It's a Bird, It's a Plane, It's the Superman Costume Thread! - Part 1

This thread was made with the hopes that all discussion about the Superman costume can be had in one place and talked about freely.

At first, I hated the suit, however, it has grown a little on me with the viewing of the SDCC footage. The colors impress me, and the cape attachment is beautiful, however i still see a couple of problems in the suit:

1.) the chain mail look. As much as I appreciate the feeling of texture, I do think this goes a little overboard in giving the suit a realistic feel. Some texture is fine and all, but this chain mail look makes me think that this is a suit of armor... Yes, I know this is supposed to be part of the alien feel, but the suit is not a piece of armor. There is no need to make the suit look like armor, because it can possibly imply that the Man of Steel is not impervious... And personally, I don't like that.

2.) the ever-absent red in the bodysuit. Again, after seeing the SDCC footage of the suit, the lack of color does not flow well within the bodysuit. The lack of color in the mid-section does not retract attention, but instead draws attention to the groin area. I asked my wife (who is not a Superman fan nor a comic book fan), and even she said the same thing without seeing the promotional picture beforehand. Whether he has trunks or not really doesn't matter- what's needed is another color to break up the blue in the middle of the bodysuit.

Personally, a change n the color of the piping around the waist as well as a thicker belt line would of helped greatly to distinguish the upper body from the lower body

http://imageshack.us/f/20/hrlicensingexpo20125.jpg

It provides a visual balance and color stability to the suit

 

Love that suit.

 

90's were definitely an awkward stage for Superhero fashion.

Not much has changed.

I kind of dug where they eventually went with it though with the black t-shirt look

 

Yep. Straight forward look. You could make a trip to Wal-Mart, buy that shirt, a wristband or two (to amp the rebel quality), and honestly say you're dressed like Superboy.

I actually used that as inspiration for my fashion a couple of years ago, right down to the haircut.

 

About Superboy again, I think it looks like something because 1) Yeah, he looks waaay young in these photos. 2) The suit looks more hip and modern( Which I'm sure is what they're trying to do.) But I couldn't see this suit in place of the traditional suit. The updated look looks like a suit Superboy would wear if Superman died and he took his place.

 

I dont mind the "chainmail" look.It might look like earth armour to some,but it most likely is indestructible kryptonian fabric-just like its always being.Im guessing the reason Snyder went with the chainmail look was to stress the suits toughness as well as give Supes a medieval look.As long as the suit isnt kryptonian armor and only look like earth armor Im grand.

I can see the need for the red but its manageable from what ive seen.

In other news
Lobdells Black suit recolored

 

personally, i like my version better, but thats just me

 

I know the classic suit argument has kinda been settled, but I though I'd share...

 

Hah, yeah I own the tshirt. Favorite shirt I own

I think what makes Conner Kent's suit design (if you even want to call it that) compelling is not just that it's simple and straight forward, but also that it just makes sense for the character. He's a young good looking guy, a little bit fashion conscious naturally, doesn't want to look too much like a dork yet still wants to be emblematic of the hero role he's trying to fill. The design choice is a good balance. But... it does highlight the problem with Superman's regular suit and why it draws such criticism in modern times.

This may be an obvious and oft repeated statement but yeah, audiences in general nowadays do need a lot more underlying reason and logic in order to suspend their belief when it comes to fantasy stories. Campy just doesn't work anymore.

Batman is very well suited for our times (no pun intended.) He wears what he wears because he needs combat gear/utilities, and fear as an additional edge. These are well fleshed out reasons from which sensible suit designs can be extrapolated. It's easy to understand why bat-nipples look ****ing stupid. All of the superheroes whose suits have function are more easily adaptable. So the question is, what about Superman?

I'm playing major, major devil's advocate here because I absolutely love Superman and the classic suit because I grew up with it. But when it comes to attracting new fans, especially older ones, the quality of a Superman suit design can only be judged by how convincing and creative the underlying logic is. Sure, some random people may just think that Superman looks cool logic be damned, but the idea in and of itself that a god-like being would wear a cape, tights and underwear, is on the surface not that great when it comes to modern day, adult appreciation of the character. Which is why various writers over the years have tried to rationalize the suit. Alien origin, Ma Kent's sewing, combo of the two; none of which I think are particularly compelling anymore.

That's why I hated the MOS suit when I first saw it. I figured "well, you kept all other other ostentatious elements, why didn't you just keep the damn trunks? Am I really supposed to buy this as an alien garment?" However much to my surprise after seeing the comic con footage, my bias for Superman won out over my gripes. Of course I'll have to see the movie to make a final judgement but the bottom line is I would have been very happy to see a creative take on the suit that's story driven, logic based, and doesn't play too much of the "magical alien tech" card. Much like Conner Kent's design before he was killed off. Not arguing for Superman in a t-shirt per say, but I'm just saying... creativity is a good thing.

 

Cool

 

Just thought I'd post this again since it's a new thread and I wasn't sure if anyone caught it before (since it was not part of the current conversation at the time.

 

Obviously, Nolan wasn’t totally satisfied with the first batsuit and took the opportunity to change it in TDK. But the BB suit was an original creation - not a hand-me-down from some prior production.

Also - these costumes have to be custom-made for the actor (literally molded). So even if there was a closet-full of pre-existing batsuits (from, say, the Aronofsky days), they’d be useless (no $ savings) for BB.

 

I agree the DCnU Superman looks more like Superboy then Superman, and the new suit is not my cup of tea. But the reboot could have been a lot worse.

 

I don't mean any harm, but in my opinion the underwear looks completely out of place. It seems like he's wearing a red j-strap. I think it's because the designs are leading into the underwear.

 

I do like the traditional look, however I feel for the tone of film I get the impression they are going for the briefs look completely out of place.

As for the manip, the trunks look too close to a male thong or Speedos. They need tweaking IMO.

 

The bright colors in the manip dont exactly help the trunk-look either. Poor attempt to convince doubters. Always have been, these pro-trunk manips.

 

I don't think SpidermanJLA was doing it to convince anyone...but just for fun.

 

Yeah, I was just sharing a manip I stumbled across online.

 

That's because in the manip, they're underwear, not trunks. Look how they ride up on his legs. That's a speedo look.

 

I'm not gonna get into the debate about what to call them after the whole panties ****e a while back, as far as I am concerned what Superman wears (or did wear) are called trunks & they should look like trunks.. not speedos.

 

couldn't agree with you more

 

Apparently "Injustice" is getting a Red Son pack. How cool is that?

 

Yeah, I didnt get the idea that you did it either

 

i'll admit, this picture is hard to manip trunks on... tried many times to manip, and with no successful outcomes to my eye. the awkward position he is in makes it difficult to determine how much material would be crumpled, if this suit had trunks.