Reimagining Superheroes as Hockey Teams #15 - New Jersey Devils (Daredevil)

[wildwing64]

Some of you may remember the Guardian Project; the NHL’s ill-fated attempt to cash in on the early 2010's Marvel and Batman craze and create a league of superheroes for all 30 of its member clubs, each one an anthropomorphic representation of a hockey team that incorporated their identities and locales into their costumes and abilities. Your mileage may vary on how well each hero was designed, but the way it all quietly vanished probably speaks for itself.

 

Admittedly I was a fan of the idea - not so much the execution - mainly because it brought me full circle and reminded me of my first exposure to the world of ice hockey; Mighty Ducks the Animated Series. The short version of my origin story is that I learned the Ducks were a real team and that’s how I became a hockey fan. So I might never have come to these boards or taken an interest in sports design if not for those humanoid superhero hockey playing anatids from outer space.

 

Which brings me to this idea for a concept series; the Guardian Project, but in reverse! What would beloved superheroes and comic book characters like Batman, Spider-man, and Optimus Prime look like if they were a league of hockey teams instead? What would they be called and why would they have those names? (Note that I’m not calling them the Supermen or Batmen or Spider-men, etc… with one exception.) In some cases the name choices will be obvious; for example, the Rangers makes for a good hockey name. But in other cases the identity will allude to the character without being the same.

 

In short: I’m not exactly making pop culture jerseys - those are perfectly fine too - but my goal is to reimagine these characters as hockey teams that exist in an alternate reality, in place of the NHL.

 

To start this series off I’ve already finished six teams; two each from Marvel and DC, and two non-Marvel/DC for some variety. Each team will get a home, road, and a third jersey at most, but I may make more alts down the line if I get ideas for any. I'll also be adding some brief background info to give context for my thought process of exploring how each team might have come up with its identity.  At the moment I have around 20 teams planned, including the six I’ve already finished. But past this first lot, it might be a bit of a wait for the next one.

 

Also, here's the league logo. I'm calling it the National Hockey Super League. It's basically a blend of the NHL and Justice League shields, with an Avengers font for the acronym. Much like the teams, I'm open to feedback for this as well.

 

 

Teams:

1. Angel Grove Rangers (Power Rangers) V2

2. Metropolis Steelers (Superman) V1.5

3. Gotham Knights (Batman)

4. Motor City Convoy (Transformers)

5. Brooklyn Americans (Captain America) V2

6. Los Angeles Ironmen (Iron Man)

7. Missouri Racers (Flash)

8. New York Spiders (Spider-man) V2

9. Coast City Lanterns (Green Lantern)

10. Montreal North Stars (Alpha Flight)

11. Vancouver Canucks (Johnny Canuck / Captain Canuck)

12. Toronto Guardians (Alpha Flight)

13. Florida Falcons (Captain Falcon / F-Zero)

14. Washington Wings (Wonder Woman)

15. New Jersey Devils (Daredevil)

[wildwing64]

I should probably preface this thread by saying that I'm not actually much of a comic book guy. I haven't seen any of the MCU movies past Infinity War and by and large don't keep up with any of the Marvel or DC stuff. There is, however, one particular superhero franchise that's near and dear to my heart, and so I can think of no better team to start this project off:

 

1. Angel Grove Rangers (Power Rangers)

 

Name: Angel Grove selected the Rangers, named after a law enforcement agency formed in the city’s early years. The Rangers of old were symbolic of the city’s five districts coming together as a greater community.

 

Logo: An arched wordmark spelling the team’s name. “Angel Grove” is omitted from the jersey crest, which is also given a metallic silver treatment.

 

Alternate Logos: The shoulder patch is a roundel containing the team’s name, and a T-Rex. This logo pays homage to the fossilised remains of five prehistoric creatures that were excavated during the construction of Angel Grove Arena. How these five creatures - a mastodon, pterodactyl, triceratops, sabre-toothed tiger, and a tyrannosaurus - all gathered in the same place, remains a mystery. The Rangers also have a stylised AG monogram on the pants and helmet.

