We drove down to Austin to see Zachary Scott's production of Lin Manuel Miranda's In the Heights for the Saturday matinée on June 17th.  We paid $25 each for our front row seats.  I love it that Zach has the program that sells cheaper seats so that us poor teachers can afford to go see some professional theatre.  We have been dying to see this show ever since we were introduced to Hamilton.  We still want to see Hamilton, but the closest the tour is coming to Waco is San Antonio and the tickets are so far out of our price range, it's ridiculous.  So we'll just have to wait another 8 years for LMM to write another hit so someone will do a Hamilton revival and then we'll be able to afford to see that.

​ The curtain was up while we were being seated and I spent the whole time studying the set. The set was so detailed it was like a character all by itself.  Later, when I took time to read the program, I was surprised to find out that this production used the original set designed by Anna Louizos. What a wonderful treat to be able to see it. The set was truly amazing. Here's the way it looked in the opening number.  

​The costumes were designed by Scott Westervelt, who is currently the wardrobe supervisor for Hamilton.  I've been trying to find contact info for Scott so that I could ask for an interview, but I have been unsuccessful so far.  Since I never saw the original Broadway production I have no idea how Scott's designs compare.  I really liked the costumes.  They were a wild mix of fun prints and patterns. lots of bright colors, and accessorized with lots of funky belts, shoes, and jewelry.

​Michael Balderrama, the director and choreographer, started as  the dance captain for the original off-Broadway production, and, after the show closed, went on to direct and choreograph the second national tour. He was also the choreographer for the Chicago production of Hamilton.  Here's one of the really cool dance sections.  The show had a cast full of amazing dancers.  I know I keep using the word amazing, but I can't help it.  They were just that good.

The lighting design was by Sarah EC Maines.  She also happens to be the lighting design prof at Texas State.  Here's the spray-painting effect.

Merchandise available for sale in the lobby: a LMM prayer candle.  Love it!  If they hadn't wanted $20 for it, we'd have bought one.  Too funny.

The Chronicle: "Review of Zachary Scott's In the Heights"
Broadway World Austin: "In the Heights: Zack Wows with Modern Classic"

In case you missed either of the earlier posts on this topic, here's the links to them.  They will open in a new page.
PART ONE: COMIC BOOKS
PART TWO: THE ORIGIN OF THE SUPER SUIT

Superman was the first superhero comic, published in 1938. He's the oldest of the DC Universe coming up on his 80th birthday next year.  Superman (or Kal-El) gets his superpower from his alien biology interacting with our yellow sun.  By day he's Clark Kent, mild-mannered reporter, by night he's an all powerful superhero fighting for truth, justice, and the American way.

In all his incarnations he basically wears the same thing, a blue unitard with red briefs, boots, and cape.  Big red S on his chest.  The blue has gotten both darker and lighter over the years.  The briefs have become briefer, but the classic lines of his aerodynamic suit have remained unchanged throughout his eighty year history.  You just don't mess with the classics. 

Superman and the Mole Men, 1951 Izzy Bern
Adventures of Superman TV Series,1952-58 Izzy Bern
Superman, 1978 Yvonne Blake
Superman II, 1980 Yvonne Blake
Superman III, 1983 Evangeline Harrison
Superman IV: The Quest for Peace, 1987 John Bloomfield
Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman TV Series, 1993-97
Brad R. Loman, Judith Brewer Curtis, Darryl Levine
​Smallville TV Series, 2001-11 Caroline Cranstoun, Melanie Williams
Superman Returns, 2006 Louise Mingenbach
Man of Steel, 2013 Michael Wilkinson
Batman V. Superman: Dawn of Justice, 2016 Michael Wilkinson
​Justice League, 2017 Michael Wilkinson

There have been twelves attempts at translating the Superman supersuit into a costume so far.  Maybe George Reeves didn't have the best body for this costume, but there was nothing wrong with Christopher Reeves', Dean Cain's, or especially Brandon Routh's. The Smallville T.V. show was a fresh approach to all of the characters and as a costume designer I can appreciate the journey they took us on over the course of the 10 seasons. I would consider all of these costumes successful right up until Zach Snyder came along and took over the DC films.  

​In Snyder's world, Superman, a character made super by the sun, is now in a gritty, dark film that has no sun.  The first thing the Snyder/Wilkinson team did was made his red briefs disappear.  Somehow, without the red briefs, it makes him look more naked and I certainly notice his penile bulge WAY more than I did when he had that extra layer of fabric covering it. I feel this was a mistake. Then they decided his suit needed to look more like Batman's armored version, a decision I don't agree with, instead of the classic, very light stretch knit it's always been.  Superman doesn't need to be armored. Superman can repel bullets naked.  The third and biggest mistake was taking all of the colors in the suit (and the world of the film) and desaturating them.  Yes, that works with Batman, he's gritty and dark, he operates in a world that's gritty and dark, but Superman doesn't.  Give him back his color.  

