Not every superhero outfit drawn in the pages of a comic book looks
great on screen. Some can be replicated exactly from the printed page to
movie or TV set and look great with not a hint of cheese to be found -
others, not so much. Should costume designers take liberties when replicating a superhero's outfit, as they did with
Elektra?
She would have looked pretty funny (albeit sexy) running around the
city wearing just a red bandanna cap and straps covering her womanly
parts.
Or should designers stick to replicating a superhero outfit as faithfully as possible to honor the comic book, as they did with
Supergirl? Her outfit was almost directly copied from the comic book page - but somehow the end result looked... less than great.
While all of us at
Screen Rant
worked together to compile this list of superhero outfits we felt were
the best and worst to make the leap from page to screen, some of us
didn't entirely agree with every choice. So we created a “Special
Mentions” section at the end with the superhero outfits we felt could go
either way.
The Best Superhero Movie Costumes
Best #6: Batman (2005)
When director Christopher Nolan
decided to make a more realistic, dark and gritty version of the Caped
Crusader, the look of the crime fighter’s costume was very important. It had to be both aesthetically appealing and at the same time remain faithful to the world his story had created. While not an exact duplicate of the original comic suit, Nolan’s Batman looks close enough to snag our #6 spot.
Best #5: The Watchmen (2009)
Adapting Alan Moore’s graphic novel
was a risky move for director Zack Snyder; even if he managed to
coherently tell the story of
Watchmen (which many believed was
impossible onscreen), if he wasn’t able properly replicate the
individual superhero outfits, then the whole movie would have been
rubbish. Fortunately for fans, the outfits for The Comedian, Nite
Owl, Dr. Manhattan, Silk Spectre, Ozymandias and Rorschach all turned
out looking great, while managing to avoid the dreaded “Cheese Zone.” Personally, I thought Rorschach’s outfit was done the best, but I could have used a little less of Dr. Manhattan’s “big apple.”
Best #4: Hellboy (2004)
While not technically a suit, the look of
Hellboy was
absolutely essential to the film. If he wasn’t the proper shade of red
or his trench coat didn’t look right, then the whole character would be
garbage. Lucky for us, Guillermo del Toro and his design crew were able to replicate the character's look exactly. His cool, awesome and overall bad-assery lands
Hellboy squarely at #4.
Best #3: Captain America (Avengers version)
Director Joss Whedon had to handle
the modern version of Captain America's outfit very carefully. Done
wrong it would look silly and out of place. Fortunately, he managed to achieve the iconic look from the comic books without crossing over into the realm of cheesy. All
the pieces of the classic Cap outfit are present - the emblazoned star
on his chest, the stripes on his on his uniform, the "A" and wings on
his helmet and of course, the nearly indestructible shield in his hand.
Best #2: Iron Man (2008)
Taking its cues from the
Adi Granov post-Extremis version of
Invincible Iron Man, as opposed to the original
Tales of Suspense version, the
Iron Man
movie armor was made of individual pieces instead of being "micro-mesh"
armor that would have looked like a red and gold Oscar statue on the
screen. Considering how bad the
Iron Man armor could
have looked and how well it actually turned out - while at the same time
remaining faithful to the original - makes it all that more amazing. For those reasons, the
Iron Man armor easily takes our #2 spot on the Best Outfits list.
Best #1: Spider-Man (2002/2012)
Spider-man has had an unfair advantage over the other superheroes on this list. Other than
Superman, he has had the most chances at having his superhero costume properly recreated. The first few attempts fell woefully short - and if the attempts had stopped there, then
Spider-man would be spinning his web in our top 6
worst
outfits. However, both Sam Raimi and Marc Webb managed to take full
advantage of their opportunities and did not disappoint fans (as far as
the suit goes). They were able to make
Spider-man look like he walked straight off the comic book page and onto the screen - and for that reason,
Spider-man crawls his way into our #1 spot.
