Project MARVEL

My MARVEL Universe

[climbguyprojectmarvel]

Matthew Murdock: Defense Attorney by day, Ruthless Vigilante by night.

The victim of a toxic waste spill as a child, Matt Murdock was simultaneously blinded and gifted with a heightened 'radar-sense' which allows him to see the world around him better than any sighted person ever could. After the death of his father, the boxer Battlin' Jack Murdock, The orphaned Murdock was taken in by the Catholic Church.

Flash forward to the present where Matt Murdock's life and career are driven by his hunger for justice. In one arena Matt is a charming lawyer who plays by the books and works alongside assistant counsel Foggy Nelson and Law Student Karen Page. In another, he's a feared vigilante and protector of the neighborhood, branded "The Devil of Hell's Kitchen".

Murdock has done a lot of good in his life in both a suit & tie and a mask, but he sometimes struggles with a part of himself which is driven by rage and guilt. Like his father, Murdock is a born fighter, and though he will never kill, on occasion he can go too far in doling out beatings to the criminals of the Kitchen. Just like Grandma Murdock used to say: "Be careful of the Murdock boys, they got the devil in 'em."

At the end of the day, Hell's Kitchen is a safer place by day because of Counselor Matthew Murdock, and by night because of the Devil.

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Daredevil! I've been working on this one for a looooong time, and he's one of my favorite design's I've come up with.

Now, admittedly, my rendition of both the character and his design is heavily influenced by the Netflix show (which is incredible, if you didn't know), but my design comes from creating a visual look which I believe is in service of the heart of the character. I think that the black suit from the Netflix show is an amazing look and is more true to who Murdock is than goofy-looking red devil suit ever was.

The design challenge was to find a blend of the black suit and the classic Daredevil look that felt gritty and grounded enough for Matt Murdock's character while still being functional and capable of allowing him to take a beating. The result is a suit that is cobbled together from a custom made kevlar lined shirt, tactical reinforced pants, combat boots, muay-thai rope gauntlets, a bullet & ballistics-proof vest, and a bullet, ballistics, and trauma resistant helmet. This is the 'what', the 'why' for these design choices is most important:

Matt Murdock is a boxer by trade, and boxers go into a fight with nothing but the gloves on their hands and the will to win. This ideology translates almost perfectly to the black suit from which a lot of my inspiration was drawn. It’s nothing fancy, but both the suit and the man underneath have grit, and that’s more than enough. This parlays into what I love most about the black suit which is translated to my design: the eyeless mask. The eyeless mask is such an iconic look and even though I understand strategically why Matt would want to have eyes on the mask, I think it's a dumb thing for the character. The eyeless mask is the definitive look for Daredevil and here's why: When looking at Murdock in the eyeless mask, viewers are reminded of the blindness which makes Daredevil so unique as a character. Of course the lack of eyes also plays up the whole “Justice is Blind” idea too. Finally, because we can’t see his eyes, there is a sense of mystery about the character. They say eyes are the windows to the soul. If we can look someone in the eyes, we can find some way to connect with their humanity. Find a way to feel safe. In which case, how fitting is it that criminals (or even police,) literally can’t look the so-called “Devil” of Hell’s Kitchen in the eyes. It deprives him of his soul. His humanity. It makes him something else entirely.

My redesign accomplishes the goal of combining the grit and simplicity of the black suit and the specialized protectiveness and classic appearance of the red devil suit. My suit makes Daredevil a formidable force but not completely invincible, while keeping him believably grounded and street-level as a vigilante. The design stays true to who I believe the character of Daredevil is, and what makes him unique.

[climbguyprojectmarvel]

Hope Van Dyne never had much of a childhood. While the other kids were at play, Hope was helping out around the lab of her father, particle physicist Dr. Hank Pym. Despite losing her mother at an early age and her father's strict tendencies and scientific single-mindedness, Hope never stopped being an optimistic and enthusiastic person. While she often wished for more of a life outside of the lab, Hope always applied herself to her studies and her father's experimental work with shrinking matter.

