Peter Parker is growing up, and in Avengers: Infinity War, he had the sophisticated nanotech suit to show for it. For Marvel Studios’ Head of Visual Development Ryan Meinerding, this costume change was a coming-of-age moment for the web-slinger, and he set about designing Spidey’s fancy new outfit to reflect this transition.
In the new artbook Marvel’s Avengers: Infinity War – The Art of the Movie, Meinerding recalls how Peter’s new getup marked the moment where he ceased to be a friendly neighborhood Spider-Man and became a fully-fledged Avenger.
“It was an interesting and fun design challenge, and I think he definitely feels like a different Spider-Man in this movie,” Meinerding said. “It allows him to feel like he’s moving away from being just a friendly neighborhood Spider-Man and actually becoming an Avenger–which is a huge story point and one that I was happy to help contribute to.”
As the book makes evident, a range of styles were considered for this all-important Iron Spider suit, but according to Meinerding, the final look was inspired partly by the comics, and partly by the red-and-black design that directors Anthony and Joe Russo had wanted the wall-crawler to wear in Captain America: Civil War:
“The Iron Spider in the comics has gold, bulbous eyes, and I felt like I really wanted to hold on to the [John] Romita eyes that we established in the previous suit design. So taking that red-and-black theme, incorporating some gold and then trying to keep the same head design — specifically the eyes — was kind of why we landed where we did.”
So, if this nanotech outfit was Peter’s moment of graduation, what happens when he literally goes back to school?
Well, going by what we know about next year’s Spider-Man: Far From Home, he may not be doing as much space travel in his second standalone film, but he isn’t exactly sticking to the neighborhood either, taking a field trip around Europe where set photos have shown him dressed in a dark new stealth suit. That being said, you can also expect this upcoming release to have plenty of New York scenes, in which Tom Holland will finally be getting that red-and-black color combination that the Russo Brothers wanted all those years ago.
From the look of things, Peter’s Avengers: Infinity War outfit might only be a temporary loan, but we’ll see the next pair of costumes in action when Far From Home hits theaters on July 5th, 2019.
