Posted in: Comics, Comics Publishers, Current News, Marvel Comics, X-Men | Tagged: iron man, mysterium, pepe larraz

Pepe Larraz's Designs For Iron Man's Mysterium Armour

Back in August, Bleeding Cool broke the news with the headline "Is Iron Man Getting A Suit Made Out Of Mysterium?" Pepe Larraz reveals he is.

Published Mon, 25 Dec 2023 14:17:08 -0600

by Rich Johnston

Last updated Tue, 26 Dec 2023 14:45:57 -0600

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Article Summary

Pepe Larraz unveils the Mark 72, a.k.a. the Mysterium Armor for Iron Man.
Design inspired by sports cars, focusing on the chest and the Arc reactor.
Challenges addressed include waist design and creating a recognizable silhouette.
Editor Tom Brevoort's input led to a sophisticated, chromed final look.

Back in August, Bleeding Cool broke the news with the headline "Is Iron Man Getting A Suit Made Out Of Mysterium?" Turns out the answer was yes. The mysterious mutant metal made using kirbons in the White Hot Room, and saviour of the intergalactic economy. Now latest March 2024 solicitations for Invincible Iron Man #16 are a Fall Of X crossover still, by Gerry Duggan and Juan Frigeri with this Kael Ngu cover, "D-Day is here and there is absolutely a main event: Iron Man vs. Feilong! Get ready for the biggest clash of armor you've ever seen! Plus: Tony gets some new suits!"

But the armour itself was designed by Pepe Larraz, who took to TwitterX to say, "Some months ago @Marvel asked me to design the newest iteration of the #IronMan suit, the Mark 72, a.k.a. "The #Mysterium Armor". Here is the final design I did."

"Before starting any design I do a preliminary search for ideas and references, trying to form an idea of what I want, different but recognizable. In this case my idea was that an Iron Man armor must have more to do with a high end Sports car than a tactical body armor. So my first drafts were headed in that direction until my friend @davizlopez told me that it looked like a Transformer. Lesson from life#1: a good idea isn't everything in a design. Lesson #2: find new friends."

"I had no experience drawing Iron Man but I realized the most iconic part in every iteration was the chest and the legs, so I focused on finding an iconic shape for the chest and the Arc reactor, as well as a recognizable silhouette, which is absolutely necessary in every design."

"The waist is a problem for every armor design I do. The appropriate shape to facilitate movement could easily look like a petrified solid diapers, or a very bold swimsuit. Obviously not what I was looking for."

"At the end I decided leave that part in a complete black area of articulated plates, both to solve the trouble of the waist and to create a black shape which makes easy to draw him and follow him around the page. Made sense as a reference to the darkness of the Mysterium."

"Once I found a design that I thought it was valid, I did some variants, just to try all the ideas. The black faceplate was really cool but wasn't enough Iron Man, looked like War Machine. I didn't like the bulky one because I think an Iron Man armor should look robust but agile."

"My editor @TomBrevoort asked me to articulate with plates the waist area in order not to lose the armor feeling of it, and obviously it was a great call. We decided for the chromed version, more minimal and it looks more expensive and sophisticated. All very Tony Stark."

"A bit of polishing and this is it. I loved the chance of doing a darker version of the suit, applying the gold lines from the cars' design to remark the high end, exclusive custom trait of the object. It's an Iron Man armor, it's priceless. Thanks for reading and happy holidays!"