Superman is the most iconic superhero of all time, but his costume hasn’t changed much
since it first appeared in Action Comics #1 so many years ago and that’s odd considering
that the outfit (especially the red trunks) are based off of circus strongmen from that
era.
That’s not to say that people haven’t tried though.
In fact, redesigning the Man of Steel’s look is incredibly common over at DC Comics,
but I’m here to take a look at the worst of it in my opinion.
And I’ve got to get this out of the way right here at the top of the video.
“THESE ARE MY OPINIONS.
IT’S FINE IF YOU DISAGREE!”
If you like any of the suits that I talk about then cool, but anyway, let’s dive in.
Let’s start things off by looking at one of the dumbest trends of the 90s, power armor.
Dude, back in the day, artists loved to throw power armor on every character that they could
and oftentimes, there were just as bulky and clunky as they were unnecessary.
These were so pervasive that even the Man of Steel wasn’t able to escape becoming
a… man of steel.
In a storyline called the “Krisis of the Krimson Kryptonite”...
Why did they make them Ks?
They didn’t have to!
In the story, Lex Luthor gets his hands on a piece of Red Kryptonite which depowered
Superman by turning him into a human.
As a result, the not so Superman needed this power armor in order to compensate.
With a fishbowl helmet, big red shoulder pads, a metal belt, form fitting biceps, and flesh
colored gauntlets, this is one of the dumber armors of the 90s.
I mean if you’re going to take the effort to create a drastic new type of costume, at
least try to do something unique with it.
This whole outfit is just “What if Superman was made of metal?” which doesn’t even
make it memorable enough to laugh at.
This is one of the only instances where armor was actually necessary for Superman since
for some reason, artists just love to adorn him with it which makes NO SENSE considering
that his main power is being strong enough to not need extra protection.
I can kind of look past it for more sleek armors like the New 52 suit or the one that
he briefly used in Superman Unchained.
I still don’t like them, but they’re not terrible.
Unliiiike…
This armor that an alternate universe Superman wore in “The Dark Knight III: Master Race”.
Is this going to be a trend?
In order to weaken a group of Kryptonians, The Flash made it rain synthetic Kryptonite
which meant that if Superman wanted to protect himself, he needed to wear this monstrosity.
It channels major Steel vibes while also bloating it up like a Hulkbuster in order to mirror
Batman’s Anti-Superman armor.
The design of the suit itself is very plain, but I don’t understand some of the… more
unique design choices like why does it need a belt?
But moreover, WHY DOES A SUIT OF ARMOR NEED HAIR AND LIPS?!
It’s just weird, man.
Let’s hop off the trend of armor for just a little bit.
Don’t worry, we will be back.
But I want to jump towards one of the most iconic Superman outfits of all time.
We briefly touched upon it in my “Worst 90s Costumes” video, but when Superman was
killed during a fight with the villain Doomsday, he came back sporting a mullet and this boring
black onesie.
The neckline is also SUPER wide which is something that my research calls a “boat neck”.
While the silver motif is made clear with the symbol on his chest and as well as his
armbands, it’s hard to see the little silver toe guards which…
why?
Now Supes very briefly got some matching flight boots in order to help him out since he was
a little bit depowered at the time, but the whole costume is pretty uninvolved.
Easiest way to fix that in the 90s?
Straps and guns!
This costume did make a brief comeback in 2015 during the Lois and Clark series where
the neckline was fixed, a belt was added, and the silver was toned down.
Without the guns and by moving all that extra hair from his his mullet to his face, I actually
really like this redesign!
I think also one of the main reasons why I think it works better here is because this
Superman was kind of using it as a stealth outfit so it actually makes sense on a practical
level.
However, another notoriously bad outfit that Superman took on in the 90s was during a rematch
with Doomsday.
To give him a leg up in order to hopefully not die this time, Superman was borrowing
a borderline magical living computer called a Mother Box which gave him a brand new costume
that came with a couple of extra gadgets and MY GOD, where to begin?!
This new costume completely replaced Clark’s old one, being darker and coming with a larger
cape.
It then went full 90s by adding a head sock, plenty of straps, one golden arm reminiscent
of Cable, bulkier boots that look like he accidentally ordered a size too big so he
needed to strap them on so they wouldn't fall off, and a freaking sword!
Remember, these weren’t just attachments over Superman’s normal outfit.
This is all new meaning that this cluttered look was totally intentional.
Why do you need so many straps, my guy?
They completely cover your family’s crest.
Also, what’s the point of still rocking the red undies when you have a golden loincloth
over it?!
Oh and we haven’t even touched upon the weapons yet!
So there’s an ultrasonic gun and an energy sword, both of which were powered by a cord
that comes out of his leg.
Like I get that this was the 90s and that was the level of technology available, but
this is already magical alien technology.
I’m really surprised that they didn’t just go full lightsaber instead of this weird
power cable that would severely limit a sword’s movement.
To add insult to injury, this costume and weapon set didn’t even help Superman!
He had to beat Doomsday by teleporting him to the end of time!
So why bother with this in the first place?