The Worst Superhero Movie Costumes
Like spotting Leonid Stadnyk (the
world’s tallest man) in a crowd of Oompa Loompas, recognizing bad and
often silly recreations of superhero outfits on screen is easy to do. There are, of course, some really bad outfits from characters that never actually existed in comics, such as Hancock, Blankman, Meteor Man and Handi Man; but we aren’t talking about those. Check out our list of the worst superhero outfits replicated from page to screen.
Worst #6: Hawkman (2010)
When the CW network announced last year that
Hawkman would be joining Clark Kent on an episode of
Smallville, the whole fanboy universe giggled in anticipation. When
the first picture of Hawkman finally hit the web, the whole fanboy universe groaned with disappointment - and with good reason. He
had the wings, he had the helmet, he even had the mace - but then they
gave him a chest piece to wear under the straps and that’s where they
lost it (apparantly he didn't even NEED the wings to fly, they were
just decorative). Poor
Hawkman, he’s supposed to be a
bad-ass alien-being feared by evildoers; instead people just laughed at
him (and maybe that's why he was always so angry).
Worst #5: Fantastic Four (1994/2004)
This was a case where following the comic outfit too slavishly turned out goofy and not even close to cool. Sure they opened up
Invisible Girl’s neck piece to show off her cleavage and
The Thing’s
“rock suit” was pretty darned good but honestly, all the characters in
their sleek blue accessory-less jumpsuits just looked silly. The outfits could have been so much better but instead suffered from lack of designer imagination. Of course, Roger Corman's version of the outfits wasn’t any better (bottom right pic).
Worst #4: The Phantom (1996)
There’s not really much to say about
The Phantom’s
outfit except that it’s very, very purple which makes it look very,
very silly on screen. On page, the costume pops to life as he gallops
through the jungle driving off poachers, illegal treasure hunters and
all-around bad guys. This is another case where the exact replication of the superhero’s outfit does not play well on screen.
The Phantom
should have been a seriously cool character to watch, but instead most
people just thought it was Barney wearing a mask and wielding some
pistols.
Worst #3: Batman/Robin/Batgirl (1997)
There have been many attempts at bringing
Batman and
Robin’s
superhero costumes to life, going back as far as the 1940s. Although
the early renditions were very campy, they pale in comparison to the
replicas in modern movies. Tim Burton’s first two films had the
Caped Crusader dressed in a simple black outfit with a yellow bat symbol
on the chest (cool), but when Joel Schumacher got his hands on the
outfits, it all went downhill (big time). Not only did he give us
the ridiculous-looking “Chrome Knight” but he will forever be known as
the guy that gave the world the infamous “bat nipples.”
Worst #2: Green Lantern (2011)
We once pondered the question "
Would Green Lantern's all CGI costume ruin the movie?" While a lack of cohesive story telling was this movie's ultimate downfall, the suit certainly didn't help. The
green hued digital skin suit made Reynolds' athletic frame look anemic.
Then there's the mask - oh the mask! - it could win a "Bad Award" all
by itself. Apparently $200 million dollars doesn't buy what it used to. Let's hope the inevitable reboot is better.
Worst #1: Steel
There are so many things wrong with
Steel’s outfit it’s hard to figure out where to start. His armor looked like a cross between
Robocop
and a medieval knight. It could have been a really cool look if the
costume designers didn’t have to make it fit around Shaq’s gargantuan
body. To make things worse, they made him wear a ridiculous non-fitting helmet and turned his hammer into a laser rifle with a scope. There are dozens of bad superhero outfits brought to life onscreen, but in our opinion
Steel’s is the worst offender of the bunch.
The Fence Riders
The following 7 superhero outfits are ones we just couldn't agree on. Should they be considered good or bad replications? Arguments can be made for either case. Take a look at our choices, then tell us what you think.
Special Mention: The Flash (1990)
This is one of my personal favorites and if I had my choice it would top the "Best" list.
