Costuming Superheroes

Comic Book adaptations are very en vogue right now. With the global success of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the Dark Knight Trilogy, more and more characters are finally being adapted to the big screen. The first series to be adapted was the superman series in 1974 starring Christopher Reed, subsequently the Batman and X-Men series were released followed by an explosion of superhero films, seen this summer when over three superhero and comic book adaptations were released.

The first films adapted their comic books very literally, Christopher Reeve's Superman costume is virtually identical to the comics, and Michael Keaton's costume is highly similar to the now iconic Batman costume. Likewise the Spider-man films have followed their source material almost exactly, whereas most series, when they are rebooted, alter the costumes of the original series, in order to differentiate themselves. Spider-man didn't do this, and the costume in The Amazing Spider-man is almost identical to that of Sam Rami's original trilogy.

Other series have been less literal, the X-Man series offers one of the most radical alterations from it's source material, instead of the bright spandex costumes featured in the comics, the characters are instead outfitted in sleek leather costumes, which have much more consistency and which were more cohesive. The costumes of the comic books are brightly coloured, tight and iconic, Wolverines costume in particular is an iconic comic book image, yet even in his spin off movies, Wolverine sports his now iconic leather jacket.

Since 2006's Batman Begins, superhero costumes have taken on an even more utilitarian image, the batsuit used in this incarnation is like modern, military armor, sleek and jet black, with the batman logo noticeably disguised. After this series, costuming in superhero films became incredibly lifelike and more military inspired. Iron Man's costume is very grounded in reality and realistic, and evolves from a more amateurish armor to the sleek gold-titanium alloy seen in the later part of the film and it's sequels.

Other marvel films also take this route, Captain Americas costume is even upgraded from the spandex colors seen in the comics, to a less sleek and more realistic costume seen in the first film, and finally into the sleek kevlar inspired costume, less brightly colored than the comic book and more practical. The only exception to the mold is Thor, who retains his brightly colored red cape and slightly more ridiculous costume than the others on this list, however his costume is still slightly less ludicrous than in the comic book, the bright blue being downgraded to a subtle gray and the spandex being changed to a tough almost roman armour.

Modern superhero movies place a huge amount of importance on realism, their costumes are grounded in reality, made of tough and strong materials, and not from thin spandex or lycra. The colours of the costumes is also more subtle with bright yellows and blacks, royal blues and reds being replaced with jet black and gray and navy blues and burgandies, this gives the films a darker more sleek aesthetic which is refreshing and which is tonally more realistic.