The Incredibles movies have some great superhero designs (and their lore is getting a resurgence), so I wanted to try my hand at "modernizing" some designs from the Incredibles. I wanted to keep the Inspired by the Golden Age of Superhero looks but darker and "realistic" for the more modern take for superhero movies.
It was a really fun way to explore who these characters are and how they would act/perceive themselves. It also allows me to breakdown the choices made for the designs of these characters and really understand who they are.
More infodumping below
I didn't want to change too much with the older designs. They're really good and I didn't want to rewrite who they were, hence, the notes in the middle.
Gazerbeam is an interesting character. You have to remember the dichotomy of who he is, both as a super and his secret identity.
He's a lawyer, meaning, he's serious and very meticulous when it comes to his work. You see this with the dark colors and his lack of flare. There's no cape or major pops of color to catch your attention. His symbols are on his belt buckle and on his forehead. They're small and don't stand out too much because he doesn't overtly stand out Gazerbeam doesn't really want to (remember, he hid himself for years). He's here to get the job done right and by the writing in the law.
Although, this is contrasted by the fact that his lawyer work is pro-bono, meaning that he often took cases in which the defendant(s) couldn't pay. We don't know if only started this after he became a super or if he always did this, but it signals his want to do good. He's a believer in supers; we see this in his last message about Kronos. He figured that another super would be able to find his message and to save the others. That's why he has pops of a lighter blue in his uniform, it's to signify the light in the darkness.
I made his suit more "aerodynamic" because I figured he would be an endurance super. I figured he would have similar stamina to those who run the 400, the 800 or the mile. This means that while he mostly spends his time running longer distances at a decently fast pace, he can kick into another gear for when he needs to sprint. He gets a tighter suit with most of it covered in little divots to help with the wind (similar to A-Train's costume design). I should've probably made him have thicker soles to help with his running since he's running around on the ground. It would give him a better boost while also absorbing the shock helping his bones.
This is also why he's on the skinner side. Long distance runners are skinny but still have muscle. You can see that he has powerful leg muscles (his thighs) that help with pushing off, but overall, he's fairly lanky. I think it's a combo of high metabolism while also needing to be lighter or carry less weight with his suit in order to better run/keep up with villains.
Despite how controversial his character is, I think I did the best with his costume. I wanted to keep most things the same with him as the ego, looks and personality are what make so many people love him.
I really wanted to keep the yellow trunks to showcase a sillier side to his personality, but it doesn't make sense as somebody like Superman would keep it (humanizing him), but Gamma Jack wouldn't since it would make him look silly. Gamma Jack is really intelligent, he would know how the public would view him. His wannabe nickname is Handsome Jack!! With trunks, they would take him less seriously but without, he comes off more suave and handsome rather than silly.
SO, I kept the cape but added texture to make it stand out from the rest of the yellow on his suit. I also attached it like most modern-day capes, at the spot where the shoulders meet the chest. I also alluded to his showboating personality by adding hints of green throughout the blue of his suit. I think it would be fun that whenever the sun hits his suit just right, you see shimmers of a beautiful green, similar to that of a male peacock. It's also why he hates getting his suit dirty because you can no longer see it's shimmer.
Adding to his ego, I think that Gamma Jack would be like one of those gym rats. The ones who are incredibly thin but still have major muscles. This combination adds to his attractiveness but also distracts from the fact that he doesn't have much else outside of his powers. He's a very weak character as he doesn't have standout strength or endurance and he has sub-par agility and even less indestructability. He's a glass cannon type of super. He's more likely to kill because if he doesn't than he's more likely to be killed himself.
We see that in the LEGO game, he doesn't wear gloves as his hands are fleshed colored. I like to think that it's because gloves hinder his abilities. I extended the arm part to his knuckles as to provide some sort of diversity and to also show his looks over practicality mentality. I haven't decided if the fabric would actually cover the palms or not yet. There's very little distinction with his boots (LEGO or drawn) so I just drew a version similar to the other heroes. Because of this, I changed his shoes resemble that of a football player's spats. It wraps around the ankles and boots to keep them in place while also making sure the laces aren't able to come undone. It helps ensure that the player is less likely to roll their ankle.
I also changed his symbol to resemble more of the radiation danger symbol (hence the triangle on his chest) but added a swoop at the bottom for a J. This makes it look like the gamma radiation symbol for Y + a J for his name.
I changed Voyd the most as Women's costumes have gone a huge change in modern times.
I mostly based her shape off of Yelena (Thunderbolts*) because Voyd's powers are teleportation. We don't have NSA documents like with the previous supers, so we don't know if she has great strength or endurance. So, I figured she'd need a bit more of a bulky suit to help her pack a punch. She can also be a bit bulkier since she can rely on her Vortexes to aid her mobility.
I kept her symbol relatively the same, just added some more flare. I made the middle hollow because you step through the portals rather than just
I changed her hair style/coloring because I feel like the og is just a hinderance. It's great to showcase that she's similar to violet and very nervous around ElasticGirl. However, that hair would become annoying very quickly. It blocks vision and probably gets stuck to her face. So I tried to keep a hairstyle that kept the length but stayed out of her face. I also wanted to keep the colored hair but figured it would be hard to hide outside of hero work. So I gave her a peak-a-boo hair style. There's two aspects to this, 1. The platinum blonde was a way more common color for dyed hair. 2. In her secret identity form, it shows the fact that she has to hide her superpowers. But when she's in her hero outfit, she showcases her true colors.
The more I redesigned her, the more I understood her character. She's a wanna-be, that's why her color choices aren't as smooth as the professionals. She feels like there's a lot going on but not in a cohesive way. She doesn't have creatives like Edna Mode to design her suit. It takes elements of the ogs (the skin tightness, the bright colors contrasted by darker ones, the leotard) and dials them up to feel like a child's OC rather than one of the greats.
And as I redesigned her, I took aspects of who she is rather than just her looks. That's why it's so different from her og character. It feels like a disservice bc she's a great character once you break it down. Her design works well while also feeling like it could've been better.
