Superhero costumes...

[A beaker full of death]

Yeah, the Alex Ross Superman is perfect. I like how he embraces the S symbol as the most important aspect of the outfit as opposed to shying away from / justifying it by shrinking it (Returns) or texturising it (Man Of Steal)

I hate the texturizing. But the Ross S tends to swallow the whole suit.

For most of his existence, Superman had a classic look, and both Reeve and Reeves wore that look with pride. I don't understand the current need to mess with it. Nor do I understand this need to make a "dark" Superman. Superman ain't dark. Damn it.

Great retrospective here, btw: http://dccomicsartists.com/superart/superart.html

As for the new suit, I hate the muted colors and the rubber thing. I do like the cape. And if that really is the Earth-2 S on there, I'm seriously happy.

 

[Anbaric Amber]

This is why I like Kurt Busiek's version of the Superman mythos so much. It's a new retelling that is based on the Superman mythos and makes a lot of really believable changes and updates and really does modernize the concept.

http://www.amazon.com/Superman-Secret-Identity-Kurt-Busiek/dp/1401204511

THAT should be the basis of a new movie!

 

[davejames]

That or the excellent It's Superman book.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

Like pretty much everyone else, I was impressed with how well Captain America's costume was adapted to look non-ridiculous but not like they were ashamed of it or trying to hide it.

I think Wonder Woman is like Cap: something fairly radical needs to be done about the costume. Something with more Ancient-Greek-warrior elements might work, along the lines of this. (But the skirt should be more a warrior-type skirt, not a tattered slip.)

Iron Man has it easy. Body armor doesn't look inherently foolish like tights and capes on guys. The guys who wear little except their very well sculpted bods also have it easy: the Hulk, the Thing, Sub-Mariner. Can't go wrong with that.

But the acid test is still to come: Doctor Strange. Are they really going to have him waltzing around in that? Even in Greenwich Village, he'll stand out.

 

[Obiwanshinobi]

Well they could either dress him up similar to the 10th Doctor with a suit and trenchcoat sans the converses or Captain Jack Harkness with a similar jacket. Or a giant cape with huge collars.

 

[MLJames]

The "S" is the ONE thing I dislike about Ross's depiction of Superman. I utterly despise the gigantic "S" because it throws the entire outfit out of balance and looks amateurish IMO.

You can't really blame Ross for the supersized shield look (no pun intended); John Byrne came up with that in his '86 reboot. The larger "S" was the standard look after that.

 

[spooky spice]

The Christopher Reeve Superman:

- The (big screen) original and still the absolute best, IMO. The suit was brightly colorful, bold, and unashamed. It said "This is Superman!" loud and proud. And Christopher Reeve had the perfect look for Superman, which only accentuated the costume, and brought everything together perfectly.

Agreed, and it gave a good contrast between Clark Kent and Superman so it wasn't a case of "are they all blind, it's the same man!!"

 

[Myasishchev]

The thing about Superman and Clark Kent is that they're a couple of beefy whitebread guys with strong jawlines and black hair. By that token, maybe Bruce Wayne is Superman.

"Well, yes, I guess I do look like Superman. You look like whatever brunette actress the artist has a crush on this week."

It's only really telling when you throw Superboy into it, or when Clark's leaves of absence map really closely to those times Superman caught a kryptonite bullet, and you can trace more than just a strong resemblance.

Although it'd be fun if it turned out Lois Lane was autistic and had prosopagnosia.

 

[Captaindemotion]

Let me add that IMO, a GREAT choice for someone to play the Man of Steel would be Chris Noth. IMO, he totally has the right look. Totally.

I want him for Dick Tracy, if they ever do another live-action version of that character.

 

[Agent Richard07]

I think Wonder Woman is like Cap: something fairly radical needs to be done about the costume. Something with more Ancient-Greek-warrior elements might work, along the lines of this. (But the skirt should be more a warrior-type skirt, not a tattered slip.)

I don't think Wonder Woman's costume needs to be radically altered. It looks fine as it is. An armor-like outift gets suggested a lot and to me, it looks like someone is trying too hard. On top of that, armor is too bulky and doesn't capture the light spirit of the character. If you put Diana in ancient times and in a combat situation, it would be fine, but it doesn't work in the modern era.

 

[Jetfire]

A film maker has to go with what will suit their vision and their story...being tied to source material and what fans might like is ridiculous...at the end of the day the film makers have to go with what is comfortable to them.

 

[Warped9]

George Reeves' costume was crude and simple by today's standards, but it was how he managed to wear it and how he moved that made it work. Reeves conveyed a lot of energy. You could easily believe he was Superman.

Christopher Reeve's costume also worked because he looked at home in it even though, again, by today's standards it looks simple.

Dean Cain had a decent looking costume, but he looked self-conscious in it. I found it hard to believe him as Superman.