Tyranny of Style articles: 
Superman's First Big-Budget Film Franchise Suits
​Hits and Misses--Superman Suits in the 90's and early 2000's 
Soaring into the 21st Century--Superman's Man of Steel Suit
​People's Choice: "Batman V Superman Costume Designer Reveals one of the Superhero Suits will have hidden Kryptonian Script"
​Hollywood Reporter: Batman V Superman Costume Designer on Wonder Woman's Suit, Bruce Wayne's Custom Gucci Looks

Supergirl made her first appearance in 1959 and is now coming up on her 60th birthday.  Her suit is very similar to her more famous cousin's with the classic blue top, red skirt, cape, and boots.  However, unlike Superman, and because she is a woman, her suit fashions change more rapidly and drastically as you can see in the infographic below.

Supergirl, 1984 Emma Porteous
​Smallville TV Series, 2001-11 Caroline Cranstoun, Melanie Williams
​Arrow TV Series, 2012-present Colleen Atwood, Maya Mani​
The Flash TV Series, 2013-present Colleen Atwood, Kate Main, Maya Mani​
Supergirl TV Series, 2015-present Colleen Atwood, Kiersten Ronning
​​Legends of Tomorrow, 2016-present​, ​Vicky Mulholland

Supergirl has only had three live action incarnations, two on the small screen and one film, starring Helen Slater. If you'll look back up to the infographic, you'll notice that the comic version of Supergirl at the time the Helen Slater movie was filming, was sporting a red headband, a la Olivia Newton John or Jane Fonda or really any other working out video from the 80's.  Emma Porteous included the red headband on Helen for a screen test and fortunately someone came to their senses and nixxed it.  This is why trends are bad and shouldn't be followed.  Stick with the classic suit design and you'll be OK.  

​The Smallville costumes speak for themselves.  I find them highly entertaining. The keep Laura Vandervoort in the right color palette the whole series and by the end all she really needed was the S.

Which is exactly what Colleen Atwood has done with the new version of the suit worn by Melissa Benoist in her own series as well as the crossover episodes on Arrow, Flash, and Legends of Tomorrow.  

Letterpile: "Supergirl Costume History"
Metropolisplus: "The Amazing Outfits of Supergirl"
Interview with Colleen Atwood: How TV's Supergirl Got Her New Look
Variety: Costume Designer Colleen Atwood on Making the Heroes of Flash & Arrow Look Super
​LookLive: "Supergirl"

Captain Marvel was created in 1939, the year after Superman, and holds the distinction of being the first superhero character to be made into a film. In fact this caused quite the controversy and the publishers, Fawcett Comics, were taken to court because Captain Marvel was too similar to Superman.  To make the "longest legal battle in comic book history" story short, over the course of ten years DC sued, lost, appealed, then won and Fawcett ceased and desisted making Captain Marvel comics. Fawcett  had to pay DC a large sum of money and subsequently folded. Sixteen years later, Marvel trademarked the name Captain Marvel and started up a new series where he is a Kree alien. In the intervening time, DC had bought out Atomic who had bought out Fawcett and now owned the character it had once said was a Superman infringement. They owned the character, but not the name and that's why DC had to call their 1974 TV show  Shazam! as well as whatever new movie/s that may or may not be forthcoming in 2019.  FYI, the Shazam costume doesn't change.  It's a classic and the comic book artists leave it alone.  Aerodynamic red unitard with white cape, yellow trim,  belt, bracers, lightning bolt on the chest, and boots.

Adventures of Captain Marvel film serial, 1941 no designer credited
Shazam!, 1974-77 Thalia Phillips
Legends of the Superheroes, 1978 Warden Neil
Shazam!, 2019 no designer attached yet

It's interesting to me that the first film of this superhero, the costume deviates from the comic book quite a bit. And it came out only two years after the character was created. The comic character's suit hadn't changed at all.  So why deviate from the source material? The double breasted military button tunic is all wrong. Not to worry, Thalia Phillips got it right thirty years later. I spent a great deal of time watching the Shazam T.V. series when I was a kid.  I loved it.  And you'll notice that the costume used for Legends of the Superheroes two-part TV special that came out the year after the TV show was canceled, looks EXACTLY the same, because it is.  They couldn't get the same actor, but they got the same suit.  You'll get to see more of this ill-fated, low budget special, so don't worry.

​No leaked photos yet of the new, possibly two-parter Shazam movie starring the Rock as Black Adam, but I'll be interested to see them when they drop.