The Flash
TV show itself from the 90s didn't last more than one season, but when
you compare the two outfits side-by-side, is there any doubt that the
designers nailed the replication from comic book to screen? Since we all know that
Michael Cera has NOT been cast as
The Flash (heh), it will be interesting to see what direction Greg Berlanti and DC go with the next
Flash costume.
Special Mention: The Tick (2001)
The Tick was one of those
superhero outfits that just shouldn’t have worked in real life. Bright
blue and skin tight with two big antennas on his head, no one would have
thought twice about listing it as one of the worst costume replications
of all time. However, when
The Tick made his first live-action appearance on TV, most everyone was extremely pleased with how it turned out. The only real complaint was the lack of a mask on the superhero, but that’s a minor gripe.
Special Mention: Daredevil (2003)
The
Daredevil movie stirred up a lot of controversy for making the costume out of leather and not the traditional spandex. Although
the big screen version of the outfit was a darker shade of red and had
the logo in a different place, the actual replication of the suit and
weapon were fantastic. Too bad the designers didn’t put as much effort into replicating
Bullseye’s costume.
Special Mention: Thor (2011)
Thor's outfit should have been
really dumb but director Kenneth Branagh succeeded more than failed in
his replication of the God of Thunder's costume. While he is in
Asgard, nothing about Thor's costume really appears to be silly. The red
cape, magical chain mail armor and even the pants, all worked great on
screen. The best part about his outfit, though, is his hammer the mighty Mjolnir.
Special Mention: The Punisher (2004)
The Punisher’s costume
doesn’t have whole lot going for it to begin with; all you need is some
black tights, some guns and the familiar white skull with long teeth on
the chest and you’re all set. The problem with the movie’s
replication of the outfit was it used a t-shirt to show off the skull
and the addition of the trench coat is also a little off-putting. In
Punisher 2 both problems were fixed by spray painting the skull onto his body armor and ditching the trench coat.
Special Mention: Superman (2006)
Is there anything more iconic in
the superhero movie world than the blue tights, red briefs and cape of
the Man of Steel? I don’t think so. Any director wanting to make a movie
based on the legendary hero absolutely must keep to the original
concept of the suit. Any deviation, like making the cape green
and the tights purple, or dropping the cape altogether, would make the
character, well, NOT
Superman (are you listening, Tim Burton and Zack Snyder?). Just like Schumacher gave us bat nipples, Bryan Singer gave us the Calvin Klein
Superman outfit. The blue tights were fine and the darkening of the red in the outfit really wasn’t enough to make the costume bad. What
really made this replication bad were the low rise briefs, short boots
and small raised “S” on his chest and belt. Take away the blue tights
and it would look like
Superman was ready to swim the freestyle medley next to Michael Phelps.
Special Mention: X-Men/X-Men: First Class (2000/2011)
In 2000, Bryan Singer had the
opportunity to make the superheroes from comic books accessible and
popular to the mainstream audience with
X-Men. It was a chance
for him and the studio to show the general public (other than fanboys)
that superheroes could be cool and not cheesy. Putting them in their traditionally recognized yellow, blue, green and black spandex costumes would have
not
been the proper way to go. While he was able to achieve the goal of
reaching a wider audience and set off a trend of superhero films, the
look he went for replicating the outfits was way off of the original
X-Men costumes, except for Professor X. However,
director Matthew Vaughn proved that colorful and somewhat
"comic-correct" X-Men outfit were possible in X-Men: First Class.
The 6 Best and Worst Superhero Costumes
Well there you have our
recommendations for the Best and Worst superhero costumes brought to
life on screen (big and small), as well as a few where we had both good
and bad votes behind the scenes.There are quite a few superhero
costumes that we didn’t mention - Ghost Rider, The Green Hornet, The
Shadow to name a few - that you might think deserve to be on one list or
the other. Remember though, we are talking about SUPERHEROES and not SUPERVILLIANS. That is a whole different argument. :)
Source : http://screenrant.com
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