Art Deco Avengers Tarot
| Fan Art | |
|---|---|
| Title: | Art Deco Avengers Tarot |
| Artist: | Julia Cross |
| Date(s): | 2013/2014 |
| First Published: | |
| Medium: | |
| Genre/Style: | Tarot cards |
| Fandom: | The Avengers Movieverse |
| External Links: | Avengers(Tarot) (pixiv) Geek Art Gallery (tumblr) (defunct, archive link) |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Art Deco Avengers Tarot is a fanart tarot by Julia Cross. It features Agent Phil Coulson as “The Hierophant” Chiron, Thor as “The Sun” Apollo, Tony Stark as “The Magician” Mercury, Steve Rogers as “Strength” Herakles, Bruce Banner as “The Hermit” Cronus, Natasha Romanov and Clint Barton as “The Lover” Aphrodite and Adonis, and Loki as “The Devil” Pan.
One piece of the set, The Sun, was shown to the Avengers actors when they appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live! to promote Avengers: Age of Ultron. This created some discussion among fans about the appropriateness of sharing fanworks with actors, creators, etc. However, the artist themself was happy with the actors' response to the artwork.
The style of the deck is more characteristic of Art Nouveau than Art Deco despite its name.
Gallery
The Hierophant: Phil - Chiron (11 April 2014)
The Magician: Tony - Mercury (10 November 2013)
The Hermit: Bruce - Cronus (20 December 2013)
The Devil: Loki - Pan
Reactions
Media Reactions
The cast of the Avengers series seemed to blow up the Internet when they appeared on the set of Jimmy Kimmel Live! to promote the upcoming Avengers: Age of Ultron movie. There was a rather R-rated game of telephone, some wildly chaotic Family Feud, and of course, all the madness that accompanies a whole cast of intoxicated celebrities.
Of course, Kimmel had a little fun with the cast by showing them evidence of just how creative their fans can be by whipping out a small collection of fan art. While this included the few standard slash fan art, especially from the Tony/Bruce science bros pairing, it also included two nearly nude pieces of both Thor as “The Sun” and Steve Rogers dressed in only an American flag. Those art pieces received a bit of a different reaction from the audience, inciting ooo’s and aaahh’s.
These two pieces are by Chinese artist Julia Cross (菊叔) with the first being a part of a set that’s been making the rounds on Tumblr for some time. The entire set, labelled “Art Deco Avengers Tarot” features characters from 2012’s Avengers as different tarot cards and gods in Cross’ beautifully painted style. The entire set, which can be viewed on the artist’s Pixiv or here on Tumblr, has Agent Phil Coulson as “The Hierophant” Chiron, Thor as “The Sun” Apollo, Tony Stark as “The Magician” Mercury, Steve Rogers as “Strength” Herakles, Bruce as “The Hermit” Cronus, Natasha Romanov and Clint Barton as “The Lover” Aphrodite and Adonis, and Loki as “The Devil” Pan. Some may question the logic of casting two characters who are gods themselves as different gods, but there’s no doubt that the outcome is beautiful.
The segment seems to be part of a growing trend on talk shows where hosts show actors the slash fan art or fan fiction that runs rampant in fandom circles on websites like Tumblr, deviantART, and Pixiv. Graham Norton gave Michael Fassbender and James McAvoy a similar treatment when they were on his show promoting X-Men: Days of Future Past. Some fans have commented on the trend with criticism, saying that it is a way of shaming fans and making celebrities uncomfortable. But if Cross’ Tumblr posts in reaction to her art being featured on Kimmel are a reflection of her true feelings, she was pretty thrilled. “I just want to say, thank you tumblr! Thank you guys!!!!” she wrote in response to Captain America star Chris Evans in particular seeing her fan art. “I think he was happy? It’s my greatest honor!” Obviously, Cross’ experience will not be universal to all artists whose work was featured on the show, but it’s good to see that at least one artist was ecstatic.
This might just be some of the most amusing Avengers fan art that I've ever seen. It's a set of tarot cards featuring our favorite superheroes reimagined in a way that we've never seen before.Avengers Superhero Tarot Card Art Set by Joey Paur, geektyrant.com
Fan art is strongly associated with comics. Individually drawing one's own tarot cards is a tradition that dates back many generations. Consequently, it would not be surprising to see that comic fan art and tarot cards can be found together. A recent example of this is with Julia Cross's Art Deco Avengers Tarot. It is fan art based on the Avengers movies franchise. It is a partial deck and includes only a portion of the Major Arcana. The popularity of this type of fan art in an area of the online world is easy to understand. It draws on a collection of characters with an obvious association-superheroes and villains--and links that with the collection of iconic images associated with Tarot.The Cards: The Evolution and Power of Tarot by Patrick Maille
Fan Reactions and Reviews
There is not a thing about these that I don’t like.[1]
The Devil is my favourite! So appropriate![2]
These are awesome! I especially like The Hermit.[2]
*dying laughing at Natasha’s face on The Lovers*[3]
A curious take on the Avengers family of superheroes.Amid the ruins of another beaten villain's empire, Captain America strips naked to befriend a baby lion. He's painted as Vulnerable, soft and cuddly, but I just wonder, why? Likewise Herakles (Hercules)?
The allusion to Tarot Cards seems to invoke fateand the workings of destiny which seems a contradiction for a character so clearly in control of himself.
It's a nice image though. with attractive flesh tones The technique is also quite interesting, The design borrowed from from the early 1900's predates Captain America, methinks.
Perhaps I'm missing something.[4]
References
- ^ "Tumblr comment, March 1, 2015". Archived from the original on 2022-08-27.
- ^ a b "Comment on Avengers Tarot, August 31, 2018 blog post". Archived from the original on 2022-08-27.
- ^ "Tumblr comment, March 1, 2015". Archived from the original on 2022-08-27.
- ^ "The Enigma of Super Strength, January 1, 2020 blog post". Archived from the original on 2022-08-27.