 

Colours: Primarily red with black, yellow, white and blue accents, all in reference to the city’s core five districts.

 

Jerseys: The home jersey is primarily red with black shoulder yokes and black dipped sleeves featuring yellow, white and blue stripes. The Rangers opted for blue socks as a means to incorporate more of it into the uniform. Unique to the Rangers is the player’s number beneath their wordmark crest. The captain’s patch is apparently a nod to the badges worn by the Rangers of old, but may also be based on a dinosaur tooth.

Third Jersey: Angel Grove welcomed a new district shortly after the team was founded, and so the Rangers introduced a “Sixth Jersey” to commemorate this historic event that forever changed the city’s status quo. This uniform features the new district’s colours of green, gold and white, with the team’s usual crest recoloured to match. The gold stripes use a metallic fabric, an innovation which would see much use throughout the league.

 

 

 

 

 

The home red jersey was based on the Megazord; rather than base the identity around only one of the Rangers, I instead chose something symbolic of all of them coming together. I felt the robot's arm stripes would lend themselves well to a hockey sweater, and that was basically the starting point. Normally I'm not keen on wordmarks as primary crests, but I went with one here both as a nod to the Power Rangers franchise as a whole, and to serve as an approximation of the silver portion of the Megazord's chestplate - also, it seems apt for a hockey team with this name. The shoulder patch is based on the MMPR Power Coins and Morphers (the closest equivalent they have to a logo like other superheroes) and the AG monogram I based on the stylised lettering seen on parts of the Dinozords, like the Mastodon's "M" which ends up on the Megazord's shoulders. Also, I chose not to use the lightning bolt here, as inevitably there will be at least one other team that's primarily red and uses that imagery in their brand.

 

And then there's the third jersey, which I based on arguably the most popular character in the franchise. There’s inevitably going to be a lot of red, blue and black jerseys in this league (just like the real-world NHL!) so having one with a green alternate jersey might make for a refreshing visual change of pace.

[wildwing64]

2. Metropolis Steelers (Superman)

 

Name: The Steelers were named after Clark Kent I, aka the “Man of Steel”, whose determination, willpower, and mighty steel corporation helped shape the city of Metropolis into what it is today.

 

Logo: A letter S for Steelers contained within a diamond shape, which originates from the Clark Kent Corporation's logo, and was probably chosen because diamond is hard as steel.

 

Colours: Clark I was said to be a patriot through and through despite being an immigrant, and his company used American red, white and blue, as well as gold which was said to be his favourite colour as it reminded him of the sun, believing it gave him life and energy.

 

Jerseys: A simple, classic and timeless pair of uniforms which set the standard for the rest of the league, if not the rest of the hockey world. And yet…

Third Jersey: Apparently envious of newer teams with eye catching identities, management came up with this jersey with an eye to the future and the twenty-first century; out with old-fashioned red, white, blue and gold, and in with a modern redesign of their classic crest featuring 24 divots referencing their many Stan Lee Cups, on an all new “Steel Sweater” that used a dark metallic silver base. On the ice, it… well, let’s just say management wisely retired it after one, maybe two games.

 

 

 

 

 

That sure is the Superman logo on a hockey sweater. Maybe not the most interesting thing ever, but with him being the archetypal superhero for many and having one of the most famous logos in the world, I felt the best comparisons to him in hockey terms are with the Montreal Canadiens, so I mostly took inspiration from their white jersey for the primary look. I think the logo lends itself well to a hockey sweater, especially a simple and classic design similar to the Habs.