During her young adulthood, Hope began uncovering bits of secret information hidden within the analogs of Pym's work. Something called 'Project: Ant-Man'. Hope dug deeper and found that her father used to work covert operations for government contractors using an experimental exosuit that allowed the wearer to alter the size of their body. She also found a connection between her father and somebody named Scott Lang, an ex-con. Hope confronted her father about the hidden 'Project: Ant-Man". Pym had no choice but to tell his daughter the truth about his past and his current connection to Lang, an ex-con now engaged in corporate espionage under Pym's employ. Finally, Pym told Hope that he'd kept this secret from her because these endeavors were the cause of Hope's mother's death all those years ago. Though initially devastated by her father's lie, Hope became intent on using the size-altering Pym Tech to continue her father's research and exploration of the miniature world. Begrudgingly, Pym accepted and built Hope her own Pym Tech exosuit to use around the lab.  

Months later, Pym received a distress signal from his operative Scott Lang, who had been captured while running a data grab at Cross Technologies. Hope volunteered to use her exosuit to infiltrate Cross and save Lang. Pym refused, having lost his wife in an accident with her own exosuit, and telling Hope that he couldn't lose her too. Ultimately, Hope chose to run the rescue without her father's knowledge. In preparation, Hope modified her exosuit with modifications she had been secretly developing: blaster technology and a flight pack. Keeping a low profile, Hope was able to successfully infiltrate Cross and save the new Ant-Man.

Hope proved herself to her father and expanded her role from lab work, now joining alongside Lang on infiltrations of hostile corporations as the ex-con's partner in crime: The Wasp

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In many regards, Hope Van Dyne's Wasp is a self made woman. I thought it would be interesting to introduce the concept of her own scientific intellect being the force behind giving the Wasp her wings (as she was initially grounded by Pym's wingless design of the lab-oriented suit (an attempt to make sure that Hope couldn't put herself in danger with the same flight capabilities that Janet's suit had)). Because the Wasp is synonymous with Ant-Man and the Pym brand, it was important to make her design feel similar to the two Ant-Man designs. The color scheme is drastically different, but you have returning features like the stripe motif on the body suit and the various elements of the metallic Harness Technology, which enables the size alteration via Pym Particles and has been a mainstay throughout every generation of the Pym exosuit.

Of course the big new addition is the wings, which are constructed from a lightweight carbon fiber and are retractable as part of the flight pack modification to the Wasp's Harness. From a design standpoint, the flight pack is kind of the Wasp's answer to the traversal capabilities of Scott Lang's leg servos. One thing that I've kept consistent throughout all the Pym stuff is the quasi-fragility of it all. Ant-Man and the Wasp are capable of fighting and sustaining some damage, but the suits aren't meant to be brawlers; they're much more geared towards the exploration and infiltration angle.

So yeah. My interpretation of Hope Van Dyne's Wasp is a bit more lighthearted. She and Lang make a great team, with Lang's physicality pairing well with Hope's scientific and technological know how.

[climbguyprojectmarvel]

Meet Scott Lang: Ex-con turned superhero. He does his best to save the day and 69% of the time it works every time.

(Now that you get the gist, I’m gonna ramble with a complex design statement!)

——

The challenge with Scott Lang’s Ant-Man was finding the perfect marriage of new and old. The second Ant-Man, Scott Lang embodies a new generation, but the soul of the character still lies with Hank Pym. As such, Lang’s design should seem both new and familiar, reflecting the fact that Lang brings his own individuality to being Ant-Man while still embodying the creation and legacy of Hank Pym, the original Ant-Man.

It was important to make sure that visually, the identity of Ant-Man was preserved no matter who is underneath the helmet. As a result, that helmet hasn’t changed much from Pym’s original design, and the Ant-Man Pym technology also operates pretty much the same way. Because of these ‘rules’ for the Pym Process, the Harness technology that actually does the resizing hasn’t changed much either, so most of the design for Pym’s original Harness pieces remain in Scott’s suit (albeit tweaked slightly to be more resilient than the original Pym Harness). These constant design elements create continuity between both the science behind and the recognizability of the different versions of the character.

