The ten Worst Superhero Film Costumes Of All Time

It is fairly apparent that comedian guide followers are spoiled by films right this moment. Superhero cinema is so ubiquitous that each main director and star will get requested about them regularly, and generally, even the dangerous ones make for fairly respectable movies. Executives right this moment really grew up with these characters and care about seeing them performed proper — and a part of that’s getting the costumes as much as cinematic velocity. Spandex appears to be like foolish, and muscle fits usually look pretend, however films are not so embarrassed about superhero palettes that they should make the whole lot black. (Certainly, Spider-Man’s all-black “Night Monkey” suit in “Far From Dwelling” looks like a deliberate dig at such issues.)

It was not at all times thus. Simply over a pair a long time in the past, studios had been nonetheless actively blowing it in a giant means when it got here to superhero fashions. And we’re not simply speaking about how Michael Keaton’s denims as Bruce Wayne within the 1989 “Batman” make his butt look horrible, like he pissed off the wardrobe division. We’re speaking concerning the precise superhero fits that filmmakers signed off on to really seem onscreen, whilst they made the heroes look ridiculous moderately than intimidating or heroic. Easy prosthetics, like Ryan Reynolds’ notorious Deadpool-in-name-only Weapon XI face and chest make-up in “X-Males Origins: Wolverine,” do not depend, however villain costumes do.

So, with out additional ado, let’s dive deep into some actually dangerous wardrobe. Listed below are the ten worst film superhero costumes of all time.

Giving some credit score the place it is due, Ben Affleck’s Daredevil swimsuit is not really the worst one ever worn on digital camera — that might be Rex Smith’s black blindfold and physique stocking combo within the 1989 TV film “The Trial of the Unimaginable Hulk.” Affleck, nonetheless, had the misfortune in 2003 to be caught in a transitional part of cinematic superhero costuming. The period of the Batman/Flash muscle swimsuit was over, the leather-based jacket/Matrix/Blade look had taken over, and regardless of the success of Sam Raimi’s “Spider-Man” in 2002, film executives weren’t but certain how followers would take to vivid hues. Even the X-Males confined their signature shades to minor piping particulars on in any other case black outfits.

The crimson leather-based outfit the movie ended up utilizing feels just like the wardrobe equal of an actor who will not commit. It isn’t fairly a muscle swimsuit, nor precisely practical biker gear. It is not convincingly tactical, and why make it crimson if it’ll be a darkish, muddy crimson designed to not be seen very effectively? That stated, though followers do make enjoyable of the film and the swimsuit, Affleck’s dedication to the position, together with wire-fu professional Cheung-yan Yuen’s struggle choreography, mitigated the harm.

No less than, years later, everybody acquired redemption: Daredevil with a tactical armor swimsuit for actor Charlie Cox that had the correct quantity of comic-book fashion for the Netflix collection, and Affleck delivering a standout grimdark superhero efficiency in a comic-accurate Batsuit for Zack Snyder’s “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.”

Green Lantern’s costume is inherently goofy. It is the uniform of a galactic police drive, meant to face out, using the colour inexperienced and the ability of a lantern for…causes. The Inexperienced Lantern Corps use their energy rings and minds to create constructs that briefly assist them in lively responsibility earlier than disappearing, like hard-light holograms. Their costumes, nonetheless, should not be constructs too. In the event that they had been, all it will take to make a Inexperienced Lantern instantly bare is somewhat distraction.

Thus, the choice to make Ryan Reynolds’ Lantern uniform for Hal Jordan primarily CG feels, and appears, just like the unsuitable method. In contrast to the enormous fists he makes with the ring, it is supposed, in canon, to be a tangible outfit. CG at finest can look adequate to remain timeless; at worst, it’ll age badly. It by no means begins to look higher as years go by. Guess which class “Inexperienced Lantern” falls into?

On the entire, the film’s not as dangerous as individuals say; it is simply extra oriented in direction of youngsters with an easier story than audiences had turn out to be used to by 2011, with the Marvel Cinematic Universe in full swing — one thing Reynolds lastly, formally entered in 2024 as Deadpool. Reynolds himself mocks his tenure within the inexperienced swimsuit greater than anyone, having Deadpool shoot him within the head throughout the “Deadpool 2” finish credit to retroactively stop him from taking the position. He might have simply negotiated a greater costume, although.

Most mother and father have had the expertise of telling their child that what they need to put on in public is not applicable and that they should change. Apparently, George Clooney’s Bruce Wayne by no means realized this necessary lesson.

Batman is meant to be Robin’s (adopted) dad. The place does he get of letting Dick Grayson (Chris O’Donnell) exit trying like he needs to go to a dungeon and get whipped? Effectively, let’s simply say he has no room to speak, along with his personal goofy blue nipples and ears that bounce as he does that signature Clooney head bob. Granted, Chris O’Donnell was a grown-ass grownup in “Batman and Robin,” however Robin in comics is usually an adolescent. Anybody who is aware of that felt a bizarre disconnect seeing him within the halfway-to-Nightwing rubber swimsuit that is an uncomfortable mixture of infantilization and hard-R.

