Costume Spotlight: Mr. Freeze

Oh, Mr. Freeze. Where would you be without adaptations? Languishing in Golden Age obscurity, I'd wager. As we learned in the Super Post Potpourri all the way back in December 2011, he was called Mr. Zero until Batman (1966) changed it, and then he got his real name and backstory (and wife) from Batman: The Animated Series (1992). That's pretty much his whole character, except for his costume.

He got his costume from an action figure.

In Detective Comics #566 (July 1986), we see Mr. Freeze with the following design:

This design appeared earlier in the year in Kenner's third wave of the Super Powers Collection:

For comparison, here's what he looked like in his previous full appearance (July 1984):

The suit was being used at least until 1991, when it appeared in Who's Who in the DC Universe #12 (September 1991).

Costume Spotlight: Steppenwolf

Steppenwolf is a lesser known New God who first appeared in New Gods #7 (January 1972). He's a great hunter, one of Darkseid's Elite, and actually Darkseid's uncle. Since he was a hunter, he had a bit of a Robin Hood look when he first appeared:

In the 80s, DC released their first major action figure line (well, after Mego) through Kenner, called Super Powers Collection. After the first series was released in 1984 with the most popular characters, ie. ones that had appeared on Super Friends, the second series launched in 1985 with more obscure characters, including several New Gods, such as Darkseid, Desaad, and Kalibak. Steppenwolf was a mail-away figure, and he had quite a different look (Kenner also redesigned Mantis and the Parademons, among others):

This costume would later appear in Who's Who: The Definitive Directory of the DC Universe #22 (October 1985). As you can see, they even use a similar positioning of the character as on the action figure card.

In New Gods volume 3, or at least in issue #22 (November 1990), pictured here, Steppenwolf's clothing was a mixture of the two looks: the shape of the green outfit with the coloring of the Super Powers outfit.

However, by Damage #8 (October 1994), he was back to the Super Powers look.

Superman: The Animated Series chose to use his original look, as seen in "Apokalips Now!" (February 1998):

But as late as February 2007 in the comics (Flash: Fastest Man Alive #9), he was wearing a version of the Super Powers appearance.

Unfortunately, this is no longer the case in the New 52.

Character Spotlight: Guillotine

There's not much to say about this one, as she's brand new. I've mentioned in previous posts that Marvel currently has a series called Contest of Champions, which ties into a video game of the same name, even though the series is in continuity and the game is not. Despite that, the company behind the video game has a lot of input into the series.

While the video game mainly uses well-known Marvel characters, the series tends to go for a more international flavor, using such characters as the South Korean White Fox, a British version of the the Punisher named Outlaw, the Greek Ares, and more. To that end, the company created a French character named Guillotine, who is the latest in a long line of vigilantes armed with a bloodthirsty, sentient sword named Le Fleur du Mal.

She appears in Contest of Champions #1 (October 2015).

Despite her very 90s backstory, I like her look and hope she appears outside of Contest of Champions in the future.

Character/Team Spotlight: Yondu and the Ravagers

Although it's happened before, it's not often you see characters who already exist become canon immigrants as well thanks to some creative adaptations, but that's exactly what has happened here.

Yondu Udonta first appeared as a member of the Guardians of the Galaxy in Marvel Super-Heroes #18 (November 1968). As a Centaurian, he's a walking Native American stereotype, with loincloth, mohawk - headfin, excuse me, bow and arrow, and an empathic link to nature.

When Yondu appeared in the Guardians of the Galaxy movie (2014), he was...not that. He wasn't even a Guardian of the Galaxy, but instead the leader of a gang of space pirates called the Ravagers.

As you can see, he still has the mohawk, but it seems more like an implant than a natural part of him, and with the rest of his changes, it plays more to a biker persona than a Native American one. He also uses an arrow as a weapon, but divorced from the bow, it seems less stereotypical as well.

