Part of the fun of science fiction is imagining what sorts of weird and wild stuff people will have in the future, including clothes. But sometimes, costume designers have gone just a little too far, even for sci-fi.
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00:00Part of the fun of science fiction is imagining what sorts of weird and wild stuff people
00:05will have in the future, including clothes.
00:08But sometimes costume designers have gone just a little too far, even for sci-fi.
00:13Designer Jean-Paul Gaultier, known as an enfant terrible of the fashion world, created
00:17more than 1,000 different pieces for 1997's The Fifth Element.
00:20He dressed everyone in elaborate costuming, from stars Bruce Willis and Mila Jovovich
00:24to background extras with only seconds of screen time.
00:27The most famous outfit for the film, however, is the bandage costume worn by Jovovich for
00:31her character Lilu.
00:32While the costume became instantly iconic, Jovovich's own public statements about the
00:36look have shifted over the years.
00:38On the occasion of the film's 20th anniversary, the former supermodel and future sci-fi mainstay
00:42told Vogue,
00:43I think our team did the most incredible job with all the costumes, but especially Lilu.
00:48That just became the most unique costume that anyone had ever seen in a sci-fi movie at
00:51that point.
00:52However, around the time of the film's release, Jovovich had told Entertainment Weekly that
00:56her infamous bandages were a bit embarrassing.
00:58Moreover, the costume led to the actor being harassed on set.
01:02She also insisted that fans should be watching the film for Lilu's character, and not her
01:06looks, telling the magazine that, despite all appearances, it's not really about her
01:09clothes.
01:11Throughout Jurassic World, manly man Chris Pratt repeatedly belittles the more steely,
01:15hyper-feminine Bryce Dallas Howard's choice of outfit.
01:18More specifically, he focuses often on her high heels, telling her that her footwear
01:22is impractical for traipsing around a dinosaur-filled island.
01:25Your last two minutes in there, less in those ridiculous shoes.
01:30True as that may be, Howard's character Claire elects to keep them on, insisting that her
01:34outfit doesn't have anything to do with her strength or ability to outrun dinos.
01:38She puts that to the test in the climax of the film, when, in a much derided scene, she
01:42takes off running from a massive T-Rex, heels stomping the ground in slow-mo, like she's
01:46walking the runway on RuPaul's Drag Race.
01:48So strong was the backlash to the scene that Pratt decided to prove himself capable of
01:52running in heels, too, which he did on The Late Late Show with James Corden.
01:55Howard also defended the character's fashion choice in an interview with Yahoo!
01:59Movies, explaining that it simply isn't practical for Claire to waste time taking off her shoes
02:03when she's perfectly capable of running in them, as the actor did herself on set.
02:07Howard said,
02:08"...I don't think she would choose to be barefoot.
02:09I don't think she would run faster barefoot in the jungle with vines and stones.
02:13I'm better equipped to run when I have shoes on my feet, so that's my perspective on it."
02:17David Lynch's 1984 Dune adaptation elicits mixed responses at best, but regardless of
02:23to the storytelling, few would deny its production design is awesome to behold, even if it's
02:27not always true to Frank Herbert's book.
02:30With an H.R. Giger-inspired biomechanical design, costume designer Bob Ringwood's moisture-conserving
02:35stillsuits featured in the film seem like an elaborately direct precursor to his work
02:39on his Batsuit design for the Tim Burton Batman films.
02:43By comparison, when Denis Villeneuve mounted his production of Dune, the stillsuits looked
02:47quite lazy by comparison.
02:49This iteration of the design looked more like regular clothes with extra bits glued
02:52on, rather than form-fitting survival devices.
02:55The general idea was to make the stillsuits look more like something actual desert tribes
02:59wear today, than to look explicitly futuristic and alien.
03:02Villeneuve got so much right that in the end, complaints about the costumes faded away,
03:07and the movie won six Oscars.
03:09Unfortunately, none of those victories were for costume design.
03:12After two movies as a strong leader who is more competent than the male heroes assigned
03:16to rescue her, Princess Leia Organa got captured and stripped down to a gold bikini by Jabba
03:21the Hutt in Return of the Jedi.
03:22As Star Wars is one of the most iconic sci-fi franchises in history, this costume has already
03:27been heavily scrutinized and parodied in the media.
03:30Is there a picture of you in my wallet wearing a metal bikini?
03:33God, I hope not!
03:38Over a decade later, Kenner Hasbro finally made an action figure of Leia in the getup,
03:42and though it was officially labeled Princess Leia Organa as Jabba's prisoner, the fans
03:46quickly dubbed it Slave Leia.
03:48The first iteration of the figure proved hugely popular with collectors, though after a while,
03:53the appeal died down.
03:54After Disney took over Star Wars, they quietly started phasing out that particular look in
03:58merchandise.
03:59For her part, the late Carrie Fisher surely had feelings of her own on the costume, but
04:03when asked by The Wall Street Journal in 2015 how she would explain the outfit to kids,
04:07she gave a very tactful answer.
04:09Tell them that a giant slug captured me and forced me to wear that stupid outfit.
04:13And then I killed him because I didn't like it.
04:15And then I took it off.
04:16Backstage."
04:17Taking a cue from Fisher's sentiment about the bikini, Disney ultimately began describing
04:21Leia in that outfit as Hutt Slayer, rather than a captive or slave.
04:25Armor is meant to be protective, not decorative, no matter what your MMORPG-addicted buddies
04:31say.
04:32Thus, functionality is key, and little in Star Wars is as exquisitely functional as
04:36Mandalorian armor.
04:37The armorer is proof.
04:39When we meet her in The Mandalorian, her hand-forged matte bronze Beskar chest piece has some geometric
04:43shape to mold to her form, but it's visually genderless.
