As a great man once said, “clothes maketh the man.” (I think it was Harry Hart from Kingsman: The Secret Service, although maybe someone else said it first, I dunno.) And clothes maketh the Superman too. A great superhero costume is not only an integral part of any comic-book movie, it can be an incredible marketing tool for a movie. Just look back at the historical reaction to the Spider-Man costume in Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man. One promo image of that suit, designed by James Acheson, built an enormous amount of hype for that project. A few months later, Spider-Man had the biggest opening weekend of any movie to that time.
But much like Deadpool’s katanas, superhero costumes can be a double-edged sword. When a character looks off in promo images it’s often interpreted by fans, fairly or unfairly, as a warning sign. If they could get something as simple as a superhero uniform wrong … what else did they screw up?
READ MORE: The Worst Superhero Movies Ever Made
While there isn’t always a direct correlation between bad superhero costumes and bad superhero movies, the list below of the 20 worst superhero movie costumes suggests the two line up more often than not. Be aware, though, that we had some rules governing this list. For one thing, we only picked characters with a basis in previously existing comic-book heroes and villains. Like, sure, the Pumaman had a hideous costume. But it didn’t seem fair to compare that sort of thing to these mainstream projects based on beloved characters who had time-tested costumes from actual comics.
We also gave a pass to TV shows and made-for-TV movies because, again, that seemed like comparing apples and other cheaply made apples. Of course, the costumes from the Justice League of America pilot looked like garbage. How could they not when they were made under those conditions?
With those caveats, here are our picks for the worst superhero movie costumes…
The Worst Superhero Movie Costumes
Superhero movies costumes have gotten incredible sophisticated in recent years. But they weren’t always that way — and even today, there are still some costumes that don’t quite work out.
Controversial Superhero Castings That Paid Off
Fans were not into these actors playing these roles when they were first announced. But all was forgiven when they saw the finished product.