Hollywood legend Drew Struzan drew an epic poster for Marvel years before the MCU was even born

Surprisingly, Drew Struzan never had the opportunity to create a poster for the Marvel Cinematic Universe. But the Hollywood legend drew MCU heroes and villains for a special poster presented at San Diego Comic Con in 2003 — five years before the inaugural MCU film, Iron Man debuted and changed Hollywood forever.

Just as movies today seem more generic and less exciting than they once were, so do movie posters, which once benefited from the talents of the greats. Drew Struzan. The legendary artist who passed away on October 13, 2025 at the age of 78was responsible for capturing the magic of film like no other. His hand-drawn illustrations conveyed an almost child-like wonder and reverence for the subject matter, reflecting the awe we all felt when watching the great films of the late twentieth century.

As such, Struzan was truly the best of all time, and his loss feels like something bigger than it seems – as if the era of movie magic is fading away with this giant of the industry. With that in mind, the fact that we never got to see his idea on a Marvel Cinematic Universe poster seems almost trivial. But the more I thought about it, the more it seemed as if Struzan should have been given a chance to create a poster for his film. The most successful franchise of all time. Unfortunately for Marvel Studios, Struzan announced his retirement in 2008, the same year that Robert Downey Jr.’s Tony Stark arrived and began the MCU. Fortunately, we have a rough estimate of what an MCU poster might look like from the artist in the form of a panoramic poster featuring all the major Marvel heroes and villains that Struzan was produced in 2003.

Attendees of the 2003 San Diego Comic Con, who were lucky enough to get a special poster designed by Drew Struzan, certainly had no idea how lucky they were. The illustration, created using acrylic paint and colored pencil on textured board, shows Spider-Man surrounded by Marvel heavy hitters, including Captain America, The Hulk and Wolverine, and rendered appropriately. Robert Downey Jr. recently returned to the MCU, Doctor Doom.

According to Struzan’s official website, the work was commissioned as a dedication poster but was also designed as a fourfold comic book cover. However, it does not appear as if Marvel ever used it for this purpose, despite the design being used as Box art for a booster set of Marvel Origins trading card games and the 2007 Marvel Masterpieces set. In fact, although he has created covers for DC, most notably through his portrayal of Superman in “Action Comics” #800 (which also featured his self-portrait), Struzan has only produced “Star Wars” covers for Marvel (Although he also drew several covers for Image and IDW Comics).

As such, his 2003 SDCC illustration is a rare example of the artist’s take on Marvel characters. Meanwhile, the MCU has been producing posters that very clearly take inspiration from Struzan’s work, most notably the “Guardians of the Galaxy” posters that mimic the style of the space opera that also gave Struzan his big Hollywood break: “Star Wars.” But it’s also clear that the “Avengers” posters are indebted to the late artist, with Marvel opting for a hand-drawn aesthetic on the “Avengers: Endgame” poster in particular. Sadly, we’ll never see what an actual Struzan MCU poster might look like.