Batman was introduced in 1939, just one year after Superman. Bruce Wayne was born into a wealthy family with a mansion and a butler, only to have his parents killed while he was still a boy.  This gave him the impetus to become a crime-fighting vigilante who's superpower is his wealth.  He has Wayne Industries make all his utility belt gadgets, cars, planes, a Bat-copter, you name it.

His supersuit design was also of the aerodynamic type: usually a grey unitard, black or blue briefs, and alternating between blue, black, or grey boots, cowl and cape, yellow utility belt, black bat, sometimes on a yellow field chest logo. Batman had on briefs through the 1960's, then lost them, then got them back in the 2000's, then lost them again.  The underlying design principle here is that it's dark, not shiny, and is easily concealed by shadows.  Also, that it's lightweight and isn't weighing him down while he's busy scaling buildings or punching bad guys.

Batman, film serial, 1943 no designer credited
Batman and Robin, 1949 no designer credited
​Batman: The TV Series, 1966-68  Pat Barto
Batman: The Movie, 1966  Pat Barto
​Legends of Superheroes, 1978 Warden Neil​
Batman, 1989  Bob Ringwood
Batman Returns, 1992 Bob Ringwood
Batman Forever, 1995 Bob Ringwood, Ingrid Ferrin
Batman and Robin, 1997 Ingrid Ferrin, Robert Turturice
​​​Birds of Prey, 2002 Chrisi Karvonides-Dushenko, Sara Markowitz​
Batman Begins, 2005 Lindy Hemming
The Dark Knight, 2008 Lindy Hemming
The Dark Knight Rises, 2012 Lindy Hemming
Batman V. Superman: Dawn of Justice, 2016 Michael Wilkinson
Suicide Squad, 2016 Kate Hawley​​
Justice League, 2017 Michael Wilkinson

​The early Bat Men (like the early Super Men) did not have great bodies for playing superheroes, certainly by our contemporary standards.  I don't think anyone thinks of Adam West's body being particularly super, so the costume of the bat suit doesn't look like all it should be on them. Nevertheless, I adored the 1960's TV show and watched it every chance I got. I had a huge crush on Robin. Yes, it was campy and entirely too shiny, but that is why I adored it.  These were costumes that were clearly trying to BE something. And unlike the Superman TV series, Batman had all the best villains who had all the best costumes, but that's a topic for a whole other day.  Here's the theme song, because it was the best of it's time:

​There is one appearance of Batman (and Robin) that needs pointing out now, so I can dispense with it early: Legends of the Superheroes, 1979.  This was a two-part TV special that came on in the wake of the Superfriends animated television show's popularity. Fortress of Solitude's Rick Austin has a play by play for you to read if you're of a mind.  It's bad. Many of DC's popular characters were included.  And Adam West and Burt Ward came back to play the Dynamic Duo once again in their very same ten year old costumes. Here's a group photo:

Because of the 60's TV series being so campy and so fresh in the collective pop culture memory, the rebirth of the Batsuit in film sought to make it more armored and especially more muscle heavy. I doubt Michael Keaton's physique was all that and a bag of chips, so by god we're going to make our actor look like Arnold Schwarzenegger even at the expense  of not allowing Michael to move with agility or even turn his head. How annoying that must have been to act in.  I got to personally fondle the Bob Ringwood era suit when CSULB was doing costumes for the Batman Stunt Show.  That suit had the muscles sculpted in, they all do.  This is the trend that has continued to the present day.  Being a fan of the Frank Miller Dark Knight graphic novels, I would rather see an aging, paunchy Batman in a suit he can move in than, for example, Ben Affleck, the buffest of the Bat Men to date  (6'4", 228 lbs with 7.9% body fat) in an armored, muscle suit. Why do this to your actor? He doesn't need it and I don't understand why Snyder/Wilkinson think that he does.

But no discussion of the Bat suit would be complete without mentioning the Bat nipples of the two Joel Schumacher films.  What the hell was that? FYI, Bob Kane was horrified saying, "Whoever heard of nipples on the Batsuit?" The three costumes worn by Kilmer and Clooney stand out as the least Batman-like of all the suits to date. Besides the whole nipple problem, they are entirely too shiny.  Batman is supposed to hide in the shadows, not star in his own Vegas revue. They are an anomaly best skipped over and forgotten about.

The Dark Knight trilogy directed by Christopher Nolan and designed by Lindy Hemming may be faulted for once again putting an actor in an armored suit he doesn't need, but at least Christian Bale could move and turn  his head.  And his suit was matte rather than glossy enabling him to actually remain hidden in the shadows.

I've already said how much I don't like the Snyder/Wilkinson DC films that involve Superman.  I am OK with their dark, gritty world for Batman because that's the world he was designed to inhabit.  I like how they've gone back to the Frank Miller Dark Knight aesthetic for the Batsuit including the much larger bat logo on his chest. I just wish the movie had been better.