04:46However, Bo-Katan's live-action reveal brought something extra from her time on The Clone
04:51Wars.
04:52The Night Owl leader and former Death Watch member had some extra curves in her Beskar
04:55blues, and fans instantly took note.
04:58While the attention to detail is laudable, it's still visually out of place with her
05:01peers.
05:02Have we learned nothing from The Mandalorian and Dredd?
05:05A good actor can carry a performance with body language and tone alone.
05:09New Master Chief Pablo Schreiber is a good actor, but the first season of Halo had him
05:13taking that helmet off all the time.
05:15Schreiber was among the first to defend 343's intention to reveal John-117's face, and his
05:21argument is a good one.
05:22Schreiber says the intention was to tell a human story about a character who'sā¦
05:26"...exploring his own identity, about the effects of war on the society and the effects
05:31of war on the individual."
05:32Creating an emotional and visual distinction between the show's canon and the game should
05:36have helped longtime fans know that their own Master Chiefs are untouched.
05:39However, that wasn't enough for the audience.
05:42Even with a season finale that gives John a reason to put the helmet back on and keep
05:45it on, the backlash was severe enough to spawn tons of arguments and think pieces across
05:49the web.
05:50And with enough problems with its plot to keep Halo fans evenly-steamed, including a
05:54relationship with a prisoner of war, the helmet became a symbol of what happens when you mess
05:58with core iconography.
06:00It wasn't just about revealing the Chief's face, it was about peeling too much off of
06:04the original and replacing it with something too unsteady to stand on its own.
06:08Ridley Scott's masterpiece horror movie Alien includes a number of superb sci-fi costumes,
06:13not least of which was the horrific Xenomorph suit worn by actor Balaji Badeja.
06:17One of its more enduring looks also happens to be one of its simplest.
06:20In the third act of the film, Sigourney Weaver's Ripley shimmies out of her clothes, stripping
06:24down to a shirt and underwear.
06:26At first, Weaver was all for this, even suggesting that her character should have gone a little
06:30further.
06:31In an interview with Films and Filming Magazine, Weaver said,
06:33You see the alien in its birthday suit the entire film, so I thought it was a cop-out
06:37of having me wear the underwear and not stripping entirely.
06:40However, she noted that she had received backlash for the costume, including people who said
06:44she had demeaned herself by performing the scenes.
06:47Weaver claimed,
06:48It never occurred to me for a second that people would think my strip exploited.
06:51Weaver isn't the only one who's now less than enthusiastic about the costuming choice.
06:55Director James Cameron, who helmed Aliens, has also criticized the underwear sequence.
06:59In an interview with News.com, Cameron said he made an effort to not do the same thing
07:03in a sequel.
07:04When The Matrix hit cinemas in 1999, the world hadn't seemed anything like it.
07:08The Wachowskis pioneered bullet time, made Keanu Reeves a megastar, and brought Hong
07:12Kong-style wire-action sequences fully into the American mainstream.
07:16And they did it all while outfitting their characters in some seriously badass leather.
07:20In short, The Matrix was cool, one of the highest compliments you could give something
07:26in the 90s.
07:27At the time, one fan wrote,
07:29The Matrix is so cool it's not even funny.
07:31This has to be one of the coolest flicks of the decade.
07:33However, the film's instantly iconic style also sparked a moral panic about whether its
07:37trench coats were inspiring kids to violence.
07:40Several weeks after the release of The Matrix, the United States was rocked by the Columbine
07:43shooting, carried out by two teens who were said to be part of a nefarious group the media
07:47called the Trenchcoat Mafia.
07:49The shooting's supposed connection to the killers' fashion choices made international
07:53headlines.
07:54It was debunked later, of course, but the fact that the Columbine killers were not actually
07:57part of the Trenchcoat Mafia gaming community didn't matter.
08:00By 2003, ABC News was asked if The Matrix and its costumes had inspired violent or mentally
08:06disturbed individuals to act out their fantasies.
08:09The answer, of course, is probably not.
08:11When the first X-Men movie came out in 2000, the studio believed the public wouldn't be
08:15interested in brightly colored spandex costumes.
08:18Instead, the production dressed the team in black leather, much like filmmakers had done
08:22with Blade in the surprisingly successful 1998 film iteration of the Marvel Vampire
08:27Slayer.
08:28By 2014, however, this trend had come to an end.
08:30So when the RoboCop remake came out that year, the lead character's makeover in an all-black
08:35robo-body just seemed silly rather than edgy.
08:38Fans also wondered why he kept a normal-looking flesh-and-blood hand attached to his powerful
08:42cybernetic body.
08:44The movie never addresses it in the theatrical cut, but there are actually two explanations
08:47for RoboCop's newly human hand.
08:50One is a visual metaphor ā a human hand on the trigger of a police gun is meant to
08:53reassure the public that he's not a soulless machine.
08:56A deleted scene from the film offers a more superficial explanation ā that Raymond Sellers
09:00believes in the ability to judge a man by his handshake, and wants to ensure Alex Murphy
09:05can still deliver on this social contract.
09:06Hey, can you save his right hand?
09:08My father always said you can tell a lot about a man by his handshake.
09:11The film itself expresses neither of these, and in the end, does the audience the favor
09:15of giving RoboCop a silvery makeover to match the original.
09:20Between the 1969 premiere of the final episode of the original Star Trek series and the first
09:24movie's 1979 release, both real-world and sci-fi fashion changed a lot.
09:29In the wake of 2001 A Space Odyssey and Star Wars, bright red miniskirts weren't going
09:33to cut it in a serious intergalactic adventure.
