Supergirl’s 5 Best Costumes, Ranked

One of the cool things about superheroes is that they have cool costumes to go with their heroics. The costumes help define the characters, making them not only easily identifiable to the villains they’re taking on but often helping them to create a symbol the regular population (and readers) can get behind and support. This is especially true for the Kryptonian heroes. Both Superman and Supergirl have very identifiable costumes that help broadcast to the world what they stand for, but between the two cousins let’s face it, Supergirl has the better wardrobe. Over the years, she’s had a number of great and varied looks.

Part of the variety in Supergirl’s costume history comes from her own complicated history. Her story — and identity — has changed many, many times since her first appearance in 1959, but no matter who she is, her looks are always top notch. Of course, some of those top-notch looks are better than others so here are Supergirl’s best five costumes, ranked. As a note, we’re largely sticking to costumes seen in “main” continuity — meaning that some of her truly great looks from other realities aren’t on this list but trust and believe we think they’re great, too.

5) The Original (Action Comics #252)

This list would not be even remotely accurate if we didn’t include Supergirl’s original costume in our top five. After all, it’s the look that start it all and is, in a real sense, the look every other costume is based on in some fashion. It’s a very simple costume, comprised of a simple blue dress (the same shade of blue as Superman’s suit) with long fitted sleeves, a little ruffle at the bottom of the skirt, and a yellow belt at the middle. The chest has the House of El symbol and the whole look is finished off with a red cape and matching red boots. It’s simple, classic, and perfect for the time period.

This Silver Age look is the standard setting look for Supergirl. While in the decades since there have been variations of the dress that usually improve upon the functionality of things — we’re especially looking at the design of that original skirt, it’s not particularly practical — everything comes back to this one. It’s a true classic.

4) The New 52

You either love or hate Supergirl’s New 52 look and there are absolutely some valid criticisms of it, but it’s also one of the most original takes on Supergirl’s costume. The New 52 costume moved away from the dress or skirt concept entirely, but it also didn’t give her pants. Instead, Supergirl’s new look is more of a blue leotard with long sleeves, red and gold accents — no belt this time — and a cape that closes around her neck rather than tucks into the top of the suit. Her boots are also entirely redesigned, looking a lot more fashionable with diamond-shaped cutouts over the knees. It’s all complimented by a shorter hairstyle for Supergirl as well.

Admittedly, this particular costume looks like it’s built more for fashion than function. There is absolutely no way that those boots, cool as they are, are practical and the leotard look is probably pretty aerodynamic, but the cape and it’s neck closure leaves a lot of questions. All of that said, it looks really cool and it’s a fresh, modern take, for an updated version of the heroine.

3) Linda Danvers

While the majority of the costumes on this list are Kara’s, we also have to give a nod to one of the more fun costumes from a Supergirl that isn’t Kara — in this case, Linda Danvers. After Crisis on Infinite Earths, Kara Zor-El had been erased from continuity which meant we had a new and different Supergirl. Enter, Linda Danvers, who became Supergirl after merging with Matrix (it’s a whole thing and it’s pretty cool.) A new Supergirl gets a new costume and it’s easily one of the best.

This version honored the original Supergirl costume by keeping the dress/top and skirt idea and even the traditional blue for the skirt portion. However, it made a big swing by making the top a white, short-sleeved House of El-adorned crop top with black accents at the hem and sleeves, giving Linda short white gloves, and a pair of red boots. The costume brings the animated take on Supergirl into the mix which is a big part of why it remains a fan favorite. It’s also just really fresh and young and very cool.

2) Woman of Tomorrow

It’s pretty unusual for Kara’s Supergirl costume to deviate fully from the classic, but Superman: Woman of Tomorrow gives her a very different look that became an instant classic, even if it was a little short-lived. Near the end of the story, Kara gets a completely new costume that takes the dress idea and turns it into a bodysuit with full-length pants. It’s accented with red along the hem of the sleeves and has a prominent gold belt as well. The cape feels like a combination of the classic cape and the New 52 cape as it comes up higher on the neck but still connects at the shoulders of her costume. It’s also a larger, more billowing cape than we might expect. There are also some fine details, namely in the stitching along the chest and around the House of El crest.

The Woman of Tomorrow is elegant and beautiful, but what makes it a real standout is that it is a more mature version of the costume. The costume signifies Kara’s maturation and fully embracing her place in the world and as a hero and it’s a genuinely impressive look for a woman who has become an impressive hero as well.

1) Rebirth

There’s just something about an updated classic and that brings us to the Rebirth costume from Supergirl: Rebirth #1. While Kara has had a number of really cool costumes over the years, she’ll never really get away from her original look, but in 2016, DC gave that original look a fresh take that now feels like a classic in its own right. The costume maintains the dress concept but makes some big changes. This time, the skirt is red and far more functional (no ruffle!). There’s also a narrow, V-shaped belt in gold that matches to the cold in the House of El crest. She has a large, shoulder-attached cap, and she has tall, over-the-knee red boots that come to a point at the top. It’s a great combination of style and function and feels modern and classic all at once.

What’s really cool about this costume is that it’s one that worked well with other interpretations of the heroine. It lines up with The CW’s Supergirl’s look as that series was airing at the time and it offered a cohesive, coordinated look between the different approaches to the character. This costume is the one most fans think of when they think of Supergirl and while we’re sure she’ll get plenty more interesting looks, you just can’t beat this one.

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