Who doesn’t love seeing his/her favorite superheroes brought to whether the big screen or the small screen? Come on! That’s one of the main reasons, if not the main reason this website exists. They’ve been living through the pages for decades and some of their live action portrayals made us envision how they would look like in real life. Today I’m counting down the Top 10 superhero looks and costumes on the big screen. Before I start, let me clarify that this is all subjective, and if you have different picks, feel free to comment below.
HONORABLE MENTIONS
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990)
Deadpool (2016)
Aquaman (2016)
Batman (2005)
Spawn (1997)
Rocketeer (1991)
10. GREEN LANTERN (2011)
I know what you’re thinking: “Green Lantern sucked”, “It was all CG”. But putting those things aside, the design as a whole does the look of Hal Jordan justice. It’s a shame that they made the suit a fully digital creation. It wouldn’t have saved the movie anyway, but the costume would’ve been better received, if they had used a practical suit and added the light up effects through CGI.
9. THOR (2011)
THOR was the God of Thunder’s film debut and the costume made him look worthy of that alias. This one is by far my favorite, as it has the best design and it pays homage to both the classic and modern looks. Plus, it comes with Thor's iconic helmet. Wouldn’t it be cool if he wore it throughout an entire movie? PLEASE THOR: RAGNAROK! MAKE THAT HAPPEN!
8. IRON MAN (Marks 1, 2, 3, 6, 42, 44, 45)
I may not be the biggest Iron Man fan out there, but there’s no denying that the suits in general look really cool. Mark 1 pays an obvious homage to the armor from Iron Man’s first comic book appearance in TALES OF SUSPENSE, while the others take cues from the Extremis storyline, the Ultimate Universe and overall the modern comics. And the Hulkbuster looks even coller than the one from the comics. I also loved the armor from the 3D animated short, IRON MAN’S ADVENTURE.
7- DAREDEVIL (2003)
I know everyone hates this movie, especially because of the success of the Netflix series (great show by the way). But I’ve always loved DAREDEVIL: DIRECTOR’S CUT (it’s what made me a fan of the character in the first place) and I’ve always loved that suit as well. It’s in my opinion, one of the best examples of a superhero outfit that is faithful to the source material and looks practical at the same time. Not to mention, there’re several shots throughout the movie that homage the comics, particularly “GUARDIAN DEVIL”.
6. CAPTAIN AMERICA (2011)
Captain America was created in the 40’s during WW2 and CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER honors that in many ways. Joe Johnston, director of THE ROCKETEER and JUMANJI, is great at making worlds that take place in older time periods feel real and natural. And the uniform that Cap wears while fighting Hydra, much like the Daredevil costume, is a perfect mix of practicality, functionality and faithfulness to the original costume .
5. WATCHMEN (Nite Owl II, Rorschach, Ozymandias)
Costume designer Michael Wilkinson is one of the best in the business right now, and not just because of his work in superhero movies, but because he perfectly understands the fashion of each time period, and also what works and what doesn’t. The costumes from AMERICAN HUSTLE were excellent and the best thing about the movie. And the costumes and the production design in WATCHMEN are two of the many things that made that film spectacular. Even the regular clothes looked amazing. But if I had to pick one, I would be lost. So that’s why I chose Nite Owl II’s costume, Rorschach’s suit and Ozymandias’ outfit. In many ways, the costumes from WATCHMEN resemble their graphic novel counterparts.
4. WONDER WOMAN (201 6)
Wonder Woman is a tough warrior, but she is still the embodiment of kindness, empowerment and gentleness. So far, her costume for BATMAN V SUPERMAN: DAWN OF JUSTICE, and the way Gal Gadot looks in it, capture both the tough and the warrior sides of Princess Diana. Not to mention that it combines the traditional outfit with the one from New 52 and a little bit of Princess Xena. And to the people who say that she doesn’t look like an amazon, well amazons used to cut off one of their breasts (depending on which hand they hold the bow) in order to have better balance at archery. We’ll see how she does in the movie.
3. SPIDER-MAN (2008, 2012, 2014)
I’ll be honest. Ever since I was a kid, I’ve never been a huge fan of Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man costume and that is strange considering how much it resembles the traditional look. It’s just that I’ve never liked the fabrics, the width of the cobweb and the shape of the lenses. The one from THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN had the right tones of red and blue and it looked really cool because of how practical it looked in some parts. And it had web shooters, which is awesome. THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2’s costume has a great design and it’s the most comic book accurate look for Spidey. And even though I love the suit, I really wish they had kept the colors and fabrics from its predecessor because it would’ve been the most perfect Spider-Man movie costume. However, my favorite suit is the one from IRON MAN’S ADVENTURE. I know it's CG, but I can picture someone wearing that suit.