09:36Though less garish, the Starfleet uniforms dreamed up for Star Trek the motion picture
09:40have failed to stand the test of time any better than their counterparts on the TV series.
09:44Tans and beiges didn't prove to be particularly attractive uniform colors, and some of the
09:49faux-navel touches looked more like Carnival Cruise uniforms.
09:52What's more, the decision to sew the shoes into the pant legs resulted in pointless difficulty
09:57while changing.
09:58As costume critic Gavia Baker-Whitelaw succinctly highlighted in her blog Hello, Taylor!, it's
10:03the sheer impracticality from both a production and viewer standpoint that really sets these
10:07uniforms apart.
10:08It seems that the public's opinion on this matter was also shared by the cast.
10:12In William Shatner's autobiography, he also pointed out that the uniform got far too tight
10:16when the men tried to sit down.
10:18"...Impossible."
10:19Thankfully for all involved, the sequel's attempt at Navy-style formal wear proved much
10:24more popular all around.
10:26In 1966, miniskirts weren't just fashionable.
10:29They meant something to women fighting for liberation, agency, and the right to police
10:33their own bodies and sexuality.
10:35Today, fans unaware of the fashion's complicated history may find it easy to look back on the
10:39outfits Nichelle Nichols and Grace Lee Whitney wore on Star Trek and assume a sexist mindset
10:44demanded the skimpy skirts.
10:46That's not the truth.
10:47Watching the original pilot, The Cage, shows that everyone was going to wear the same uniform.
10:51While the networks allegedly demanded a change, the women and costumer William Huertiz picked
10:56up on the future's sexiest trend.
10:58It's a historical choice that impacted Rebecca Romijn when it came time to dress the crew
11:02of Star Trek's strange new worlds, and she went straight to a fashionable version of
11:06the classic minidress, turning it into a comfortable and practical uniform anyone can wear.
11:11Seen occasionally in the first season and later hailed by Boimler on lower decks, this
11:15spandex minidress can look good on anyone, so long as they are brave enough to cope with
11:18a bunch of whining about the wokeness of it all.
11:21While Captain Picard was busy fixing his shirt, Deanna Troi also fell victim to the wardrobe
11:26department in early seasons of Star Trek The Next Generation.
11:29Early series drafts show that Troi was meant to be a cerebral and exotic figure, far from
11:33the warm, intuitive portrayal actor Marina Sirtis gives us.
11:37With writers unsure how to display her empathetic gifts in those early years, and Gene Roddenberry's
11:41infamous horniness leading towards a sexier and unfortunately more brainless Troi, she
11:46got stuck wearing everything but a traditional Starfleet uniform.
11:49I'm sorry.
11:53Her original costume, not counting Encounter at Farpoint, with its pilot weirdness, was
11:57a casual duty unitard that went through various colors.
12:00She started off with a tight beehive and bedazzled hairdo that looked more bride of Frankenstein
12:04than Deep's Face Explorer.
12:06Star Trek fans still love Troi for her insight and kindness, but they quietly cheered when
12:10Captain Jellicoe gave her an excuse to switch to a traditional Starfleet uniform in Chain
12:15of Command.
12:16As Sirtis complained,
12:17When the cleavage came, I became decorative, like a potted palm on the bridge.
12:21To us, Deanna Troi is much more than that.
12:25Studios like to release a glimpse of their tentpole films far in advance, hopefully getting
12:28fans excited about upcoming blockbuster releases, through a look at a special effects shot,
12:33an iconic star, or sometimes a costume.
12:35Such was the case when Sony Pictures released an image back in 2017 of the main characters
12:40in Jumanji, Welcome to the Jungle.
12:42The image depicted Kevin Hart, Dwayne the Rock Johnson, Karen Gillan, and Jack Black
12:46standing in the titular jungle.
12:48Instead of getting audiences hyped for the movie though, fans were surprised by how much
12:51skin Gillan's costume showed off.
12:53Her ultra short shorts and ultra cropped crop top seemed rather impractical as an outfit
12:57for jungle foraging.
12:58Why am I wearing this outfit in a jungle?
13:00Tiny little shorts and a leather halter top.
13:03I mean, what is this?
13:04The Hollywood Reporter published a piece putting forward theories as to why Gillan is so scantily
13:09clad in the film, with the outlet wondering if the plot involved setting the gender equality
13:13fight back 20 years.
13:14Gillan responded online about the outfit saying,
13:16Yes, I'm wearing child-sized clothes, and yes, there is a reason.
13:20The payoff is worth it, I promise.
13:22The star was teasing the film's plot point that she plays an in-universe video game character.
13:26Slash film writer Ethan Anderton got it right back in 2016, noting after the film's first
13:31look was released that
13:32Karen Gillan is clearly a makeshift Lara Croft.
13:36Luke Besson's Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets is mostly remembered for
13:39being a very expensive flop, but is quite a fun slice of flashy sci-fi deserving of
13:43another look.
13:44At the time of its release, however, Valerian was controversial for more than just its poor
13:48reviews and awful box office returns.
13:50Model Cara Delevingne was cast to play Sergeant Laureline, the sidekick to Dane DeHaan's
13:55Major Valerian.
13:56While some reviews noted that both her acting and her chemistry with DeHaan left something
13:59to be desired, others argued that her wide-eyed, eager performance added something to the wonderful
14:04trashiness of it all.
14:05Delevingne's armored costume made headlines ahead of the film's release, too, with fans
14:09of the original comics noting that Laureline's outfit in a first-look image was bustier than
14:13it should be.
14:14An editorial in Metro UK typified the backlash, calling the gendered outfit annoying and comparing
14:20the look unfavorably to Captain Phasma's far more androgynous armor in The Force Awakens.
14:25For a character based on a kid's toyline, GI Joe villain Baroness appeals to some very
14:30adult sensibilities, usually clad in skin-tight armor or leather, with long black hair, ruby
14:35red lips, and glasses.
14:36She certainly has a sensual aesthetic.
14:39Many higher-end collectibles emphasize this erotically charged combo, and it's a popular
14:43look for cosplayers who can pull it off.
14:45Stephen Sommers, who directed 2009's GI Joe The Rise of Cobra, didn't seem overly concerned
14:50about having the characters look like their toy counterparts, and in the case of the Baroness,
14:54he seemed to have missed her appeal completely.
14:57Rather than giving her librarian specs that frame her eyes, Sienna Miller's Baroness mostly
15:01wears auto-darkening sunglasses.
15:03Additionally, her not-especially-contoured bodysuit is hidden under a trench coat half
15:07the time.
15:08Perhaps Sommers was inspired by the classy looks of The Matrix, but fans were less than
15:12enthused about his treatment of the character.
15:14While there were elements of her character in the film that detracted heavily from the
15:17bad girl reputation she'd built up in the past, the misinterpretation of her costume
15:21was the most obvious sign that she was a Baroness in name only.
15:24For everything else he got wrong, at least Robert Schwentke's 2021 installation Snake
15:29Eyes gave fans a recognizable version of Cobra's favorite bad girl once again.
15:34We still love Firefly, and that's okay.
15:36Keep your Jane hats and brown coats, but this too-short cult series has serious flaws that
15:40grow bigger with time.
15:42Firefly earns a place in the same breath as Blade Runner, and not for good reasons.
15:47Futuristic sci-fi stories love to use a cutting-edge neon noir aesthetic that often means borrowing
15:51from places like Tokyo and Hong Kong, where the future already seems to exist.
15:56Firefly does the same, building a world peppered with Chinese language, occasional Asian-themed
16:00fabrics and silks, and, well, the whole Companions Guild thing, which borrows from Geisha.
16:05This transformed Inara from what creator Joss Whedon tastefully calls in Serenity the official
16:10visual companion, a whore, into the most educated person on the ship, instead of just an oppressed,
16:15pathetic creature.
16:16Anyway, for a future where China won a cultural and capitalist war for Earth, there's a troubling
16:21lack of Asian people.
16:23In Doctor Who, Timelords are capable of physical regeneration to avoid death.
16:27Because that includes regenerating the brain, reborn Timelords keep their memories but spawn
16:31new personalities.
16:32It's a clever way to handle actor transitions, and seeing a new Doctor wearing their last
16:37incarnation's clothes is a big deal for Whovians.
16:40Note those details.
16:41The regeneration only affects the biological form, with the exception of the first regeneration
16:46in 1966.
16:47So why, in October 2022, did the new 14th Doctor regenerate in the 10th incarnation's
16:52clothes?
16:53Well, it was because showrunner Russell T. Davies didn't want to make David Tennant dress
16:57in drag.
16:58What?
16:59What's more, RuPaul's Drag Race in the 13th Doctor's orange suspenders, baggy pants, striped
17:04blue shirt, and jacket.
17:06To be fair, Davies offered his reasoning for the change as an attempt to avoid giving bigots
17:10ammo, which is a decent reason.
17:12But changing the rules of regeneration to try and silence transphobes ended up upsetting
17:16a lot of fans.
17:17It's a situation with no great solution.
17:20Captain America has gone through multiple costumes in the MCU, many of which were inspired
17:24by the looks he sported throughout the decades in the comics.
17:27The very first suit he donned in Captain America the First Avenger was intentionally cheesy
17:31and dated, paying tribute to his 1940s comic book introduction.
17:35However, once he got fed up with selling war bonds and decided to join the war effort,
17:39Cap opted for something more rugged, similar to what he wore in the Ultimates comics.
17:43Still on the run from the authorities after his fallout with Iron Man in Civil War, Cap
17:47adorned himself with a darker style, reflecting his nomad persona.
17:51And it was in Avengers Endgame that he finally donned the iconic scale mail he'd been wearing
17:55since his earliest comic days.
17:57However, there's one Captain America costume that fans weren't happy with, the one he wore
18:01in the first Avengers movie.
18:03Within the movie, S.H.I.E.L.D.
18:04agent Phil Coulson claims that he had a hand in its design, and considering his deep love
18:08for Cap, it's completely fair to put the blame squarely on him for the annoyingly cartoony
18:12appearance.
18:13Marvel Studios is often blamed for making its heroes' costumes too busy and grounded
18:18in an attempt to make them more practical.
18:20However, this iteration of Cap's suit saw the studio commit the exact opposite sin.
18:24I understood that reference.
18:26Baron Zemo is a long-time Captain America villain and a high-ranking HYDRA leader who
18:30always shows up with a different plan to conquer the world.
18:33His MCU counterpart is quite a bit different.
18:35Zemo first appeared in Captain America Civil War as a Sokovian soldier who blames the Avengers
18:40for his family's death after their battle with Ultron devastated their country.
18:44He returns in the Disney Plus series The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, in which he's recruited
18:47to help track down the Flag Smashers.
18:50Zemo donned two outfits that failed to do his iconic comic book look justice.
18:54Civil War mostly sees him wearing regular clothes, prompting many fans to wonder why
18:57he was even in the film as he was such a departure from the way he's portrayed in the source
19:01material.
19:02For the Disney Plus series, he eventually puts on a purple mask that brings him a little
19:05closer to his original look, but it's only for one scene and did little to thrill fans
19:10with enthusiastic recognition.
