When Marvel’s Midnight Suns launches on October 7, players around the world will be able to dive into the darker, supernatural side of the Marvel Universe alongside the Midnight Suns. As Earth’s last line of defense, this team of legendary Marvel heroes must band together to stop Lilith, Mother of Demons, from resurrecting the Elder God Chthon.
To prepare for the fight ahead, the team at Firaxis was excited to not only design updated costumes for the iconic heroes, but also give them a signature, supernatural look from Midnight Suns.
When creating these new costumes, we obviously wanted them to be unique, but it was also important to maintain certain characteristics so that the heroes were easily recognizable even during intense combat sequences. Our early designs for the Midnight Suns Battlesuits had a somewhat medieval Arthurian feel to them, but we eventually settled on a sleeker combination of old and new that speaks to the powerful combination of Stark technology and Doctor magic. Weird.
Strange’s glyphs appear on gold filigree armored plates that are used alongside sections of Stark’s black ballistic plastics. On top of that, the new costumes emanate from magical hell! Our goal was to make them look like they were radiating supernatural power, a modern take on traditional superhero costumes.
Below are examples of how we approached designing suits for some of the Midnight Suns, as well as hints at what abilities the new Stark and Strange powered suits unlock in-game.
Spider Man
Our color blocking of the red and blue sections goes a long way to ensuring Spider-Man is instantly recognizable. We also made sure the strap design was perfect; it has a certain form, design and rhythm. This also applies to its animations, which have a distinct acrobatic style and incorporate incredible and extreme poses.
To fit the aesthetic of Marvel’s Midnight Suns, we added pointed dagger-like designs to the chest, back, and arms of Spider-Man’s suits and used similar shapes when designing his spider symbol. Even in his black and gold battle suit, Spider-Man is unmistakable as he uses his signature Midnight Suns ability – buff while leaping through the air and striking iconic poses with a flurry of Hellfire behind him.
Magic
For Magik’s costume, which has a punk style, we looked to comics like the ones from 1992 Ghost Rider & Blaze: Spirits of Venge ance
Magik’s black and gold Midnight Suns battle suit is inspired by the magical Eldritch armor she wears The New Mutants and other comics. This transforms her into a high-fantasy medieval heroine, very much in keeping with her Soulsword weapon of choice. Wearing this suit unlocks Magik’s powerful Darkchylde ability, allowing him to simultaneously taunt all enemies and become temporarily invulnerable.
Wolverine
We chose to base Wolverine’s costume on his 90s brown and tan leather outfit as we hadn’t seen him depicted in many other games. The most important aspects of his look that we wanted to nail were the shapes of his classic claws and helmet wings, which along with his bulkier body type set him apart from the rest of the Midnight Suns.
For Wolverine’s Midnight Suns Combat Suit, we added pointed shapes to the shoulder pads, forearms, and boots. We also flared the wings of the helmet and added pointed shapes to the panel lines on its rib cage. The resulting look is suitably ferocious and matches the ability Wolverine has access to in this costume: his savage nature takes over as he engulfs his claws in flames and attacks multiple enemies in a frenzied rage.
ghost rider
When designing Ghost Rider’s look in Marvel’s Midnight Suns, we were inspired by the above spirits of vengeance comedy series as well as his appearance in the All-new Ghost Rider series with Robbie Reyes which launched in 2014. His head is transformed into a metal skull that simulates the lines of his classic muscle car, while his costume is based on those worn by racing drivers.
With his exaggerated Ghost Rider symbol and figure-breaking gold armor, Robbie’s Midnight Suns battle suit makes him look even more like a demonic Spirit of Vengeance. This also unlocks his terrifying ability Penance Stare, which allows him to take control of an enemy’s mind before blasting them with Hellfire.
Iron Man
Believe it or not, one of our main inspirations for Tony Stark’s Iron Man suit was an iconic ’80s Italian sports car, which given Stark’s flashy attitude and fondness for automobiles dear, is not as crazy as it sounds. The resulting sharp, pinched edges and large air vents give our Iron Man costume a distinctive look, but above all make it no less recognizable.
Stark’s Midnight Suns Battlesuit, meanwhile, is designed with exaggerated features to showcase his abilities. We’ve elevated the armor’s silhouette by flaring out the forearms, hips, and legs, and we’ve got flames shooting out of his Arc Reactor that morph into a huge column of hellfire when he uses the Midnight ability. Suns from the suit to target multiple enemies with a powerful beam.
I hope you enjoyed hearing about some of the new hero costume designs in Marvel’s Midnight Suns as much as we enjoyed working on them. We’ll be sharing more details on the Midnight Suns roster in the coming weeks on the official Marvel’s Midnight Suns site, and we can’t wait for you to battle Lilith on October 7 when the game launches on both PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 4. PlayStation 5!
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