During the Avengers' upcoming "Enter The Phoenix" event, Earth's Mightiest Heroes will fight to determine who will become the next Phoenix host. Artist Javier Garrón unveiled a closer look at the Avengers' Phoenix designs.
Garrón shared his sketches with SYFY WIRE. The designs included Phoenix Wolverine.
Phoenix Namor:
Phoenix Captain America:
Phoenix She-Hulk:
Phoenix Shang-Chi:
And Phoenix Black Panther:
Garrón told SYFY WIRE that in order to find inspiration for the designs, he looked to 2012's Avengers vs. X-Men. "I was still working on the final episode of my previous arc in the title, the Khonshu one. I was sent the first script of the Phoenix storyline and was told several characters were going to be changed by the Phoenix and designs were required in advance," Garrón explained. "So I automatically thought about the Avengers vs X-Men event crossover from 2012. In that story, we had the Phoenix Five (five mutants becoming hosts of the Phoenix at the same time). Olivier Coipel, one of the A-list star artists of the event, designed those costumes and they were pure perfection. Using a common theme, shoulder pads (that will merge into the fire effect when the characters were powered up), and the Phoenix emblem merged with the costume elements, mainly in the chest area, he created extremely unique and iconic suits of each character. The kind of design you see and instantly think 'that's already a classic.' And I thought if the Phoenix is gonna choose new hosts then it would be super fun to play with continuity and go along using the same rules Coipel established. So it could be felt as an organic continuation of the same story within the same universe."
He said he also looked to the characters' personalities to get the designs down. He explained, "So we would shape the design not only based on the Coipel parameters but also on character personalities and their own costume history. A bold character has a bolder design. A more individualistic or power-conscious one would have less Phoenix elements in the costume. And then we would add references (or design Easter eggs we could call them too) to previous suits the character had in the past. It's a matter of building a design based on layers. Each layer is a concept, and each concept enriches the next one."
Garrón continued, "I haven't drawn most of the cast here and it is truly exciting to have this chance with them. They are some classic choices in the lineup but there are also some unexpected and wild picks. I may have suggested some too (though I don't know for sure by this point if they'll make it all the way to the final art). It's fun all around. It also makes me a bit nervous too."
"Enter the Phoenix" begins in Avengers #40, written by Jason Aaron and drawn by Javier Garrón. The book goes on sale from Marvel Comics in Dec.
Source: SYFY WIRE