However, while still being Ant-Man, Scott plays the game differently than Pym ever did, bringing some individuality to the role. He is faster, more nimble, and better at quick thinking on the fly. The design reflects this, with the base suit being streamlined and compacted a bit, the colors made more bold, and the striped motif from Pym’s original suit being made more flowy and organic looking. While I still envision Ant-Man to be somewhat  limited by the sensitivity of the Pym Tech, it was important that Scott’s more rough and tumble approach to Ant-Man got a suit to match. Although still fragile enough to warrant caution, Scott’s version of the Harness is more resiliant than Pym’s original model, allowing him to take a few blows without completely compromising the suit. This is especially important considering that Scott’s version of the Ant-Man suit is able to grow to giant sizes; a handy feature when the situation demands it.

Perhaps the most intriguing feature of Scott’s suit is the servos on the legs. These effectively act as springs which propels him forward when running at miniature sizes; adding height to his jumps, increasing the distance he can cover, and exponentially increasing his acceleration & forward momentum. The servos not only allow for easier traversal, but also enable Ant-Man to be more powerful at small sizes. In his miniature state, Ant-Man is extremely dense, meaning he could pack quite a punch… IF there was enough force behind that punch. I was never a big believer in the comic-book explanation that Ant-Man magically retains the strength of a normal man at miniature sizes, so my answer to the strength of Ant-Man comes from the Newtonian equation for Force. Force is Mass times Acceleration. If the wearer of the suit loses physical mass when shrinking down, they will need to increase their acceleration in order to compensate for this loss and generate necessary force. Ant-Man’s servos allow him to move fast enough and forcibly enough to cause damage at miniature sizes, and increase that damage by growing back to normal size, rapidly restoring mass to compound that increased acceleration. When not in use, the servos compress to a boot-like resting state.

As I envision him, Ant-Man should feel small time; a little rough around the edges, vulnerable, and firmly rooted in science no matter who’s under the helmet. Scott Lang’s Ant-Man elevates the dexterity of the character while remaining true to the old-fashioned scientific sensibilities of Hank Pym.

(… okay, now I’m done.)

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Make sure you check out Scott Lang: Ant-Man's Companion Piece: Hank Pym !

[climbguyprojectmarvel]

My design of the Ant-Man Exosuit, as created and operated by Doctor Hank Pym.

The suit allows the wearer to alter their size, shrinking down by harnessing the power of the ‘Pym Particle’.

Pym himself, a scientist who frowned upon the idea of using scientific advancements for violence, created the Ant-Man for the purpose of exploration of the miniature world on his own terms. On occasion, Pym would be contracted by various divisions of the US Government for special ops infiltration or reconnaissance missions, on the conditions that he wouldn’t be expected to perform the combat duties of a soldier, and his superior officers would be denied any kind of video surveillance of Pym while on his missions.

Something of a recluse, Pym kept to himself and his work, and when on assignment he made sure to guard the secrets of his Ant-Man technology from prying government eyes keen on replicating and weaponizing it.  Though no outside sources had ever been able to confirm it, there was a rumor that behind the walls of his laboratories and think tanks, Pym was also using his technology to communicate with ants and use them in his expeditions into the miniature world.

—-

This is Pym’s original Ant-Man suit. It’s more of a scientific instrument than super suit - designed for exploration and life support under pressure (kind of like space suit). The suit itself keeps the wearer safe from hazardous effects of resizing and exposure to the Pym Particle, and the metallic pieces are all part of an apparatus called The Harness, which supports the body during the strenuous process of resizing, and provides a finite supply of oxygen and the Pym Particle to the wearer. The suit can shrink and mobilize ants, but I don’t envision this iteration being able to grow to giant sizes.

Since the suit is more of a finely tuned instrument, it must be operating in peak condition in order to resize and protect the wearer from hazardous effects. This means that if the suit is structurally damaged in the slightest, it could mean harm to the wearer should they continue to resize, or depending on the severity of the damage, even result in inability to resize at all. Due to the somewhat fragile nature of the suit, Ant-Man is not a heavy hitter, but rather an infiltrator and and explorer.

Even though this is the original suit, I don't imagine it changing too much. The Pym procedure requires a heavy duty apparatus and can’t sustain too much damage. Because of this, I can't see Ant-Man wearing a skin tight suit and jumping around punching stuff just yet.