Was it sell toys because you don’t need a canonical reason to do that.
Like how about this figure that was made to tie into Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice?
Now, Action figures getting new designs and weapons outside of their source material is
nothing new.
That’s one of the main reasons why the Ninja Turtle toys were so popular, but this so called
“Epic Battle” Superman is… odd.
It features a turtleneck cape with built in cape shoulder pads that look more like a neck
cast than gear for a “epic battle”.
There’s also just so many bumps.
It looks like corn.
Oh and I guess there’s also an axe as well.
Now, early designs for this figure actually included a shield as well, but believe it
or not, that shield was actually taken away so that it could be used as the basis for
a completely different figure.
Look, it’s Shield Clash trademark Superman trademark!
God, these are just so bad!
Okay so admittedly, I do dislike this next design a lot more than most people so I’m
totally prepared for the rain of dislikes.
Look, I really do tend to like the art of game designer, Tetsuya Nomura, and although
I’ve made fun of how Kingdom Hearts and Final Fantasy characters are made out of zippers
and belts, I unironically do love Lulu’s literal belt dress.
What I don’t like though are Nomura’s superhero designs.
As a part of Play Arts’ DC Universe Variant line, Nomura redesigned several iconic DC
characters.
Again, his Superman isn’t all that bad, but it feels off.
I mean it is a heavily armored design like we already talked about, but this Supes just
doesn’t look like a hero in my opinion.
With how bulky and menacing this all is, it sort of looks like General Zod decided to
become Superman.
Alternatively, those fingerless gloves, heels, and dem hips kind of makes it look like that
if you changed the S to a W then it would be a pretty alright Rule 63 Wonder Woman figure.
Also, I know it’s not costume related, but I do actually dig how Nomura reworked Superman’s
iconic hair curl into this super anime style, but that still doesn’t excuse the random
purple crotch.
Another design featured in my 90s costume video was the one used by Superman Blue.
With an all new electrical powerset, Clark became pure energy and needed a containment
suit in order to literally hold himself together.
This new outfit is a pretty generic costume for a character with electricity powers with
lightning bolts on his limbs and the arrows pointing to his… other limb, but this is
freaking Superman.
His costume shouldn't be this generic.
Most of his other bad costumes are still somewhat unique.
But I guess DC was confident enough to double down on this considering that later on, Clark
was actually split into two nearly identical looking entities, giving birth to Superman
Red as well.
That being said, I really don’t think that this is a bad costume overall.
It’s a lot better than some other 90s creations, but it’s just not a good Superman outfit.
Now for this video, I’ve mostly been talking about more elaborate costumes that add a lot
onto Superman’s traditional garb or change it up in a dramatic way.
So let’s scale things back a bit to the most basic of basics.
When the post-Flashpoint universe started, Superman didn’t have his standard suit from
the get go which led to him fighting crime in jeans, a cape, and a Superman t-shirt which
he actually later swapped out for a white one that’s reminiscent of Supergirl from
the animated series.
Although this was replaced by his main costume later on, Clark actually went back to the
t-shirt when he was publicly outed as Superman by Lois Lane, got significantly depowered,
and his normal suit was torn to shreds.
While he originally passed on a new Superman shirt in favor of one that says “Eat your
greens!”, he opted for the logo tee after a fight since as he told Jimmy Olson, the
cat was out of the bag already so why not?
With pieces from his tattered cape wrapped around his fists, Clark did what good he could
without the need for a secret identity.
I think what the creators were going for in both instances of the shirt and jeans look
was to signify a Superman that’s wasn’t as his peak, but while I think it works as
a temporary outfit for when he was just starting out, I can’t help but shake my head at it
the second time since it looks better on Superboy and Mr. “I AM A MAN!” from the alternate
universe “Superman: At Earth’s End” book.
He looks dumb, but it’s not really the costume’s fault.
It’s kind of just that large gun.
Let’s end things off today with another alternate universe book, the often overlooked
one-shot “Superman’s Metropolis”.
Based on the groundbreaking silent film “Metropolis”, this book takes place in an undefined future
and as a result, the Superman suit looks very retro-futurist, but not really enough for
this book in my opinion.
This design looks like a swashbuckler although I much prefer the design of the actual pirate
Superman.
I’m not a big fan of the crest morphing into this whole body thing and the two tone
contrast on the torso feels a bit weird to me, but at the same time I kind of think that
the artstyle as a whole is what makes this look weird from my perspective.
So I actually want to pass this off to you guys.
Do you think that this suit or any of the other ones that I talked about in this video
are really that bad?
Let me know yes or no down there in the comments below.
Hopefully you liked this video.
If so, make sure to like, subscribe, do all that other YouTube stuff.
I’m going to use the revenue I get from you guys watching more content to buy more
props… and pay rent, but mostly to buy more props.
I mentioned it a few times in this video, but I actually did a previous episode on “The
Worst 90s Comic Book Costumes”!
So if you liked this one, that’s probably going to be up your alley, but anyway, I hope
you learned at least a little something new and hopefully I’ll see you next time!