 

As for the third; this one is mainly a nod to Steel, a Superman-adjacent character. Also I thought it would be fun to explore what this hockey team would look like if they pursued or even went beyond the radical design trends of the 90s; even the Canadiens have had at least one gaudy sweater in their time, which they brought back for their 100th Anniversary. However this one was mostly inspired by the Dallas Mavericks and their infamous “trash bag” uniform. In hindsight I probably should have used a template that better matched the era instead of this Adizero one.

[Patchey13]

I think the shoulders for the Steelers should stay red on the away jersey. Also maybe a little cheeky idea would be a red name bar to give a really subtle nod to the cape flowing down the back. I love the Green Rangers alt as well (what 90s kid wouldn't?) One really subtle detail I found while working on my own series is making the gradient for metallic colours go on an angle. I think it reads better as "this is metallic fabric" instead of a regular gradient

[neo_prankster]

I wonder if the Steelers could have a blue sweater/red pants throwback.

 

Plus, I like the Stan Lee Cup play on words. Very clever.

 

I'm curious as to how the conferences and divisions will look like.

[wildwing64]

Thanks for the suggestions so far! I'll give those a shot once I've got these first six teams up.

 

1 hour ago, neo_prankster said:

I'm curious as to how the conferences and divisions will look like.

 

Admittedly I haven't planned that far ahead yet  When I've done a few more teams maybe I'll throw some sort of map and alignment together, although that mostly depends on where the fictional cities would actually be. Angel Grove is in SoCal, and probably a suburb of LA. I believe Metropolis is in Delaware, and Gotham off the coast of New Jersey. But some of the others like Green Lantern's Coast City I haven't figured out yet.

 

Speaking of Gotham...

[wildwing64]

3. Gotham Knights (Batman)

 

Name: Wanting a name equated with strength, power and nobility, the team selected the Knights, based on a legendary heroic outlaw; the “Dark Knight” was said to patrol Gotham late into the night, hunting down wanted criminals and bringing them to justice. And probably beating them up.

 

Logo: Allegedly a silhouette of Gotham’s folktale hero spreading out his cape. Notably it has an uncanny resemblance to a bat; apparently this was a deliberate choice by ownership meant to evoke fear in the team’s opponents. But thanks to this the Knights have earned themselves nicknames like the Bats and the Batmen, and fans of other teams are endlessly amused at the visual dissonance between the name and logo.

 

Colours: Primarily black, gold and white, inspired by Gotham City at night.

 

Jerseys: The Knights’ primary uniforms have seen many tweaks through the decades, and they currently use this simple and modern but classic design, honouring the past while looking to the future, etc.

 

Third Jersey: A longstanding tradition of the Knights is to project their logo into the sky (or onto nearby buildings) on game nights; the modified searchlight used for this projection was the inspiration for this alternate jersey, which features the ba - I mean, the Dark Knight silhouette, in a golden oval. This eye-catching design also introduces dark grey and navy blue into their colourway and has remained a fan favourite, especially with younger fans. Unlike the Knights’ home and road sweaters and contrary to what one might expect, the third jersey has remained untouched since its introduction.

 

 

 

 

 

In hockey terms, I feel that Batman is to Superman what the Bruins are to the Canadiens, and so Boston was the main influence for the primary set.  But where the Boston Bruins are known for their big and bold look, I figured a team based on Batman would be more subdued given that he is a stealthy hero who usually operates at night. The yellow is often limited to his chest logo and/or utility belt. The third jersey is based on his more colourful depictions in cartoons and that show with Adam West.

 

Batman’s logo has seen subtle changes throughout the years (again, like the Bruins!) but rather than base the Knights’ logo on any one version I made my own instead. The primary logo features black and gold outlines, but I hated them on the jerseys so I left them off. Does this work well as a hockey crest, or is it a little too simple?

 

 

Thanks for checking this out so far! I'll get the other three teams up tomorrow.

[coco1997]

Love the custom bat-symbol design! It looks like a cross between the modern oval bat-symbol and the Adam West/'66 Batman logo. 
 

