Accurate Costumes In Comic Book Movies/TV?

[CosmiComic]

What I find funny is Comic book artists have mostly drawn heroes in costumes as if their anatomy shows right through the material. All the muscleture is sharp, from triceps to abs. Of course in real life it doesn't look like this. Even the Rock in a tight t-shirt, the surface is fairly smooth with no cuts.
So for film, we see the costumes padded with the look of muscles to emulate the comics. In reality, the George Reeves Superman and Adam West Batman were more realistic.

I don't disagree with that part. Plus I think the excessive muscles are a bit much.

[Kirby101]

I don't disagree with that part. Plus I think the excessive muscles are a bit much.

I have felt that way for comics too since the 90s.

[CosmiComic]

I have felt that way for comics too since the 90s.

Also with female bodies being "overdesigned"

I think comic accuracy is good in general because the character have distinct looks we can all easily identify. But some changes are beneficial.

[Castle]

I liked the costume of wonder woman in the DCEU minus the costume from WW 84.


What was great about this costume in the first film is that Patty thought of how the costume would look in the setting of world war 1. the colour grading and cinematography of the film, made the costume look so beautiful on Gal Gadot.

She missed this good directing choices in WW 84

[Revolutionary_Jack]

I don't care so much for accurate costumes in comic books...there I said it.

It's great if they do it, but if they have something different that works better with the aesthetic they have all the good.

The Chris Reeve Superman suit looks good for the film's style which is intentionally fantastic mixing old-fashioned with contemporary designs. The film's bright aesthetic also allows them to bring out the primary colors. If you aren't going for realism your entire style needs to reflect that.

Whereas the Tim Burton movies were going for dark gothic fantasy and the costumes reflect Burton's aesthetic.

In terms of mixing aesthetic with comic book accuracy I rather did like Raimi's Spider-Man 1...where the Raimi-Suit looks a little fleshy, i.e. it looks less like a guy in a skin-tight suit and more like this is how an actual Spider-Man looks like, with the texture of the thick black lines around the red really adding an odd texture to it. The crimson red of the suit was also a good touch (matching the color of MJ's hair even, at least in SM-1). I also, and this is controversial, like the Green Goblin outfit of the movie. Call me crazy but I think a dude calling himself the Green Goblin should have more green than purple (unlike the comics). Just sayin'.

[CliffHanger2]

Having just watched the 3 hr version of Superman: The Movie, I was struck by how good Reeve looked.
Why Don't Any Superhero movies feature comic accurate costumes for their characters?

Superman: The Movie nailed it.
Raimi's Spider-man got very close.
Warren Beatty's Dick Tracy was easy to do, even if Beatty didn't look like Gould's character.
Wesley Snipes' Blade was a 1990's version of that character and pretty accurate, not the Gene Colan Tomb of Dracula guy in the red coat.
The Marvel films have been hit (Iron Man/Black Panther) or miss (most Avengers costumes). These outfits seem more based on the Ultimate Marvel comics.
Gal Godot's Wonder Woman is fairly accurate.

As far as TV goes... the only costume that ever spoke to me was John Wesley Shipp's Flash, and even then, he looked more like Wally West than Barry Allen.

Should costumes return to the Chris Reeve era spandex/cloth? Is there a way to make actors look more iconic in their costumes? Will any actor ever embody a comic accurate superhero the way Reeve did for Superman?

I think you don't see that much anymore because the whole "tactical" argument that popped up in the 2000s? Maybe earlier. Or ppl feeling embarrassed or thinking tights look silly. Probably why we'll never see Wolverine's tiger stripe or Psylocke's thong.

The new Wanda Vision had their original costumes in a halloween episode. Kinda as a joke but they didn't look that bad.

[CosmiComic]

I honestly don't get the tactical thing for people who can lift a tank, or go through walls, or control people's minds. What does tactical gear benefit them?

Of course, a lot of old costumes are cringe and awkward. But the tactical stuff seems too militaristic

[Phoenixx9]

I mean, I get people are people and not drawings on paper, but I think most comic costumes could be done very close to the comics, if they wanted to do that. They could start by making them exactly alike, then slightly altering the material, color or whatever is needed to fix any "problem spots" that seem to be appearing. I just think the movie people are too concerned about their "own vision/version" to really care what the fan public wants, deluding themselves that we will love their version as much as they do.

[CliffHanger2]

I honestly don't get the tactical thing for people who can lift a tank, or go through walls, or control people's minds. What does tactical gear benefit them?

Of course, a lot of old costumes are cringe and awkward. But the tactical stuff seems too militaristic

Yeah you think Captain America would be fine running in his red boots or even barefoot. Now he needs combat boots lol. Haven't read Thor in ages but he's all armored up now for whatever reason.

[CosmiComic]

Yeah you think Captain America would be fine running in his red boots or even barefoot. Now he needs combat boots lol. Haven't read Thor in ages but he's all armored up now for whatever reason.

I mean, do we really want these characters to act like they're soldiers all the time?

[green_garnish]

Yeah you think Captain America would be fine running in his red boots or even barefoot. Now he needs combat boots lol. Haven't read Thor in ages but he's all armored up now for whatever reason.

He's a soldier, wants to be seen as a soldier, and wants to be one of the troops. His worst time in the movies was when he was working as a spy, not a soldier, for SHIELD.

[CosmiComic]

How can Captain America be a spy with that shield anyway?

[green_garnish]

How can Captain America be a spy with that shield anyway?

He painted it dark colors

[CosmiComic]

He painted it dark colors

It just seems odd to me all the spy characters don't have spy powers. Invisibility? Shapeshifting? No, wear a black leather suit, that works!

[Comics N' Toons]

I've always felt that the superhero has never been represented very well in major films since Dick Donner's 1978 "vision" of Superman. That film was very faithful to what Superman was through the ages, a mix of Silver Age and Bronze Age elements put into a fantasy film. The sequels were less truthful to the myth but Superman II comes closest.

Batman 1989 is not a bad movie by any stretch of the imagination. It gets 3 things wrong as far as I'm concerned. 1) Batman should not be so cold-blooded. It seems clear that they were inspired to use the Golden Age version, from Finger and Kane's first year... where Batman killed. 2) I think Batman was miscasts... Keaton was a great Batman, but he didn't look or act enough like the Bruce Wayne I know. 3) The bodysuit was well built, the sculpt was interesting for what they were going for... but it should have been gray... not all black. Had they kept that basic plot... added a few more action scenes with Batman... shown him doing some sleuthing/detective work then maybe, just maybe it could have approximated what Donner did with Reeve in 1978.