2. BATMAN (1989, 2016)
When I saw for the first time Michael Keaton’s portrayal of the Caped Crusader in BATMAN, not only did I love his performance, but I also fell in love with the batsuit. It paved the way for the other batsuits in many ways, establishing certain elements that would still be used, such as using a solid enough material rather than soft fabrics to make the cowl look the way it’s always been drawn, and also covering the actor’s eyes with black make up. For a very long time, it has been my favorite batsuit until Ben Affleck’s costume appeared and pretty much rivaled it. Not only does the new batsuit look exactly like the one from THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS, but it’s been a while since the last time we saw Batman wear a grey outfit. Technically, the fourth time if you count the Batman movies from the 40’s and the 1966 Adam West BATMAN. Plus, almost everything about the new costume looks amazing. The only nitpick is that the neck looks a little too fat, in my opinion.
1. SUPERMAN (1978, 2013, 2016)
It may surprise this pick being at the top of the list, but the thing is Superman has always been my favorite superhero and I’ve always loved wearing a Superman outfit more than any other costume as a kid. It just looks so awesome. Superman is the definition of a superhero, and part of that is because of the suit. And what’s so cool is that my two favorite live action portrayals of the Last Son of Krypton happen to have the best Superman costumes on screen. Christopher Reeve’s looked like it came straight out of the pages. And the suits worn by Henry Cavill in MAN OF STEEL and BATMAN V SUPERMAN: DAWN OF JUSTICE have, to quote Cavill himself, “a very alien feel while being recognizable as the suit that we know and love”. Shall I add that the newer ones were designed by Michael Wilkinson? He also designed Ben Affleck’s batsuit and Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman armor. But it should also be acknowledged that he and Zack Snyder are simply a badass duo.
And last but not least, I’d like to talk about CGI characters. Groot and Rocket Raccoon looked spectacular, but I can’t really say too much about them because I didn’t even knew who they were up until GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY came out. So I’m gonna talk as quick as possible about 5 CG comic book characters.
TOMAR RE & KILOWOG (2011)
The designs for both in GREEN LANTERN looked amazing. Sadly, the effects weren’t on par.
DR. MANHATTAN (2009)
Sure, the CGI is not as impressive now as it was back in 2009, but the amount of detail put into Dr. Manhattan made him not only a really cool looking entity, but also a character because of WATCHMEN’s faithfulness to Alan Moore’s masterpiece.
THE THING (2015)
I know you want to strangle me to death for this one. Let me tell you that FANTASTIC FOUR was my most anticipated movie of last year and it ended up being the most disappointing one. Despite that, I loved how the Thing looked because he actually looked like a man made of rocks. What I really liked as well was that whenever Ben moved, every single rock from his body moved as well, which gives them kind of a character. He also had the blue eyes. He looked like the Thing (only naked). It's very sad the movie turned out to be a mess and that Ben Grimm wasn't really "The Ever Loving Blue Eyed Thing" in it.
THE INCREDIBLE HULK (2008)
Hulk is my favorite Marvel character and my second favorite superhero. In terms of visual effects, I think all three versions did their homework, but there’s no doubt that the one from THE AVENGERS had the best CGI out of all. 2003’s Hulk looked a bit like Professor Hulk with the over the top body proportions and the “pretty boy” face. 2012’s version was a mix between Mark Ruffalo and Jack Kirby’s classic drawings. It looks good, but I just don’t like the face and the lack of musculature. But by far my favorite is the one from THE INCREDIBLE HULK. While honoring Dale Keown’s artwork and taking certain elements from Sal Buscema’s, this Hulk is the fiercest one. The texture, the veins, the glowing eyes, the small resemblance to Edward Norton, and the crazy faces he made whenever he was pissed off make him the most badass looking Hulk to date. A close second would be the one from the Iron Man animated short that I’ve already mentioned twice.
SO WHAT ARE YOUR FAVORITE LOOKS AND COSTUMES? PLEASE LET ME KNOW IN THE COMMENTS BELOW AND OF COURSE, THANKS FOR READING!