Also, as much as I love your Power Rangers set, I feel like it’s a missed opportunity that you didn’t work in the lightning bolt logo somewhere.

[KCScout76]

These are really nice - great concepts!

 

[Wildcomet]

This looks like a really cool series. I greatly enjoyed the first few here, and am looking forward to the rest! I don't really have any critiques to give right now, other than maybe echoing that the Power Rangers unis could have used the Lightning bolt logo somehow, but the idea to base their uniforms off the Megazord was brilliant in my view. Also loving your version of the Batman logo, looks like it could pass for a movie version of the logo.

[wildwing64]

Time to roll out the next one, whose logo might be a better example of what I'm aiming for with this project. Also for this team in particular, I'm interested in hearing any thoughts about both the geographical identifier and the nickname. Still, I'm pretty happy with how this transformation turned out:

 

4. Motor City Convoy (Transformers)

 

Name: A reference to Detroit’s auto industry. Ownership likened a hockey team to a convoy of vehicles.

 

Logo: A winged C, meant to evoke a truck and a trailer. The wing is also a nod to the winged wheel symbol, long associated with the automotive industry and representing transport, speed and progress.

 

Colours: Red, blue and white from the Flag of Detroit, and silver in reference to the auto industry. Semi trucks with this paint scheme are often seen in the area, possibly belonging to ownership.

Jerseys: The home sweater is red, with a blue chest stripe behind the crest and silver stripes around the sleeves and hem. The sleeve stripes were once white before advancements in technology allowed them to use metallic silver fabric instead. The white jersey also has these silver stripes on the sleeves despite them not standing out too well, but has a red hem stripe to add more colour to the sweater.

 

Third Jersey: Initially, management dismissed the third jersey program as a “deceptive con” but relented anyway, coming up with this uniform featuring a black to red gradient apparently meant to emulate a flame design. Maybe their next attempt will flare fare better.

 

 

 

 

 

"Why not the Autobots?" you may be wondering. I did consider that, initially (complete with a plausible backstory behind the name!) but instead chose to create something original that alludes to the heroic Transformers without going the obvious route of using the Autobot insignia - I mean, you can literally buy pop culture jerseys that are just that. For the new name I had a lightbulb moment when thinking of a convoy of trucks; Optimus Prime’s Japanese name is Convoy, and also pre-Transformers the original toy released under Takara’s Diaclone line in 1982 was named Battle Convoy - the commercial even features a whole convoy of them! (video here - flashing lights warning) I’m not sure how well it will go down but I’m curious to see what people think of it as a team name.

 

For the logo: Optimus (usually) converts into a semi truck - but the more I thought about it the more I felt that a literal truck wouldn’t work as a hockey crest, or one that looks like it might have been designed in the 80’s, so I instead used a slanted winged C to represent a truck in motion.

 

The primary uniforms may bring to mind the Canadiens; while their chest stripe did influence the design, it mostly happened to end up that way as the Habs have a similar look to Optimus Prime himself. Like the logo, the red jersey is based on his classic G1 look. You could say the white jersey is a nod to Ultra Magnus, who is usually (and infamously) a white repaint of Optimus, and therefore the perfect basis for the road sweater. I originally had all the white jersey stripes in silver before remembering the Red Wings did that with their first Reverse Retro and how that didn’t stand out too well, so I limited it to the sleeves and made the hem stripe red to add more colour.

 

The alt may remind you of that one Vancouver Canucks third, but I figured if any team was gonna try something as wild and crazy as a gradient on an alternate uniform, it’d be this one. In the 90’s Hasbro released ‘Laser Optimus Prime’ as part of the Transformers G2 line, and this is what I based it on.

[wildwing64]

Now for our first Avenger... who is also The First Avenger. The name of this team might sound familiar, and I assure you that was completely on purpose.

