Sentinel of liberty

These days, it seems like movies about superheroes often emphasize explosive visuals and sound over compelling story. Macedonian artist Marko Manev has stripped all of the fancy colors from superheroes to create a striking set of original images featuring famous super humans in the muted black and white noir style that has roots in German Expressionist cinematography. The artist spent about a month drawing and composing each image. He used a Wacom drawing tablet for illustration and Photoshop CS6 for finishing.

Noir style seems like a stark contrast to modern cinema style, especially as superhero-based movies offer more color, explosions, and sound than ever before. With this in mind, it's refreshing to see superheroes in a simple, yet sullen way.

"Those are some of my favorite superheroes and I wanted to make silhouette posters in their most archetypical poses," Manev told Crave. "I love using silhouettes in my art because they are more striking, like statues of a pantheon."

In this image, we see the silhouette of Captain America –- with his trademark shield held high in the air -- proudly standing on top of a pile of rubble after an epic confrontation.