Greatest Superhero Glow Ups
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- Опубликовано: 27 сен 2024
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Superheroes, especially those from Marvel and DC, have a history of having an iconic, definitive outfit. But sometimes that look gets redesigned to change with the times or for an in-story reason. This episode takes a look at some of the best changes in a superhero design from Storm to Spider-Man to Nightwing, and many more.
I think that Jay Garrick's helmet is more of a homage to Hermes, the Greek god of speed amongst other things as well as herald of the gods.
Right. How come nobody seems to remember Hermes/Mercury and his iconic helmet any more?
It was both tbf
@@Braddicusfinch no it wasnt. a helmet would have a strap to hold it on.
@Shoreleave I mean, this isn't an argument of historical accuracy, it was literally in the comics that it was fashioned from his fathers WWI helmet
So the Greek god is the meta explanation, and the war helmet is the canon reason
You dropping the words rizz and drip fucking put me into shock
Hearing that was like getting slapped
Wolverine’s brown and gold has always been my favorite look. Robin going from pantsless to now with pants was a great idea.
The brown and gold ever stick for me, all the colours of the sewers
Mohawk Storm was when I started reading Uncanny X-Men and I've always loved that design, and the way her personality hardened after she lost her powers and beat Callisto to lead the Morlocks. That has always been my favorite Storm. Just iconic.
That was pretty much the first issue of X-Men I ever read, so it took some collecting of back issues to really figure out why Kitty was freaking out so much (speaking of which, she would have fit in with this theme pretty well - she went through a phase where she was changing outfits and code names about every 3 issues!)
That is my Storm too! I loved when she took leadership from Cyclops by beating him in Danger Room with no powers
I think a lot of people really resonate with the artstyle/costume for a character that they grew up with. That's part of why I love Scott Campbell's Spider-Sense Spider-Man art. I would love to see him on a comic someday!
Mine too! I loved her redesign and couldn't get what Kitty was so upset about.
Where is your PFP From?
Jay Garrick's helmet was based on Medieval or Rennaissance paintings of the Greek God Hermes. He is often described as having a winged helmet.
Winged helmet AND shoes, just like the superhero.
I like the look they gave Professor X in the krakoa era. For such a recent design, it feels iconic, and I think it's the first time he has really had a superhero outfit.
Every time I see that version I think "Sun Ra wants his stuff back."
What Peter David and Jeff Purves did to the Gray Hulk during the Joe Fixit era was sublime. He went from just being a Gray stand in for the Green Hulk with tattered clothing to his own, unique identity with the pinstripes, fedora, marching tie and the wingtip shoes.
The Tim Drake update was fantastic. Both Dick Grayson and Jason Todd had a bikini bathing suit and a cape. Tim Drake in Robin #1 suddenly was a Robin who was not just a sidekick or a team member. He was a serious hero with his red bodysuit, long green gloves and pants. Tom Lyle also drew Robin with big curb stomping boots as opposed to the pixie slippers in the original design. I don't know if Lyle was behind the Tim Drake redesign but it was certainly iconic. Every Robin costume since seems to be an evolution of that design.
I may be mistaken but I had read that Neal Adams did the update on the Robin design.
@@scottfree2248 That's very possible. Brian Bolland drew the covers for that series. It's very possible that Neal Adams did the design that all the other artists then used.
My favourite ever Tim Drake costume was the wonderfully tacky Mt. Sarcastic in Young Justice.
Actually it was done by Norm Breyfogle I think. There's a lot of sketches of him doing variations floating around.
@@hugoseriese5462 Rest in Peace to both Neal Adams and Norm Breyfogle . Two of the all time great Batman artists
Aside from Nightwing, my favorite glow-ups go to Superboy and Robin. Superboy was just a teenager in a Superman suit for an absurdly long time. Granted, he was just a fan transported to that reality at that point, but he didn't have his own "iconic" look. Then, in 1993, he got his iconic street punk look. That's my favorite Superboy design, and I'm so happy he got it back. My other favorite is Tim Drake as Robin. The green tights, updated "R" logo, and the added details to the gloves and shoulders are just perfection. Never mind him introducing Robin's iconic weapon, the bo staff. To me, the two 90s updates are up there with Dick's iconic 96 suit.
I always prefer Superboy in the street clothes like the Young Justice version
@@markmagician2471 I always found it kinda boring. The street look with the leather jacket is so 90s and camp that it loops back around to being cool. I freaking love it
@@Vegitodraws agreed the t shirt look is too plain
@@Vegitodraws to be fair it was to make him seem more grounded since he was developing out of his celebrity phase in the Superboy books, the down to earth vibe can really be sensed in books like Adventure comics and Superboy 2010
@@HELLO_KORO I feel like you still could've done it without reducing it to a T-shirt. That just never sat right with me
Kitty Pryde running away crying after seeing Storm's new look is meme-worthy lol
I think Wonder Girl had a great glow up when she became Troia. Her space outfit is just an awesome concept.
I would not give David Aja the merit of creating the current Hawkeye costume because it was practically a color swap from the Ultimates costume by Brian Hitch.
Great episode! You're right about the Guardians, especially Starlord and Drax. I also like the evolution of the Scarlet Witch & Wonder Man's costumes. We could go on and on lol.
Oh wow. You reminded me I did intend to include Wonder Man. I might have to make another one of these.
@@ComicTropes You should! It's an excellent topic and the list of costume changes is endless, lol. You could also include "powered up" characters like my favorite character Nova. He powered up and because of it got a better looking costume during Annihilation.
Strangely enough, as I was typing that last response I received a certain Vampirella comic with a variant cover by one of my favorite RUclips hosts. It looks great Chris!! Thanks for creating it!
How about an entire episode dedicated to Wonder Man? He's been around since nearly the beginning of the Marvel U and he has quite a cult following (like me). Wonder Man rules!
I think Jar Garrick’s hat is supposed to be similar to the helmet of Hermes, a Greek God who runs fast
You could do a whole episode on Iron Man. I loved how the MCU reflected the armor upgrades. You could do a two-part episode for Janet Van Dyne and Hank Pym.
Yes! This!
No Green Arrow?! Nothing about Neal Adams' brilliant visual redesign, like the beard, that inspired Dennis O'Neil to change the character from a blatant Batman copy into an original mix of Robin Hood and Abbie Hoffman?
For me, Carol Danvers getting her Captain Marvel outfit is a great evolution to a character. Also, Tim Drake's Red Robin outfit pre New 52 was amazing.
It’s nice to see how much influence Dave Cockrum had as a character and costume designer. His creations for the Legion of Super-heroes and X-men revitalized them at the time and pretty much have stood the test of time.
Absolutely!
It's anazing that Cockrum got away with putting Cosmic Boy essentially in a one piece swim suit!
@@themangochannel I think that was Mike Grell how gave Cosmic Boy the bustier costume.
Iron Man's change from the all-grey (later gold) clunky suit to his classic red and gold one is absolutely one that can be mentioned. Another one is a minor change, but updating Captain America's shield from the original design to the round one was also quite the improvement. Would he even throw the thing if it weren't round?
Wolverine's look definitely got a positive change, too. Lengthening the ears on the costume and getting rid of the whisker lines definitely gave him something much more iconic, and though a good amount of people prefer his brown suit, I'll always be partial to his classic yellow and blue costume.
But I particularly don't like the mohawk Storm, and am partial to Hawkeye's original outfit. I know my opinions aren't necessarily shared by most, though.
So the Beast was really a chance to bring a monster onto the X-Men team. Interesting!
Not a costume, but the way Kirby perfected The Thing's look over the first fifty issues (with help from Joe Sinnott) will always be my favourite evolution in a characters appearance.
Janet Van Dyne, as the Wasp, is (in)famous for having a new costume almost every issue. It's even been remarked upon by other team members
"Sometimes you just gotta change your DRIP to show that you got that RIZZ."
I legit snorted. Well done.
Making Wonder Woman's outfit resemble a greek hoplite's outfit more was brilliant, and in retrospective so obvious it was amazing it hadn't happened earlier.
My favourite suit update will always be Ben Reilly's Sensational Spider-Man Suit! It's my favourite super hero suit ever and it's the perfect evolution of the classic red and blue while still being its own unique thing.
I was very disappointed it wasn’t an unlockable costume in the PS4 Spider-Man game. Love that design
Discowing is a perfect name for that costume ^^
Don't know where the "fresh eggs" thing comes from ... I grew up in the UK until I was 25 (back in the 80s and 90s), and if anybody stamps their eggs with a lion symbol now, they sure as hell didn't when I lived there. A much more likely reason why they might've dropped the lion from Captain Britain's design is that the lion on the British coat of arms represents England alone, and is always opposite the unicorn, representing Scotland (the rivalry I learned about as a kid from the nursery rhyme "The lion and the unicorn were fighting for the crown ..."). Thus having a lion symbolically representing "Britain" might potentially alienate Scottish, Welsh or Northern Irish readers.
