8. Thor
The Asgardian’s famed blonde locks and winged helmet complete with red cape and dark suit of armour would have always been a difficult transition to the big screen, and this showed in Chris Hemsworth’s early ventures.
However, the God of Thunder has been subject to a clear evolution over the course of many films, with the most refreshing change arriving in last year’s ‘Thor: Ragnarok.’ Hemsworth looked far more assured in a shorter style, and his gladiator look on Sakaar as he is about to get into a fight with the Hulk is highly impressive, forming a highly recognisable silhouette coupled with sashes and an obvious attention to detail. The move from the trusty Mjolnir to the Stormbreaker axe also gave his costume an offbeat spin. Moral of the story is, things can’t go too wrong if Stan Lee is your barber.
7. Vision
Vision’s dramatic appearance in ‘Avengers: Age of Ultron’ sets the tone for his substantial power balanced with his incredible poise, and that carries over to his costume right from the outset, as he simply fashions a cape out of nothing, after Thor’s outfit. Vision’s costume perhaps represents the most faithful rendition of any Avenger in the MCU, minus the hood in his early appearances; a side-by-side comparison with the classic comic book costume would impress even harsh critics. There is the iconic yellow and green as well, albeit in a more realistic, muted mode.
6. Black Widow
At first glance, Black Widow’s (Scarlett Johansson) costume looks functional, much like Hawkeye’s. However, her costume has arguably been privy to the most changes over the years, giving her costume a look more evolved than any of her colleagues.
In ‘Iron Man 2’, she dons tactical attire that appeals more to the eyes rather than make sense in battle, with a low neckline and sparse weapon straps. ‘The Avengers’ immediately sees a clear change, with her red symbol more prominent and more weapon straps at her sides. Her costume is much less smoother than the almost satin look in ‘Iron Man 2’, and is more functional. ‘Captain America: The Winter Soldier’ (2014) continued with this professional look, but gave her a longer and lighter hairstyle and more visible wrist-mounted electric weapons, or the Black Widow’s Bite. ‘Avengers: Age of Ultron’ (2015) introduced striking blue flourishes that changed her look significantly once again. Her next major change came in ‘Avengers: Infinity War’ (2018) with blonde hair and a more battle-weary look, with her costume incorporating a harness vest and more prominent shoulder guards. The change from voyeuristic to functional and finally to inspired makes Black Widow’s seemingly unlikely costume stand out admiringly.
5. Captain America
There is an unabashed maturity in all of the Captain America (Chris Evans) films that propel them towards the top of the MCU in terms of quality. This maturity extends to Cap’s costumes as well, with one notable exception.
‘Captain America: The First Avenger’ (2011) saw both a cartoonish suit during ad campaigns for bonds and the combat suit that utilised an elaborate harness system, padded protection, and a belt with large pockets. Even the helmet had wings embroidered on them, with the large ‘A’ front and centre. ‘The Avengers’ was a definite step backwards from here. The costume was quite plain, lacked any definition and detail, and looked ridiculously tacky. ‘Captain America: The Winter Soldier’ saw a streamlined, sharp suit with a darker hue, a minimal harness system, and silver stripes extending from the star across the chest. ‘Avengers: Age of Ultron’ made the suit a tad brighter once again, but stuck to the character’s roots with more visible whites in the arms and gut. ‘Captain America: Civil War’ saw a battle-hardened version of this suit, and ‘Avengers: Infinity War’ revamped his look significantly with a blackened star and the beard, all tellingly portraying his disillusionment with the powers that be.
The only reason why Cap doesn’t feature higher on this list is the disaster that was his ‘Avengers’ costume. Otherwise, his costumes have represented the best of functional, sleek, and uplifting design.
4. Spider-Man
The MCU Spider-Man costume represents a sincere effort on the part of the designers to move away from the character’s well-documented previous cinematic versions. The suit is highly modern and incorporates innovative features such as an A.I. user interface, advanced webbing capabilities, and even a drone and parachute. The costume has a broader web pattern, very visible web shooters, and articulate eyes that convey various expressions remarkably. For some, this look may be some way off the classic Spidey look, but it cannot be denied that it is an impressive one.
There’s also the Iron Spider costume in ‘Avengers: Infinity War’ that uses a deeper red than the brighter red of its comic book counterpart, a giant and convoluted spider symbol, and of course, four glorious mechanical legs. Spidey has certainly been given a fantastic costume to work his magic in, in the MCU.
3. Black Panther
Black Panther’s costume gloriously made its way onto the big screen in ‘Captain America: Civil War’ (2016) where it made an immediate impact. The silver contours on top of the black suit sewn with vibranium were balanced with more subdued black ones. The ‘Civil War’ suit is very streamlined and layered, whereas the ‘Black Panther’ (2018) one is more animalistic. The latter has claw-shaped silver patterns both at the base of the knee as well as below the elbow. The silver contours are also gone, as the suit opts for a monotone look.
There is a great contrast of the modern and the primal in both the suits, and which together impart a thoroughly suave look to the King of Wakanda.
2. Iron Man
The one to begin it all. There is always a special place for the red-and-gold of Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr) and its MCU renditions leave no stone unturned. From the Mark I suit he was forced to make in a cave to escape the terrorist organisation, The Ten Rings, in ‘Iron Man’ (2008) to the Mark L nanotech armour he dons against Thanos in ‘Avengers: Infinity War’ (2018), the Iron Man suits have represented the tremendous artistic and technical knowhow of Marvel’s graphic designers to be able to represent around 50 suits of the iconic character onscreen. Most of these suits make an appearance in ‘Iron Man 3’ (2013).
The Iron Man armour incorporates several features and weapons across its many forms, such as flamethrowers, shoulder-mounted lasers, missiles and guns, regenerative capabilities, and the unibeam, to name a few, all mostly based on the classic red-and-gold colour palette. The range of armours also include specialised armours such as the Mark XXXV “Red Snapper” Disaster Rescue Suit, the Mark XLII Prehensile Module Suit, and the Mark XLIV and XLIX suits which are better known as the Hulkbuster suits. The Iron Man armour has had a rich cinematic history, unrivalled by any other Avenger.
1. Doctor Strange
Doctor Strange’s (Benedict Cumberbatch) multilayered attire ticks all the boxes: comic book accuracy, functionality, appearance, and most importantly, the effort that went into making it.
The unevenly draped cape is in itself a technical ‘marvel.’ It isn’t as simple as a half-round or straight cape like most other superheroes, such as that of Thor. It is composed of several different kinds of fabrics, such as the cotton lining blended with linen, woven and upholstery fabrics. There is a custom patterned lining of bird symbols varyingly rotated in squares across the entire underside of the cape that is remarkable in its complexity. The belts are braided and made of leather with resin-cast rings. The boots are in fact, custom-made Asics with substantial modifications made with fabrics to turn them into boots suitable for a sorcerer in Nepal, as was confirmed by the reliable Cumberbuddy in a tumblr post.
The most astonishing part of the costume is that the lining of the entire cloak along with the elaborate trim of the tunic from the neck to the belt and across the chest are all hand-embroidered. This astounding feat has used threads of multiple colours, and London-based embroidery company Hawthorne and Heaney have also intentionally left spaces among the intricate stitches to denote a realistic process of the costume ageing through many years. At the end of it all, we get what is undoubtedly the best costume the MCU has to offer.
This article is dedicated to the breathtaking work of countless costume and graphic designers and artists who make such magnificent work possible in the first place.
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