's foes (credited as "Backstory Man" for his voiceover narration in earlier episodes) to the viewers.

Omid Abtahi as Ahmed, one of Lunella's neighbors who runs the local deli.

Utkarsh Ambudkar as Anand, an intellectual rival of Lunella.

Michael Cimino as Eduardo, Lunella's friend who is loud and loves music.

Indya Moore as Brooklyn, the Captain of the school volleyball team, and a friend of Lunella's who is openly transgender.

Craig Robinson as Principal Nelson, the principal of Intermediate School 833.

Asia Kate Dillon as LOS-307, a sapient supercomputer. They become the new school counselor at Intermediate School 833 after Miss Sarah's retirement.

Ian Alexander as Tai, a non-binary Asian-American friend of Lunella's, and the Setter of the school volleyball team.

Tajinae Turner as Geri, a friend of Lunella's, and the Libero of the school volleyball team.

May Calamawy as Fawzia, a lesbian Muslim friend of Lunella's, and the Blocker of the school volleyball team.

Xolo Maridueña as Mel-Varr / Marvin Ellis / Kid Kree, a Kree who is sent to Earth.

Gerald Waters as Eli, a wheelchair-using STEM student and Cecelia's boyfriend.

Guest

Cobie Smulders as Maria Hill, an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. who works under director Nick Fury. Smulders reprises her role from the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Bone Raider, a man obsessed with stealing dinosaur bones from museums.

Vicente Cimetta, a man with the ability to change his state of matter.

Gammadroid, an android created by the Mad Thinker.

Josh Keaton as Angelo, a boy with community-helping plans who becomes possessed by a trolling Symbiote called Syphonater.

Andy Cohen as Isaac Goldberg-Calderon, one of Casey's fathers

Wilson Cruz as Antonio Goldberg-Calderon, one of Casey's fathers

Ramone Hamilton as TJ, Brooklyn's younger and annoying brother who is obsessed with his models.

Luis Guzmán as Council President Diego Peña, the head of the L.E.S. city council.

Gideon Adlon as Lara, Laura, and Laurel, Casey's triplet cousins who are always deadpan.

Pamela Adlon as Rabbi Ryda, Casey's rabbi at her bat mitzvah.

Laurence Fishburne as Bill Foster, a geneticist and Hank Pym's old friend, who was once his assistant on Project Goliath. He specializes in Pym particles. Fishburne reprises his role from the Marvel Cinematic Universe film Ant-Man and the Wasp.

Ann Harada as Matsuye, a college friend of Mimi.

Episodes

Note: Episodes are organized by production order for continuity reasons.

Shorts

Chibi Tiny Tales

Chibi Tiny Tales is a series of shorts that depict characters from various Disney Channel properties in chibi-style animation. In June 2023, the series began releasing shorts based around Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur.

Moon Girl's Lab

A musical series which showcases Moon Girl using scientific concepts to take down bad guys.

Production

Development

During discussions with Marvel Studios regarding a potential collaboration with Cinema Gypsy Productions for a Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) project, president Louis D'Esposito showed actor and comic book fan Laurence Fishburne the comic book series Moon Girl And Devil Dinosaur. Having read the original Moon-Boy and Devil Dinosaur comic book as a child, Moon Girl piqued Fishburne's interest. He afterwards began reading the comics, which gave him the inspiration to create an animated series adaptation based on the duo. Fishburne and a production team worked on the series for two years at Disney Television Animation, before hiring Steve Loter as executive-producer due to his experience on female-centered shows such as Disney's Kim Possible. Loter and the team then created a roller-skating sequence played over "Sweatpants" by Childish Gambino as a proof-of-concept piece and pitched it to both executives at Disney Television Animation and a Marvel Studios team including Brad Winderbaum and president Kevin Feige, who greenlit the series for development.

