Outside of the 1960s, the decade of the 1980s was easily one of the greatest eras for pop music. (The ’60s had the Beatles and Motown. The ’60s wins.) The main reasons being the influx of the post-punk “New Wave” sound that primarily came out of the UK at that time, and found immense popularity on both sides of the Atlantic.

In our cookie-cutter age of pop stars that all feel like they came from the same factory that also makes all the actors on the CW network, for a brief few years during the ’80s, Annie Lennox of the Eurythmics could have a #1 hit on the radio and MTV dressed in a suit and tie working cropped, bright red hair; bands like Devo and Berlin could sing songs about kinky sex on Top 40 radio; and groups like The Cure and Siouxsie & the Banshees could take their Gothic musical intonations to mainstream success. Even the filtered-down “boy band” version of New Wave, Duran Duran, had ten times the musicality and nuance of later boy bands like the Backstreet Boys. Back then, we had “Sex Dwarf“, today, we have “Left Shark.” As Stan Lee would say, “nuff said.”

Speaking of Stan Lee, his beloved superhero creations were the inspiration for this mash-up of Marvel heroes and New Wave stars by an artist by the name of Butcher Billy. You might remember that a couple of years ago, Butcher Billy made a similar set of pieces featuring the same ’80s stars mashed up with the DC Comics heroes called “Post-Punk Super Friends“, but let’s be honest here– as much of a DC fan as I am, it feels better to have the Marvel heroes used here. Marvel’s flawed, complicated characters are a better match for all of these off-kilter musicians. Siouxsie Sioux is a lot more Scarlet Witch than she ever was Wonder Woman. (Catwoman on the other hand, now that works.)

Check out the complete set of Post-Punk Icons re-imagined as Marvel heroes, as well as images with the real musicians wearing their heroic inspirations, in our gallery below: