Costumes and Comic Book Accuracy

By Shrey Sankalp

Comic book accuracy. Boy, that’s a tricky thing to navigate around, especially when it comes to costumes.

Seriously, ask any studio executive or the director of an upcoming summer tentpole, and their expression will say it all.  

What, pray tell, do these dreaded words mean, then?

In simple words, they refer to how faithful an adaptation is to the source material that inspired it.

That sounds simple enough, doesn’t it?  Costumes are not generally something that should deviate from the original; after all, the exact design is provided by the original source.

Why would the higher ups make such a big fuss about it, then?

Let’s find out.

When a studio green lights an adaptation of a beloved property, it intends to put out a product that is a hit among all four quadrants – critics, fans, box office and the casual viewers.

These casual viewers and critics are every bit as important to the studio as the fans, because while fans generate good word of mouth and help promote a film, they are grossly outnumbered by movie-goers who have no idea about the characters on screen, unlike the fans who usually are experts, and it’s the casual demographic that determines a film’s box office performance, and their willingness to see a film is usually determined by the critics, or at the very least how “big” does a film go at the B.O.

This poses a challenge – comic books have a long legacy with some truly weird events (the android Vision and Scarlet Witch had children who were “unreal” which caused—see my point?) and flamboyant costumes and gadgets that might seem thrilling on a page to long-time readers, but if implemented onscreen, will completely alienate newcomers. 

It is in these situations that the creative powers decide to get creative and tone things down and adjust them in a manner that appeals to casual viewers and the forces that influence them, but does not antagonize the long-time fans.  In other words, don’t make Batman a punk-rocker with a costume befitting the Coachella-chic.

Now of course, you can’t always please everyone (you’d be surprised at how many people dislike Christopher Nolan’s Batfilms for deviating from the comics), but most viewers are reasonable and find a common ground to accept the film as long as it’s well made.

In order to find this common ground, often a lot of history and legacy is excised, but nothing gets it as bad as the costumes. Now look, it’s true that on a page you can let your imagination run wild and present anything to the reader, but for some reason, in movies, audience expects a bit of realism (which is really saying something for people going to see a movie about people with impossible powers, aliens and whatnot), which usually means you can’t get away with wearing your underwear inside out, fighting while dressed like you’re about to hit the beach, or wearing something that’s a shade of bright yellow.

This is where the costume department faces the harshest test – they need to make a believable costume for an unbelievable character that is practical, yet pays homage to the original design without seeming like it’s phoning it in.

Don’t believe me?

Just ask someone about Ryan Reynolds’ ill-fated Green Lantern or his appearance as Deadpool the first time around in X-Men Origins: Wolverine.

Both projects stand testament to how you can mess up your film before it’s even released by messing up the most iconic part of your character – their costume.

The above phenomenon is one that’s prevalent across every superhero film across every studio, be it Disney owned Marvel, Fox or Warner Bros./DC, or even TV.

Noticing how more and more superheroes are eschewing their traditional costumes in a search for something more practical, I figured now would be the perfect time to get a course on how comic book accurate films tend to be as far as costumes are considered (talking about it overall is perhaps better reserved for a film school essay) and over the course of next few articles, we’re going to find how the three major studios (plus their TV sides, where applicable) fare in this department, and one thing I assure you, you’re going to be surprised, very surprised with some of the entries:

Costume Accuracy in Marvel Movies

Fox’s Take on Marvel Comics Costumes

DC Comics Costumes: Accuracy on Movie Set

?Enjoy!