Marvel revolutionized the comic industry with their approach to superhero storytelling, pioneering the shared universe that has become the standard in multiple fictional works. Marvel’s heroes were more grounded than their distinguished competition, and this helped readers connect with the characters better. What Marvel did for heroes, they also did for villains. I’m not going to get into who makes the better villains, but much like the way Marvel made the shared universe popular, they also made villains better across the comic industry. Marvel has a lot of amazing villains, and one of the reasons they’ve become so popular is because of their wonderful costumes. Marvel has employed a lot of amazing artists over the years, and those artists have given the villains they’ve helped create some amazing threads.
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While not every Marvel villain has an excellent costume — and some of them have changed beautiful costumes for lesser costumes — there are so many great ones. Marvel’s villains are some of the best looking in the comic industry, and the best Marvel villain costumes are the best villains costumes in comics, period. These ten Marvel villain costumes are the cream of the crop, works of sartorial brilliance that are nearly impossible to match.
10) Sabretooth’s Second Costume
Sabretooth’s original costume was pretty cool — designed by one of Marvel’s costume design legends John Byrne — but by 1991, it was time for a change. 1991 was also the year that artist Jim Lee was giving many of the X-Men all new costumes, and Sabretooth got one as well. Sabretooth would get an all-new costume in X-Men (Vol. 2) #6 (which in my experience is one of the most over-ordered issue of X-Men (Vol. 2) — they were and are still everywhere). This costume is amazing. Lee’s design captured the ferocity of Sabretooth perfectly. Its color scheme and cut are perfect, and the patented Jim Lee head sock is in full effect. Sabretooth has changed his costume after this one a few times, but this is the one he always goes back to. It’s a brilliant design, yet another example that Jim Lee was a great costume designer while he was at Marvel (although not so much when he helped redesign the costumes of DC Comics for the New 52).
9) Loki’s Original Costume
Loki’s original costume was designed by Jack Kirby, the artist responsible for the designs of basically every Marvel character of the Silver Age, as well as the person who came up with the majority of the stories starring those characters. Kirby’s characters had a grandeur to them, and his Loki costume is a perfect example of that. This green and yellow number is a classic, and became the definitive Loki costume for decades — in fact, it still is despite it being changed several times over the decades. This is the costume Loki wore the longest, the green and yellow becoming the colors everyone associated with the character. Kirby was a master of headwear, and Loki’s mask with its horns is iconic. Comic fans got every mad at the MCU when they adapted this costume in the first season of Loki and made it look terrible. It was extremely disrespectful to Kirby’s wild imagination (not that the MCU being disrespectful to Kirby is anything new) and the source material.
8) Galactus’s Costume
Speaking of iconic Kirby headwear, Galactus is yet another Kirby design that is perfect. Now, Galactus’s costume was a work in progress — in his first appearance he had bare arms and legs and the colors were different. Eventually his arms and legs would be covered and he’d gain the blue and purple coloration that he has become known for. Galactus’s design is an example of Kirby’s wizardry with costumes. He was able to create looks that combined sci-fi futurism and the grandeur of ancient Aztec gods, and Galactus is Kirby in full force. Like many other Kirby designs, once Kirby perfected Galactus’s look, it’s basically been the same ever since then. There has been some modifications to it over the years, but it keeps the same Kirby motifs that made it legendary.
7) Kang the Conqueror
Look, I’m going to level with you — most of these costumes are going to be Kirby specials. That’s how great a costume designer that Kirby was — his designs stand up almost 70 years later. Kirby’s Kang the Conqueror costume shouldn’t work at all, but it’s amazing. The green and purple coloration are fantastic and the baggy green tunic gives the costume a look that is very much unlike any other armored villain. The helmet is amazing, yet another example of Kirby creating a perfect headpiece for this characters. Kang’s costume has remained mostly unchanged over the years, with different artists modernizing it a bit at time. The best addition to it is the cape that he sometimes wears, but other than that, Kang’s costume is perfect as it was.
6) Dark Phoenix
“The Dark Phoenix Saga” is Marvel’s greatest story, the culmination of years of storytelling. It is an action-packed masterpiece that also hits all of the emotional notes that come from a beloved person being lost to their own insanity, and their friends fighting to save them. Basically everything about “The Dark Phoenix Saga” is perfect, including the Dark Phoenix costume. The Dark Phoenix costume is basically a color-swapped version of the Phoenix costume, trading green for a red so dark that it’s basically black. The red and gold coloration is phenomenal, and the design manages to be both modest and sexy at the same time. The original Phoenix costume, designed by Dave Cockrum, truly captured the power and glory of the Phoenix Force, and this color swap, colored by Bob Sharen and drawn by John Byrne, gave the costume a darkness that was perfect for it. Dark Phoenix looked the part of an insane cosmic god, and it remains one of the best costumes in comics.
