Avengers Campus (2019) - Iron Man MkLXXX

Thought you'd seen the last of my Iron Man suits with the (spoiler alert!) death of Tony Stark? WRONG! Back in 2019 I was commissioned to design an all-new suit for Disney Parks' new Avengers Campus. This was an interesting project, as not only did the suit have to be entirely practical (and the movie suits hadn't been so since the first Iron Man movie) but it also had to be worn by a variety of different cast members of different sizes for a lot longer and in different weather conditions!

Disney Parks had already engineered the suit in terms of general proportions and where soft vs. hard materials had to be broken up, so my job was to 'dress' it in MCU-worthy style. This time around I took inspiration from the MK 9 "Neo Classic" armor of the late '80s in choosing the color breakup. This suit I decided to design entirely in Zbrush, as story context wasn't as critical to the design.

A lot of the form language was dictated by the materials to be used, for example the softness of convex surfaces capable with fabric-covered foam. The goal was to try to integrate the disparate materials as well as possible into one cohesive suit, as well as accommodate different body lengths.

Anticipating the difficulties keeping this suit cool in 90 degree + Southern California weather, I tried to work in as many opportunities for cooling as I could by cleverly disguising air intakes and vents as, well, air intakes and vents. I also put some thought into increasing peripheral vision with dark surrounds to the lenses which could be realized with mesh.

Mk LXXX ready to greet guests and fend off foes at the gates of California Adventure.

Mk LXXX ready to greet guests and fend off foes at the gates of California Adventure.

Final Turnaround (you're welcome, cosplayers!)

Final Turnaround (you're welcome, cosplayers!)