 

5. Brooklyn Americans (Captain America)

 

Name: The Americans were simply named amidst a time of great patriotism. Originally based in Manhattan as the New York Americans, fierce competition from an expansion team in the same building led them to move out. The Amerks relocated to a new arena in Brooklyn and have proudly called it their home ever since.

 

Logo: An uppercase A inside a star, contained within a roundel. Inspired by the US flag.

 

Colours: Red, white and blue, naturally.

 

Jerseys: As American as the name and colours, the home and road sweaters take cues from the Star-Spangled Banner itself, with bold red and white stripes adorning the sleeves and hem, and two stars decorating the shoulders. The A from their logo is also featured on the helmet, as well as serving as the Alternate Captain's patch.

Third Jersey: With this the Amerks experimented with a modernisation of their iconic brand, replacing their traditional bright blue with navy, and featuring a stylised A in the shape of a star as the primary crest.

 

 

 

 

 

The first of three teams I have planned for New York, this concept was partially inspired by a what-if scenario of the real world New York Americans continuing to thrive instead of folding as they did. So there's a little bit of them in there as well, particularly with the hemstripe - although it's fair to say that both the Amerks and Captain America were obviously based on the US Flag, with the Amerks leaning more into the red and Captain America the blue.

 

In theory either the big star on Captain America’s costume, or his shield, or even the A on his helmet would make for an adequate hockey crest, but on their own each of them are a bit too simple, so I modified the shield design by enlarging the star and adding the A, effectively merging everything except his helmet wings into the logo. The shield is also what I based the sleeve stripes on, and the hem stripes are a bit of that and the sweaters worn by the New York Americans in the 30’s.

The third jersey is a mix of a few modern versions of Captain America: the darker blue base seen in the MCU, the white shoulder yoke from Sam Wilson’s suit, and the A-star from John Walker’s helmet in The Falcon and The Winter Soldier. An A-star was my original plan for the team’s main logo before remembering the Allen Americans already did that, but since this logo exists in the Marvelverse and is used by a version of Cap (but not Steve Rogers himself), I figured I’d go with it as the third jersey crest.

[Exceed_Idiot]

Looks pretty good so far. The only criticism I'd have is that I wish the Away uniform for the Rangers looked something more like Zenkaiser's suit from Kikai Sentai Zenkaiger

[wildwing64]

1 hour ago, Exceed_Idiot said:

The only criticism I'd have is that I wish the Away uniform for the Rangers looked something more like Zenkaiser's suit from Kikai Sentai Zenkaiger

 

Oddly, that thought never occured to me. Definitely an idea I'll have to toy with!

[henburg]

I dig the Americans, feels like sort of a missed opportunity to not have the wings on the helmet rather than the A though

[wildwing64]

One more for today, and the last one I've completed for now:

 

6. Los Angeles Ironmen (Iron Man)

 

Name: The owners had humble beginnings as a blacksmiths, and then an iron works before growing into the global aerospace, defence, security and advanced technologies Los Angeles-based mega corporation that it is today. They basically put their own stamp on the team, naming them the Ironmen.

 

Logo: The Ironmen started out with a simple IM monogram before rebranding; going for a more regal look, their modern logo depicts a knight’s helmet in the team colours.

 

Alternate Logo: An LA monogram, forming a triangle.

 

Colours: “Iron Red” and “California Gold” - a nod to their roots and to their home.

 

Jerseys: The home sweater is dark red, featuring bold gold and white stripes on the arms and slightly thinner stripes on the hem. The road jersey uses a red shoulder yoke. The gold stripes make use of metallic fabric, much like the third jersey of their rivals in Angel Grove.

Third Jersey: At some point the Ironmen broke out this throwback sweater, featuring the team’s classic crest and their brighter original colours.

