Captain Marvel's new Hellfire Gala outfit salutes her new role as leader of the Avengers. A bold new era is on the horizon for Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, and Captain Marvel will be leading the way. Also, just over the horizon is this year’s Hellfire Gala, and to celebrate Marvel is releasing a series of variant covers featuring its icons decked out to the nines - and Captain Marvel’s outfit salutes her military background and natural place as one of Marvel's most important leaders.

Marvel unveiled Jen Bartel’s variant cover for Captain Marvel: Dark Tempest #1 earlier this week. The cover, shared below, shows Captain Marvel sitting in an almost throne-like chair. Her usual color scheme: red, blue and yellow, is present but instead of her usual outfit, she is wearing an ornate military-style jacket. Her iconic star symbol - which honors her origin as a Kree/human hybrid - appears on the jacket and in her hair, as well as being used as epaulettes.

Captain Marvel Gets a Hellfire Gala Makeover

captain marvel dark tempest hellfire gala costume

Captain Marvel has a long history with the Avengers, having served with the team several times throughout the years - and now, with writer Jed MacKay and artist C.F. Villa set to take over the team, she is their official leader, selecting her ideal roster. The path to Avengers Chair has been a long one for Carol Danvers. Over the years, she has held several different heroic aliases, including Warbird, Binary and Ms. Marvel, before taking over the mantle of Captain Marvel almost a decade ago. Coming July, Captain Marvel: Dark Tempest is a new miniseries which will see Carol travel from Harpswell, Maine, to the edge of a black hole, as a mysterious villain from the past returns in a new form. Bertel has also shared design notes for the costume on Twitter.

Related: Captain Marvel's Darkest Transformation Flips Her MCU Identity

Captain Marvel Is Ready to Lead

Captain Marvel Air Force

While Bartel’s variant cover pays tribute to Captain Marvel taking over the Avengers, it also salutes her military background. Before becoming a superhero, Captain Marvel served in the United States Air Force. The jacket she is wearing on the cover, as stated earlier, resembles a military uniform; the uniform is high-fashion in nature, perfect for the Hellfire Gala, but also heavily connected to her life, history, and motivations. Bartel’s cover features a confident Captain Marvel; while she is seemingly relaxing and not primed for combat, she still exudes power and respect. The Hellfire Gala is an annual event where the attending heroes are given new, one-time costumes by mutant fashion designer Jumbo Carnation, but few of these looks have ever beaten Carol's upcoming makeover.

The step up to Chair of the Avengers is huge for Captain Marvel and is one of the highlights of her career - and Jen Bartel’s amazing cover pays tribute to Carol’s recent promotion. Captain Marvel’s new uniform perfectly portrays her as a force to be reckoned with, as both leader of the Avengers and a former military officer.

Captain Marvel: Dark Tempest #1 is coming from Marvel July 5.

Source: Jen Bertel