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So there was this guy in the future, one day, and he
was bored. Bored with the soft life in the future,
where they'd conquered every challenge, cured every
disease, smoothed every road and removed all the
interesting things a man could use to get into some
trouble and end this interminable boredom!!!
Everything, that is, except the libraries. So this
guy, a descendent of great and some say, terrible men,
could read about the interesting lives of his
ancestors.
And then, one day, in the future, while sorting
through the relics of his family's past, he came
across a way to end his boredom forever. A device, an
invention of one of his ancestors, so the family
legends told. A time machine. So, what's a bored
future guy with unlimited funds and all the time in
the universe on his hands do with a time machine?
Well, he goes back to ancient Egypt and oppresses some
masses, until the Fantastic Four got shoved back in
time by this guy's reputed famous, or infamous,
ancestor. Of course, the FF saved the day and sent
this guy packing, but it wouldn't be the last time
they'd see Rama Tut. He would later team up with Dr.
Doom, although it might have been earlier, these
things get complicated with the undisciplined use of
time travel.
As a villain goes, this guy makes third-rate seem
like high praise. He used a time machine and his
future super-science to dominate and oppress a bunch
of primitives! Such ambition! Such vision! Is it any
wonder he would change his name and M.O., in order to
menace other heroes? Oh, and with his little
pseudo-Egyptian outfit, he wears swim trunks! Green,
of course. I believe it was at this point in his life
where this individual first developed his fetish for
strange headgear.
That's how it began, one of the most complex and
confusing story threads every to run through Marvel
Comics. Rama Tut becomes the Scarlet Centurion, then
Kang the Conqueror and later, Immortus. He seems to
have lost his desire to be humiliated by the Fantastic
Four and usually concentrates his efforts on the
Avengers, but he shows up in every series, eventually,
in one of these identities.
I think the Scarlet Centurion is my favorite lame
outfit/character of the Marvel Universe. Villains,
anyway, I'm sure there's a Marvel hero with a lame
costume, etc. that I just can't recall at the moment.
It's like all these time traveling conquerors can't
read a little further in their history books to where
it says, "...and following his attack on the Avengers,
he had his ass handed to him on a large platter and
went skulking back into the timestream."
No, wait, I think Kang's costume is even worse than
the Centurion's, but he's a better character, so
Centurion gets to keep his "Lamest Costume/Character
Ever" award. Kang has conquered the ages, he's got the
wardrobe of the entire universe, in all the times he's
conquered, and he chooses to wear THAT?!? It's like
everyone who works for him is afraid to tell him how
goofy he looks!
First, there's the tunic tucked into the belt and the
green and purple, what's wrong with these guys? Let's
assume that the material has all kinds of super-exotic
properties, body armor, self-cleaning, whatever, but
does it have to look so bad? And what is the deal with
that headgear? Longtime readers will know that I
approve of proper headgear in a costume, but what the
hell is that thing? It's some kind of helmet, but the
face plate is some kind of flexible blue mask, that
makes halloween masks look impressive and manly. And
last, but most certainly not least...purple thigh-high
boots? 'Nuff said.
The last incarnation, from bored dilettante to
god-like master of time and space, is Immortus. No
longer the conqueror, Immortus is the manipulator. And
he's still got the fashion sense of a
visually-impaired ape. Sure, he's got that kickin'
helmet, who wouldn't want a helmet sticking two feet
off their head? And the big, flowing cape helps with
the image, somewhat, but here we are, back in the
green and purple, again. Do all Marvel villians shop
at the same thrift store? Take a look sometime.
Especially in the books from the 60s and early 70s,
there is a plethora of Marvel villains in ill-fitting
green outfits with purple accessories. It was like a
plague or something!!!
I'm probably missing some incarnations, but I'm not
100% on Marvel history, and I really don't need to be
a total anal-retentive completist on this. I used to
really hate Kang and Immortus and would avoid almost
any story that dealt with them, until a few years ago,
when Kurt Busiek and Carlos Pacheco did the brilliant
and (at my house, anyway) much re-read AVENGERS
FOREVER. Not only does this book have some of the
greatest art to ever grace the pages of a comic
series, the time-spanning story is excellent. By the
end, I really came to appreciate Kang and Immortus,
and really enjoyed the idea of Kang struggling against
the inevitability of becoming Immortus. In effect,
refusing to grow old and stale. I can relate.