Brandon Routh's costume doesn't look too bad in retrospect, but to me Routh didn't look the part (superficial similarities to Reeve aside) and the reds of the costume were just wrong. I didn't think Routh looked masculine enough. If you can look masculine in Superman's costume then you've got something.

The jury's still out on Henry Cavill, but for now and from what little I've seen the only thing I like about his suit is the shade of red and the cape. The blue looks too dark and the texturing is too much and looks inappropriately rubbery.

The actor wearing the costume can make a world of difference, but I also think there has to be some sort of synergy between the two. It has to look right and it has to be the right guy (or girl) wearing it.

 

[Agent Richard07]

A film maker has to go with what will suit their vision and their story...being tied to source material and what fans might like is ridiculous...at the end of the day the film makers have to go with what is comfortable to them.

It's not so much about staying true to the source material. I'm all for change. I just don't think that putting Wonder Woman in heavy armor in a modern setting works.

 

[Jetfire]

A film maker has to go with what will suit their vision and their story...being tied to source material and what fans might like is ridiculous...at the end of the day the film makers have to go with what is comfortable to them.

It's not so much about staying true to the source material. I'm all for change. I just don't think that putting Wonder Woman in heavy armor in a modern setting works.

I agree...I was just speaking in general, sorry.

 

[arch101]

I've been pretty happy with the transition to film for most of the superheroes.
The Raimi Spider Man suit was thankfully close enough to the original to be recognizable.
The Donner Superman suit is just plain a classic, almost legendary now. Although the 1940's cartoon style of the Singer costume was pretty cool too, I thought.
I started reading Iron Man in the mid-70s and in al that time it never occurred to me that his suit might actually make noises as it moved around. The way the film costume is done actually enhances the rereading of the old comics. Can't do much better than that.
Didn't the Batman comics change his costume to all-black a few years ago? Yeah, it's hot the body armor look of the films, but I thought it was a kind of 'alignment' between the film and comic book look. I actually don't mind the film look as it's a lot more practical and believable. I'm just kind of surprised how long the Tim Burton-inspired look as persisted in the films. I guess everyone has just decided that it's how you 'do' Batman in film now.

 

[NSTrekfan]

If Superman didn't want people to notice the details of his face, wouldn't he just wear a mask?

As I have gotten older I find the Clark Kent/Superman disguise so implausible. I wished the original creators had put a mask on him.

Watch the scene from Superman The Movie when Clark decides to tell Lois who he is. In the space of a minute Reeve goes from Clark to Superman and back to Clark. That one scene sold me on it.

Would it work in real life? No, but the movies aren't real life. That sold it to me in the context of the movie.

 

[arch101]

[/QUOTE]
Watch the scene from Superman The Movie when Clark decides to tell Lois who he is. In the space of a minute Reeve goes from Clark to Superman and back to Clark. That one scene sold me on it.[/QUOTE]

Reeve's finest moment as an actor and I doubt many actors could have pulled that off so well. All he does is stand up straight and alter his facial gesture and he literally becomes a different man. Pretty amazing moment.

 

[Gojira]

If Superman didn't want people to notice the details of his face, wouldn't he just wear a mask?

As I have gotten older I find the Clark Kent/Superman disguise so implausible. I wished the original creators had put a mask on him.

Watch the scene from Superman The Movie when Clark decides to tell Lois who he is. In the space of a minute Reeve goes from Clark to Superman and back to Clark. That one scene sold me on it.

Would it work in real life? No, but the movies aren't real life. That sold it to me in the context of the movie.

I do have to agree with you. That scene is pretty amazing how Reeve had two different personas for both Clark and Superman.

I think you do touch on an important point. Actors who play this dual role needs to play both roles very differently.

Although I love the 1950s series "the Adventures of Superman" George Reeves played the dual roles pretty identically. His Clark Kent was hardly mild-mannered.

 

[nightwind1]

The iconic WW costume is just wrong. It's completely unrealistic, not to mention impractical, for a busty woman to wear something that is essentially a corset with a thong attached (well some modern versions of it are!)

You wouldn't be able to do anything in that outfit other than stand there and pose...

Unrealistic and impractical don't really matter when the wearer can lift a tanks, flys an invisible jet, has a magic lasso and can deflect bullets with her bracelets. How realistic are all of those?

 

[A beaker full of death]

Watch the scene from Superman The Movie when Clark decides to tell Lois who he is. In the space of a minute Reeve goes from Clark to Superman and back to Clark. That one scene sold me on it.

Reeve's finest moment as an actor and I doubt many actors could have pulled that off so well. All he does is stand up straight and alter his facial gesture and he literally becomes a different man. Pretty amazing moment.

Similarly the moment in S2 when he stops pretending to have burned his hand.