Paul Neary said it and I found a bunch of images with that stamp so I took it at face value. I’m a simple ignorant yank, doing my best.
Super fun episode Chris! Costume fashion decisions could be its own channel! Happy you took some time to talk about it.
I think the Hawkeye change is lazy. Makes sense for an Ultimates universe but I like the classic costume, and I don't even really care for Hawkeye. Moon knight from his debut to his own ongoing series is another great redesign. Great video.
I prefer Hawkeye’s Silver Age look. It’s more swashbuckling.
Jay Garrak's helmet's not a reference to the 'Tommy Helm', but to the hat the god Hermes/Mercury is often depicted wearing.
Jay Garrick got it from his father who fought in WW1. Kinda like Spider-Man Noir's goggles is from uncle Ben's aviator goggles.
@@alienalchemist Ah right.
That I did not know.
Still the visual reference is as much with Hermes as it is with WW1 infantry.
I would have figured Captain Marvel would have gotten a shout-out in this video, but maybe because her name change was a part of the costume change which would make sense.
Wolverine's brown and gold costume comes to mind
Palettes swap like Daredevil's suit 17:45 it doesn't count.
The change to Nightwing's costume in the mid-90s was more likely to bring it in line with the nightwing bird from the bottle city of Kandor which was the inspiration for that city's Dynamic Duo of Nightwing and Flamebird.
I'm personally fond of the Robin redesign for Time Drake, also the superboy design for Connor with the shirt and jeans
Marvel in the 70's was fun to follow the glow ups although we didn't have that term for it...one of my favorites was the ever changing, ever loving, ever blue eyed Thing...the lumpy Thing was funny Thing with eye brows and Alica's eye candy was great.
I'd love to see a sequel to this episode on villains, like Darkseid. I love Kirby's Darkseid, but I also love Dark Side from Seven Soldiers, and the Dan Turpin Darkseid from Final Crisis. Brainiac and Mandarin also come to mind as classic villains who've gone through a ton of costume changes.
I wish they had stuck with Brainiac's chrome skeleton look from the early 80s for awhile longer. Sure, it looks like it'd be a pain in the ass to draw, but man it looked great.
I'm a huge Stephanie Brown fan so the evolution of her various costumes has been fun to watch over time. Kitty has had some interesting ones too! The blue one with poofy sleeves is still my #1 favorite ❤
Love Stephanie Brown, despite her status as the Bat Family's whipping girl.
Stephanie Brown has my favorite batgirl costume but i honestly don't care for any of her other looks at all
That first blue Shadowcat outfit is my favorite, too.
As weird as her pirate phase is to me, I gotta say she looks incredible in that fit
@@Fr.O.G. whipping girl???
The one which comes to mind is how Wolverine changed from his very first appearance with a mask with tiny 'ears' to the one with bigger 'ears' (I use 'ears' because I've got no better way to describe them!) It's interesting how they first used the character and clearly thought there was room for improvement there.
Has Ironman been the character with the most changes in looks in history? As he has had so many different armour types over the years.
I've always said that Iron Man changing his costume suits (literally) his character almost more than any other superhero. Tony would realistically always be changing, upgrading, and altering his armor. It makes more sense that his design would change more than it wouldn't I feel.
Honestly loved Genis-Vell's updated look. He went from silly 90s over-design to a sleek star-covered version of his fathers suit that works so well.
I've always been a fan of Simonson's armor for Thor. Iron Man and the Wasp can easily be their own episodes. Especially Wasp.
I love how Kitty Pryde freaks the f--- out when she sees what Storm did to her hair. Like she was genuinely deeply invested in Storm having beautiful long hair.
Can't believe you didn't mention Blade!
Good, fun episode, Chris. Black spidey is coolest by far, in my opinion, but so many great examples here.
I think the best glow up in my opinion has to be for Green Arrow. The first costume just didn't click with me, but the Neal Adams costume he wore during Hard-Travelling Heroes? That was just perfect! To me, it's the best Green Arrow suit
"Sometimes, you just have to change your drip to show that you got that rizz." Never change, Chris. It warms my heart knowing some teenager somewhere watching just cringed.
Jim Lee's Cyclops is probably the best looking version of that character, to the point where people default that as his original costume.
I know it's just the movie suit but I love the wonder woman battle skirt. I think it fits the character so much better than the swimsuit-esque design
I love what happened with Thor's costume. It's the same suit at the core, but the chainmail and metal wings do a lot to sell the fantasy warrior vibe.
