‘Justice League’ Costume Designer Talks Inspiration for Flash Costume

When Justice League hits theaters next month fans will get to see some of DC Comics’ biggest heroes — and their costumes — reimagined for the big screen. Now, the film’s costume designer is opening about his inspiration for The Flash‘s new look.

Michael Wilkinson, whose work has been seen in a number of films including Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Man of Steel and Tron: Legacy, recently spoke with news.com.au about the work of creating costumes for some of the most loved and recognizable characters in the world. Wilkinson admits that while there’s pressure, he tries to focus on the larger cinematic universe the characters are part of.

“I think it’s something I try and put all the pressure in the back of my mind and just open my creativity and just read the script, listen to Zack [Snyder] and just try and do the costumes that make the most sense for his amazing cinematic universe that he is building,” Wilkinson said.

Finding costumes that make sense included creating something for Ezra Miller‘s Flash that remained true to the unique needs of the character’s abilities. With the Flash being a speedster, Wilkinson said that they had to do some research in order to see what the fastest people in the real world wear when they run.

“When we did research for Flash we definitely looked at speed suits, Olympic athletes, what people were wearing when they needed to move super-fast, the fastest people of Earth what they were wearing as well as looking into materials that would withstand electricity, withstand high heats, so we did all sorts of electric research,” Wilkinson explained.

That research lead to a uniquely detailed costume that both honors the character’s comic book look while incorporating the high-tech materials that would make the suit practical for a real-life flash. Last month, concept art from France gave fans a closer look at the high-grade polymer used for the suit as well as the gold lightning bolt and other speedster-worthy details.

And those carefully-crafted details are important to Wilkinson. The designer knows that with how much fans are anticipating Justice League there will be a lot of attention on his work. And Wilkinson looks forward to the scrutiny.

“Definitely the biggest film I have ever worked on, and I’ve been on this film now for more than one year but it’s such a pleasure to be able to go into so much detail about these characters who surely warrant lots of attention on every last square inch of them so I have been able to pour a lot of love and respect into these guys from their necklines right down into the soles of their shoes,” Wilkinson said.

Fans will get to see how that love and respect translated to costumes when Justice League hits theaters November 17, 2017.