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At the top of New York Comic Con 2024's Spotlight on Ryan Meinerding panel, the moderator made sure to lay the red tape on inquiring about future Marvel projects. The moderator also kindly warned the room that Marvel might gift them the Thanos “SNAP” upon any unauthorized news from anything that the Marvel Studios’ Head of Visual Development responsible for many of the iconic MCU superhero costumes might say on stage... which is to say, no Fantastic Four: First Steps dispatches leaked out. But at the Q&A mic, old discourse bubbled up.

A fan mentioned he once asked Ryan Meinerding seven years ago – yes, really – about the MCU Captain America (Chris Evans) not bearing the stuck-out wings on his helmet, with the film opting to paint it on. Evoking the fantastical flourishes popping up on Daredevil horned cowl and Alligator Loki, the fan asked if Meinerding would go back and revise his more tactical designs as “fantastical.” Meinerding said, “I understand the question,” but has no regrets about his previously grounded, tactical designs. He felt that making Cap’s helmet grounded in reality was the right choice for the Captain America movie they made.

This wasn’t the only piece of design discourse. Meinerding also referenced an incident where the internet gave a mixed reaction to the “weld mark” on an Iron Man Mark 1 suit, which an imprisoned Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) cobbled together in the cave.

“I read [about] people just so angry about that weld line, like, ‘what have I done?’” he said. “I think from my very first engagement with making something for the MCU be put online and having people react to it, you realize it's a double edged sword, right?” Given that fans will apparently return when least anticipated – seven years later – to seek clarification for old answers, perhaps the better description would be "a double edged boomerang." 

Keep up to date on Popverse's Marvel coverage, with these highlights:

• Marvel Studios has accidentally created a new Phase that predates Phases 1 - 6: the MCU Phase Zero
• Which Secret Wars comic the Russos are basing Avengers 6 off of
• Overgrown children of the atom: Marvel's X-Men can't evolve past their '90s commercial peak
• The biggest outstanding questions of the Marvel Studios' movies & TV shows
• Marvel's accidental closure on the Kang storyline
• Robert Downey Jr. is entering his villain era
• Donald Trump is the landlord for Marvel's House of Ideas
• For Marvel actors, the MCU also stands for the Marvel Commercials Universe
• The Fantastic 4: First Steps offers Marvel a visual makeover, courtesy of a classic movie designer
• Marvel Studios swapping out Doctor Doom for Kang offers the chance to jettison the Multiverse Saga
• What Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige is saying (and not saying) about the MCU X-Men franchise says a lot about the future of the Mutant Saga