5) Venom’s Original Costume
The black Spider-Man costume that first appeared in Marvel Superheroes Secret Wars #8, drawn by Mike Zeck, grabbed fans immediately, rivaling the iconic original Spider-Man. It was a perfect costume, and the black costume has been immortalized since its initial creation. It was eventually revealed that it was a alien life form that almost permanently bonded to Peter Parker before Spider-Man was able to stop it. The costume survived and eventually bonded with Peter Parker hater Eddie Brock, birthing Venom, who was first drawn by Todd McFarlane. Venom’s original costume is basically the black Spider-Man costume but larger, with a toothy maw that would eventually have his trademark long tongue and slobber. Venom’s costume is the definition of simplistic perfection — its sleek black punctuated by the ghastly white spider. Most Marvel symbiote costumes look tremendous — except for Knull’s, which is legitimately terrible — but none of them are as great as the original.
4) Baron Helmut Zemo’s First Costume
Baron Heinrich Zemo’s costume was pretty cool, but his son’s Helmut’s costume blew it out of the water. It used the color scheme of the original Heinrich Zemo costume, but took everything to the next level. Designed by Mike Zeck, it’s exactly the kind of ostentatious thing you’d imagine someone like Baron Zemo would wear. There’s a regal sense to it that fits Nazi royalty to a tee, but unlike his father’s costume, it’s much more functional. The mask is a work of art. It again takes the basics of Heinrich’s mask and makes it so much better. Zemo’s costume has been modernized multiple times over the years, and the one thing that never changes is the mask. Helmut Zemo’s costume is basically perfect. It gives royalty and brutality, and it’s sickening in the best possible way. I often wish that he’d go back to this costume, because it perfectly captures everything about Helmut Zemo.
3) Thanos’s Second Costume
Thanos was designed by Jim Starlin, but his first costume is different from the one we all know and love. It copied Darkseid’s bare arms and legs look, but this would go away as it the years went on, with Starlin covering Thanos’s arms and legs. The purple (sometimes blue) and gold coloration is an excellent combination, and its has so many little flourishes that make is the best. The headpiece’s design gives Thanos’s face an even more sinister look. The gloves are some of the coolest gloves in comics, and the gold accents along the torso, leading down to a golden codpiece, give it an almost royal feeling. Thanos’s costume honestly shouldn’t be intimidating, but just go back and read the Marvel classic Infinity Gauntlet. It perfectly captures just how scary Thanos is, an ostentatious number that screams mad god.
2) Magneto’s Purple and Red
Magneto’s costume is yet another Jack Kirby classic. It has all of the flourishes that make Kirby costumes so great — strong primary colors, a combination of simplicity and complexity, and a perfect helmet. Magneto has been through a lot over the years, and he’s had some excellent costumes, but this one is the one that everyone thinks of when they think of Magneto. Much like other Kirby costumes, other creators added to it, making it more detailed while still keeping all of the awesome little touches that make this design so classic. Magneto is a regal character, and his costume captures that sense perfectly. It’s vintage Magneto, with aspects of it — the helmet, the cape, and piece that cape connects to — that have been repeated across Magneto’s various costumes.
1) Doctor Doom’s Classic Costume
Doctor Doom is Marvel’s greatest villain and a huge part of that is the costume. This is yet another one that was first designed and then perfected by Jack Kirby. It’s simple — green hooded cloak and tunic with those big gold coins and rope connecting the cloak to the tunic and archaic looking armor, akin to what an old world king would wear. Kirby’s design of Doom’s faceplate is amazing, giving the armor the intimidating feel it needs. The dark grey armor feels heavy and medieval, but hides the most technologically advanced armor in comics. It fits Doctor Doom’s personality to a tee. It’s yet another example of a costume that hit its perfect design under Kirby, and has only been slightly modified by the artists that have come after Kirby. There are several variants of this masterpiece, but the best is the white one from 2015’s Secret Wars, which is just a color swap of the amazing original.
Which Marvel villains do you think have the best costumes? Sound off in the comments below.
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Image Courtesy of TOHO