So, where do we go from here...
Rama Tut. I like continuity, so we're stuck with this
moron. Let's make him look like he could pass as an
Egyptian Pharoah. No swim trunks, the Egyptians had a
perfectly servicable type of kilt which is both
practical and, I'm guessing, comfortable in their
climate. I did a little research online for something
a bit more traditionally Egyptian, though probably not
historically accurate. Also, as someone who lives in
the virtually the same lattitudes as the Giza Plateau
(Dallas Texas is at Lat: 32.78N, the Giza Complex sits
at 30 degrees North Latitude, we just have somewhat
wetter weather), I am familiar with some of the
clothing one needs to survive in these temperatures.
Sunburn sucks and royalty were rarely well-tanned back
in the olden days, and a usurper from the 30th century
is probably even less likely to be well-tanned, though
I suppose he might have brought some sunblock back in
time, with him. However, there is also the question of
dignity and that green underwear just had to go.
I based some of my design on a costume I found
online, but other bits are from relics I've seen and
that kind of thing. The colors I drew from the things
I've seen and read about ancient Egypt. They were big
on gold and copper and lapis lazuli, I thought the
costume should reflect that. I think I did a better
job of recreating an Egyptian style headpiece than
other versions I've seen on Rama Tut. Of course, there
has to be some royal purple and as any time traveler
knows, you gotta have a sidearm.
On to the Scarlet Centurion...I searched through
several versions of this character for inspiration,
but almost all of them are just too goofy for words.
Lots of redundant elements that make no sense to me.
Originally, he had lots of little rectagular plates on
his thighs, looks uncomfortable. The later version had
ovals in place of the rectagles, whee. Still make it
seem lumpy. The later design had too much red, so I
changed that when I colored mine. For my own version,
I tried to break up the red with some purple and gray.
The breastplate emblem, I tried to make it look like
an embossed piece on the breastplate. With this
version, I introduce the blue face mask, which
appeared on a later version in the Marvel comics, as a
precursor to the blue face mask in Kang's outfit.
I figure the spear is an energy construct, not a
metal weapon. I tried to make the costume look a bit
more flexible, making it more effective as fighting
armor. On the thighs, I shifted the oval pieces around
and enlarged the front ones, perhaps as armor hard
points for additional protection.
With Kang, I tried to stick close to his usual color
scheme and sense of style, but tried to make the
costume more of a suit of armor. In place of the
thigh-boots, I went with armor. high tech, so it's
probably as flexible as cloth. I decided to make the
helmet more solid-looking. In place of the mobile face
mask, I went with something more along the lines of
Iron Man's face plate. Kang isn't always on the front
lines of battle, but he has been known to put himself
at risk, his helmet should reflect that.
And, last we come to Immortus, the scholar and
schemer. His costume should be somewhat more
comfortable and less of a protective garment. The
cloak is full and I simplified the collar, hate a
goofy collar on a cape. Still sticking with the
traditional color scheme, here. The helmet is
shortened and hopefully a bit easier to walk around
in. I decided he should wear a sword, because swords
are cool and Immortus should be cool. Of course, it's
probably Caliburn or some other magical sword, or has
a concealed positron blaster built in. He has all of
eternity from which to draw his arsenal.
I've been thinking about doing something with these
characters for some time. I even took a stab at them a
couple of months ago, but wasn't happy with my
designs, so I switched to something else. Someday I'll
pull together the list of the Marvel villains from the
60s with the generic super-villain green jumpsuit
look. I can think of a few, off the top of my head,
but I'm sure there are others. The list, so far, is
Red Skull, the Mad Thinker and the Red Ghost
(sometimes, I've seen him dare to be different,
wearing a shapeless RED jumpsuit! what an innovator!),
if you can think of others, send them to me. Or any
villain who needs a new look. I'm in the mood to
rework some villians.
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