It's been a while since I had cause to write a post more than two lines.
To over a decade of posters who said this day would never come, I say to thee:
ha.
That said, I wish I was as happy as most others are with the suit. It's actually a really killer costume, in many respects, and incorporates almost everything I would have wanted--but then there's the muscle suit. When I think about the best Superhero costumes, they are, almost invariably, the ones where the muscle suit is is subtle and well disguised. ASM2, to the best of my ability to detect, doesn't have a muscle suit at all--and is the best Spider-Man costuming to date. Man of Steel was an interesting costume because it clearly had a muscle suit, but there was a level of elegance to it that made it work. The sheen of the costume was a major contributor to that fact as well. Like those involved with the film said, it was designed to make him look like he was made of steel, and in that it was extremely successful.
This costume, though, I think takes it to such a degree that it crosses into absurdity. As much as I want to love this costume, all that fake muscle just makes it look
weird to me.
There are "buts" associated with that statement, though.
It looks like this costume was designed with the idea in mind that Batman is a creature. It looks rugged, imperfect--and look at the texture and some of the seamwork. I think this was designed to look like sinew, to look alive--to look like something Batman would build to make people think he's an awful bat-monster. I think it's designed to be the exact opposite of everything the MOS' costume elegance accomplished. That is cool stuff, and in that context, the absurd muscle makes a level of sense. Does it make enough sense to stop being distracting, to stop looking weird to me? No. The execution of Batman in the film could change that though. If treated like a creature costume, it just might work.
As for the details? The gloves and belt are cool looking, I think, though the belt looks weird hanging off that rack of fake abs. The cape attachment looks like it's going to be up my alley. The symbol isn't my bag, but whatever--not a big deal. The cowl looks good, but it's also very much the opposite of what I was looking for. I would have preferred longer ears. I don't know what material that thing is made out of, but it looks pretty solid, and it would have been nice to see something thinner. It's hard to tell at this point, however. "Jim Lee" isn't the direction I wanted the style of the suit to go, and that's very much where it has gone, but that's not a dealbreaker for me.
As a summation, I would say I would have preferred a more elegant solution overall, with my real area of issue being the incredible level of absurd detail in the obvious muscle suit. Technically, it's the same problem the Panther suit had, but to an opposite extreme. If I were to write a letter to the costume designers, it would read: "You were doing really well until you gave him
every steroid."
It's hard to get mad about a costume that does so much right, though. I am disappointed, but I also allow for the possibility that my mind will change depending on the presentation of this costume. As I noted, the MOS muscle suit was so effective that I must allow for the possibility that this will be, too.
Now, quotes from the old guard!
I thought Superman's muscle suit worked really well, so I'm not overly concerned. It may be an issue if Affleck's physique doesn't match up to it, the way Cavill's physique did with his.
The only thing I don't care for is the short ears, but I understand the choice.
Other than that, it's dope as ****.
I think the design of the Batman muscle suit is much more unattractive than the extremely idealized (and less in your face) Superman muscle suit. I understand why they would want that to be the case, and as I noted above, it does make a degree of sense.
Boom said:
The sculpted musculature accentuates the beastial aesthetic of the costume, which is the whole point of the costume in the first place.
Christian Bale's performance certainly would make a lot more sense in this costume (though the bulk would never work on him).
regwec said:
I have been arguing against the notion that only a black rubber wetsuit can work as a movie Batsuit for about nine years. I feel like I can close that chapter of my life tonight.
What gets me is how instantaneously the armour crowd evapourated.
I'm excited to see this thing in colour. Some of the colourized representations have been interesting. I doubt it would ever happen, but part of me would be interested to see if it actually turned out blue.
. No, I do not take exception with Batman being muscular, nor any other aspect of the character (hence your strawman argument denigrating me and questioning whether I was a "real fan" for dilking aspects of the suit)
t:
All of this. Particularly the last line.