Another Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3 costume pack is now available on Xbox 360 and PlayStation Network, and that means it's time to pull out our microscopes and examine each new outfit up close. I've got the Capcom folks handled while Marvel's dopplegangers are wrangled by Chris Baker. Now, on to the costumes! 

HSIEN KO

At one point, the dev team considered dressing Hsien-ko in pajamas, a cook outfit or even son goku style from Pocket Fighter, but ultimately (ha!) decided fans would prefer to see an homage to her sister Mei-Ling. They looked at various versions of Mei-Ling, from games to anime to art, and compiled aspects of each into this unique design. For one source of inspiration, check out this clip from the Darkstalkers anime.

VERGIL

This sinister look, known as Corrupt Vergil, first appeared in Devil May Cry 3: Special Edition as an alternate costume. Makes sense then to have it as one of his alts in Ultimate MvC3, right? Notice the dark veins spreading across his face - creepy! As for his powered up mode, the team really wanted to have Vergil become Nelo Angelo, but various complications made it too difficult. For example, Nelo uses a large sword while Vergil uses a katana, and both had different move sets in their original games. In the end, the team settled on Sparda, who is Vergil and Dante's legendary father. Nara-san is a former DMC team member and really wanted to make Nelo Angelo work, but hopes fans enjoy Sparda as a compromise.

SPIDER-MAN

Brett told me he couldn’t wait to see how I explain this costume by explaining the whole Clone Saga in one paragraph. I’ll do him one better and make it a haiku…

Ben Reilly wondered,

“Am I Spidey? Or a clone?”

He fought crime. Then died.

That’s the Scarlet Spider for you in a nutshell. Not a very thorough nutshell, but a nutshell nonetheless. Oh, and this Scarlet Spider is not to be confused with the new Scarlet Spider, who gets his own series soon. Just read about Ben and Kaine on Marvel.com already…

DEADPOOL

One of the more popular (or, depending whom you ask, reviled) MvC2 characters who didn’t make the cut for either edition of MvC3 was, of course, Cable. At least for the moment, he’s actually been dead in the comics since 2010’s SECOND COMING storyline. Shortly after that, Cable’s old partner Deadpool paid tribute to Nate by dressing up as him in CABLE #26, the final issues of the series that began in 2008. Thus, Cable-pool was born.