How Spider-Man's Costume in Captain America: Civil War Differs From What's Come Before

Look out, here comes the Spider-Man (to the Marvel Cinematic Universe)!There's only about 5 [...]

spider-man-movie-costumes

Look out, here comes the Spider-Man (to the Marvel Cinematic Universe)!

There's only about 5 seconds (literally) of footage of the new wall-crawler out there now, coming as a "post-credits" tag to the new trailer released Thursday, but it's enough to get a sense of the character - and his look - compared to what's come before on the big screen in Sony's Toby Maguire-led Spider-Man and Andrew Garfield-led Amazing Spider-Man film franchises.

First impression? It's a much smoother, simpler design, without unnecessary lines and textures thrown in the way of what should be there: red, blue, spider emblem, webs.

The youth of Tom Holland, and his version of Peter Parker, is hard to note on a quick, fully-costumed shot like this, but the actor, trained in dance and acrobatics, shows off his athleticism with a flip and landing that's signature Spidey. The unique background of Holland, compared to the other actors who've played the role, should make for some truly spectacular fight scenes when he gets a true chance to shine in his own films and future team-ups, with less CGI than what's come in the past. Note, all the actors who portray Spider-Man in the "Marvel Universe LIVE" traveling show are dancers with an equal amount of break-dancing, gymnastics, and martial arts training - having an actor with a similar background should change the way we see Spidey move on screen, and that's seen even here in the 5-second shot. Remember, there were videos of him doing similar flips on his own, prepping for the role, so it's possible and even probable that he at least motion-captured the moves, if not performed them in costume himself.

spidey-caps-shield
(Photo: Marvel Studios)

The costume had to be different and stand out from the two costumes we've seen on Spider-Man on the big screen in the last fourteen years, but still remain the recognizable and iconic image we're used to, so that the general public looks at it and absolutely says, "Yes, that's Spider-Man."

The Amazing Spider-Man costume added a lot of blue, both on the sides of the torso, around the arms (though there was a wrap-around red stripe there, still, too), and all the way into the hands and fingers. The blue was brightened, as well, to be a slightly more natural than a navy blue. Gone, too, was the red webbing "belt" around the waist, and piping going from fingers all the way down to the built-in-boots accentuated the lines of Spidey's body. The spider emblem on the chest was narrower, with a longer body and legs, but less wide on the chest overall, to accommodate the narrower strip of red down the rest of the torso.

spider-man-civil-war-flip
(Photo: Marvel Studios)

The new Spider-Man costume, then, takes a middle stance between the two, really. There's a slightly wider strip of red down the torso, and the red "belt" around the waist has come back, but it's mixed in with blue, not a straight red band. The torso strip ends right at the waist, instead of extending slightly below the hips as both previous versions did. The arms still have a lot of blue, with the entire sides and under-arms down to the elbow covered. The red and blue then link together, giving the appearance of an armored armband of sorts, with blue wrists and then all-red gloves, or at least it looks like it from the first real shot of his arms, mid-flip and out of focus. A full blue ring just under the shoulder completes the "gauntlet armor" look to his arms, borrowing from knights and archers alike.

The Spider-emblem is actually the smallest it's ever been, barely visible even in a close up. The legs have much sharper lines to them with no curvature, ending up pointing straight up or down, and the Spider's abdomen and thorax are basically one large egg-shape, rather than distinguishable sections like they have been on both previous costumes.

civil-war-spider-man-close-up-shutter-eyes
(Photo: Marvel Studios)

Of course, the biggest difference is the addition of the rumored (and now confirmed) lenses in his eyes, letting him focus down into a squint (if you missed it, compare this image to the one closer to the top). We don't know exactly what those will do just yet - are they just still photo cameras? Is he looking through a heads-up-display like Iron Man, who is rumored to help him construct his costume? We'll find out in a couple of months.

That's what we can gleam from our first, brief shot of Spider-Man in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. We'll see much more on May 6, 2016 when Captain America: Civil War officially debuts.

0comments