So, yeah, the luge team at the 2014 Olympics will be wearing X-O Manowar outfits. This is a thing that is actually happening.
The details are necessarily shrouded in mystery. OK, not really shrouded in mystery so much as the fact that details are a bit sparse. What we do know is that Valiant is giving something along the lines of six figures to the USA Luge team, which has gratefully received the cash infusion. It’s not like Lugers (Lugies? Lugineers?) make a lot of money, so really any bit of cash helps.
Valiant, on the other hand, gets to sneak into the Olympics as a sponsor without having to shell out the millions and millions of dollars it generally takes to buy a microsecond of advertising time during the Olympics. Also, there’s a chance people will actually watch luge because it’s a guy on a tiny-ass sled rocketing down a hill at speeds that can easily cross eighty miles an hour, and this will definitely come up as NBC’s commentators struggle to fill air time.
We also get hilarious videos like this one, wherein you can see the blonde lady slowly realize she is trapped among nerds:
It’s definitely a clever step on Valiant’s part. True, us nerds recognize the company, but although the recent relaunch has apparently gone well, it’s not like it’s Marvel or DC with a bunch of beloved characters. But we can see a barbarian with an energy sword and wrist-mounted ion cannons appealing to the larger American public; he’s just got to get in front of them, first.