For the most part, Hollywood has become pretty good at modernizing superhero costumes for the big screen while still staying faithful to their comic book counterpart. Recent costumed versions of Captain America, Iron Man, Batman, and more have been met with overwhelmingly positive fan approval.
Videos by ComicBook.com
But still… Every now and then, Hollywood gets it so, so wrong. Like really wrong.
And we’re celebrating these atrocities today with the 10 Worst Movie Superhero Costumes!
Does any particular costume spring to mind when talking about the worst? Watch the video at the top of the page to see if it makes the cut, or scroll on down to read about each abomination in greater detail.
10. Thor
Starting off the list at No. 10 is Thor from the 1978 made-for-TV movie The Incredible Hulk Returns. Not even a God can pull of shoulder pads made out of goat fur. But since this was a made-for-TV movie in the seventies with what couldn’t have been a huge budget, we’re willing to let it slide a little.
But those brown leather pants…
Vincent D’onofrio had a better Thor costume in Adventures in Babysitting, and he was just a car mechanic.
9. The Punisher
To be fair, Dolph Lundgren actually made a pretty good Frank Castle. He’s got the black hair, looks ruggedly physical, and played Frank like a quiet madman, not far off from an American Ivan Drago.
But without the skull logo on his chest, he’s not The Punisher. We would have even settled for a Skull belt buckle, but no. Punisher’s got one of the easier costumes to translate on screen, even by eighties standards, so it’s failure to include it ends up making the movie distracting.
8. Captain America
At first glance, this costume seems fairly comic book accurate. But then you notice the suit has rubber ears. Then you begin to sense the material to make the costume is a weird vinyl made out of the recycled interior of an above ground swimming pool. Then you think – Why does the suit have rubber ears!?
7. X-Men
All of them. Except maybe Storm. It kind of works for her (terrible wig aside), but everyone else doesn’t get a pass. Even yellow spandex would have been better than these matching leather uniforms ripped straight out of the Matrix. It took around 5 movies before the costumes finally started to show some personality to each mutant reflected by the comics.
6. Green Lantern
While cool in theory, Ryan Reynolds’ pulsing CGI green muscle suit just comes off as artificial and weird. Even Hal’s face mask is CGI, and it’s hard not to watch the movie and wonder what kind of weird motion capture suit Ryan had to wear while filming the scenes and pretending what he had on was cool.
5. Steel
Not even a helmet that properly fit Shaq’s head would have saved this awful attempt to bring John Henry Irons’ to the big screen. But we’re not here to trash the movie – we’re here to trash the suit. The producers decided to ditch the bright red cape, the Superman symbol, and the fully face covered mask (though in the mid-nineties, there’s admittedly no way that wouldn’t have looked weird), and replace it all with something akin to a seven foot tall Tin Man.
4. Batman & Robin
Every joke you could make about these costumes has been made. But holy bat-nipples, what’s the harm in one more?
3. Captain America
At No. 3 is Captain America from the 1979 movie. Poor Cap is a repeat offender here. Normally this would get a pass because, like Thor in The Incredible Hulk Returns, it’s old and low budget. But even that’s no excuse to turn Cap into an Evil Knievel knock-off.
2. Deadpool
1. Catwoman
And the worst superhero costume ever goes to – what else? – Halle Berry’s Catwoman! Seriously, if Bat-Nipples wasn’t going to nab the top spot, what else could have possibly take it? The costume is revealing yet tacky, and pretty much represents everything that was wrong about female superheroes up until very recently. The ripped up leather pants weren’t even sexy by 90’s standards and God help her if anyone takes a halfway decent shot at her, so yeah, this one takes the cake.
