First Avenger Captain America's Costume - P - Part 2

[roach]

but the Avengers suit has the same colors and is skin tight... same basic design as well....

i dont know how people point to the USO show suit as a perfect definition of how a faithful suit doesnt work and completely forget the shot of the Avengers suit

 

[bubbadoom]

Except the suit isn't spandex and not so bright.

It's all about the choices you make in selecting the materials, colors, etc., and they clearly chose to make that suit look bad. As I often point out, the Spider-Man costume from the t.v. show looks like crap, but the movie one was fine - same design, just different approaches to building it. Same applies here - a workable suit true to the classic design could have been made, had they chose to do so.

 

[steintym]

Man, do I love the look of the Avengers costume for Cap. If ends up looking anything like that, it will be so cool.

I'm also surprised the USO suit doesn't look worse. Don't get me wrong, it looks silly, but the cowl is the only really awful part.

 

[TheVileOne]

It's not great, but honestly if they tweaked that design I think it could've been OK.

Still I hope that art for the promo is what he will look like in Avengers, so all the wing and exposed ear haters can eat their words like the hating word eaters that they are.

Wings and exposed ears work. Ultimates = trash.

 

[TikkiEXX]

really? the Avengers suit doesnt look a hell of a lot different then the Ultimates suit. looks almost like a perfect mixture of 616, ultimate and Movieverse if you ask me. like a lot of Marvels costumes actually.

 

[TheVileOne]

It does not look like the Ultimates suit! Sucks to the Ultimates suit!

 

[TikkiEXX]

come on Vile. lol. Ultimate Caps suit isnt THAT bad. haha. gotta admit your post almost made me spit my coffee out all over my pc. gotta love real life spit takes. lol

 

[Agent 194]

I still think the traditional costume could be done. As some have pointed out....the right materials, etc. And I still think the pirate boots could work. I love that look.

 

[Wolvieboy17]

I don't know, I still think there's a much larger descrepency between making material that looks authentically like Cap's scale mail but also looks like a realistic and practical material. The Avengers costume has shown us that they can get away with some freedom in style whilst still being bound in practical material. That Avengers costume looks great, but you'd have to admit if it had the scale mail, it would look very, very different and possibly not fit in with the rest of the modern costumes.

 

[captainrogers]

I don't know, I still think there's a much larger descrepency between making material that looks authentically like Cap's scale mail but also looks like a realistic and practical material. The Avengers costume has shown us that they can get away with some freedom in style whilst still being bound in practical material. That Avengers costume looks great, but you'd have to admit if it had the scale mail, it would look very, very different and possibly not fit in with the rest of the modern costumes.

Ooh! Maybe Cap picks up Mjolnir and shiny blue Thor-like scale mail flies up his upper arms chest and back.....!
And then he keeps the look.....
And Voila..... MORE Comic accurate Cap....
(just got done seeing Lantern...feeling silly/sad....i REALLY wanted to like it....at least I got to see Live Action GLs on the big screen.)

 

[Wolvieboy17]

I think the way to do Cap's costume is in small increments. Avengers has seen the inclusion of wings and clear stripes in style, with more red gloves and boots. If each movie there are slight variations and additions, like Iron Man's armour, we could end up getting closer to it. The advantage of the Avengers is you have Stark, Banner, potentially Asgardian technology and any other avenues to explore for tech and costume advancement. Hell, perhaps the introduction of Wakanda could even introduce a certain metal alloy that could be weaved into his costume :P

I'm not against the scale mail or something similar, but I just think you need to approach it the right way. I think it's smarter, to keep an audience's disbelief suspended, to make small adjustments rather than just dump a bunch of fantasy/sci-fi concepts on a character in one go. I mean look at Avengers.... You've got a super soldier from the past, a norse god, a super powered flying suit and a giant green monster. They would all be ridiculous if they were ALL elements being introduced for the first time, but since they've all been introduced one at a time, people have already accepted them as concepts that exist within that universe. The way I see it, for Avengers, the next introductions that audiences need to be introduced to in a feasible way are things like the Helicarrier and the possible cosmic elements (which luckily has already been partially addressed in Thor) Like I said, if you try to introduce ALL those things in one go, it can very quickly become far fetched.