I think that the visual emphasis on scientific explorer over superhero is a manifestation of the soul of the character, not to mention that the look visually differentiates him from the skin tight super suit look of most other MARVEL characters.

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Make sure you check out Hank Pym: Ant-Man's Companion Piece: Scott Lang !

[climbguyprojectmarvel]

Known to his employers as Gargan and his enemies as 'The Scorpion' (or 'El Escorpiano' , ' Le Scorpion' , 'скорпион', ' बिच्छू ' , '蝎子' , or 'העקרב',) this hitman travels the world serving up his own personal brand of merciless killing... and doing so with a smile!

Gargan has racked up quite a score over the years, cementing a reputation for himself and amassing a small fortune in international currency. Though Gargan had never encountered a gilipolla he couldn't handle with his own two fists, he began surgically modifying his body to make himself even more deadly. A subtle implanting of sub-dermal brass knuckles evolves into attachment of a spinally fused prehensile acid-tipped tail (cause subtlety), which parlays into an amputation of the lower legs to make room for some bitchin' mechanized talons, and so on.

Your guess is as good as mine as to what Gargan will look like in six months' time, but one thing's for sure: Making yourself less and less human comes with a hefty price tag. So, Gargan continues to work for a living, becoming more and more dangerous as he goes... and having a harder and harder time getting through the TSA Line.

---

Instead of assuming his usual MO as a thug in an exosuit, I wanted to reimagine Gargan as being a more worldly hitman with a dark sense of humor. This allows him to play a part in the world at large instead of just being a Spider-Man villain relegated to New York City. This being said, Gargan does have history with Spidey. Meeting early on in both their careers (when Gargan was just a gun for hire without a the tail,) Spidey took on Gargan in Harlem, realizing quickly that the guy was a lot more skilled than the city's usual breed of low-lives, and proceeding to get shot for the fist time as Gargan escaped. Spider-Man knows first hand how dangerous Gargan can be, even without all the death-machines he's now made a part of himself, and Gargan loves to hate the web-head who fares better than most against his particular set of skills.

in terms of the design, I was really influenced by the interpretations of The Scorpion seen in both "Spider-Man: Homecoming" and "Into The Spider-Verse" (the latter of which came up with a seriously genius concept for the character which influenced my version's penchant for modifying himself). I think the original design for the Scorpion is kind of dumb looking, and it gets on my nerves that most of Spider-Man's rogues gallery is colored green, so when designing those characters I try to change that up wherever I can. I wanted Gargan to look and feel like a real threat, and juxtapose that with a sense of humor that might jive with someone like Spider-Man if he weren't always (painfully) reminded that Gargan is a cold hearted killer.

[climbguyprojectmarvel]

Kristen Beck was a major cinephile. Though she had a degree in mechanical engineering, the field never quite sparked her imagination like her obsession with special effects production did. After working for a robotics company and receiving no accolades for her contributions in the workplace, she decided it would be a grand idea to quit her day job and break into Hollywood as a special effects artist. Unfortunately she went unappreciated here too. It's not that Kristen wasn't a talented effects artists, quite the contrary, it was more just that she had a repulsive tendency to be egotistical, arrogant, and maybe just a little bit unhinged. Kristen was fired from the first movie set she worked on after nearly killing the actors with a life threatening (but oh so convincing) animatronic. She cursed the director for ruining her vision as she was dragged away by security. No matter what she did, Kristen never earned the reverence she knew she deserved. Then it hit her: People love superheroes. Any idiot with a cape was adored by the public, what was to stop Kristen from putting on a cape of her own? She'd need to perform an act of heroism. Saving a cat from a tree? No, too cliche. Apprehending Doctor Doom? On second thought, better not swear off cat rescue just yet. Eventually she settled on the perfect debut: she would bring the public menace Spider-Man to justice.   After watching her favorite Sci-Fi flick, perfecting her lifelike digital projection technology, and accidentally inhaling a bunch of purple glitter, Mysterio was born. Kristen was bound to make a splash with her hero persona. The queen of a superior alien world, Mysterio voyaged to Earth to guide the primitive human race to enlightenment, to salvation. Unfortunately Mysterio spent more time on her backstory than she did preparing for the fight against Spider-Man. Though the battle was an impressively convincing public spectacle, Mysterio lost, but she did escape with her secret identity intact. Kristen went from dejected to delighted when she discovered that Mysterio had quickly become a star in the media. Some doubted the legitimacy of the supposed visitor from another world, some laughed at how she got owned by Spider-Man, and some excitedly mused about where Mysterio came from and how she arrived on Earth. It wasn't long before an online media presence of Mysterio true believers organized to speculate and report theories, and possible sightings of the alien being. This group of fanatics quickly grew, rallying behind their battle cry, "MYSTERIO IS REAL".   Not bad for a first act. Kristen mobilized her projection technology using cloaked airborne drones. Now Mysterio could make public appearances and continue to generate buzz anytime anywhere. In the meantime, Kristen got to work creating new state of the art illusion technology and robotics. Mysterio would soon be ready to conquer Spider-Man in front of her adoring public... after a brief intermission.

