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So, the other day I started reading some old Avengers issues and it got me to thinking about the inevitable sequel to next year's movie. Based on the Iron Man movies, Thor and Captain America, I have a very good feeling about the Avengers movie and I'm hoping they don't get so caught up in modern Marvel history that they neglect the classics, even the somewhat goofy bits. There's nothing in the Marvel universe that can't be rendered on the big screen, with a little creative effort.
I was happier than I thought I could be when I read that the writer of Captain America wants to have MODOK in the Cap sequel. I never cared for MODOK in the comics, but when he showed up in the Avengers cartoon...well, he's just too damn fun to keep down.
And so, in that vein, I was inspired to rework a group of Avengers villains from the early days, Avengers #6, to be precise.
I don't know if there was an official rule, back in the day, but reading through as many old comics as I have, there must at least have been a consensus that villains' costumes had to be as lacking in cool as possible. The sight of Baron Zemo walking on the backs of his South American Indian slaves in his purple parka and oddly loose-fitting pink mask (odd, because the mask is supposed to be permanently glued to his head) is particularly priceless. The others are even worse, apart from the Black Knight, whose costume is just standard comic book medieval knight gear.
In addition to Zemo and Black Knight, there's the Melter and the Kryptonite...I mean...the Radioactive Man.
I decided to dress Zemo in something a bit more traditional for the Nazi types. First, I made the mask a bit redder, because hey, pink? Come on! Instead of the fur-accented parka, I gave him a black leather trench coat, tan pants and the traditional black jackboots. I left off the crown, because it's just too ridiculous for words. And...I forgot it. :P
I've hated Radioactive Man since I first saw him. Not only because he's a godless Communist, but also because he's one of those idiots running around barefoot in Manhattan. In a dress. Aren't there already enough of those guys in Manhattan? And, I get that he's radioactive, but why is he green? Oh, well... I modified his dress a bit and gave him clunky lead lined boots, because who needs to be leaving radioactive footprints everywhere you go?
For the Melter, I designed a funky weapon harness for his melting device. I finally got around to reading how his weapon is supposed to work, because it always seemed extra goofy to melt Iron Man's armor without cooking Tony Stark inside it. Melter totally lost the costume competition, in the late 60s. Jeez, who thought that helmet was cool? or that cape? And the stripey pants?
I helped him out with a coverall like a flight suit, and helmet, to go with the weapon harness.
While Black Knight got the least ridiculous costume in those days, I'm sorry, but he got stuck with the worst ride. A mutant winged horse is just not a practical way to get around. What do you feed it? And what do you think the cops would do when horsey has to go number 2 at 1200 feet? He'd me on the FBI top ten list in no time!
So, what I did was take him full high tech. This Black Knight's weapons were all super-science, anyway, so giving him a new ride doesn't take him too far out of his idiom. Basically, he's one of the performers from Knight Riders (the motorcycle jousting movie) and the flying jet-skis from The Island.
That's my take on these guys. Hopefully, we won't be saddled with badly conceived, boring movie villains, with no history in the comics.
I'm sure we'll no doubt see a movie version of later Masters of Evil members, the Enchantress and the Executioner, they have Thor connections, after all.
See more of my stuff at . . .
heroblog.deviantart.com
www.heroblog.com
www.adastracomic.com
Copyright © 2011 Joe Singleton
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