Superhero moviegoing crowds are probably the most difficult to please these days. A filmmaker is torn between the obligation to focus on making an entertaining big-screen comics adaptation or to make as many references that comics fans are going to recognize to pop them out of their seats. If they don’t do enough of the latter and the adaptation appears inaccurate, those fans may turn on the movie in no time.
One of the easiest ways for fans to notice accuracy in comics adaptations is by looking at the costumes. Having an inaccurate costume isn’t always a bad thing, as some costumes look outright silly in live-action form. But fans will nonetheless glaringly notice when their favorite characters suddenly don’t look quite as they appeared in their original panels.
10 Halle Berry’s Catwoman Shows Too Much Skin
Obviously, no one is trying to shame Catwoman for how much skin she does or doesn’t choose to show, but the shame does come in how inaccurate her self-titled live-action movie from 2004 is. It appears as though the filmmakers opted to go with a look that went heavy on the exposed flesh rather than make a costume that’s anywhere close to the comics.
Catwoman has always been designed to be a physically attractive character and her costumes typically flaunt that, though it’s usually in the form of a bodysuit that covers her from head to toe. Tim Burton’s version of Catwoman from Batman Returns does a solid job at duplicating that look in live action. 2004’s Catwoman? Not so much.
9 The Falcon Doesn’t Show Enough Skin
This might be cheating since this refers to more so a single character rather than the movie itself. The movie in which Sam Wilson makes his MCU debut— Captain America: The Winter Soldier— has a bevy of comics accurate costumes, include those belonging to the title character, Bucky Barnes. Even Steve Rogers is in a version of his in-comics “commander” outfit.
Wilson’s comics costume originally was a much more superfluous leotard that looked like it belonged in a Flying Grayson’s closet, along with an over-exposed torso. The movie version is probably an upgrade, especially considering Wilson’s retconned comics origin story as a pimp.
8 The Guardians Look Very Different In The Movie Galaxy
The first Guardians of the Galaxy movie is one of the most glaring culprits of inaccurate costumes. Albeit, this probably is a good thing because a lot of standout characters would look much goofier if resting in their original costumes in a live action movie.
Nonetheless, it’s easy to tell what’s missing from each character. Drax the Destroyer is walking around shirtless in black pants as opposed to an elaborate purple cape ensemble, Nebula’s missing some hair, Gamora looks nothing like her comics character, and Peter Quill is a far cry from his blue, white, and black outfit.
7 The Fantastic Four Look Less Than Fantastic In The Rightfully Panned 2015 Film
Funny enough, for as many criticisms as the mid-2000s Fantastic Four movies get, one thing that fans can’t argue against is that their costumes look extremely spot-on as if they leaped right out of the page. Those same fans cannot say the same about the 2015 failed reboot.
Gone is the bright blue vibrancy that was notable in their original comics costumes. Now the team sports a much darker, grittier clothing line. Meanwhile, The Thing has his own issues. At least he used to wear pants or some underwear tights in the comics— he spends much of the 2015 movie walking around literally naked.
6 X-Men Origins: Wolverine Gave Sabretooth A Buzzcut & Gambit A Top Hat, Among Other Odd Changes
X-Men Origins: Wolverine has a huge ensemble of memorable fan-favorite names from the comics. Yet, few (if any) of them look much of anything like their comics counterparts.
Obviously, Wolverine himself isn’t rocking giant ears with yellow spandex, but he never did in the movies. What’s more disappointing is that Sabretooth’s mane is replaced by a buzzcut, Deadpool’s red and black suit is replaced by a basic red shirt with black pants, and Gambit wears a top hat instead of the balaclava-like head covering he sports in the comics. This barely scratches the surface as far as other omissions on these characters or inaccuracies from other ones.
5 The Original X-Men Movie Crew Lost The Colors & Individuality Of Their Comic Book Counterparts’ Costumes
Speaking of the X-Men franchise, Fox kicked off their movies right off the bat with costume inaccuracies. The X-Men were always known for having costumes that were unique to each character, but in the first 2000 movie, they all wear the same leather outfit.
Even if Fox wanted to go the team outfit route, the original X-Men debuted in the comics by wearing coordinating black and yellow suits. Those suits don’t make an appearance until the 2011 First Class reboot, leaving the original Fox franchise team with all-black suits.
4 Keanu Reeves’ Constantine Ditches The Original Version’s Trench Coat, Hair Color, & Accent
To say that 2004’s Constantine takes liberties with its Hellblazer source material might be a bit of an understatement. Keanu Reeves plays the title character, but gone are the Justice League Dark member‘s blond locks, British accent, and even his beige trench coat.
John Constantine isn’t the only character to receive a facelift in appearance. In a far more interesting, inspired choice, Gabriel— who is portrayed as a brown-haired man in the comics— is given a gender-bent makeover in the form of Tilda Swinton. Similarly, the dark-haired and balding Peter Stormare fills in for the usually blond and much younger-looking Lucifer Morningstar.
3 Amazing Spider-Man 2 Saw An Extremely Accurate Spidey Take On Extremely Inaccurate Takes On His Villains
Ironically enough, Spider-Man himself is much more comics accurate in this 2014 film than he was in the previous movie. The reason for the drastic change is because costume designer Deborah Lynn Scott, as she told MTV, wanted to get Spidey “the most Spider-Man-y Spider-Man” possible when the more original and elaborate suit from the last movie caused a public outcry among fans.
In return, the villains had their own original iterations. Harry Osborn’s Green Goblin looks unlike any version of Goblin seen in the comics, while Rhino’s suit is looking much more robotic and giant than human-sized latex than usual. Electro at least looks somewhat close to his modern comics incarnation, though this is the first time his human form was portrayed as a Black man.
2 X-Men: Days Of Future Past Ignores The X-Men’s Fashion Past (& Present)
It should not come as much of a surprise for even the newer Fox X-Men franchise to detour from the costumes that came before it, especially when it serves as a pseudo-sequel to the original Fox franchise. Once again, the X-Men squad is wearing far different costumes than what they wore in the comics, only far more futuristic this time.
While the usually bald Xavier is sporting long locks, Mystique (as she has in all of the movies) is walking around naked rather than the usual leather or white garb she wears in the comics. Alternatively, Bolivar Trask (played by Peter Dinklage) looks extremely accurate to his in-comics appearance.
1 Some Suicide Squad Members Match Their Counterparts, Others Don’t
Suicide Squad is an odd mixed bag. Across its huge cast, only half of them look comics accurate, and when the cast is as huge as it is, that still makes for a big discrepancy. Characters like Killer Croc and Deadshot look more or less on-point. Others? Not so much.
Harley Quinn might have the most drastic change, but despite being a far cry from her comics/DCAU look, it’s already managed to become an iconic staple of pop culture. Then there’s El Diablo, whose adorned skull mask/costume from the comics has been adapted into tattoos onto his skin, while Enchantress no longer looks like a stereotypical witch straight out of Oz. Captain Boomerang, Katana, and Slipknot are other examples of major changes from the source material.
About The Author