 

[JAK®]

The scale mail that Cap wears in the comics doesn't really resemble scale mail in real life. So if you wanted to adapt that aspect of his costume, you have a bit of leeway. It could look more like a mesh that you could say is a kevlar/nomex weave.

 

[Wolvieboy17]

Yeah, well I still think the best way to do it is just have some kind of kevlar material with just the original costume pattern, instead of actual, textured scales/feathers. You at least get the visual aesthetic then. I just don't think the Watchmen Nite Owl approach would be very effective. Rubbery and impractical.

 

[JAK®]

I have no problem with changing details if it at least tries to retain the original look. That's why I have very little issue with the First Avenger suit, although I still maintain they could have gone closer if they really, really tried.

 

[Wolvieboy17]

Yeah, they probably could have, but I actually think it works better this way. In knowing it was leading up to Avengers and modern day Cap, I think everyone would have preferred his well known 616 look for those films, and I think it's equally as important to have a clear, distinct difference between his WWII outfit and his modern outfit.

 

[JAK®]

Yeah, they probably could have, but I actually think it works better this way. In knowing it was leading up to Avengers and modern day Cap, I think everyone would have preferred his well known 616 look for those films, and I think it's equally as important to have a clear, distinct difference between his WWII outfit and his modern outfit.

You could still use the same design for both time periods but made with contemporary materials. Cap's costume was actually designed in WWII, so I don't see why we should wait until present day to see it that way.

 

[Wolvieboy17]

I just mean from a stylistic point of view, not necessarily practical point of view. I think it's important to be able to put a picture of each time period Cap side by side and see the clear and obvious difference. That's what I always loved about the Ultimates WWII costume, not the costume itself but just how it was a clear and different period in Caps career as a hero.

 

[JAK®]

I think you could get that effect by using different materials for each suit.

 

[Wolvieboy17]

Not as authentically or as appropriately. There is a lot more to periodic style and aesthetic than type of material.

 

[JAK®]

Not as authentically or as appropriately. There is a lot more to periodic style and aesthetic than type of material.

Captain America's design is from WWII. If you used WWII materials along with that design, you can't get any more authentic than that.

 

[roach]

if they took the Avengers suit and replicated it with materials in WW2 that would have been awesome

 

[Spider-ManHero12]

Yeah, they probably could have, but I actually think it works better this way. In knowing it was leading up to Avengers and modern day Cap, I think everyone would have preferred his well known 616 look for those films, and I think it's equally as important to have a clear, distinct difference between his WWII outfit and his modern outfit.

Agreed.

 

[Wolvieboy17]

People have brought up this argument before... Just because the original costume was created in the 40's, doesn't mean it is authentic, era appropriate. That just reflects the idea of aesthetic for what a superhero should be, not what the period or era would use for soldiers or practical application, nor was there the complexity in the design that is required for film. Also, typically, in fantasy/science fiction from the 40's, 50's, 60's right through to the 80's, design and visual aesthetic was aspiring to create something futuristic and fantastical, not be authentic of the time. There was a completely different vision and creative approach to fiction to what there is now. Sadly this leads to people's misinterpretation of realism, and unfair comparisons to Nolan films, and usually the gratuitous useage of the word 'gritty'. The simple fact is today's approach to fantasy isn't about imagining the future so much as it is about altering the present with magical or fantastical qualities, or subversively taking something fantastical and appropriating it to a relatable modern day context.

This also relates to the argument between 'retro' and 'period'. Retro relates to the creative style of the time, whereas period is about cultural and historical authenticity. To have Cap's original costume would fit into the retro category, and the whole film's tone would need to reflect that for it to work. However, since they've established a more period type film, especially in trying to fit it historically into the context of a pre-existing universe, the 'retro' costume wouldn't work.

 

[JAK®]

But Captain America is a 1940's superhero. So using the 1940's design, made with 1940's materials, would be both retro and period.

 

[roach]

Kevin Feige:

The costume was in the works for a long, long time," says Fiege. "We knew that in the period setting we wanted to have something with the silhouette of the superhero costume, but wasn't made out of foam latex or CG. It had to look modern and heroic, but also of the period. So the straps, the material, all make it so that he doesn't stand out too much walking around a battlefield next to other soldiers."

and thats the problem...the costume is supposed to stand out