The primary Batman swimsuit with nipples, in “Batman Without end,” virtually labored. It gave Batman the look of a Greek statue, and Val Kilmer’s aloof efficiency added that dramatic heft. Clooney’s campy wisecracks and extra informal physique language simply did not work within the less-refined model for the sequel. Akiva Goldsman’s lame comedy (which he knew wasn’t working) could not distract from how foolish the fits, er, held on the boys this time round, and the close-up butt photographs firstly made audiences consider fetish-wear instantly.

When “Spider-Man 2” ended partially with the tease of Harry Osborn (James Franco) discovering his father’s Inexperienced Goblin gear, it felt like perhaps, simply perhaps, we might get an actual comic-style Inexperienced Goblin for the third movie; maybe even one who’d ditch the Energy Ranger-esque armor worn by Willem Dafoe? We must always have been cautious what we wished for.

Although director Sam Raimi wanted Venom to stay out of the movies, producer Avi Arad pressured the previous to incorporate Venom (Topher Grace) for the followers. Raimi was extra within the traditional Sandman (Thomas Haden Church), and now needed to embrace the entire symbiote swimsuit story, so there wasn’t an entire lot of room left for poor Harry, who looks like an afterthought, particularly his costume. With a wholesome chunk of the finances clearly going to the digitally morphing outfits of Sandman and the alien oozer, Harry acquired what felt like hand-me-downs. Astride a foolish snowboard-esque glider armed with pumpkin bombs, he primarily wears a black and inexperienced paintball outfit. It is unintimidating, and it appears to be like like a relic of the ’90s.

Nonetheless, contemplating the horrific Beavis and Butt-head hybrid make-up Dane DeHaan must slap on as Harry in “The Superb Spider-Man 2,” perhaps we acquired off straightforward with a mere half-hearted costume. It is simply that after Raimi proudly flaunted the brilliant colours of the Spidey swimsuit within the prior movies, he did not look like the sort to again away from one thing comedian booky for a serious foe.

For all of the love that Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy rightfully will get, let’s be trustworthy: other than the Batsuits, which you actually cannot mess with an excessive amount of, he sucks at comedian guide costumes. In making an attempt to make his supervillains “grounded” and “actual,” they principally come off as far much less scary than they ought. May not Tom Hardy’s Bane be extra threatening if we might perceive what he is saying, with out the goofy mouthpiece? Is Liam Neeson’s Ra’s al Ghul actually the sort, goatee apart, to simply mix in? We’re fortunate Heath Ledger’s Joker really acquired a purple coat, when you concentrate on it.

Most half-assed of all of the reinterpretations, although, in bringing realism to “Batman Begins,” is Cillian Murphy’s Dr. Jonathan Crane, aka Scarecrow. The title says all of it — he’s alleged to seem like, effectively, a scarecrow. Concern is his final weapon, and we anticipate one thing like a minimum of a Knott’s Scary Farm-level fright from the outfit. As a substitute, he is only a man in a swimsuit who places a sack over his head, then medicine his victims so it appears to be like to them prefer it’s morphing somewhat. Accomplished accurately, a daunting scarecrow swimsuit works even with out chemical enhancements, however not within the palms of this mad physician.

Nolan’s costume right here is so bland that to promote the Scarecrow as an motion determine, McFarlane Toys lately mixed Dr. Crane’s straitjacket from later within the film with the sack masks to cheat one thing nearer to a scarecrow than Murphy ever appears to be like onscreen. 

When Quicksilver (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) and the Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) lastly appeared within the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s “Avengers: Age of Ultron” as mind-controlled servants of Ultron, they did so with out their outfits from the comics. Wanda would finally treatment that in future initiatives; brother Pietro would not get an opportunity, since he dies throughout the last battle, within the kind of shock killing Joss Whedon likes to do.

Wada merely wears a crimson coat to counsel her roots, whereas Pietro…effectively, he primarily does what Disney adults consult with as bounding. It isn’t fairly cosplay, however extra just like the suggestion of cosplay as a way to subvert guidelines that say costumes are for teenagers solely. Moderately than blue spandex with white lightning bolts, he wears a grey compression high with blue and white seams suggesting the lightning, and generic black pants. 

Keep in mind that it is a film that had no drawback giving us Imaginative and prescient, a red-skinned android in a inexperienced swimsuit with a yellow cape, for no specific plot cause apart from it seemed cool — and comic-accurate. Quicksilver might simply have been given a full bodysuit by Ultron; as an alternative, he has an inexplicably uncool shirt, and by no means lives to vary out of it. What…you did not see that coming?

Whereas some Marvel fans keep describing the casting of Robert Downey Jr. as Doctor Doom as desperation, it is certain to be higher than what got here earlier than. For no matter cause, each twentieth Century Fox iterations of the supervillain eschewed the notion of a genius in superior armor, and gave him residing steel pores and skin as an alternative. In Josh Trank’s model, styled “Fant4stic” on the poster, it is notably egregious: fusing along with his spacesuit, Victor Von Doom (Toby Kebbell) appears to be like like a steel crash check dummy (Doomy?) with inexperienced varicose veins.

