Creating the new and classic outfits of Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy – PlayStation.Blog
The Guardians aren’t just great at saving the galaxy – they also have impeccable style. For Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy, we created over 40 outfits for the band, from classic comic looks to all-new designs.
When we set out to create original looks, we wanted to work with a Marvel comic book artist who’s reimagined a variety of Marvel Super Heroes over the years: the talented RB Silva. We collaborated with him to create a line-up of team outfits with a vibe that clearly stated: “this is what we’re wearing for the final battle for the fate of the galaxy”. We had the opportunity to ask him a few questions about the creation of the Golden Guardians outfits, along with some exclusive concept art for you to enjoy.
How did you come up with the core concept for the “Golden Guardians” outfits?
RB Silva: I was immediately informed by Eidos-Montréal and Marvel that some of the required costumes were meant for a team, and I had lots of ideas for that, but one of these ideas, the one that stuck in my mind, was that these should be an armor or something like an armor. As soon as the material was established, the ideas flowed naturally.
How did you go about adapting this core concept for each Guardian – five characters with very different builds?
RB Silva: First, I needed to establish a common element that would identify the outfits as a team. The easy part was establishing the color. Working along with the people at Eidos-Montréal and Marvel, we concluded that the outfits should be white and gold. The hard part was all the rest. Kidding! But developing these outfits according to height, body type and personality was a task we executed very carefully. Many shapes used in Rocket Racoon’s armor were not functional for Star Lord’s armor. That’s when working very closely with Eidos-Montréal and Marvel went very well and, with a few sketches, we managed to establish an individual concept for each character.
What was your favorite aspect of designing these outfits?
RB Silva: Seeing the characters together, each one wearing something visually alike yet different pleased me a lot. I did a lot of research and had access to an image bank with lots of military outfits, and maybe it’s not easy to spot many military characteristics in those outfits, but they’re there (lol). I had to think of something very resistant, fit for very extreme, aggressive conditions, so a costume sewed by a teenager in his bedroom to fight crime might not work very well here.
I loved seeing the final results developed by the 3D modeling team.
What was the most challenging aspect of the creation of these outfits?
RB Silva: Undoubtedly, the most challenging part was finding elements that expressed each character’s personality in each scenario. The creative team at Eidos-Montréal sent me some references and shapes used while developing the game universe and that helped me a lot, but at the same time they set me a limit showing how far I was allowed to go and which shapes I could use. It was an interesting challenge, and it was certainly completed in an incredibly satisfying way. I have only praise for the entire creative team at Eidos-Montréal and Marvel. They rock!
Classic looks for the Guardians
When it comes to the classic comic outfits, we had so much material to play with. The Guardians have been around for 50 years, and some of their looks were an absolute blast to include in our game. Let’s take a look at one classic look for each Guardian.
Star-Lord – Team-Lord outfit
Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning’s Guardians of the Galaxy run was one of the key inspirations of our game, so it was no question we had to bring some of the looks from that 2008 era. Team-Lord was a natural choice and an interesting challenge, as Star-Lord’s helmet is radically unique.
Gamora – Black Vortex outfit
Inspired by the 2015 comic Guardians of the Galaxy & X-Men: Black Vortex Alpha #1, Gamora’s Black Vortex outfit was also one of our favorites. That cape is just badass.
Drax – Katathian Monk outfit
Drax is the kind of character for whom balancing his seriousness and humor is a fine line to walk on, and this certainly extended to some of his outfits. The Katathian Monk one, taken from the 2017 comic All-New Guardians of the Galaxy, was a representation so perfect of this duality that we couldn’t pass up on the opportunity to add it to our roster.
Rocket – Hero of Halfworld
Rocket has been around for a long time, and some of his looks are absolutely timeless. This is particularly true for the Hero of Halfworld outfit, which is inspired by his 1985 comic by Bill Mantlo, the co-creator of Rocket Raccoon. For eagle-eyed players, this isn’t the only tribute to Bill Mantlo in our game…
Groot – Five Horsemen of the Apocalypse
While it only appeared on a variant cover back in 2016, the Age of Apocalypse looks for the Guardians were so striking we had to bring them to our game. The team had a lot of fun recreating them, especially for Groot who can fully unleash his inner monster with this look. Lady Hellbender would probably pay a hefty sum for this one.
Find all those outfits and many more in Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy, out now on PS4 and PS5.