Let's Talk Superhero Costumes in Film & TV Adaptations!

[Slimybug]

Hey, I wanted to start a discussion about this. Since the boom in the new millenium of superhero media, I feel like we've come a long way in creating superhero costumes that find a mixture of looking good and staying true to the comic. Let's face it, this can be a challenge, since a lot of the costumes people wear in the comics would look ludicrous in real life! I wanted to know if anyone had any thoughts as to improvements that can still be made and things they'd still like to see.

I remember being a young adolescent when the first X-Men movie came out. Back then, Superman and Batman were basically the only superheroes to make it to the screen. Christopher Reeve had looked passable in his costume, as had others on TV like Dean Cain after him. But it seemed, at least to me and the kids I talked to, like there was still an aversion to showing anyone in spandex suit, as it would look stupid. Hence, Batman had been continually put in black rubber, and the X-Men were now being put in black leather suits.

For those who were more learned on this history, sure enough, they had also placed The Flash in a rubber-esque costume for his shortlived TV series, and the one other time they put someone in a spandex suit, for the Spider-Man TV series, it looked stupid.


Then came the Spider-Man movie, which, to our perception (me and my 13-year-old friends) at the time, was a total game changer, because it showed that you COULD make a skintight suit that looked awesome onscreen. That's mainly because the Spider-Man suit was made from, as I recall hearing, a special fabric called milliskin. The latex webbing also helped it look cool, even if both those aspects made the notion of it being homemade quite unrealistic. We thought all superhero costumes were going to be totally comic-accurate from then on, and I even remember hoping that X-Men 2 would be inspired by this and feature the comics-accurate costumes. 16 years later, aside from a brief glimpse at the end of Apocalypse (not really skintight costumes either), we've stil yet to see that.

Since then, superhero costumes still try to lean in the direction of armor-esque, and only a handful are truly spandex-y and comics-accurate.

Captain America, for instance, briefly had one that looked like simple cloth in The Avengers, but they then went for a more padded/armored look. FTR, I'm pretty sure Brandon Routh's Superman costume was made from milliskin as well, and Andrew Garfield's at leaast loks the same, while Tom Holland's still looks great.

Batman wore all-out armor for the Dark Knight trilogy, but in the DC Films universe, for the first time, he actually wears his skintight grey costume, although it is more of a latex-like material, which is what Superman wears too. Even The Flash on TV has slowly transitioned through two other costumes to his most comics-accurate one yet, and it looks pretty good. I think it will look even better on Stephen Amell.

What do you guys think? What are some directions you'd still like for these costumes to go? And does anyone have any additional information about the movie costumes, like what material many of them are made from?

[SuperiorIronman]

I was actually just thinking about this sort of thing and so I'll throw my two-cents in.

I don't expect superhero movie costumes to be direct translations due to the fact that it just wouldn't work on film and naturally with art being inconsistent and us not knowing exactly what these costumes are made of, it makes it hard to make a direct translation. Not to mention that some things don't really work.

The Spider-man movies are a great example of this as the original costume if taken literally looks fine from an artistic point of view, but on its own looks pretty bad. The reasoning for this is that it looks cheap. The reason being is surface of detail. Superhero movies are of course a visual medium and of course things need to look good on film. Things on film also have to look good at all angles and so costumes need to catch the viewers attention and look presentable, but also need to match the source material and do what the film maker needs it to do. They also have to be maneuverable to the actors and stuntmen playing the character, and sometimes you run into hiccups somewhere along the way forcing the design to be changed.

So with that in mind when designing something for film you need to consider;
1. Who is wearing it?
2. What do they need to do?
3. What is the character?
4. What is the tone of film?
5. Is context needed for the costume (level of detail relative to the film's story point for having it I.E Spider-man's home made costume compared to the Stark-tech)


And onto that point about context, the answer for the rubber armor is that the costume itself usually exists in a state on it's own as an unrelated entity before the hero. In the case of the Flash, it was a future Firefighter outfit and so with a bit of tweaking it becomes the costume, and provides a grounding in reality for the audience. It's a superficial grounding considering what superheroes tend to do, but it's enough for your audience to go "yeah, that makes sense". The same thing can also be applied to closet costumes. Doctor Doom of the early 2000's Fantastic Four had a Doom where there is no way he could get an armor out of the gate and it be accepted by the audience, but if he has a green trench coat that resembles the tunic and provides an alternative to the cape, then we as an audience can say "close enough". And as silly as it was, a modern art piece given to Victor as an award acting as his mask, is a quick, albeit silly way to give us the imagery we as an audience want.

But onto the specific point about Captain America, the reason we don't have a comics accurate costume? The context doesn't allow it. On film it also wouldn't work seeing as the costume is theatrical and meant to be seen on the page where detailing and the movement of fabric are not considered. And so with the context him being a soldier, Captain America gains a costume that is inspired by the designs of his comic counterpart, but is grounded in such a way that Chris Evans can believably look as if he was a super soldier in a costume meant to take a beating.

I would genuinely love a comic accurate superhero costume, but at the end of the day it's a balancing act. There is very few costumes that can directly make the jump so I just don't expect any of them to.


EDIT: As a specific edit as to what the costumes are usually made out of
-Lyrca/spandex
-Foam rubber
-Vacuformed plastics
-or 3d printed and then worked to make them survive filming (fiberglassed or plastic coated)
-Cotton fabrics
-Nylon Fabrics

You don't normally see leather due to the fact that it's expensive and cumbersome to an actor as the Matrix and X-men movies can attest to. If you're curious about specific costumes, if they popped up on auction sites they would be able to provide some details or if you can find BTS footage, you can tell due to how they are being made or how the actor is moving in them on set and in-between takes.

[jetengine]

You'll never see comic accurate X-men costumes because most look ridiculous in LA.