The Flash update worked. It was kind of the opposite of the "less costumey" or Off-The-Rack clothing redesigns you sometimes see. Other than the helmet, the 1st costume could've been store bought (of course I'm saying this from The Future where graphic tees/sweatshirts are standard fare). ...But in defense of Jay's impractical helmet, it was a Hermes reference. So it's more along the lines of the characters that wear capes in combat: not done for function.
Part 2 please, maybe even a worst costume change
Most of them are from the 90's.
Listen Barry Allen's suit is great and Barry Allen will always be my favorite Flash but Jay Garrick's outfit is great and I love the helmet. Plus there's just something so perfect about Jay later characterization as an old man and his suit. Really keeps that Golden Age feeling around so to say.
Definitely would love to see a video about the best and worst costume designs and redesigns for the X-Men. Kitty alone could fill up several minutes with her extreme highs and lows no matter how deliberate they may have been.
Daredevil's glow up deserves a mention. The yellow and red suit with DD written on it was wiped out for the sleek red redesign. Then he changed again and became the bandana over the eyes but personally I prefer the red suit.
Fun and engaging episode, Chris! I'd love to see more like this. Maybe an ep on one-off or short-lived costume changes (especially ones that were dated, hilarious, or just bad)? Thanks for the fun video!
I second that actually
I would love to see one on costume changes, like Batman's many wacky 50s costumes or Wonder Woman's terrible reboot
Great idea! So many bad costumes in the history of so many characters. It would make for a hilarious episode.
Supergirl alone can top the list with the many redesign her outfit has gotten over the years
Another great episode, Chris! I, for one always loved the Mohawk Storm look. Totally badass! I'm also a big fan of Daredevil's black suits. Going back to Teen Titans, I also think they've done an awesome job updating Cyborg's design. Another favorite of mine.
Can't wait to see Omega's glow up 😎
I liked John Byrne's brown and tan Wolverine costume to reflect the markings on an actual wolverine. His yellow and blue is so iconic, that I can't say this is an improvement. Let's say it's an amazing step sideways...
It's not such a radical redesign, but the entire X-Men team's look in the 90s became legendary for a reason. I'd say Cyclops and Rogue's designs stand out the most.
Great video. I thought you would also mention Carol Danvers' Captain Marvel suit (designed, I believe, by Jamie Mckelvie). I love the new Batgirl suit from the comic book Batgirl of Burnside, which was drawn by Babs Tarr. Mr Knight also deserves to be mentioned, although it may be considered cheating, as it's only ONE OF his looks and not a completely new one
Great video. One thing I will point out though is that there was a second step to Hawkeye's costume evolution. The version of Hawkeye in the ultimates is much more stripped down compared to the original. I think his accent color was red though.
I'd give a nod to Donna Troy's "starscape" outfit too; I remember being transfixed by how sharp-looking it was as a kid reading TPBs
I know it’s blasphemy, but i like her new 52 look in Titans. Along with Tempest
Two of my favorites in the 90's were the Lobo biker look, and Catwoman's purple outfit. You know, the one where she was smuggling two soccer balls in her costume.
Some of the my favourites are: Wolverine's brown costume by Byrne, Neal Adams' Green Arrow and Mike Grell's Green Arrow later. Loved the David Aja's Iron Fist redesign (made much more sense than his previous disco collar version). And talking about comic book looks, I loved Giffen's redesign of the 30th century in Legion of Super-Heroes. Felt like it was actual different time and not just another different planet/space. Also loved the "Archie" Legion, where you got the sense that the members were part of a club, but kept some individuality. Loved those costumes.
I think the 'New X-Men' run can't be understated how big of a change in direction it was for the team. ( I know part of it was in direct relation to Singer's Xmen and the 'what do you expect us to run around in yellow spandex' line) but it really set them apart as a cool modern update- which was obviously helped by the Morrison and Quietly arc.
Original Atom's costume looks like what happens when you forget to buy a costume for a party so you have to go to wherever you keep what's left of past Halloween costumes to try to come up with something on the spot.
Betsy's evolution into her now iconic costume as Psylocke.
Going from a copy of her brother's costume, a suit that more resembles a nightgown, a cloaked costume to a 90's classic armored look as Lady Mandarin, after all that she FINALLY landed on the look we all know today (More exactly Kwannon).
Goes to show that making something that sticks is quite hard.