On February 20, 2018, it was reported that Marvel Animation and Cinema Gypsy Productions were developing a Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur series for Disney Channel Worldwide. Fishburne (a long-time Marvel alumni; having played Silver Surfer in Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer and Bill Foster in Ant-Man and the Wasp) and Helen Sugland serve as the series' executive producers. 20 half-hours were ordered for the first season, but it was later cut down to 17.

On August 24, 2019, during the D23 Expo, Fishburne revealed that the series would premiere in 2020 on Disney Channel, with Disney Television Animation being set to co-produce the series, marking the first time Disney and Marvel worked together on an animated series. Loter executive produces the series alongside Fishburne and Sugland; Loter also serves as the series' showrunner. Jeff Howard and Kate Kondell work on the series as co-producers and story editors. Howard and Kondell were the first two writers hired for the series. The two helped the production team define the characters, with an hour being dedicated to a specific character. By the time writing for the episodes started, the characters were defined enough that not many ideas were revised. Kondell also serves as head writer for the series.

Fishburne said that "Disney Channel is the perfect platform to explore this pint-sized female African American superhero and [he] can't wait for their audience to enjoy the lighthearted adventures of Lunella and Devil Dinosaur", while Cort Lane, Marvel Family and Entertainment's then-senior vice president, said that "[Moon Girl's] adventures with giant buddy, Devil Dinosaur, are filled with so much wonder and joy, and this historic partnership with Disney Television Animation and Cinema Gypsy Productions proved the right formula to bring them to television".

Writing

The series is composed entirely of women of color in its writers' room, as well as on its directing team, as the producers wanted the production team to reflect the diversity within New York City, where the show is set. The writers, alongside other crew members of color, were allowed to provide feedback regarding representation of minorities within the show, with some of said crew members receiving promotions within the crew while working on the series. The crew also worked alongside Disney production coordinator Allen March to identify moments to add diversity to the show via background or speaking characters, as well as to calculate the representation per episode. Loter, who lives in New York City, said that it was important for the crew to "make sure they've got New York right", wanting to respect the city's "vibe" and "tone". He also reused elements of the series' portrayal of NYC from his cancelled Cars spin-off film Metro, such as prominently featuring the New York City Hall station, which appears in the series as Lunella's lab. The series starts off with an episodic format as it explores Lunella becoming Moon Girl, before transitioning into a more serialized story, with an arc unfolding throughout the first season, and continuing on into the second season, being more serialized than the first.

Supervising producer Rodney Clouden said it was important for the production crew to accurately portray a multigenerational African-American family. They wanted to show both Moon Girl learning from her family and her family learning from her through their multiple perspectives. Each character was given a different personality and profession, such as Pops being owner of a roller-skate and Andria being a DJ, to further explore diversity and how "everyone is so different [from each other]". Sasheer Zamata, who voices Lunella's mother, said that family is a crucial theme in the show, and described the series as "a nice way to see a Black family work together and enjoy each other and spread love in their community". Producer Pilar Flynn said it was important for the writers to have Moon Girl and Casey have a close and supportive relationship, which is rarely seen among female friendships in animation.

The producers used the original comic as "a springboard" and "a point of reference" for the series, although making several alterations regarding the source material to make the story fit in a television format while still incorporating nods to multiple comic-book storylines. According to Diamond White, the series features "levels of emotions" that were absent from the original comic. The series portrays the relationship between the duo as "a partnership" instead of "a pet/owner dynamic", with Devil becoming fiercely loyal to Moon Girl and feeling "at home with her" due to how she treats him. Another changes were the increased role of Lunella's family and the addition of her friend Casey, which were made to showcase how Lunella's world changes as she grows through the series. They also felt it was important for Lunella to have a support system, and for her household to represent that of many audiences' households. The producers changed Lunella's age from 9 to 13-years-old because they wanted social media to play a prominent role in her character, which they felt would not work with her being 9-years-old.