[climbguyprojectmarvel]

"My name is Peter Parker. Pretty sure you know the rest..." --- To kick off my MARVEL Redesign Series, I thought I'd take a stab (or a swing) at Spider-Man! In designing a suit for Spider-Man, my goal was to create a grounded and realistically homemade uniform that's a little rough around the edges, but still functional and instantly recognizable as the character. The suit is made entirely from clothing that would realistically be used by a young person without the ability or means ($!) to make a complex and beautifully constructed suit like those that Spidey normally wears in both his comic and movie appearances. In constructing the suit, certain staples of the classic outfit have been tweaked for functionality, aesthetic purposes, and ease of construction. TOP: The top of the suit is a blue zip-up sweatshirt with additional red fabric sewn (somewhat messily) on top of that base to create the classic red and blue paneled look. The usual longer red segments on the arms have been shortened and paneled. This is intended give the suit a more modern and grounded look, as well as for the sake of ease of construction. The webbing is sewn into the fabric, the design now given a more messily-sewn look. Because the top is a sweatshirt, it comes complete with a hood and front pockets, modded to zip closed in order to store extra web cartridges. PANTS: The pants are athletic wear (most closely resembling soccer pants - fitting somewhere in between baggy and totally form fitting, for ease of movement). Patches are sewn into both the pants and sweatshirt here and there as a quick fix to tears in the suit. SHOES: The boots of the classic suit have been replaced with red sneakers. This is done in order to ground the costume in reality (sneakers over stockings...), improve support and protection for the feet, and give Spider-Man a more nimble appearance. FOREARMS: GAUNTLETS, GLOVES, WEB SHOOTERS The gauntlets on the forearm (essentially skateboard wrist guards) replace the classic long red gloves. The black and white color adds some aesthetic complexity to the design. The pieces also aid in armoring his arms, which would often be under strain; blocking blows and scraping against buildings as he swings by. The red gloves mirror the sneakers: simplifying & grounding the classic look of stocking-like gloves and boots. These are climbing gloves with reinforced knuckles, both allowing the hands to breathe a bit, and providing some armor for throwing punches. The web shooters are fashioned from leather bands, and use an apparatus similar to the chamber of a revolver, enabling the user to load in several web cartridges at a time. SPIDER EMBLEM: The design of the spider emblem is inspired by previous popular iterations while still being both distinct and classic feeling. The design is more complex than the spindly emblem normally found on comics versions of Spidey, simply because I always found it kinda lame. The MCU suit inspires the body of the spider, at once substantial looking and simple in design. The Raimi suit inspires some of the angularity in the spider arms, and the Marc Webb suit inspires the longer reach of the arms. In many ways, the spider emblem of my design is indicative of the rest of the suit; inspired by what came before, yet changed with attention to functionality and aesthetic to best represent a more modernized and grounded Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man; at his core, the underdog street-level vigilante and normal kid turned hero. I hope you enjoy! Be sure to Favorite and Comment below to let me know what you think!

[climbguyprojectmarvel]

Welcome to Project MARVEL!

Welcome True Believers to Project MARVEL, my unique spin on the MARVEL universe, featuring reimaginings of the characters and lore.

Comments are encouraged! Let me know what you think and who you’d like to see next!  

Excelsior!