Marvel Reveals Secret Sidekicks To Its Biggest Heroes
Marvel Comics is giving a significant amount of superheroes new sidekicks in a series of new "Champion" variant covers.
This year, Marvel made the surprise decision to give Spider-Man a long-lost sidekick named Spider-Boy. The character returned to the main Marvel timeline in the "Spider-Man" series with memories of working alongside Spider-Man. Still, despite his appearance and claims, Peter Parker had no recollection of the young web-slinger. Despite being a relatively new entry to the Spider-Verse's ever-growing list of heroes, Marvel Comics is giving Spider-Boy his own ongoing series from Dan Slott and Paco Medina, which will arrive in comic book stores later this year.
In the same spirit as Spider-Boy, several other prominent characters will be receiving their own sidekicks in new variant covers, imagining heroes such as Moon Knight, Ghost Rider, and Thor getting kid partners. While the characters won't appear in any story, at least not yet, the designs hint at the potential creation of sidekicks for many heroes who've never had one.
Marvel's new sidekicks have some great designs
One of the most exciting and expertly designed sidekicks appearing on the upcoming "New Champions" variant covers is Betsy Cola's design for a Magneto-based character who artist Betsy Cola described as a mutant "Barbie." The pink costume was inspired by the popular Mattel toy line, with Cola tweeting that she imagined her to be a technopath with "limited" electromagnetic capabilities. Cola also asked readers what would be a good name for the cover star, with the consensus from responders suggesting "Magneta" fits her color scheme and connects with the X-Men hero she's the sidekick to. The cover art will appear on "Magneto" #3, released on October 3.
Another standout design comes from artist Luciano Vecchio, who gives Ghost-Rider a sidekick named Fantasma. The prompt Vecchio received for the character was "Roller Derby Ghost Rider Girl Sidekick," and it's hard to deny his final design captured precisely that. In the design sheet for Fantasma, she has blue spirit flames, a barbed wire and spiky ball weapon, long flowing hair (that trails her as she rides), and quad skates with a similar blue flame coming from them. Readers can see Fantasma in action in the first image in this article. The cover will release on "Ghost Rider" #19 in comic book stores on October 18.
Artist Javier Garron also brought a unique twist to Moon Knight with a new sidekick wearing a cap and wielding mini-crescent darts while sitting atop a rooftop. The character's cover will appear on the upcoming "Moon Knight" #28 on October 18.
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Who else is getting a sidekick?
One of the most remarkable "New Champions" designs comes from artist Toni Infante, who brings a new Thor sidekick to life. The character wields a spear with seemingly similar powers to the God of Thunder's hammer, Mjolnir. The design resembles an Asgardian twist on Jinx from "Arcane: League of Legends." Her colorful hair, a lightning symbol on her face, and rainbow strike behind her would make her a welcome character to the pages of Thor. The art will appear on "Immortal Thor" #3 on October 25.
There will be 20+ "New Champions" variants coming out throughout October. Heroes that will get sidekicks on the covers include Doctor Strange, Ben Grimm, Blade, Miles Morales' Spider-Man, Star-Lord, Black Cat, Black Panther, Hulk, Iron Man, Vision, Wolverine, and Storm. While the characters aren't intended to become canon or used in a story, past cover-only heroes such as Gwenpool have become so popular that they've transitioned into the pages of Marvel Comics. So, it's not outside the realm of possibilities that one of the "New Champions" could actually pop up at some point.
For a complete list of the characters getting their variant cover sidekicks and to see all the full images, visit Marvel.com.