19:12Marvel's failure to recreate the villain's suit was pointed out by Game Rant's Adeola
19:15Adeoyi, who wrote,
19:16"[Marvel's villains feature some of the least live-action-friendly designs in the comic
19:20universe.
19:21Baron Zemo, however, isn't exactly one of them.
19:23His full suit is a bit much for the MCU, but his general color scheme and theming should
19:27have been fairly easy to adapt."
19:29For what it's worth, I'm sorry.
19:32Adam Warlock is another Marvel Comics character who's been relatively unknown to mainstream
19:37audiences.
19:38Mostly relegated to the cosmic side of the comic book universe, Adam is a being who was
19:41synthetically created to be the next step in human evolution.
19:45He also plays a major role in such beloved storylines as The Infinity Gauntlet and Annihilation
19:50Conquest.
19:51The character made his live-action debut in 2023's Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, played
19:55by Will Poulter.
19:57In the film, he's the creation of Aisha, who sends him to get revenge on the Guardians,
20:01only for him to end up as a member of the team.
20:03The MCU version of Adam Warlock borrows much of his backstory from the comics, which is
20:07also the source of his costume's red and gold color scheme.
20:10However, in true Marvel fashion, his suit is given far too much detail in the form of
20:14tactical armor replacing the traditional superhero spandex.
20:18Fans weren't terribly fond of the militaristic stylings given to the character, who was historically
20:22so powerful that he didn't need additional padding to bulk him up.
20:25At least the film's costume designers kept his cape and forehead gem.
20:29It's rather humorous how everyone thought a crystal embedded in someone's skull wasn't
20:32too weird, but red underwear somehow crossed the line.
20:36Between Tim Burton's first Batman and Batman Returns, Michael Keaton's Batsuit evolved
20:40from looking like an organic physique to plated armor.
20:43When Joel Schumacher took over as director for Batman Forever, the design reverted back
20:47to a more anatomical look.
20:48Emulating classical statues, Val Kilmer's initial Batsuit infamously sported nipples
20:53and a sculpted butt.
20:54However, perhaps because he reverted to an armor-styled sonar suit for the climax, fans
20:58really seemed to reserve their ire for the subsequent film, Batman & Robin.
21:02In this installment, George Clooney's bat nipples appeared to be even more on display.
21:07Costume designer Jose Fernandez explained to De Certo that his designs for Kilmer's
21:11look in Batman Forever specifically were actually an homage to Roman armor and the borderline
21:16nudity brought out by many of the skintight costumes from the comic books.
21:19He also noted that making the suit a lighter color for Clooney made the nipples more pronounced.
21:24Schumacher, a gay man and former costume designer himself, defended his vision, telling Premier
21:28Magazine in 1995,
21:30"'It's my Gotham City, and if I want Batman to have nipples, he's going to have nipples.'"
21:34Considering fans were relatively quiet about Alicia Silverstone's sculpted armor as Batgirl,
21:39there's certainly a case to be made that homophobia played a part in the great bat-nipple panic
21:43of the 90s.
21:45When Warner Bros. initially proposed a Catwoman movie, the idea was that it should star Michelle
21:49Pfeiffer in that stitched-up vinyl outfit from Batman Returns.
21:52However, by the time the film came out, the concept had devolved into Halle Berry dressed
21:56up like a psychotic hamster in a bikini.
21:59Well, unlike some of the other costume designers on this list, Berry's costume designer Angus
22:03Strothy seemed pretty satisfied with his work, telling Cinema Review,
22:07"...there were so many elements to take into consideration, because the catsuit is such
22:11a distinctive, almost historical costume.
22:13We did want to pay some homage to the other Catwomen, and I think we achieved a wonderful
22:17blend of the past and the not-too-distant future."
22:19While making the film, director Pittoff didn't feel bound by existing continuity, and parental
22:24backlash to the perceived sexuality of Pfeiffer's version didn't exactly help with creating
22:29a more faithful adaptation to the comic book character.
22:32The movie's Catwoman was an all-new creation named Patience Phillips in a city that definitely
22:37didn't resemble Gotham.
22:38It's possible that, due to these many changes from the source material, the movie did not
22:42become a blockbuster.
22:43Even so, it won Berry a Razzie Award the same year she won the Oscar for Monsters Ball.
22:48In comics, the Joker is generally a skinny, dapper fellow with purple coattails and a
22:53face transformed by chemical exposure to have white skin and green hair.
22:56Jack Nicholson's 1989 movie versions tuck pretty closely to that look, as did Cesar
23:01Romero on the 1966 TV show.
23:04When fans first glimpsed Heath Ledger in clips from The Dark Knight, however, several aspects
23:08seemed off.
23:09Well, you look nervous.
23:11Is it the scars?
23:12You wanna know how I got them?
23:18Rather than a bright splash of color against the darkness of Gotham City, Ledger wore a
23:21more muted purple, and the clown hair and face came from sloppily applied dye and makeup.
23:26However, once the movie came out and Ledger's actual performance nailed the clown Prince
23:30of Crime's personality, fans rejoiced.
23:32In the process, Ledger made cinematic history and ultimately earned himself a posthumous
23:37Oscar.
23:38Fans again worried when images of Jared Leto's Joker first hit the web, complete with the
23:42L.A. gangster aesthetic favored by Suicide Squad director David Ayer.
23:46Weared in tattoos and sporting a grill, he came across like he was trying to cosplay
23:50as a SoundCloud rapper.
23:51The logic behind this character's look was that, after he killed Robin, Batman knocked
23:55his teeth out, prompting the damaged tattoo on his forehead.
23:59Suicide Squad fared well at the box office, though was largely panned by critics.
24:03Whiplash from Iron Man 2 is sort of a composite of the comic book character of the same name
24:07and the Crimson Dynamo, both of whom were longtime nemeses of Tony Stark.
24:11In the film, Whiplash is Ivan Venko, the son of a Russian scientist who worked with Tony
24:15Stark's father decades earlier, before getting kicked out of the U.S. for illegally selling
24:19advanced technology.
24:20Either Ivan doesn't know that his father was a criminal, or he doesn't care here.
24:25He sets out to get revenge on Stark, believing that the best way to do that is arm himself
24:29with some dangerous tech.
24:30Whiplash's first attempt to take down Iron Man is a little short in the style department,
24:34as he attacks wearing bright orange pants, a couple of electrical whips, and that is
24:38it.
24:39Other than the whips, nothing about it is based on his comic book counterparts, but
24:42fans would have been more forgiving of it if it had led to something greater later.
24:46It did not.
24:47Instead, we got a bland, bulky rip-off of an Iron Man suit whose only saving grace is
24:51that it is barely in the film.
24:52As Hamilton Parker wrote for ComicBookMovie.com, his final appearance, which received a laughably
24:57short amount of screen time, is so generic that it's hard to remember what Whiplash even
25:01looked like when he finally donned his own suit of armor.
25:04Malekith has been plaguing the God of Thunder in the comics for decades, so fans were looking
25:09forward to his live-action debut in Thor The Dark World.
25:12Played by Christopher Eccleston, the cinematic version of Malekith and his Dark Elf brethren
25:16have been in suspended animation for a millennia following a battle with Odin's father and
25:20the Asgardians.
25:21However, once Jane Foster is exposed to the Aether, Malekith and his army are reawakened.
25:26The ensuing attack on Asgard leads to the murder of Thor's mother, Frigga.
25:30Thor ultimately thwarts Malekith with the help of his brother, Loki.
25:33Despite being played by the immensely talented Eccleston, Malekith has gone down as one of
25:37the worst MCU villains ever.
25:39Not only was he devoid of personality or a compelling arc, he looked absolutely nothing
25:44like his comic book counterpart.
25:45Instead of the sinister black-and-white face and wild, heavy metal hairdo, the audience
25:49received a strange-looking humanoid with pale skin and tied-back hair.
25:53Screen Rant's Quinn Lewandowski said,
25:55"[Malekith spent most of the movie with bright white skin and hair that washed out visual
25:59definition only to receive a climactic burn somewhat mirroring his two-toned comic appearance.
26:04Instead, all we got was a tiny tease of what the character could have been, but that amounted
26:08to little more than an insult to comic book fans."
26:12The Eternals were never anyone's favorite characters, mostly due to the fact that they
26:15occupied such a small place in the Marvel Comics pantheon.
26:18Other than a handful of dedicated series, the race of humanoid space gods appeared only
26:22sporadically in other titles since comic book legend Jack Kirby created them in the 1970s.
26:27On its surface, bringing such obscure characters to the big screen was a bold move on Marvel
26:31Studios' part, but since they were riding high on the gargantuan success of Avengers
26:35Endgame, who could blame them for taking such a risk?
26:37Well, it turns out that their risk didn't pay off.
26:40The film received a mixed reaction from audiences, due in no small part to its predictable plot
26:44and boring characters.
26:46Of course, The Eternals' bland fashion sensed it little to make them stand out from the
26:49rest of the MCU's growing roster of heroes.
26:52As one Reddit user pointed out,
26:53"...at some point you really start to notice how a lot of the Marvel Cinematic Universe's
26:57costumes just feel the same.
26:59Whether your character is an alien god, a space pirate, or just a human billionaire,
27:03you all shop at the same outlet.
27:05One would hope that immortal gods who have been around since the birth of humanity would
27:08be treated with a little more respect."
27:10You like the costume?
27:11We need to talk.
27:12Tell the director I have some notes for him.
27:13We need to talk to you in private.
27:15When Jennifer Lawrence stepped into the role of Mystique for X-Men First Class, the character's
27:19sleek look was one of the best things about the film.
27:22Unfortunately, it seems that the prosthetics and body paint were too much for the actor
27:25to deal with.
27:26She later told Jimmy Fallon that it originally took eight hours to apply the costume, and
27:30that they'd gotten it down to three in time for the sequel, X-Men Days of Future Past.
27:34You just had to sit there, right?
27:35Oh my god.
27:36Well, I stood or I had to sit on a bicycle seat, which every woman knows is our dream
27:41come true.
27:42By X-Men Apocalypse, Lawrence was sick of it, and she told Entertainment Weekly she
27:46was thinking about bowing out of the franchise because of the character's complicated costuming.
27:51Lawrence told the outlet,
27:52I'm like, I can't even pronounce this, and that's going in my nose?
27:55I'm breathing that?
27:57Fox worked out a compromise to get Lawrence in the franchise's closing chapter, Dark
28:00Phoenix, but it wound up stoking more than a little controversy.
28:03Mystique's full body paint and prosthetics were reduced to the sort of blue face paint
28:08and cheap-looking wig that you might buy from a Halloween store.
28:10Less Mystique, more superhero team Blue Lady.
28:14Fans inevitably took to Twitter to voice their disappointment.
28:16One frustrated tweet read,
28:22The character deserves better.
28:24Patty Jenkins' Wonder Woman was praised by fans and critics alike, with many singling
28:28out the film's feminist take on its central characters, almost all of whom were women.
28:32In particular, the costumes won a lot of praise, and a rare win for the genre, the battle armor
28:36for the residents of Themyscira actually seemed like armor.
28:39Later that very same year, however, when those characters returned in Justice League, fans
28:43were quick to point out that the armor had changed.
