Marvel Comics has unveiled its new ‘Iconic’ Variant Cover program which includes a variety of classic images of Marvel heroes by legendary artist Todd Nauck. The covers will be released throughout 2025 and eight pieces of artwork have already been previewed.

Throughout Nauck’s decades-long career at Marvel, he drew nearly every Marvel character in his distinct style, and now fans will be able to collect his incredible artwork as he pays homage to another legendary Marvel artist. Nauck’s Iconic Variant covers feature some of Marvel’s most recognizable heroes and villains, all in a series of covers that are inspired by Todd McFarlane‘s Amazing Spider-Man #301 artwork, featuring full body character shots with vibrant colors. Marvel recently previewed eight of the upcoming covers that will release throughout 2025 with characters including Iron Man, Hulk, Daredevil, Phoenix and more.

The release of Avengers #22 on Jan. 1 will mark the first of the new covers to hit stores. The Todd Nauck Iconic Variant Cover art depicts Iron Man leaping into action and striking a heroic pose. Later in January, Incredible Hulk #21 and Spider-Boy #15 will also receive Iconic Variant Covers depicting Hulk and Bullseye respectively. The rest of the covers will come throughout the year, with Marvel unveiling the artwork for eight covers and promising more to come.

Marvel’s Iconic Variant Covers by Todd Nauck

• Avengers #22 – On Sale Jan. 1
• Incredible Hulk #21 – On sale Jan. 15
• Spider-Boy #15 – On sale Jan. 29
• Eddie Brock: Carnage #1 – On sale Feb. 12
• Daredevil #18 – On sale TBA
• Spider-Gwen: The Ghost-Spider #11 – On sale TBA
• Phoenix #9 – On sale TBA
• West Coast Avengers #5 – On sale TBA

Each of Nauck’s covers puts a fresh spin on Todd McFarlane’s memorable cover of Peter Parker from The Amazing Spider-Man #301 which was released in 1988. Two Spider-Man-related characters appear in the first batch of cover art released, with both Spider-Gwen (Gwen Stacy) and Eddie Brock’s Carnage swinging into action on the covers of their respective solo series.

Nauck Creates ‘Iconic’ New Poses For Each Featured Marvel Character

In Marvel’s press release announcing the new variant program, Nauck explained how the publisher approached him to do the series after he created a similar homage cover of McFarlane’s work. “This cover series came about after I did an Amazing Spider-Man #301 Todd McFarlane homage retailer variant cover for Miles Morales: Spider-Man #25,” Nauck said. “Marvel then approached me about doing this Iconic series.”

Nauck’s approach to creating the iconic covers involved instilling the essence of McFarlane’s Spider-Man cover while taking his own creative liberties to suit the characters he was drawing. “Similar to that [Miles Morales] cover, we’d have a character on a white background and the circle element behind them,” McFarlane said. “However, rather than homaging each character in McFarlane’s classic Spider-Man pose, I was invited to come up with a new iconic pose for each character based on their body type, power set, and personality. I have really enjoyed delving into each character and coming up with something cool for each of their covers.”

More of Todd Nauck’s Iconic Variant Covers will be released throughout 2025, with Avengers #22 kicking off the variant art program on Jan. 1.

Source: Marvel