Iron Man, Captain America & Hulk Get Matching Costumes in Dark Redesign for Founding Avengers

As Marvel celebrates 40 years of Spider-Man’s iconic black suit, founding MCU Avengers are getting matching black redesigns, including Captain America, Iron Man and the Hulk. Introduced as part of 1984’s Secret Wars event, the black costume has a long and storied history in Spider-Man lore, eventually revealing itself to be the villainous symbiote Venom. However, even after its true nature was revealed, the black suit has remained a touchstone of Spider-Man iconography.

As recently revealed by Marvel, May will see the release of several ‘Black Costume Variant Covers,’ with iconic Marvel heroes getting new redesigns based on Spidey’s monochrome costume. Three of the coolest new looks belong to Steve Rogers, Tony Stark, and Bruce Banner, who are being reimagined by Leiniel Francis Yu, Pete Woods and David Nakayama respectively. Check out the costumes below, along with the Secret Wars cover that showcased Pete’s new look, and the suit’s first transformation into Venom.

While only nine of the planned costumes have been revealed so far, Marvel has planned 23 transformations, including everyone from X-Men’s Rogue to Doctor Strange. The covers will be on sale as follows:

Marvel Celebrates the 40th Anniversary of the Costume That Became Venom

In Marvel’s Secret Wars, Earth’s heroes were spirited away from Earth, arriving on the patchwork construct ‘Battleworld’ to fight each other for the amusement of the all-powerful Beyonder. One of Battleworld’s constituent parts was an alien laboratory which included the equipment for the heroes to fabricate their iconic costumes. However, when Spider-Man tried to do the same, the classic ‘Parker Luck’ kicked in, and he instead freed a ‘Klyntar’ – a species of symbiotic alien whose latex-like goo can bond with other species, enhancing their natural abilities. While the Klyntar later left Spider-Man and found a new host as Venom, Spidey has returned to the black costume design on multiple occasions, often during the darkest chapters of his hero career.

Now, a murderer’s row of Marvel’s best and brightest are reimagining the black costume as worn by other iconic heroes. Captain America transforms his iconic red, white and blue ensemble, the Hulk gets a tactical redesign that incorporates the purple of his classic torn pants, and Iron Man goes full-symbiote, with the black tendrils enveloping his armor. Interestingly, each of these Avengers was present for Secret Wars and Venom’s introduction, though at the times it was James Rhodes in the Iron Man armor.

Marvel Bought Spider-Man’s Black Costume from a Fan Artist

The Suit’s Creator Doesn’t Love How It Evolved in Marvel Lore

A surprising fact that fans may not know about Spider-Man’s black costume is that it was actually designed by a fan. Marvel fan Randy Schueller sold the design to Marvel for $220 in the eighties. While the publisher initially planed to use Schueller’s red and black design, an offer for Schueller to script the costume’s debut story fell through, and the black and white version fans know went on to appear in Secret Wars.

In his account of selling the costume published by CBR, ​​​​​​​Schueller expresses mixed feelings about how the design was used – thrilled to have contributed to Spider-Man lore, but asking for “a mention in the letters column of Amazing Spider-Man recognizing me as the nameless fan who sparked the idea for the black suit.” Interestingly, Schueller admtis to not being a fan of the costume’s evolution into Venom, saying:

… When the idea of the black costume caught on, I was even more thrilled. And then when VENOM was created I was… disturbed. I was never a fan of the costume-turned-villain idea. Give me the classic Ditko villains any day! Venom just never really seemed to work for me. But I digress…

However, Venom was far from the end of the black costume – it has appeared many times since its introduction, perhaps most famously in the post-Civil War arc ‘Back in Black,’ though as recently as 2024’s Ultimate Spider-Man #1, where it’s used as the first costume of this new continuity’s Peter Parker.

Fans Can Also See Iron Man, Captain America & Hulk as Full Venom Hosts

The Three Heroes Were There at the Beginning of Venom’s Story

Of course, while it’s fun to see Cap, Iron Man and Hulk get their own black costumes, fans also want to see these iconic heroes go full-Venom. Marvel history is packed with examples of Venom taking on a new heroic host, with popular examples including Marvel’s earlier ‘Venomized’ variant cover initiative. Rick Leonardi’s cover for Invincible Iron Man #5 gives Iron Man spiky symbiote armor, while Tom Raney’s cover for Captain America: Steve Rogers #13 turns the Super Soldier into a monstrosity whose Klyntar teeth extend to his shield. Hulk most famously bonded with Venom during the Absolute Carnage: Immortal Hulk #1 tie-in, where Bruce embraces the symbiote after citing their connection as fighters in the Secret Wars event.

However, perhaps the Avengers’ best Venomized designs come from the 2017 Spider-Man TV series, and its ‘Maximum Venom’ third season, which introduced imaginative takes on Marvel heroes, including dark biological armor for Tony, a semi-transformed shield for Steve, and dozens of snapping symbiote mouthes for the Hulk.

It’s common that Marvel’s variant cover costumes and characters end up joining its main canon, and hopefully fans will eventually get to see an Avengers team sporting these matching black costumes. Until then, the awesome art of this upcoming cover initiative transforms Captain America, Iron Man, and the Hulk in a perfect tribute to Spider-Man’s influential ’80s redesign.

Invincible Iron Man #18 and Incredible Hulk #12 are coming May 1 from Marvel Comics, followed by Captain America #9 May 8.

​​​​​​​Source: Marvel, CBR