28:45Film critic Asa T. shared a side-by-side comparison on Twitter, showing the costumes in Wonder
28:50Woman ride up against the skin-pure ones in Justice League.
28:53They pointed out that the original version was designed by Lindy Hemming, a woman, while
28:57the ab-bearing bikini variants were created by Michael Wilkinson.
29:00Even actor Jessica Chastain chimed in on the controversy, writing in a since-deleted tweet,
29:04Hey man, what would you wear to fight?
29:06Hint, don't expose your vital organs.
29:09One of the Amazon Warriors defended the costume while speaking with USA Today, however.
29:13Brooke N. said,
29:14The girls on set, we never thought of the new costumes as a sexy version.
29:18They felt a little more glamorous, if anything, because we had bigger, beautiful hair, which
29:21I loved."
29:22Coriander
29:23DC Comics' Starfire, real name Coriander, is a powerful young woman from an alien world.
29:28Despite her youth, her views on romantic and sexual relationships are healthy, inclusive,
29:32and accepting.
29:33Depending on the artist and writer, of course, some fans forget that they're dealing with
29:37a character who girls look up to and not a cartoon sex symbol.
29:40When Titans hit HBO Max in 2018, some fans went ballistic.
29:44We can't ignore that Starfire's actor Anna Joep underwent a deluge of harassment that
29:49did include her costume, but had much more to do with fandom racism.
29:52Joep is a Senegalese woman raised in America, and her skin tone gave Starfire a refreshing
29:57vibrancy.
29:58HBO Max's Starfire has a colorful, form-fitting costume that's a far cry from the comic book's
30:03sexualized outfits, and her casual wear includes her signature purples.
30:07Racist fans derided this, accusing the Titans star of looking like a, quote,
30:11in her fur coat clan introduction, with all the cultural baggage included.
30:15Racism, sexism, and cultural stigma collide because some people are terrible.
30:20The Boys is satire.
30:22Unfortunately, some fans still need reminders.
30:24Homelander isn't a patriotic role model, A-Train isn't a responsible adult, and Starlight is
30:29a warning about oversexualized female characters.
30:32Created by writer Garth Ennis and artist Derek Robertson, the comic series gives discussing
30:36these themes a good shot, but doesn't always nail it.
30:39Its biggest crime is against Starlight, who ends up just as sexualized but with the addition
30:43of a lot of sexual abuse.
30:45The Amazon series succeeds at improving on the original messages, if sometimes just subtly
30:49enough for internet trolls to miss the point.
30:51They're illegal immigrants pouring into this country every day, and any one of them could
30:56be a super-terrorist.
30:57Starlight, however, still has to put up with her grotesquely sexualized costume for most
31:01of two seasons.
31:02The TV show doesn't abuse Starlight as much as the comics, leaving it up to fans to figure
31:06out why her costume is still impractical as hell.
31:09But the biggest switch-up for Starlight is her throwing the outfit into the garbage for
31:12the Season 3 finale.
31:14This is a costume controversy done right.
31:16As the premiere of Loki kicks into gear, our new variant Loki undergoes processing as a
31:21prisoner of the Time Variance Authority.
31:23He loses his armor and suffers a police-style interrogation and a lifetime highlight reel
31:27that drives him to tears.
31:28It's a metaphor for being stripped down to his essentials.
31:31Thematically, it makes perfect sense.
31:33This won't be the same Loki we last saw dead at Thanos' feet.
31:36This one is forced to admit that his strongest illusions were cast around himself.
31:39The rest of the season slaps him in a UPS guy outfit thought up by costume designer
31:43Christine Wada.
31:45It's a credit to Hiddleston's endless charm that he still makes this thing look good.
31:48However, fans who were a little too in love with Loki's hot goth fashion were upset by
31:52his new salaryman style.
31:54The thematic meaning went ignored, and things got so ridiculous that a small but vocal cabal
31:59of fans now declare that their Loki died in 2013's Thor The Dark World.
32:03They continue to mock the new variant as a Larry.
32:07The Green Goblin has one of those costumes that works on the page much more easily than
32:11in real life.
32:12It's supposed to be deranged tycoon Norman Osborn in what's effectively a Halloween costume
32:16and mask.
32:17In the comic medium, that mask can be as expressive and realistic as any given artist wants to
32:21make it.
32:22In reality, a criminal in a rubber mask might be less visceral to see.
32:26Sam Raimi's Spider-Man tried to come up with an alternative that would make sense within
32:29the world of a movie, going with the notion that Osborn would wear green armor to increase
32:33his strength and design a helmet reminiscent of his own tribal mask collection.
32:38Unfortunately, fans derisively described the appearance as resembling a Power Ranger, and
32:43given their own tacky reputation in the early 2000s, this wasn't exactly a compliment.
32:47Willem Dafoe's committed performance helped people overlook their issues with the design,
32:51though many fans wondered why Raimi would bother to put a mask over Dafoe, as his face
32:55actually looks like a sinister goblin when he grins just right.
32:59At long last, in Marvel Studios' Spider-Man, No Way Home, he kept his natural deranged
33:04face and donned a purple hood to look more like the comics.
33:07However, in honor of the many fans of the Raimi movies, the power armor underneath it
33:11all remained.
33:12I just want to kill you myself.
33:15Atta boy.
33:17If there's one thing that can be said for the leather costume worn by Ben Affleck in
33:212003's Daredevil movie, it's that it's slightly easier to look at than the full-body blindfold
33:26worn by Rex Smith in the 1989 TV movie The Trial of the Incredible Hulk.
33:30Unfortunately, that's rather faint praise, and the 2003 costume ultimately turned out
33:34looking more like bondage gear than most super suits.
