As you no doubt saw yesterday with our exclusive reveals of Taskmaster and Akuma, we're always on the hunt for the latest and greatest information surrounding the highly anticipated Marvel vs. Capcom 3. One thing we've been wondering for a while is how some of the alternate costumes for characters are being selected. While some combatants simply feature a new color scheme, others, particularly Marvel's characters, seem rooted in comic book history.
To find out more, we tracked down Chris Baker, Manager of Licensed Games at Marvel Studios. Baker, a former publicist at LucasArts and former writer for the Official Playstation Magazine, was happy to step in for a guest column, tracing his process for five of Marvel's characters - Phoenix, Storm, Dormammu, M.O.D.O.K. and Captain America.
Despite the conflict suggested in the title, Marvel vs. Capcom 3 has exemplified the term "team effort" between two companies. As Manager of Licensed Games at Marvel, I've had the pleasure to work with Capcom's talented team led by Ryota Niitsuma, while also living the dream of actually contributing to such a fantastic title.
Though I've never exactly seen myself as a fashion consultant, as you may have seen a few weeks ago on Marvel.com, my favorite MvC3 contribution has been leading Marvel's efforts to take alternate character color schemes one step further than fighting games normally do, almost creating alternate costumes in some cases. We revealed five alternate color schemes in said blog post, and I'm happy to add another five to that list here at IGN. You may have seen most of these by now—but this is your first chance to know for sure the story behind each alternate. I should also add that you, yourself, may have influenced the characters I'm speaking to, as I've done my best to bring together the ones the community has expressed the most interest in knowing more about…
But first, I need to restate a couple of key things, real quickly (see the first blog post for a little more detail): 1. Gameplay comes first, so the color scheme has to differ enough from the others to easily differentiate in the heat of battle. 2. The color scheme has to fit on the character model.
So, let's start with a character whose alts I know you haven't seen:
The core Phoenix model looks just like Jean Grey's classic Phoenix look. Combine this with an awesome move set, and you've got my personal favorite character to use in the game.
Ever read 2005's Phoenix: Endsong by Greg Pak? If so, you know artist Greg Land offered this incredibly elegant interpretation of Phoenix's ensemble. So what if she's only worn it while dead?
What if Grant Morrison's Jean Grey had looked a little more like her traditional Phoenix outfit? It might resemble something like this…
I don't know about you, but early '90s Jean Grey drawn by Jim Lee is my Jean Grey. Obviously, the difference in model made this one impossible, but we were still able to get a look that speaks to Jean in blue and gold.
Interesting side note: Though I literally looked through hundreds—maybe thousands—of pages of comics to find different possibilities for Phoenix, I somehow completely overlooked Chris Claremont's X-Men Forever, and Jean's look there. I did thumb through an issue just a few weeks ago, however, and hey, wouldn't you know it... This costume is almost exactly the same! So, officially speaking, this alternate is a 1990s homage… despite actually being closer to a current comic (that's written as though it were still in '90s continuity).
Keeping with the X-Women theme, Storm boasts perhaps the most different look for a returning MvC2 character on the Marvel side (and arguably in the entire game). Her modern look favors black over the white she's worn in Capcom fighting games since 1994's X-Men: Children of the Atom.
But just because we ditched the white doesn't mean we don't love it. Sure, it's not exactly the same, but when you play white-clad Storm in MvC3, know the '90s costume respect is still there.
One time, in the pages of X-Treme X-Men, Storm fought in an arena in Tokyo. Her all-red look harkens back to this event.
And speaking of X-Treme X-Men, Storm's red cape is inspired her main costume in that series that ran from 2001-2004. One of her edgiest looks to date.
Capcom's interpretation of Doctor Strange's archenemy is consistent with his look in modern comics, with a bit of their own artistic flavor. He definitely has a presence.
I'll be honest—I have no idea where this version of Dormammu originates. None. (You? Help me out here!) But I like it. All red. All dread.
The purple/red look pays homage to Dormammu's most traditional look over the decades.
