While Marvel Studios is notoriously secretive and very protective of their in-house development process and materials for their films, the entertainment industry titan has never been shy about releasing preliminary concept art for a number of their high-profile titles. Maybe it's the fact that the films themselves are based on comic books, but it's not unusual for gorgeous, previously unseen pieces of concept art from Marvel films to be released on a fairly regular basis, both from the studio itself and the artist who created the pieces.

Sometimes it reveals new pieces of information about the film and its development, and other times the concept art is just posted so that fans can admire the film's visuals in a different way. It's almost expected at this point even, that the first glimpse fans often get from upcoming Marvel movies comes from released pieces of concept art. The studio just did it with Avengers: Infinity War and Black Panther, and understandably, did it quite a bit with last year's Doctor Strange.

Keeping in line with that trend, a new piece of preliminary concept art for 2015's Ant-Man has been discovered. Posted by concept artist Andrew Kim, the piece unexpectedly features a cameo appearance/nod to the Sheriff from Disney and Pixar's Cars films, voiced by Michael Wallis. Obviously, it doesn't look like this cameo actually ended up in the final version of Ant-Man, though neither Marvel nor Disney have ever shown a resistance to cross-promotional marketing or Easter eggs either.

Click Here to see the Ant-Man Concept Art

Judging by the scene itself, it looks like this cameo might have been originally intended for the final fight scene between Ant-Man (Paul Rudd) and Yellowjacket (Corey Stoll), in Cassie Lang's bedroom. There was even a similar moment in the film itself, when Scott accidentally enlarged a toy of Thomas the Tank Engine, which resulted in it destroying a large portion of Cassie's bedroom wall, and then flipping out of the house onto the police cars outside.

So if that is the case, which this concept art makes it seem like it is, it looks as though there was always going to be a pop culture reference of some kind during the final fight scene. It's just interesting to think why Marvel may have chosen Thomas to be the toy in Cassie's bedroom, instead of the Sheriff of Radiator Springs. No matter what, it just goes to show how much fun the creative talent at Marvel clearly has when they're developing and making their films, which translates wholeheartedly into the material itself.

Next: Logan Concept Art Features Film’s Desolate Future Landscape

Source: Andrew Kim