You Look Mah-velous!

[MILatino]

If you remember Billy Crystal's stint on Saturday Night Live then you read the subject line correctly in your mind. ;)

Just a thought here... in "Metamorphosis", we see John Stewart pay a visit to his old army pal in his GL uniform rather than just show up in plain clothes even though he wasn't on duty. It made me think about superheroes' costumes in general.

With someone like GL we know he's part of a corps, so some kind of uniform is expected. What about the others? Why do heroes in the comics and animation wear such "loud" outfits? Why the loud colors? Why a cape? The only necessities I can think of (other than tools, e.g. the utility belt, etc.) are a mask to hide your ID and gloves to keep from leaving fingerprints.

In movies, with some exception, we see that the although the costumes are based on the comic book designs, they try and tone them down to make them "cooler." It usually involves darkening them, making them look like biker leather, or just making them look more mercenary-like instead of bright yellow spandex.

If you were a hero in real life, would you be caught dead in tights and a cape? Which hero do you think would look the silliest in real life and which one would rock if the costume were taken exactly as is and made real?

[Marc]

I think it was Superman who said in his first interview with Lois, that the purpose of his "loud" costume was to detract from the frightening nature of what he really is; an alien among us. He wanted the public to be unafraid of him, and to know that he was on their side.

Batman's costume, on the other hand, was designed entirely to frighten people, criminals in particular.

You'll find that every character, hero or villain, wears his or her costume for different reasons. Some are just flamboyant (Electro, Plastic Man), others for symbolism (Captain America, Punisher), others aim to terrorize (Dr. Doom, Scarecrow, Batman), others to indicate their allegiance (Green Lantern, Fantastic Four), and others just for the purpose of their work (Ironman, Midnighter).

Most superhero costumes are no more tacky than any professional sports uniform or those worn in the Olympics.

I think Alex Ross' Marvels is the closest we'll get to seeing how these characters would look in our world. Some not as bad as you'd think, others a little garish. Being a hero in tights might be embarrassing at first, but if you've got the skills and the attitude to back it up, people won't snicker for long.

[Barb Gordon]

Very valid points there CI, things I had never really considered before. I could honestly see some sprinter inthe Olympics wearing something akin to what Flash has on. I mean heck, the winter sports, like bobsledding and such have pretty colorful outfits that would fit in just fine alongside Flash's. And of course, when it comes down to it...capes are just fun to wear :p *whoosh*

~Barb

[TimTwoFace]

If I were a hero, I doubt I'd wear tights or spandex. Why? Well, let's go with Batman for example - it just doesn't make sense. Sure, maybe he can manuever his body more easily in tight, lightweight leather, but how protective can it be? That's why I always thought the Batsuits in the recent movies were much better than the stuff worn in the 60's - and the best part is, NO POT-BELLY! :)

As for other costumes, it all depends. The comics version of Wolverine's costume would look terrible on screen, and I'm glad they changed it in the film - and made fun of it in a clever little aside, too. The black leather look worked much better.

With a comic you can do anything you want with the colouring - really bright costumes can work really well in dark backgrounds because they don't have to play by the rules of light and colour. The artists can do whatever he wants with his inks and brushes to make the characters fit the scene. In live-action it's more difficult because you have to stay within these rules - that's why Wolverine's yellow costume was changed. Yellow? Moody? A little bit of a clash. It all depends on the character, the theme, and the overall mood you're going for.

-Tim

[JMo]

I never thought of the protective thing before! You're absolutely right! Even though the costumes in the comics look really cool, they wouldn't look very good on screen...hmmm...

If I were a superhero, I would definitely want the black leather look. I'd wanna walk around looking as cool as Blade, except that I'ma girl, and I would look better! :D

[jm5150bc]

I think that we all would agree that spandex wouldn't hold up in the "real" world. I think my wife (who has always been extremely tolerant and even supportive of my love for superheroes) said it best: I showed her this picture...

http://alexrossart.com/images/wallpaper/silver_age_jla800.jpg

...one day while raving about Alex Ross, and without missing a beat, she says "That's a little too creepy for me... when they're drawn that realistically, it just looks like a bunch of people hanging out in their pajama's !!"

I think this photo also tell's us who would look the silliest in real life... J'ohn Jonzz !! A Cape and a pair of bikinis all held together with red suspenders... Ooooooo-weeeeee !

[Borg4of3]

Originally, I was gonna say 'Batman' - In real life, I just can't see someone being scary wearing all that. Its more a stylistic thing, as TimTwoFace said, which can't be pulled off without major smoke and mirrors. But after jm5150bc's link to poor old realistic J'onn; my vote goes that way :p

[SageHare6]

Being a football fan, I can totally see a "real" super hero wear a spandex-like costume. The impt caveat though is that they also wear padding and a jockstrap/cup to square out that area south of the waist. For mobility's sake, a body suit is the best way to go. And a body suit is possible. By my understanding, there are actually real synthetic materials being used in the military today, that are insulating yet breathable too.

Not that I'm a fashion expert but personally, I think body suits are the way of the future. :) But back to original question... I think the easiest costume makeover would be WW's. Not only have we already seen it before in the old 70s series, but given today's trends in women's fashion, I'm not sure WW's outfit would be all that outrageous.

The worst costume makeover would be Flash. Head to toe in uniform red just doesn't cut to for me. I think any such costume translation would just make for a great mascot for the hot dog industry. :D

Basically, I think the thing with costumes works something like this. Bad colors for shorts makes for bad superhero costumes. For example - Red on Supes? Lifeguards -> Baywatch -> Silly. Black on Bats? Boxers -> Fighters -> Cool. With Bats, I hated how the live-action WB films took creative liberties with the costume. The whole rubber costume bit made Bats look as agile as the tortoise. Something spandex-like could work... Unless it's European swimwear that they're wearning :D , just lower the cut to something more like boxer shorts.

:wakko:

[Ed Liu]

Howdy,


Originally posted by MILatino
If you were a hero in real life, would you be caught dead in tights and a cape?

Yup, because if I dressed up in tights and a cape, I'd get killed right quick by the bad guys :). Unless I had, like, Superman-level powers or something.


Which hero do you think would look the silliest in real life and which one would rock if the costume were taken exactly as is and made real? [/B]

LOOKS SILLY: J'onn J'onzz, Hawkman (the "half-naked" one), the Black Racer, and Elektra ("Look at me! I'm a deadly killer ninja assassin...OOPS! My long flowing scarves just got caught on the doorknob...")

ROCKS: Spider-Man (hey, Tobey looked real good in it), Iron Man, Wonder Woman, Zatanna, Black Canary (the original fishnet look), Phantom Lady, Shanna the She-Devil,

>THWACK<

Sorry, I seem to have gotten distracted there.

I vaguely recall a speed-skier in some Olympics (Nagano?) whose bodysuit had a Spider-Man pattern on it. Was made by Spyder, of course. No webhead on his (her?) helmet, though.

-- Ed/Ace