One of my favorite glow-ups for a lesser-known character is Hulkling's updated design for the Empyre event. Hulkling quite frankly drew the short end of the stick when it came to his first costumes and designs. It was already a massive improvement to shift away from pure Hulk clone into a much scalier and often winged design. The biggest issues as time went on were his bland black bodysuits, how certain artists slipped a little too far into the uncanny valley trying to set him apart from the Hulk, and the fact that his name and his costumes felt trapped in the past while his character was rocketing forward. Then Empyre came in, made him green and scaly all the time, slimmed his transformed state down from varying levels of walking bicep Hulk clone to a more consistent twunk, crowned him Emperor Dorrek VIII, and gave his black bodysuit a lot more visual diversity with green and purple accessories to highlight along with his bright blond hair that he was a child of three worlds and fully embracing it.
You should do an entire episode on the X-Men’s costume iterations, personally I think nothing beats Archangel’s original blue and purple suit change.
Wolvie: from his yellow and black stripes with blue, to his brown and gold, and then back to his yellow and black stripes with blue.
I would say Wonder Man got a decent upgrade or two over the years.
Hearing you say "Drip" and "Rizz" is surreal
Comic Tropes speaks like me when im at school.
The slang usage LOL, you are incredibly hip Mr. Tropes 👍
You could do an entire episode on how many different costumes the Wasp has had.
Dave Conckrum was the king of redesigns. His work on the Legion of Superheroes redefined the look of the future.
You could do a whole episode on Legion of Superheroes characters' costume improvements.
Barbara Gordon getting the leather jacketed Batgirl costume is one of my favorite modern super hero glow-ups.
Dazzler did that first.
I always liked that Firestorm redesign from the early 90's. I didn't get a chance to read any of those comics but he looked bad ass. That Dark Flash design was great as well. I missed the end of that story but I liked the so dark it looks black red with silver.
Those original black widow drawings with the first black suit upgrades are absolutely gorgeous. I’ve forgotten how beautiful them women looked in that style.
Blue Beetle went from a cop fighting Big Dix, to an inventor, to the Guyver. That is quite the upgrade
An interesting update that I always liked is the "Joe Fixit" version of The Hulk. Stay great!
You could do half an episode on Ant Mans various guises (and names)
This is a fun video. Maybe you could do a Super- Villains Glow Up for a part 2.
Love this. I would love a video where the costumes got worse. Basically the 90s outfits
He did a video on that already. Years ago. I wouldn’t mind a part two on it
We NEED a villains version of this topic!! Like The Key or Despero--Great video! Lots of fun, I would argue the Hawkeye look is lazy but makes sense. Some quick suggestions - - Wonder Man, Green Arrow, Hawkman, Huntress had some nice changes... You could do a whole episode on Iron Man updates!
Love these types of videos and seeing the history you always dive so deep into. Hawkeye's original look was actually my favorite between the two, as I've always been a fan of archer-type characters and purple being my favorite color. So many other characters out there with strange costume changes, like Daredevil!
I loved the redesign of Iron Fist from the Immortal run.
I talked with Mike Zeck about the black suit and it was crazy how ot came in to be for such an iconic look, also Zeck was a super down to earth guy!!!
Just noticed the Vampirella covers on the Spinner Rack and they look amazing! Great work, Chris.
Really enjoyed that! Thanks Chris!
Love a nice redesign.
I see a new video from ComicTropes and I have to watch it ASAP!
Love your work Chris, I hope your doing well!
Alan Davis' Captain Britain deserves a chef's kiss.
So happy you included Captain Britain. Not only a favourite of mine, but also the first character I thought of when I started this video.
I love the change in Iron Man's look from the gray, clunky Tin Woodsman armor to the sleeker the red and gold
Awesome as ever only one thing: the flash. That is not WW1 helmet. Flash was based (not just his look but him as a whole) on Hermes (in ancient greek times and Mercury in Roman), a god with superhuman speed who was messengers of gods (which is why i so love Batman's last comment from Flashpoint Paradox story). Both of them (Hermes and Mercury) are always depicted with small wings coming out of their ankles and with flat metal hat with small wings and sometimes caring kadusa (stick with two snakes wrapped around it witch is simbol that is today used for medicine). You just slap red and blue close on them and you get flash (Jay Garrick version).
I think Mar-Vell had a glow up when he switched his green/white suit for the black/red/gold suit
I think Green Arrow growing a goatee and slightly changing his costume really improved his design. It's hard to think of Green Arrow without that classic goatee.
Once again great content.Thanx