What went wrong with the 2015 “Fantastic Four” movie? Mainly, director Trank wished to do a body-horror tackle the fabric within the fashion of David Cronenberg, whereas cowriter Jeremy Slater was making an attempt to give you a extra upbeat superhero story. Naturally, the studio wished the widest attainable enchantment and weren’t about to show the household pleasant superhero workforce right into a horror film. Nonetheless, that Doom is actually horrible trying, and never in a great way. No less than Julian McMahon’s model in Tim Story’s movies really seemed just like the character by the top of the second.

After the success of ‘Superman” in 1978, who’d have thought the subsequent main DC Comics character to get a film could be Swamp Factor, in 1982? Definitely not Warner Bros., because the movie was launched by Embassy Footage, and made for a finances of $2.5 million. The director, a younger up-and-comer on the time by the title of Wes Craven, understood the melancholy horror vibe of the Len Wein and Bernie Wrightson comics, however his means to convey it was, let’s say, severely hampered.

The largest drawback, arguably, was the full-body costume. Designed to work in clear water, it did not maintain up effectively to the murkier lakes on location. It was additionally initially sculpted for actor Ray Clever, however needed to be re-shaped for his a lot bigger stuntman, Dick Durock, who wound up being the man within the swimsuit the complete time. Bringing the entire thing in on time and on finances, Craven did not have the chance to mild the swimsuit fastidiously, so we see it means too usually in broad daylight, each crease and bend within the rubber eminently seen.

Durock would play the character once more in 1989’s “The Return of Swamp Factor,” which boasted a far superior costume, however a intentionally campy tone in lieu of action-horror. (This dissatisfied followers of the intense comics on the time, however performs higher as a B-movie with refreshingly sensible results right this moment.) Lastly, in 1990, Durock wore the great costume on a tonally creepier “Swamp Factor” cable TV collection.

In 2001, artist Darwyn Cooke gave Catwoman a dressing up makeover in comics that was each vastly in style and seemingly sensible — primarily, an Emma Peel-inspired catsuit with a cowl and goggles, a glance Jim Lee would additional refine within the “Hush” miniseries. It appeared like a gimme to any future filmmakers. In contrast to so many different comic-book costumes drawn as if made from unrealistically skin-tight spandex, it was a dressing up that was each sensible and horny, as demonstrated by many, many cosplayers at conventions. So, when a “Catwoman” film lastly got here out in 2004, what did Warner Bros. do? Naturally, they ignored the comics fully for that factor you see above. In an interview at the time with Wizard, director Pitof declared himself “actually happy with the design.”

You may as well, to some extent, blame James Bond for Halle Berry’s controversial Catwoman costume. Each Berry and producer Denise Di Novi took observe of her bikini scene in “Die One other Day,” which was designed for Bond followers to note as a tribute to Ursula Andress in “Dr. No.” Considering the bikini alone was a winner, the actress and producer supported a Catwoman design supposed to point out most pores and skin. They in all probability ought to have paid consideration to the truth that “Die One other Day” regularly is available in useless final on most “Bond” movie rankings.

Since Berry’s Catwoman wasn’t even Selina Kyle, nor set in Gotham Metropolis, it is primarily non-canonical, nevertheless it’s nonetheless an entire mess. 

A “Metal” film ought to by no means have even been tried within the pre-CG period. In comics, it is easy to attract a steel masks that may transfer and emote. Nonetheless, in movie, it is an entire totally different challenge. Even CG animation for it will get expensive, because the “G.I. Joe” live-action films discovered with the equally masked Destro. He obtains the signature headwear on the finish of the primary movie, “The Rise of Cobra,” solely to be written out of the sequel virtually solely as a result of it value an excessive amount of to animate.

Nonetheless, in 1997, the lure of larger-than-life athlete Shaquille O’Neal trying an appearing profession and being an enormous Superman fan proved an irresistible mixture for producer Quincy Jones, a fan of the character, who noticed Metal as a optimistic position mannequin for teenagers. Untethered to any of the “Superman” films nonetheless languishing in improvement, “Metal” turned its personal factor, an thought of a modern-day knight in shining armor, with writer-director Kenneth Johnson ditching the cape as a result of he did not like superheroes.

The consequence performs out extra like “iron Man” than “Superman,” however with out the fashionable mo-cap know-how that makes Tony Stark’s fits transfer so effectively, Metal simply appears to be like like Shaq in uncomfortable faux-metal, and a bug-like masks to permit his eyes and decrease face to stay uncovered and emote. (His director, who did not price his star’s thespian expertise extremely, might need been equally blissful to go with out.)  The actor and the swimsuit definitely fill the display screen…however comicdom’s John Henry Irons, they don’t seem to be.