As the comics version of the Guardians of the Galaxy - at least the version hat Yondu is a member of - lives in an alternate future, this version was brought into comics as Yondu's ancestor (also named Yondu), the leader of a gang of space pirates called the Ravagers.

Yondu first appeared in Star-Lord #1 (November 2015), while the Ravagers first appeared in Star-Lord #2 (December 2015). As in the movie, Star-Lord joins their team for a while.

Character Spotlight: General Philip Blankenship (And Bonus Wonder Woman Setting!)

I thought by now that surely any new entries I added would be recent appearances, because anything old would be something I already knew about. That is not the case, as you'll see. This post takes us all the way back to the 1970s!

In 1975, as part of a comic book adaptation boom that likely started with Batman (1966) and included such things as Shazam! (1974), Superman: The Movie (1978), and The Incredible Hulk (1978), DC Comics and Warner Bros. decided to make a Wonder Woman tv movie...with a twist. Unlike the comics of the time, the show would be set during World War II! This would later lead to a tv series premiering in April 1976.

As part of the series setting, the show introduced General Phillip Blankenship, the superior of Steve Trevor and Diana Prince (Wonder Woman's secret identity).

The comics soon followed suit, beginning with Wonder Woman #228 (December 1976), which featured a team-up with Earth-2 Wonder Woman against Nazi villain Red Panzer. This could be its own entry, but since it's tied so closely to this character, I'll leave it how it is. During Wonder Woman's adventures on Earth-2, she meets General Blankenship, who is likewise Steve Trevor's superior. Although at one point his door reads "J. Blankenship", this was later retconned so that his name is J. Philip Blankenship.

Although Earth-2 was destroyed during Crisis on Infinite Earths (1985), we later see a Post-Crisis version of General Blankenship in Wonder Woman #185 (September 2002) during a storyline about Diana's mother Hippolyta taking on the role of Wonder Woman during World War II.

Item Spotlight: ISO-8

Iso-8 began as a collectible power-up resource in Marvel: Avengers Alliance (2012) and then spread as a connecting factor in other Marvel video games, including Thor: The Dark World - The Official Game (2013) and Spider-Man Unlimited (2014).

Those examples are interesting because they show that Iso-8 isn't just a feature of some "Marvel Video Game Universe". Thor: The Dark World is technically part of the MCU and Spider-Man Unlimited is a multiversal game that ties into Spider-Verse, showing that Iso-8 exists across realities. This makes it easy, then, to have it show up in the OG Earth-616 Marvel Universe...which it did.

Blue Marvel was seen studying Iso-8 in The Ultimates #1 (November 2015), where he put forth an interesting theory: Iso-8 is a "cosmic counter", meaning that it's in its eighth iteration because the Marvel multiverse is in ITS eighth iteration.

I will say that it's POSSIBLE Iso-8's first in-continuity appearance was in Contest of Champions, a video game tie-in series that is itself in continuity. That would make sense but I can't confirm it. I can confirm, however, that Iso-8 will appear for sure in Contest of Champions #5 (February 2016).

If someone can confirm an appearance of Iso-8 in Contest of Champions before showing up in The Ultimates, please let me know.

Character Spotlight: White Fox

I'm so glad to finally be posting this entry. I first made it over a year ago but I've been holding onto it because I don't like posting before the character has actually debuted, even when I know when and where they'll debut. And then I missed the debut by several months, so this should have been posted back in October.

A couple years ago, Disney Korea began publishing a manhwa-style webtoon called Avengers: Electric Rain, which is set in Korea and features a familiar (read: movie) lineup of Avengers, with one new addition: White Fox.

White Fox appeared in the first entry (September 2014) and is a Korean superhero based on - or may actually be - the kumiho, or Korean nine-tailed fox spirit (similar to Japan's kitsune).

White Fox was first seen in American comics on the cover of the video-game-tie-in-yet-still-in-continuity Contest of Champions #1 (October 2015).

She has since appeared in every issue of the series, save one (but she appeared on the cover of that one). She has also made an appearance in Deadpool #1 (November 2015).