NYCC 2014: Marvel Gives a First Look at Its New Hyper-Realistic Traveling Show
Faith D’Isa ‘17 / Emertainment Monthly Executive Marketing Officer
Photos by Julia Steele ’17 / Emertainment Monthly Staff
This year, Marvel is celebrating its 75th Anniversary; as such, the company is announcing a slew of big changes and events at New York Comic Con. One of the big announcements came from Chief Creative Officer of Marvel Joe Quesada; “The Marvel Experience”, a completely interactive, large scale traveling tour intended to immerse the audience into the world of the comic books through a variety of multi-media experiences.
“The Marvel Experience” is a part of Marvel’s attempt to find “new, inventive, cutting edge ways to interact with fans” and has been years in the making; Hero Ventures, founded by Rick Licht and Doug Schaer, has been attempting since 2009 to create what some of the team deemed impossible. Now, just two months shy of its December 12th opening date in Phoenix, Arizona, the details of the spectacular beyond possible; it’s exceeding all expectations for the project.
The show consists of seven domes, leading fans through a linear story with comic book heroes and villains—“fan favorites, and characters that you don’t know are your favorites yet”—allowing them to participate in a number of ways. “Nothing is done twice”, they said; the environments in the domes range from a 360 degree 3D experience, giving each fan a different experience depending on where they’re standing and looking, to interactive, cinema-quality set pieces and “Stark Industries” technology, allowing fans to participate in battles with villains themselves.
Licht and Shaeder agree that making the Experience a separate entity from the cinematic universe was an intentional move, confirming that actors like Robert Downey Jr. and Chris Evans would not be lending their voices to their characters for the project. “We’re bigger than that”, they said, commenting that fans will enjoy seeing a combination of characters they’ve seen before and those “not found on the silver screen” as of yet. Though both agreed that, considering good reception for the Experience thus far, they do plan on consistently updating the content and creating sequels to this show.
“The Marvel Experience” is larger than your typical fairground; as such, only the first four locations on the tour have been announced. Phoenix, Dallas, San Diego and San Francisco will be the first cities to have access to this new way of looking at the “real heroes of pop culture”—other dates are expected to follow in the next couple of weeks. The team behind the Experience also emphasized the economic quality of something this grand, stating that all tickets would be between $22 and $35. Marvel is partnering with Yahoo Movies to announce its characters for the Experience in the next couple of weeks—so you can guarantee it’s not the last you’ll be hearing about this. After all, Marvel guarantees “it won’t be memorable—it’ll be unforgettable.”