Casting

In February 2021, it was reported that White and Tatasciore would voice the titular duo, with Woodard, Williams, Zamata, and Fowler providing the voices of Lunella/Moon Girl's grandparents and parents, respectively, and Barer as her best friend, Casey. It was also reported that Fishburne would voice The Beyonder in a recurring capacity. Additional recurring and guest roles were announced at San Diego Comic-Con in July 2022. White was cast shortly after Loter heard her audition tape; according to Loter, her tape was the only one he heard, as he was impressed with her performance.

Voice recordings for season one were partially done remotely due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Williams, whose work on the show was his first role during the pandemic, received help from his wife to prepare to record his lines from their home. White and Barer ad-libbed several dialogues between Moon Girl and Casey, with the two recording their lines simultaneously either physically or through Zoom. White also recorded some of her lines with Tatatsciore, as well as with Woodward, Zamata, and Williams. While providing the vocal effects for Devil, Tatasciore was given a script with lines for him, which he would later work into animal vocals. The idea of Fishburne voicing the Beyonder was suggested by Loter. For his performance, Fishburne wanted it to be lighter and less recognizable than his previous roles, so he and Loter worked together to develop his voice for the Beyonder.

Animation

The series is animated by Flying Bark Productions, in Sydney, Australia. Titmouse worked on early visual development for the series. Flying Bark, whose employees were fans of the source material, was hired due to the studio's work on Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Animation lead Kat Kosmala created a series of rules for the animators, among them being that the character animation must draw the viewers' attention, the action must be "simple and direct", and simplification should be used only for designs. The visual style is meant to "[lean] heavy into [a] 2D graphic comicbook sensibility". The animation combines hand-drawn animation with Toon Boom Harmony, with Toon Boom being used for stage and head-rigging, while the bodies of the characters are hand-drawn. The producers originally planned to only use Toon Boom, but ultimately felt hand-drawn animation was also required.

Multiple animation styles were used per episode. For the New York sequences, the producers drew inspiration from graffiti artists, as well as artists such as Andy Warhol, for the series' art style, to portray New York in a more realistic style than most animated shows, while also portraying the city as its own character. Loter and Clouden drew inspiration from their childhood for the series' portrayal of NYC. Graffiti artists were hired to work on the graffiti depicted through the show to show accurate graffiti. The camera movement was also meant to evoke the feeling of a real-life city recording, with "forced tight shots" and "object obstruction". The buildings and streets were also drawn to be accurate to their real-life counterparts. The musical sequences feature a more abstract art style that is more colorful and action-focused. Flashback sequences feature a simpler graphic style with colors that "quickly enhance emotional beats".

Due to Fishburne's love of comic books, producers also wanted the animation to "feel like an illustrated moving comic book", so the artists drew inspiration from comic books from the 1970s, featuring a lack of "perfect shapes" and "edgy line work", while having a hand-drawn feel. Details such as black spots were also added so they could "[feel] like a very complete piece" even before adding color. Artists wanted to avoid using digital techniques such as motion blur, wanting instead to rely mainly on ink-and-paint techniques. The animation also drew inspiration from Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, with the producers wanting the animation to be as energetic as possible within a budget for a TV series. The animators also sought for the animation to be "complimentary" to Into the Spider-Verse without recycling its animation style. Marvel Studios Animation's What If...? was also an influence on the series' visual design.

Music

In July 2022, it was announced that Raphael Saadiq would serve as the executive music producer for the show. He also provided both the score and songs for the show. Loter, a fan of Saadiq, approached him to work on the project during an autograph signing. Each episode features a different song by Saadiq, depicted in-universe as part of a mix-tape Moon Girl listens to; the songs were written before animation work began so the animators could synchronize the songs to the sequence. Saadiq included different musical genres in the soundtrack to reflect the diversity within New York City. Producer Pilar Flynn described his score as "sophisticated" and "unlike anything [she has] seen in animation before", saying it "elevated the entire show to another level". According to Flynn, the crew generally pitched ideas for the score to Saadiq, only for him to discard them in favor of something different, which the producers received positively. The first episode features a song titled "Where You Come From", which Loter described as "a love letter to New York". Saadiq also wrote songs for the series' villains.