According to the little poll I did to see which individual look you were most curious about, blue-flamed Dormammu (or, as @youngu89 on Twitter put it, the "turtle-looking Dormammu") came out on top. For those who assumed him to be the Dread Rorkannu of Nextwave fame, well…you're wrong! You see, as longtime Marvel editor Tom Brevoort informed me when I asked him for some help here, the Dread One's first few appearances in Strange Tales featured him with the green costume and blue flaming head you see above.
Every artist seems to have his or her own interpretation of M.O.D.O.K.'s classic purple and gold. This is Capcom's.
Now this looks like a Mental Organism Designed Only for Killing! Granted, he didn't actually look like this within the pages of Super-Villain Team-Up: MODOK's 11 [link: http://marvel.com/comic_books/issue/3541/super-villain_team-upmodoks_11_2007_1] …but it's still cool enough to make it into our game.
I looked at a lot of blogs and message board posts, and many people seem pretty baffled about this M.O.D.O.K. ensemble. All I've got to say is, first appearance, baby!
Finally, one of my favorite alternates in the game. Every Mental Organism Designed Only for Killing deserves his very own Mental Organism Designed for Aggressive Maneuvers—his M.O.D.A.M. They got the lipstick and eye shadow in there and everything. Of course, the in-game voice and phrases stay those of M.O.D.O.K… so it's kind of like he's cross-dressing.
Before I get into the Captain America's alternates, I want to take a second to address one that's not there, as I know a lot of people have voiced disappointment over the absence of Bucky Cap." I wanted to represent the current wielder of the shield in the comics as much as you want to see it, but that particular look does enough to break the rules I mentioned above to make it impractical.
To note the main reasons: 1) With shield at your side, core Cap and Bucky Cap look almost identical from the waist up, especially while you're thinking fast during a fight. 2) When you're playing as Cap in a heated fight, your center of focus is the shield—and if that really is the Bucky Cap suit, that shield isn't going to change color. 3) With respect to model changes, the V shape presents a problem for the artists that could actually result in the abdominal portion of the character looking off. Can't have that.
I don't expect that explanation to fully please all of you, but please understand that Bucky Cap was absolutely considered and was by no means overlooked. Well, now that that's out of the way…
You know classic Steve Rogers. He's treated as perfectly as he always has been in Capcom fighting games.
You may not know this, but Frank Castle is quite the Captain America fan. Shortly after the Super Hero Civil War, after Cap had been taken in by authorities and (at least temporarily) eventually was killed, Frank went about his business in this ode to his idol. We imagine MvC3 Cap chose to wear this because it was handy and his normal duds were all torn up or something—cavorting with the Punisher isn't exactly his cup of tea. Capcom got so into designing this one, they even went so far as to change the A to a star and to chop off the wings (the inset that allows you to see the shield is from an earlier version).
I'll admit, this isn't one of my favorites, but there is some solid reasoning behind it. With two other designs not exactly Cap's iconic red, white and blue (and with the U.S. Agent option looking a little too much like the Frank Castle variant in profile), we decided to recall the primary alternate from MvC2. After all, this game series does have its own legacy and canon, right? It's easily discernable from the others, and it's red, white and sorta blue, so that's why we went with it.
The Marvel Universe is full of "what if?"s—to the point that we've had entire series based around the question. So, here's one we're creating for this look in the game: What if Captain America were brainwashed by the Soviets into fighting for the U.S.S.R.? The result would be the most powerful Red Guardian ever. He might maintain certain aspects of the costume that defined him for so many years (the wings on the outside, the white stripes at the abdomen), but he'd go all red—er, all Red—for the rest of the outfit.
In other words, we couldn't get a Red Guardian look for Cap given our model limitations, so we're creating this "what if?" scenario. Actually, what do you think the "what if?" story behind this ensemble might be? The first ever game-related Marvel No-Prize might be in it for you if you've got a particularly cool idea. Good luck, True Believers!
Excelsioryuken!
