Ever since the X-Men movies, almost every live action marvel comic property has toned down the colors and designs for certain characters. Now don’t get me wrong, there have been many amazing “realistic” costumes created, such as Netflix Daredevil’s black suit, Ironman’s MCU suit, Captain America’s suit from Winter Soldier, and many more. However for every successful costume, there are plenty more fails, Captain Marvel’s Kree suit, Luke Cage’s hoodie, Iron Fist’s hoodie, Hawkeye’s lackluster suits, and almost every single CBM villain costume ever. The point is that There are more shitty CBM costumes then there are good, but why? And why do I hate some costumes, but love others? The answer is the context behind the suits. Let me explain.
One clear example of lackluster costumes, are from the Marvel Netflix shows, especially the main hero. One example is Ironfist, a character in the comics, has a magnificent green and gold silk suit, with a bright yellow ninja mask, and something akin to ballet shoes for footwear. And what do we get for the Netflix shows? Well in season 1 we literally get nothing, just him in a hoodie one episode, a suit in another, and a shirt an pants also. And in season 2 he has cargo pant, a winter coat, and a yellow rag around his lower face. The other heroes aren’t as egregious, but still uninspired, like Daredevil’s tactical suit, Season 1 Luke cage’s hoodie, Hellcat’s regular clothes, Punisher’s non tactical clothes. However the Netflix shows isn’t the only marvel property that have costume problems.
Now don’t get me wrong, for the most part the Marvel Movies have one of the most colorful, and unique superhero costumes for characters like Vision, Thor, Loki, Ironman, Antman, and Doctor Strange. However for every Doctor Strange, we get a Falcon. For every Thor we get a Winter Soldier. And for every Captain America we have Captain Marvel. And one thing almost all of these costumes have in common is that they all have a tactical, militaristic look, which is just a way to say duller colors, and boring designs. One major example of this is Hawkeye. In the comics Hawkeye wears a bright pink, and purple scale suit, with a tunic, and an owl shaped mask. Now I must admit that the comic Hawkeye suit would never translate into films, but replacing that costume with just a black tactical suit is just borderline lazy. In later films they have made his suit more comic accurate with a pink tunic in Avengers 2, and some purple patterns in his suit in Captain America: Civil War, but the problem persists entering into Endgame, where he gets the Ronin suit which is probably his best costume but still dull, with a plain tactical look. However possibly the worst, most horrendous costumes in the MCU are owned by the villains of the franchise.
Tell me, did anyone like Malekith’s look from Thor: The Dark World look like? Or what about his right hand man, Kurse? What about Yellowjacket from Antman? Most definitely Yon-Rogg from Captain Marvel, right? How about we switch franchises. Tell me if you liked Riot, from Venom, or Electro from The Amazing Spider Man 2. The answer is hell no. These characters have some of the worst designs, mostly because the creators of these movies are more focused on the hero, not the villain, but if we take a look at the comics we find that the villain had objectively better designs that the heroes. Kurse looks like a viking monster with bright yellows, and oranges. Electro has yellow, and green spandex, and Malikith looks like a black, and white elf, with snow white hair, and a black, and red tunic, using bright, and colorful magic. Sadly we will probably never get to see such colorful villains seeing that most of these villains die by the end of their movies.
Now with me ranting about the lack of unique, and colorful character design, you with be bewildered to know that I personally loved Daredevil’s season 1 suit, or any costume for Luke Cage in his second season. I absolutely adored almost every costume for any Netflix villain, even the boring ones. The reason for this is because of the context behind the costumes, and their deeper meanings. Lets start with the deeper meaning of the black suit from Daredevil season 1 and 3. In season 1 the black suit represents that Daredevil is the underdog, that he is just some guy with a simple mask, shirt, and jeans. He has no fancy expensive super suit, that can make their wearer bullet proof. Daredevil can be hurt like any other mortal man. For Luke Cage season 2, his two designs would be either him in normal clothes, or him in a suit. The reason why this design works is that these design changes would occur depending on Luke Cage shift in mood, or ideology. For example when he is fighting Bushmaster he wears a t-shirt, representing his belief that crime can be stopped by one man standing up, and taking down criminal operations one by one, target by target, fight by fight. However at the end of the season Luke Cage wears a suit around the time he decides to replace Miriah as the new crime boss of Harlem. This signals his new belief that the only way to stop crime is to get inside the system, and controlling crime himself. This is why I am okay with him wearing suits, and t-shirts, because there is a deeper meaning to his fashion during the seris.
That is the mot important factor when judging a character’s design, the deeper meaning behind the costumes. And honestly tell me, what the deeper meaning behind Captain Marvel’s colors? Or Whiplashes’ whips? Or how about Ironfist’s hoodie?
Meej's Movie Reviews 