A new piece of Avengers: Age of Ultron concept art has been revealed, and it shows an original idea for Iron Man's Hulkbuster armor that resembles the Juggernaut from the X-Men franchise.
In Avengers: Age of Ultron, the team is put in danger when Scarlet Witch causes Bruce Banner to transform into the Hulk. Tony Stark is forced to use a special suit of armor that he had designed to help restrain the Hulk known as the Mark XLIV Armor, or Hulkbuster armor. Stark was just barely able to take down the Hulk with the help of the armor, unfortunately bringing down an entire building under construction with him. Though the fight itself stirs up a world of chaos, the armor turns out to come in handy later on as Banner dons a different version of the Hulkbuster armor during the Battle of Wakanda in Avengers: Infinity War.
The concept art for the Hulkbuster armor resembles a bulkier version of the regular Iron Man suit, but its design was almost reminiscent of a famous X-Men villain, Juggernaut. Charlie Wen, who was the co-head of visual development on Avengers: Age of Ultron, uploaded a piece of concept art to his Instagram account that shows one of the original ideas for the Hulkbuster armor. He stated that even though, "the mobility in this suit," was limited, there were ideas floating around about expanding the, "outer layer of the armor," to use as a, "jackhammer to pummel Hulk in close range." The design has massive, bulky shoulders that wrap around an orb-shaped helmet in a manner that resembles the helmet worn by the Juggernaut in X-Men.
Wen has worked on numerous different MCU projects and has shared plenty of concept art on his social media channels in the past. A large portion of his art for the MCU contains nods to various other Marvel Comics characters, such as Loki almost wearing a suit that resembled Doctor Doom's armor in Thor, Hawkeye almost donning a vigilante-style costume that he made himself for his first outing with the Avengers, Malekith almost looking like Ultron in Thor: The Dark World, and Star-Lord's costume in Guardians of the Galaxy looking very close to the one he used to wear in the comics.
A lot of work goes into the visual design of every character in the MCU and care is taken when determining whether something will work as well on-screen as it does on the page. As Marvel strives to always put its best foot forward when portraying beloved comic book characters on the big screen, they always make sure to update the outfits to avoid looking too cheesy or ridiculous. They want their world to feel believable and lived-in, and their concept art has always proven that point. The art for the Hulkbuster looks impressive, but its bulkiness and lack of mobility might have made it hard to move believably when facing an opponent as agile as the Hulk. The debut of the finished design made for a memorable scene in Avengers: Age of Ultron and a cool new addition to Stark's ever-evolving collection of Iron Man suits.
Source: Charlie Wen/Instagram
