This May, the heroes of the Marvel Universe will take in the sights of New York City in a series of themed variant covers. The New York Times' ArtsBeat blog has debuted four of the upcoming 15 variants, with each one honing in on a specific landmark, location or aspect of life in New York City.

"Each cover is carefully considered to make a statement about New York," Marvel Editor-in-Chief Axel Alonso told the New York Times. The theme month makes sense considering that the Marvel Universe has been closely tied to New York City ever since "Fantastic Four" #4 in 1962; the team lived in the fictional Central City for the three preceding issues. After changing the FF's homebase to a real location, New York City became an integral part of the Marvel mythos. Spider-Man took up residence in Forest Hills, Daredevil guarded Hell's Kitchen, Doctor Strange made his home in Greenwich Village, Falcon watched over Harlem, the Avengers assembled on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan and Professor X opened up a school in Westchester.

Matthieu Forichon's Hulk variant finds the jade giant lounging in Central Park. Mico Suayan has depicted Ant-Man grabbing a hot dog from a street cart. Acclaimed "Daredevil" artist Alex Maleev returns one more time to the Man Without Fear to show him swinging through the lights of Broadway. Lastly, the agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. protect the Statue of Liberty on a cover by Mike Perkins. You can check out the four images below.