Marvel’s Pinup Swimsuit Special

Posted on by Joseph Porter
Marvel’s Pinup Swimsuit Special


Marvel has had plenty of attractive men and
women long before the Marvel Cinematic Universe with all of their handsome Chrises and in
the 90s, they actually capitalized on this by making the Marvel Swimsuit Special… Because comics. Hello and welcome to Because Comics, the show
where we look at all of the unique, crazy, and just straight up bizarre things that make
comic books comic books. I’m your host, Drake McWhorter. So yeah, in the 90s, Marvel decided to make
a little parody of the famous Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Special with their own knock off. However, the magazine ended up being so popular
that they made not one, not two, not three, not four, but FIVE of these! I was actually able to find a few issues of
the Swimsuit Specials for um… research, NOT for personal use so I definitely think
that I’m qualified to tell you what they’re all about. As you’d expect, these magazines featured
multiple Marvel heroines all spread across topical backdrops in scantily clad attire. The results range from sexy to plain adorable
like this page of Siryn singing with her father, Banshee. But don’t worry! For all all of you lovers of the male physique,
the swimsuit special has you covered as well like Namor the Submariner’s loinshell, or
Punisher’s whatever this is supposed to be or dat Cap booty or uh… what the hell
did they do to Cable? Like seriously, what am I looking at right
here? What even is this? My favorite though is Doctor Strange who apparently
uses sorcery and literal demons to keep him tan when it’s raining outside. If you’re more into the dark side though,
some villains even got in on the action such as Venom and Typhoid Mary. Most of the images even include some commentary,
but like ninety percent of them are just… awkward and uncomfortable. Just listen to this. “When the Invisible Woman said she was going
to wear a see through swimsuit, I knew I shouldn’t a got my hopes up! Well, like they say, what you see is all ya
get!” Or this one… “Look what my metal detector picked up on
on the beach – ol’ Peter Rasputin a.k.a. Colossus! This guy saves a bundle on suntan lotion…
but then again, he loses it on silver polish!” …Or this one… “Me-yow! That Tigra’s one fine feline! Wonder if she needs any help cleanin’ that
fur. Maybe I’ll ask after her catnap.” Or this one… “Sundown’s dinner time on Monster Isle,
and it looks like Wolverine and Jubilee have the right idea with their weenie roast, but
someone should tell Logan to keep an eye on those dogs – the plump when you cook ‘em,
y’know.” Ugh. I feel like I need a shower after reading
those. Gross. The magazines are very tongue in cheek, often
including goofy images like this game of tug ‘o war, the Human Torch roasting hot dogs,
or literally just a naked Ghost Rider which may or may not be the only full frontal nudity
that I’ve ever seen in a Marvel book. Though no matter what silly stuff that Marvel
tried to throw in to justify these magazines, we all know why they were really made. Boobs ‘n butts and uh… centerfolds… Sexy sexy centerfolds… Here’s the thing. A lot of people would consider this to be
pretty scummy so get this, Marvel actually included in continuity reasons for this to
happen such as Tony Stark hosting a charity swimsuit photoshoot or Janet Van Dyne hosting
her own shoot in Wakanda… during Black Panther’s week long engagement party. So yes, Black Panther’s party ended up just
becoming a giant swimsuit fest. There’s also the time when the guardians
of the Infinity Gems called the Infinity Watch decided to have a poker game. Instead of money, the winner got to make their
teammates their slaves for a day. Well a sleazy character named Pip the Troll
won and had his buddies use their Infinity Gems for a party. To make things even creepier, he basically
mind controlled all of the superheroes into relaxing and partying before secretly taking
pictures of everyone for his quote unquote “personal collection”. Or how about this time when the Inhumans hosted
a tropical party… on the moon. No, I’m serious. In the Marvel universe, there’s a blue spot
on the moon with a breathable atmosphere so the Inhumans temporarily used their technology
to turn it into a tropical paradise. And for the last one, the prince of the fictional
island of Madripoor invited a bunch of heroes into his kingdom to boost tourism. In my readings though, none of these escapades
were ever referenced in the main Marvel comics, especially not the time when Pip the Troll
kidnapped everybody since he literally wiped their minds immediately afterwards, but he
still kept the photos because just look at this guy. He is UGH so weird! There really isn’t too much more to say
because this was really just an excuse to show off some Marvel skin, but it’s still
one of the absolute strangest things to come out of the 90s, but don’t worry, there is
plenty more crazy 90s stuff and we’ve only scratched the surface, the tip of the iceberg,
on this show. So if you want to see more episodes then by
all means, please consider subscribing and I’m really excited to see where Because
Comics is going to go because there is a lot of strange things, but if you want to see
another video then why not consider this one right here? It’s a good one. You might actually enjoy it if you like this.

100 Replies to “Marvel’s Pinup Swimsuit Special”

  1. I miss the Swimsuit Special. They are FANTASTIC…. funny and entertaining

    Sorry matey… if you don’t get how cool these are… you aren’t a comic fan

    You should really be praising these.

    Reply

  3. The thing that makes this more strange and awkward is the awful art. Like its honestly the least bit sexy.

    Reply

  16. Sometimes funny but mostly eye-rolling when millennials commentate on things they do not (probably can not) understand. Although it does show that those magazines were far more entertaining than I recall. It's another one of those, you're right, this commentator doesn't do 'fun.'

    Reply

  23. These issues Will be so interesting for future generations, "why were women so hot and good looking? I'm so confused"

    Reply

  28. There needs to be more female artists for comics, because these guys have no idea what women want. Typical.

    Reply

  33. Even as a little kid, I was like "Why?' Here's Wanda, and Betsy, splashing around in bikinis while sipping tropical drinks with Umbrellas in them. WHY? Why is that any hotter than what Scarlet Witch, and Psyloche wear to work, every day? It's not like they left anything to our imaginations besides what color their nipples were, and how drastically they trimmed back their pubic hair. Seriously. Gambit, okay, you never got to see him with his trench coat off, so yeah. I kinda got a little kick out of seeing him in shorts and a pair of flip-flops. Other than that? They go to work in FETISH WEAR. All of them do, in fact you can see the influence of classic superhero costumes in modern fetishwear. The swimsuit editions were almost a step back to softcore for most of them, who were just kicking it by the pool, and not flipping through the air with their buts out, their spines twisted, and their knees above their waists.

    Reply

  36. Swimsuits are sexy ! I have at least one issue of these and did a video of it in my channel!

    Reply

  40. @3:40 Wait… hold on Drake. We're going to just ignore the fact that they used Cindy Crawford's face for whoever character that was supposed to be.

    Reply

  55. Foul devils ruining children with their lust for sin, thunder cats cartoon featued a full silhouette of a full frontal vagina every time lion-o the leader used his sword of omens/mans perversion! Sick child corrupting devils!!!

    Reply

  65. Hey I loved them and it was not just marvel, almost every comic, from image was doing it also. I don't think D.C did one at all and I liked them since the art for each pinup was amazing, hell I even have the flee cards of them. So don't knock them out for being something that people actually liked and brought back in the day.

    Reply

  68. I miss the 90s weren't so stuck up
    Lol surprisingly "inclusive"
    Some sexy, some fun, some for shippers. Balanced as all things should be

    Reply

  74. 3:34 sir i have to stop u right there i am looking at these comics for research purposes please do not mislead people in telling them that this "items" is bad

    Reply

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