The original look for The Avengers' Helicarrier nearly featured a different type of aerodynamic architectural layout.
Concept designer Phil Saunders shared his early art for S.H.I.E.L.D.'s mobile command base to Instagram for the first time, describing it as a "premiere" reveal. Some notable distinctions between Saunders' Helicarrier and The Avengers' final version can be seen in its turbine engines and runway. The turbines feature rounded half-bases beneath their respective blades, in contrast to the film using flat engines placed within wings on the aircraft's front and back. Similarly, while Saunders' artwork displays two runway lanes atop one another like in the movies, his Helicarrier's lanes appear layered in the same direction rather than at an angle.
"As with the other views I've posted, this was an alternate direction to the one that my friends Nathan Schroeder and Steve Jung were pursuing for Production Designer James Chinlund that ultimately was what you saw in the films," Saunders wrote. He also revealed where he received inspiration for the Helicarrier, calling it "more of an aviation-based design, taking cues from heavy lifter aircraft such as the Globemaster and Antonov. So enjoy this alternate universe take!"
While the Helicarrier was first introduced in 1965's Strange Tales #135, The Avengers marked its second live-action adaptation after the poorly received David Hasselhoff TV movie Nick Fury: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. Like in the comics, it served as Nick Fury's (Samuel L. Jackson) base of operations for gathering the Avengers Initiative candidates, only for them to work together in fending off an attack from Loki's mind-controlled forces, including Clint Barton. Different variations of the Helicarrier would appear in Marvel Cinematic Universe films like Avengers: Age of Ultron and Captain America: The Winter Soldier, the latter being one of three updated models hijacked by Hydra-- having infiltrated S.H.I.E.L.D. for decades -- to kill potential threats around the world.
In addition to the movies, the Helicarrier has been featured in a number of Marvel animated series, as well as the Marvel's Avengers video game. Marvel's Avengers' Helicarrier, designated the Chimera, bears a heavy resemblance to its MCU counterpart, with the destruction of its Terrigen reactor sparking the events of A-Day and the Avengers' temporary retirement. Later in the game, it would serve as a hub world for players to select levels, explore each Avenger's room and do holographic combat sessions.
Due to S.H.I.E.L.D.'s disbandment post-Winter Soldier, recent MCU films have not featured the Helicarrier in their stories. However, the upcoming Secret Invasion series will once again shift focus back to S.H.I.E.L.D. characters like Fury and Maria Hill, played again by Cobie Smulders.
Source: Instagram