DISCUSSION: Which Movie Has The Best Superhero Costumes — SUPERMAN or THE FANTASTIC FOUR: FIRST STEPS?

DISCUSSION: Which Movie Has The Best Superhero Costumes — SUPERMAN or THE FANTASTIC FOUR: FIRST STEPS?

The Fantastic Four and Superman costumes can be tricky to adapt for live-action. Now that their respective movies are coming out, which film do you think best captured the characters’ super suits?

Editorial Opinion
By DanielKlissmman - Apr 29, 2025 03:04 PM EST
Filed Under: Superman

After years of anticipation, speculation and fan excitement, Matt Shakman's The Fantastic Four: First Steps and James Gunn's Superman are finally making their way into theaters. One of the most talked-about aspects from both films has been the costume design. While pretty much any superhero costume can be considered hard to adapt, Marvel's First Family and the Last Son of Krypton's super duds are arguably among the trickiest to get right. 

Both sets of characters are known for their colorful yet, most importantly, simplistic outfits, and that presents a challenge for costume designers. Make the suits too faithful to the source material, and you run the risk of making the actors look silly. But, try to ground them too much, and you risk making them look too over-designed, or even militaristic. 

The reception to the costumes in both movies has been interesting. For the most part, The Fantastic Four's outfits have been well-received, but there have been some negative comments regarding the materials used. Superman has been the most contentious, with a seemingly equal amount of people liking and disliking it for different reasons. 

Now, I'm a huge Superman and FF fan, so the different reception to the costumes sparked a question in my head that I wanted to pose to the CBM community to answer: Which film best captured its characters' outfits - Superman or The Fantastic Four? Whatever your answer is, what put one design above the other for you? Go down to the comments and give your thoughts. 

Keep in mind, this is not meant to be a competition between the two. Costume designers work incredibly hard to bring our beloved characters into the screen in a way that feels believable and fun at the same time, so their work should be recognized. It's just a fun debate to have, given the closeness in release dates between the two films, and the arguably equally difficult nature of translating their costumes to a live-action setting. 

It's also fun to think about, given just how different the two styles of costumes are from one another in these upcoming features, despite the comic book Fantastic Four and Man of Steel costumes being so similar in terms of texture and simplistic design nature. 

So, let's have some fun and ponder which film did the better job at bringing the fantastical to life for our beloved crime-fighters.  

Superman arrives on July 11, 2025. The Fantastic Four: First Steps hits theaters on July 25, 2025. 

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AllsGood
AllsGood - 4/29/2025, 3:01 PM
THE FANTASTIC FOUR: FIRST STEPS not even a contest.
MakeAmericaGrea
MakeAmericaGrea - 4/29/2025, 3:22 PM
@AllsGood -

BREAKING NEWS

A Disney shill shills for Disney.
AllsGood
AllsGood - 4/29/2025, 3:27 PM
@MakeAmericaGrea - OK Inbred

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DannyBrandy20
DannyBrandy20 - 4/30/2025, 8:18 AM
@MakeAmericaGrea - And Trump supporter shills for trump even if he's an convict

Before you spam reply, he did some good stuff like banning trans in women sports and ending DIE but that doesn't mean he's a good guy
bobevanz
bobevanz - 4/30/2025, 9:08 AM
@GodHercules20 - ah yes, make a big deal about a minority group that consists of less than 1% of the country. You really showed em 🤡
Pictilli
Pictilli - 4/29/2025, 3:07 PM
The new Superman suit has the right parts and colors, so that alone makes it better than every other Superman suit from the last 25 years in live action.

The FF suits look okay, not a fan of the white instead of the Kirby black parts.... they look like sweaters tho.
RolandD
RolandD - 4/29/2025, 6:09 PM
@Superspecialawesomeguy - That’s the perfect gif for this article but I will say most everyone’s been reasonable for a change.
Superspecialawesomeguy
Superspecialawesomeguy - 4/29/2025, 6:55 PM
@RolandD - Yeah I know I'm actually pretty suprised by it lmao.
RolandD
RolandD - 4/29/2025, 7:13 PM
@Superspecialawesomeguy - I miss when we only had a few people who did obnoxious comments. They actually stood out like a sore thumb.
AllsGood
AllsGood - 4/29/2025, 3:20 PM
I just don't like the Superman Costume. OK not Great.

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SummersEssex
SummersEssex - 4/29/2025, 3:21 PM
@AllsGood - the BTS shots are pretty meh, but when it’s in action onscreen I think it works alright.
MakeAmericaGrea
MakeAmericaGrea - 4/29/2025, 3:21 PM
@AllsGood -

The Disney shill doesn't like something from competition.
AllsGood
AllsGood - 4/29/2025, 3:30 PM
@SummersEssex - Time will tell. I plan on watching Superman opening day.
DarthAlgar
DarthAlgar - 4/29/2025, 3:43 PM
@AllsGood - Pfft. Coming from you that's like Colonel Sanders saying he doesn't like McDonald's. 🙄
AllsGood
AllsGood - 4/29/2025, 4:30 PM
@DarthAlgar - I have seen all DC movies opening day or weekend. Including Flash, Black Atom, Blue Beetle and all of Hack Snyder movies.
Nonameforme
Nonameforme - 4/29/2025, 3:21 PM
Superman is the only correct answer
JurassicClunge
JurassicClunge - 4/29/2025, 3:44 PM
Superman's suit has all the right ingredients but looks like it was cooked up by a 5 year old.......or least by someone who makes weird joke's about them 😮‍💨

F4 suits are clearly going for a theme / specific period which makes sense. The suits themselves are pretty basic but at least they aren't ugly like Man of Foam's 😩😩
DarthAlgar
DarthAlgar - 4/29/2025, 3:45 PM
I understand why they went the route they did with the FF costumes, and they don't look bad at all, but my vote is for Supes.
AllsNotGood
AllsNotGood - 4/29/2025, 3:57 PM
Every time I see that superman picture it reminds me of

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Thing94
Thing94 - 4/29/2025, 5:02 PM
@AllsNotGood - lol
BlackStar25
BlackStar25 - 4/29/2025, 4:00 PM
Best? Im not a fan of either. Wont be letting that ruin my enjoyment of a film though
MotherGooseUPus
MotherGooseUPus - 4/29/2025, 4:04 PM
The collar on the Superman suit still kills it for me, with that said, i like it better than the F4 even though it goes with the 60s theme... i just dont like them. this is All my personal preference. hope both look better in the movies
TheVisionary25
TheVisionary25 - 4/29/2025, 4:05 PM
The Superman suit has really grown on me…

I still could do without the lines but I have come to like the rest , especially the collar personally.

However , I think the FF costumes might be my preference in that not only fit the retrofuturistic setting imo but I like how they have individual touches to them while also being similar enough to have them feel like a unified team.

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harryba11zack
harryba11zack - 4/29/2025, 4:06 PM
soup sh1t
marvel72
marvel72 - 4/29/2025, 4:08 PM
They're pretty even both have their flaws.
SheepishOne
SheepishOne - 4/29/2025, 4:25 PM
I’ll say F4, but I don’t hate Supe’s suit. Could use less lines, and it looks a bit thick but not bad.
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