How characters should've looked according to comics
Comic book movie costumes are getting more and more accurate with every film that's released.
The outfit featured in Deadpool set the new standard, and both Black Panther and Spider-Man's
costumes in Captain America: Civil War look fantastic. But for every comic-accurate costume,
there are plenty more page-to-screen adaptations that are just...wrong.
Sometimes ignoring original designs is a smart decision, while other times it's hard not
to be bummed about the changes made for the sake of "realism." Here are some of the most
off-kilter attempts to put super-suits on the big screen from the past, present, and
future…
Wolverine
Back when Hugh Jackman first took the role of Wolverine in 2000's X-Men, it was impressive
enough that he accurately captured the essence of everyone's favorite clawed psychopath.
It didn't much matter that, at 6'2", Jackman stands a full 11 inches taller than his super-short
comic book counterpart. But despite the fact that fans have loved the movie version of
Wolverine for over a decade, he's still never appeared on-screen in his comic-accurate costume.
C'mon, can't we even get the mask…
...on his face? Just once?
Vibe
We can't really blame the producers of the CW's The Flash for not going so comic book
accurate with this one. For one thing, Cisco Ramon, aka Vibe, is still discovering his
powers on the show, and hasn't gone out to fight crime as a full-on superhero. Moreover,
until a recent redesign, Vibe's comic book suit was pretty embarrassing, with its red
handkerchief and V-neck collar that goes all the way down. Still, if the show keeps looking
to score points for comic book accuracy, we have to point out that it's missed this one—even
when it makes the smart choice by actually avoiding it.
Hawkeye
This is another instance where the filmmakers behind Hawkeye's big screen look made the
right move—by moving away from the comics. Sure, Hawkeye's all-purple archery suit looks
cool on the page, but it'd be hard not to make it look ridiculous at the movie theater.
Superman
Lots of Superman haters have pointed to his costume as something in need of "fixing."
With the yellow belt that holds nothing up, the red underpants on the outside, and the
basic blue spandex, it's definitely a simple outfit, and one that hasn't changed much over
the past century.
But Christopher Reeve managed to make it look awesome in 1978's Superman, and all three
of the sequels. That was proof enough that Superman's costume wasn't actually broken
at all.
Yet, for some reason, Zack Snyder insisted on making Superman's belt even weirder—and
cover him in fish-scales?—for 2013's Man of Steel. Bring the underpants back, man.
"Nnnoooooooooo!"
Deadpool
Much has already been said about how badly the film's producers screwed up the character:
they take him out of his iconic costume, sew his mouth shut, and give him all of the mutant
powers they could stuff into one person.
The good news, of course, is that it paved the way for 2016's Deadpool, which has broken
new ground for faithful comic book adaptations...and for creative use of a unicorn doll in an R-rated
movie.
Punisher
While it's not going to win any awards for being clever, the Punisher's costume is pretty
memorable for exactly one reason: it has a gigantic white skull on it. So when the Dolph
Lundgren-starring Punisher movie came out in 1989, what's the one thing the filmmakers
decided to omit from the character's look? The gigantic white skull. Fortunately, all
the on-screen Punishers since then have let good sense prevail...and stuck huge, white,
skull-shaped targets on their chests. Phew.
Mystique
As we've discussed, the producers of 2000's X-Men made some important choices to ensure
that their team of mutants would look realistic on film. That meant cutting brightly-colored
superhero costumes in favor of black leather. Whether or not that was a more believable
costume choice is debatable.
But there's no question that director Bryan Singer's move to change the look of Mystique
is one of the more baffling adaptations in superhero movie history. For some reason,
Singer insisted that the villain be covered in lizard scales and walk around naked all
day long, despite there being no such corresponding look in the comics. Stranger still, the scales
have stuck around from movie to movie and actress to actress, even though it looks truly
bizarre and has no real reason to still be, like, a thing.
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