I will probably say this more than once, “yes, this really happened.”
The Guardian Project, a promotional campaign merging superheroes with hockey. Stan Lee and co-creator Neal Adams designed 30 unique characters, each representing an NHL team, with powers inspired by their mascots, city histories, and fan cultures. The initiative aimed to engage younger audiences and expand the league’s brand beyond sports. It included digital comics, animations, and a reveal during the NHL All-Star Game. The idea was to have all thirty superheroes live and team up in the same universe while sometimes battling or teaming up to fight big (unannounced) enemies.
I was a assigned creative director to produce the franchise for beloved comic book mogul Stan Lee in conjunction with the National Hockey League (NHL). Each NHL Franchise is represented by one of the 30 heroes, titled simply “Guardians”. They are all named in accordance with the name of the team (e.g. The Canuck for the Vancouver Canucks, The Bruin for the Boston Bruins, etc.). Our job was to bring these characters and their superhero story to life based on artwork created by Marvel-level talent.
Video Production Using Unreal Engine
Our task involved casting and directing a team of Hollywood level stunt and martial arts actors to capture performances using motion capture technology. These performance became the basis for signature moves and key moments for the big launch reveal. We were working toward a grand reveal at the upcoming NHL All-Star Game when we took over the stadium with a script story that introduces the superheroes only to be interrupted by Deven Dark their arch nemesis.
From a campaign point of view, we created a storyarch to our campaign that fit nicely with our pipeline; create a teaser campaign focused primarily on Stan Lee’s ‘Guardian Project’ announcement followed by a bracket approach for revealing each team character. With thirty+ characters to introduce we matched two together each day giving fans a chance to up vote their favorite. This role out happened on social media, online, email, and on the NHL cable network. This effort turned our production into a news room style effort working overnights to shore up deliverables only to start over the next day to roll out the next two.
It is worth saying the ‘Guardian Project’ universe was be done in the Unreal Engine (4K), which afforded us a leaner render pipeline but plenty of challenges (*like any project of this magnitude). I was brought in because of my background producing AAA title videogame cinematics for Activision (ex. James Bond; Quantum of Solace, Ultimate Spider-Man). We made it over the finish line. The main event was a big hit, maximum buzz was achieved with the Guardian Project trending for weeks after the game. On the night of the game the Guardian Project was No. 1 on Twitter and No.4 on search on Google.
The franchise had (and probably still has) a polarizing effect on both NHL and Stan Lee fans. Obviously, I was all in. The plan after the launch was grand to say the least with multiple story arcs happening simultaneously, allowing team-up storylines (ex. The Bruin, and The Islander teaming up against Deven Dark, or the Original Six coming together in another), and regional story arcs to play out (ex. exploring the origin story of each Guardian).
But no, it did not continue, funding was not found and depending on who you talk to it was either a travesty or a good thing.
But, yes, this really did happen.
