Superhero costume reviews

[Raph's Girl]

MSN has an article that grades Superman's costume as well as a couple other heroes....it's called
"Hero vs Hero: How Does Superman's New Look Stack Up?"

I'll post it here so you don't have to go thru all the pages:

http://movies.msn.com/movies/Superhe...542&photoidx=1

Who knew, all those years ago, that simple Kansas farmer Martha Kent would become such a world-renowned fashion designer? Using the blankets wrapped around her little adopted alien baby Clark, she turned boldly colored remnants from Krypton into the most recognizable super-suit in comic-book history. And as many professional wrestlers will tell you, it's not easy pulling off a tight-fitting super-suit.

Yet, decade after decade, Superman has done just that. And so have thousands of other muscle-bound mutants, do-gooder freaks and batty vigilantes, all of whom seem to have contracts with major movie studios.

Now that a new movie version — and a new costume — are on the horizon for Superman, those of us who care about such things wondered: How does Martha Kent's work stack up among today's superheroes? Let's take a look at Clark's new outfit, plus the wardrobes for other comic-book icons. Even super powers can't protect you from the fashion police.

Superman

Grade: B

First, a thank you. The creators of the new Superman resisted the urge to drop the Man of Steel into a made-of-steel, chiseled suit carved to look like a cover of Men's Health. Here, Superman looks like he might actually be a journalist in disguise. Secondly, another thanks for keeping Superman in his overly patriotic colors, true to the original. Superman may be a little too "truth, justice and the American Way" for some people, but we're talking about Superman, here. He's gotta be him, and one-notch-shy of actually wearing a flag always made sense for this farm boy. This leads to our one complaint: What up with the burgundy boots and cape? Red states yield red capes; burgundy is for wine drinkers.

Dierna note: Burgundy??? Looks Maroon to me...but if it's burgundy then it's Burgundy...still the wrong color tho

Spider-Man

Grade: A

They nailed it. The best part about the Spider-Man's look is that they didn't crap it up for the movies. This is THE classic Spidey in his original colors, white eyes and big spider on the chest. Whoever worked on this look loved the original, and it shows. Another nice part about the costume is how well it works when the flick switches from live actors to animated scenes. The costume makes the transition easily.

Daredevil

Grade: A

This is one of the few costumes that worked better on the screen than in the comic book. Even Ben Affleck's All-American face couldn't friendly-up this red leather tribute to the man without fear. No molded plastic; no muscles where there should be soft parts; and no cape (which, as "The Incredibles" taught us, is not a wise choice for a hero anyway). You could even imagine a self-respecting ninja wearing this number down to Hell's Kitchen on a night off. What's even better is the consistency with Daredevil's character -- super, but not implausible.

Mr. Incredible

Grade: A

As you probably know, Mr. Incredible has two super-suits in "The Incredibles," and both are worthy of top grades. They are retro, functional and characteristic. It's no wonder the costumes in "The Incredibles" were actually an important part of the plot and the fodder behind one of the best characters (costumer Edna Mode) delivering some of the best jokes. The best part of the costume? The mask. All the characters have that same, form-fitting peanut-shaped black mask that -- and this is the best part -- does absolutely nothing to keep their secret identities secret. This is true reverence to Mr. Incredible's non-existent comic-book roots.

The Hulk

Grade: B

Is this a "look"? Keep in mind that the Hulk wants to SMASH, not to dress. And Hulk's attire comes courtesy of a minor growth problem, associated with certain anger issues, not any kind of particular statement the Goliath was trying to make. But we're going to give our grumpy green giant a good grade anyway for authenticity. The original Hulk's pants always looked the same, were always dirty, and most importantly always stayed on, even if Hulk was 10 times the size of Bruce Banner. And the movie-makers did well to stick with that. Otherwise, the question "Why police always shoot at Hulk?" might have had an entirely different answer.

Elektra

Grade: B

The first time someone said "Jennifer Garner in a red-leather bustier," you could almost hear box-office registers ring across the nation. But beyond that, this costume is not only true to (most editions of) the comic-based Elektra, but it actually looks like some whup-ass might actually be possible while wearing such a thing. The only problem is that it's missing out on some of the nastiness Elektra fans are used to from the comics. This costume has a little more "lite" than "spite." While that may appeal to the Sydney Bristow fans out there, the Daredevil fans could pick up on that misstep pretty easily. They tried to fix it with a little body art, but it wasn't quite enough.

Batman

Grade: C

They never should have cast Michael Keaton as Batman all those years ago. Ever since, the poor Dark Knight's look has been little more than a showcase for wishful thinking. You could put Drew Carey underneath those molded plastic abs and pecs, the frowny, built-in emotive eyebrows and that physics-defying cape, and he'd look like a badass too. And besides, who wants to have to wash their super-suit with Armor All? That said, the costume has been effective at illustrating the nut-job aspect of Batman's true character.

Blade

Grade: C

We can't fault the costume designers for this one. Wesley Snipes looks good in this costume -- almost as good as the perpetually scowling comic-book version of Blade. The problem is, if you've seen Blade in the comics, you'd know it was never about the costume. We're talking about one angry, angry dude who doesn't spend enough time dressing to even bother buttoning up his shirt (he finds time to shave though, hmmmm). So, one hardly notices the costume until, well, until you start writing about it. Black trench coat, black gloves and black shoes? Yawn. Honestly, Blade's lucky that he doesn't get hit by a car.

The Fantastic Four

Grade: C (maybe)

Since we haven't seen this yet, we'll give the Four the benefit of the doubt. But so far, it's disappointing. It's been a long time since the original "Lost in Space" costume department was put to work, but it appears they're finally out of retirement. Blue jumpsuits with boots? The original Fantastic Four had a "Speed Racer" jetropolitan quality about them, and let's not forget: Mr. Fantastic originally had them in baby blue. Do you know how super-duper powerful, tenacious and gutsy you need to be to pull off baby blue when you're trying to take down Dr. Doom? Then again, one of them did stay invisible most of the time.

Wolverine

Grade: D

Don't get us wrong: Hugh Jackman was the perfect Wolverine. Both X-Men movies were good movies. The X-Men comic books, of course, are legendary. So what went wrong? Wolverine is supposed to be in yellow Spandex. Everyone knows this. (OK, some people know this. But everyone who truly cares about one of Marvel's best-ever comic book characters knows this.) We don't know who is to blame for this mess, but we can only assume it was some James Dean fan that connected Wolverine's whole "Rebel Without a Cause" brooding attitude to white T-shirts and biker-gang belt buckles. If David Lee Roth could pull it off, Hugh Jackman could have pulled it off too. It's just a shame.

Dierna note: I'd like to dissagree about this... Hugh Jackman looks good in anything...*G*

Catwoman

Grade: F

Just try, for a minute, to forget that Halle Berry is wearing this costume. Mentally, you have to put Julie Newmar or Eartha Kitt in those clothes to make a fair judgment. And when you do, you realize Newmar would still look better in her sparkly hip-huggers held up by a metallic gold belt than in this torn up, eight-piece vixen suit. Furthermore, can you imagine doing martial-arts moves in this thing? You'd catch the crook simply because he fell over laughing.