33:37It seems that the film's director, Mark Steven Johnson, was well aware of this fact, telling
33:41Yahoo! that he found it particularly challenging to be faithful to the character's original
33:46spandex-heavy aesthetic.
33:47He explained,
33:48We ultimately settled on leather because it was the most practical.
33:51Like, if you're riding a motorcycle and you go down, leather is going to protect you the
33:55most.
33:56But it was also easy for it to come off looking like S&M, and the horns didn't help.
33:59Johnson went on to explain that he credits the new costume worn by Charlie Cox in the
34:03Marvel Cinematic Universe as an improvement, acknowledging that it has a tasteful balance
34:07of protective practicality and that signature leathery style.
34:11Following the fairly positive response to the previous Marvel shows on Netflix, Iron
34:15Fist was released in 2017 to a considerably less enthusiastic reception.
34:19Despite a handful of decent action scenes, fans and critics largely balked at the show's
34:23wandering storyline, weak performances, and lack of a strong villain.
34:27In short, it made for a middling lead-in to The Defenders, which was Marvel Television's
34:31attempt to recreate the crossover magic of the Avengers film on the small screen.
34:35The show may have scored more points with audiences if its protagonist wore his famous
34:39green and yellow costume from the comics.
34:41Instead, he wore regular street clothes, which did nothing to garner favor with fans of the
34:45source material.
34:46Sure, the Netflix versions of the characters were more gritty and down-to-earth, but that
34:49doesn't mean the show's creators couldn't have done something more with it.
34:52Danny Rand's on-screen look felt like a slap in the face to many who followed the
34:55character for years and waited patiently for a live-action iteration.
34:59As CBR's Shawn Acheson wrote,
35:01"...although there was an in-story justification for the absence of Danny's costume, it still
35:04felt like a pretentious rejection of Iron Fist's comic roots.
35:08If not for his chest tattoo and his glowing fists, it would be impossible to realize that
35:12Danny was actually the immortal Iron Fist."
35:15By 2017, the Marvel Cinematic Universe could seemingly do no wrong.
35:19Considering the massive success achieved by largely obscure characters like Ant-Man and
35:23the Guardians of the Galaxy, Marvel Studios decided to bring the Inhumans to the big screen.
35:27However, plans changed, and they were shuffled over to the small screen in the form of an
35:31eight-episode miniseries.
35:32Still, the studio had struck gold with its shared universe of Netflix series and ABC's
35:37Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., so what could go wrong here?
35:39As it turns out, pretty much everything.
35:42Inhumans was absolutely destroyed by critics and fans alike who ridiculed almost every
35:46aspect of the show, from the characterization, to the story, to the tone, and more.
35:51But even before the series was unleashed on an unsuspecting public, one aspect was singled
35:55out ā the suits.
35:57As soon as an official still from the series was released, social media users ripped costume
36:01designs to pieces like a pack of hungry piranha.
36:04Their disgust was understandable.
36:06Before Inhumans, Marvel Studios had largely spared no expense when it came to visualizing
36:10characters for live-action, but what we got here was not of the same standard.
36:15Director Jordan Ross took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to joke about how the cosplay
36:19looked great.
36:21Deathlok was never an A-list Marvel Comics character, but having been around since the
36:241970s, he's had enough of an audience to justify his appearances over the years.
36:29Many characters have taken on the Deathlok identity, but the main qualities they've all
36:32shared are that they were once dead humans who were revived with advanced technology
36:36and given an arsenal of deadly cybernetic weapons.
36:39The style most associated with Deathlok is that of a corpse-like figure with futuristic
36:43armor and half their face covered in deadly machinery.
36:46It's a pretty heavy metal look that's reminiscent of the T-800 from the Terminator films, so
36:49there was a precedent when it came to realizing this character in live-action form.
36:54Unfortunately, Deathlok's grand live-action debut on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. left fans
36:58wanting more ā in fact, a lot more.
37:00In the show, he is a regular man named Mike Peterson who was turned into a cyborg with
37:04expensive high-tech abilities by HYDRA Experimentation.
37:07HYDRA apparently had its funding cut, so they outfitted Peterson with plastic armor that
37:11made him look like a Power Rangers villain.
37:14Viewers do get the occasional glimpse of his metallic interior, but it feels like they
37:17pulled back to ground the character more.
37:20Long before Sony started making movies like Venom about characters from the Spider-Man
37:23franchise without actually featuring Spider-Man himself, DC tried to make a movie featuring
37:28a character from the Superman universe without Superman.
37:31In comics, the character Steel was John Henry Irons, one of four Superman-esque heroes who
37:36appeared after the original Superman's death at the hands of Doomsday.
37:40Irons didn't pretend to be Superman, but he wore a caped metal suit that made him resemble
37:43a literal Man of Steel and carried a large hammer in homage to folk hero John Henry.
37:48In the movies, however, he's played by Shaquille O'Neal wearing armor that even Tony Stark
37:52would reject outright.
37:54With no contemporary Superman on the big screen, the movie Steel depicts Irons as a brilliant
37:58weapons designer who must protect the inner city when a fellow soldier steals his arsenal
38:03and sells it to criminals.
38:04Nine years before Iron Man hit the big screen with a nearly identical concept, this inventor,
38:09upset with the misuse of this tech, develops a powered-up suit of armor to fight evil.
38:14Without Superman, the film ditched the cape, and in order to showcase Shaq's acting, Steel's
38:18full head mask got replaced with a metal cowl that strongly resembled Batman's without the
38:23ears.
38:24Evidently, the technology to do a full-body motion-capture suit wasn't ready in 1997,
38:28and the cumbersome results speak for themselves.