The show's theme song, "Moon Girl Magic", was performed written by Saadiq alongside Halima Lucas and Taura Stinson, and performed by White. The song was written by Saadiq with "a similar energy" to "Juice" by Lizzo, and received an "instant green-light" by the executives, which is rare for most theme songs for a television series. Saadiq said he wanted the song to be both "uplifting" and "happy", while White was excited to "bring Lunella's voice to the show in a singing way". The title sequence was storyboarded by supervising director Ben Juwono, who drew inspiration from the music video for Cyndi Lauper's "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" and storyboarded it to play to "Juice", as the theme song had not been written by that point. The song was released as a single on November 14, 2022.

A soundtrack featuring selected songs from the first season was released on February 10, 2023.

Censorship

An episode from Season 2, entitled "The Gatekeeper", was shelved from release; however, the full episode leaked on November 15, 2024. The episode revolved around the openly-transgender character Brooklyn. James Whitbrook of io9, after reviewing the leaked footage, noted that "the episode is clearly not subtle" with its focus on Brooklyn and "the explicit prejudice she faces as a trans teen who wants to participate in school sports". Artists who worked on series alleged that the episode was pulled as a result of the political climate surrounding Donald Trump winning the 2024 United States presidential election and the Republican Party winning both chambers of Congress. Michael McWhertor of Polygon reported that a Disney source stated the episode was "held" instead of banned, with that determination occurring "more than a year ago and was not based the result of recent U.S. elections". Whitbrook reported that a Disney source claimed the intent of the hold was "to ensure material doesn't potentially push ahead discussions around social issues before families can have them themselves", however, Whitbrook also commented that "it would not be the first time Disney has capitulated to right-wing systems of power by censoring its own material". Despite being unreleased, the episode won a Velma Award from the non-profit LGBT rights organization The Rainbow Project the following month.

Release

Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur premiered on Disney Channel on February 10, 2023. The series was originally scheduled to premiere in 2020, before being delayed to 2022, and later to its eventual premiere date. The first six episodes of the series were added to Disney+ on February 15, 2023, resulting in episodes 3 to 6 being released prior to their television debuts.

Marketing

A teaser trailer showing clips from the opening was released by executive-producer Laurence Fishburne on December 15, 2021. An official clip was released during San Diego Comic-Con in 2022, while the first trailer was released during the D23 Expo, where the first episode was shown to the attendees. The series' intro was released during the New York Comic Con 2022, with the first two minutes of the season premiere also being shown during the panel. A music video for the theme song was released on November 14, 2022.

Merchandising for the show will include apparel and a series of toys produced by The World of EPI and Funko Pop! that serve as tie-ins for the series. Characters from Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur appear as limited-time meet-and-greet characters at the Avengers Campus at Disney California Adventure starting from February 15, 2023, in commemoration of Black History Month. A soundtrack featuring songs from the first season, in digital and audio cassette formats, was released on January 4, 2023, by Walt Disney Records.

Reception

Critical reception

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the first season holds an approval rating of 100%, based on 16 reviews with an average rating of 8.7/10. The site's critical consensus reads: "With dazzling visuals and punchy pacing that feel beamed straight from a child's imagination, Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur will enthrall kids while impressing animation connoisseurs."

Joel Keller of Decider asserted, "Marvel's Moon Girl And Devil Dinosaur is a dynamic, smart, visually arresting series that has a unique girl at its center, a puppy-like dinosaur, and stories that will entertain both kids and their parents." Matthew Aguilar of ComicBook.com gave the series a 4 out of 5, writing, "Marvel's Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur is an enchanting adventure that wears its heart and charm on its sleeve. The show carves out a corner of the Marvel universe all its own with personality for days and characters that leap off the screen, and any Marvel fan will regret missing out on this one-of-a-kind gem."

Graphic novel

On May 12, 2023, it was reported that a graphic novel based on the series was in development, entitled Wreck and Roll. It was released on April 2, 2024. The novel was written by Stephanie Williams with art by Asia Simone, while Scholastic published it.