 

 

 

 

 

Narrowing down a name for this team was suprisingly difficult; Superman and Batman have nicknames like the Man of Steel and the Dark Knight, so I can work with those to create nicknames without the -men suffix. But Iron Man doesn't have one like that. There is "the Golden Avenger" but that's really more of a unified Marvel thing. (Ironically - no pun intended - I only learned of a real world team named the Los Angeles Avengers after finishing this concept.) Other possibilities like the Ironmongers or the Dynamos belong to his villains. I could have gone for the Irons, but that seemed a bit too simple and also reminded me of that one soccer team that's on my doorstep. Also I didn't even consider the Iron Knights because I wanted to avoid repetition with Gotham - yet I kind of have that anyway with another team named the Steelers. After much deliberation I chose the Ironmen, making them the one exception to my self-imposed rule - but mainly because it has real world precedence. On that note I'd like to thank the Seattle Kraken for their Reverse Retro jersey, the history of which helped me settle on the name.

 

Like his apparent lack of a nickname that I could work with, Iron Man also doesn't have any particular logo associated with him. The Arc Reactor doesn't say "Iron Man" unless you already know the context behind it - but that did at least inspire the triangular LA monogram on the shoulders. I do think this one feels a bit too corporate for a sports logo, but on the other hand that's very on-brand for Tony Stark.

 

The IM on the throwback third jersey was my original plan for the primary crest - it's based on a rejected design by Fede Ponce for the first Iron Man movie - but as I was designing the jersey it was really feeling like a wasted opportunity to do something cool with the Ironmen name... also it was kind of looking like a Gophers concept. So I went back to the drawing board, but kept this one as a "retro" logo as it seems plausible that a team formed in the 60's might have used something like this - or that they wouldn't have had the foresight to make their logo a literal iron man, or in other words; a knight.

 

From what I can gather, teams with this name use imagery like knights or spartan warriors - or some kind of android which is obviously inspired by Marvel's superhero. So a  knightified version of his helmet felt like a logical way to go; some knight-like versions of his suit already exist, and I based this logo on the Iron Knight suit from the Marvel's Avengers videogame - and recoloured to his usual gold and red instead of silver and gold as seen in the game.

 

----

 

That about does it for my original six teams. I'll be making tweaks based on your feedback before I start on the next one!

 

 

[wildwing64]

A number of you were disappointed that I left out the lightning bolt from the Angel Grove Rangers identity; one of the reasons I did so - as stated in the original post - is that I've got at least one other red and yellow team with a lightning bolt logo planned. Also, until recently the bolt has never actually been used on the Power Rangers' suits or Zords in any medium. But given that it's such an iconic part of the brand I've had a change of heart and brought it back, tweaking one of the alternate logos to accomodate it:

 

 

I've also added this to the uniforms; it's really a minor tweak (except on the third where it's now a shoulder patch) so check it out under the spoiler tag below if you like.

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

@Exceed_Idiot wanted to see a white jersey more like Zenkaizer (this guy). Something more colourful like that might make for a fun alt down the line, but for now I've tweaked the existing road uniform and got it as close to his suit as I could get without straying too far from the base design.

 

I'm not sure if I prefer this one over the other. Thoughts?

 

[Bomba Tomba]

I'm guessing the expansion teams will include Spiderman and Hulk? (The former based on popularity, and the latter would give us a unique color scheme for the league)

[Exceed_Idiot]

Not sure I prefer the revamped white uniform either but I like the references to Zenkaiser

[wildwing64]

On 8/15/2023 at 2:02 AM, Bomba Tomba said:

I'm guessing the expansion teams will include Spiderman and Hulk? (The former based on popularity, and the latter would give us a unique color scheme for the league)

 

Yup! And Spiderman is one of the other two I have planned for New York.

 

---

Speaking of New York; I brought back Captain America's helmet wings, now merged with the A. Since the primary crest fuses  bits of his brand together, I figured I'd do the same with the helmet logo. So now the A is winged and much less boring.

 

 

Like with the Rangers' lightning bolt earlier this is really a minor tweak to the uniforms, so again I've hidden them below if you want to see how this looks.

 

Spoiler