Decades: "A Brief History of the Batman Costume in Hollywood"
​CLIPD: 14 Photos Showcasing the Amazing Evolution of the Batsuit in Film
People's Choice: "Batman V Superman Costume Designer Reveals one of the Superhero Suits will have hidden Kryptonian Script"
Hollywood Reporter: "Batman V Superman Costume Designer on Wonder Woman's Suit, Bruce Wayne's Custom Gucci Looks"
​Batrman News: "Ironhead Studio: Meet the man who created the costumes for Batman V Superman"

Robin made his debut the year after Batman. as his companion, The Boy Wonder.  Dick Grayson was the original ward of Bruce Wayne.  Dick continued in this role till the early 1980's when he joined the Teen Titans, eventually became Nightwing and then went superhero-ing on his own. Dick was replaced by Jason Todd in 1983 until he was murdered by the Joker five years later.  Tim Drake then took on the Robin mantle, then Stephanie Brown, then Damian Wayne. Each of them eventually joined the Teen Titans, ended up with their own Superhero identities like Nightwing before them, becoming Red Hood, Spoiler, and Red Robin.  Let us not forget Carrie Kelly who took on the mantle for Frank Miller's Dark Knight books.

​Batman and Robin, 1949 no designer credited
​​Batman: The TV Series, 1966-68  Pat Barto
Batman: The Movie, 1966  Pat Barto
​Legends of Superheroes, 1978 Warden Neil​​
​Batman Forever, 1995 Bob Ringwood, Ingrid Ferrin
Batman and Robin, 1997 Ingrid Ferrin, Robert Turturice

The Robin supersuit is supposed to be an actual circus trapeze artist costume.  Jules Leotard would be so proud.  The colors are always red and green with a yellow cape. Unfortunately for Robin, he doesn't make a lot of appearances in film.  We have the 1966 TV series costume, which was perfect.  And then we have the Joel Schumacher fiascoes.  I must admit, I was a little giddy to see Robin's origins as part of his family's trapeze act finally on film.  However it doesn't override the atrocity of the other two costumes.  Too big, too muscley, too shiny, and the last one was the wrong color. Yes, I know he's supposed to look like Nightwing in this costume and not Robin.  I don't care, it's awful. What the hell was Schumacher smoking?

Batgirl was introduced in 1966 (after a not very successful version called Batwoman ten years earlier) and just had her 50th birthday last year. The Silver Age debuted as Barbara Gorden, the niece of Commissioner Gordon.  She gets to see Batman and Robin fight crime first hand and wants to help.  She spends a brief period in the late 80's (paralyzed from The Joker's bullet) becoming a reference librarian to fight crime as Oracle. But it doesn't take long till she makes a full recover and goes right back to fighting crime as Batgirl.

You'll notice on the info graphic below that her costume changes drastically and frequently.  You might wonder why her costume changes so much when the boys' costumes didn't really change that much over a longer period of time.  The answer is because Batgirl is female and as such is subject to the whims of fashion.  Girls always have to have new clothes every season, so why would Barbara Gorden be any different?

DC Comics: "Building a New Batgirl: An interview with Babs Tarr"

​Batman: The TV Series, 1966-68  Pat Barto
​Batman and Robin, 1997 Ingrid Ferrin, Robert Turturice
​​​Birds of Prey, 2002 Chrisi Karvonides-Dushenko, Sara Markowitz

Like Robin, Batgirl has only had a few appearances, two TV shows and I one film. The TV show costumes were infinitely more successful than the Joel Schumacher trainwreck previously discussed. ​The iconic 1960's TV series costume is my favorite-- purple unitard with purple and gold cape. The Birds of Prey costume looks entirely different from the one poor Alicia wore, so I'm thinking you'll be surprised to find out that Dina Meyer is wearing Alicia's unfortunate costume.  Yes, they just repainted it to be more consistent with her original appearance in 1966, even if it is still too shiny to remain hidden in shadows. The one big problem that new paint can't fix is the way it's constructed.  There is a clear visual  line of demarcation that goes across her boobs and is very distracting. The costume is an overbust corset being worn over a latex shirt.  And where the bat logo is placed on her chest only makes the line more obvious. The bodice should have been all one piece.  At least Birds of Prey added a cowl. It's really quite amazing what the designers were able to do to remake that atrocity into a much better, more consistent to the source material costume. Thankfully Joss Whedon is taking the helm of the next appearance of Batgirl.  I'll keep you posted.

www.filmscouts.com "Batman & Robin: About the Production"
World of Entertainment: "Retro Review: 'Birds of Prey'"

The Flash appeared in 1940, clearly a legacy of Jesse Owens and also dressed aerodynamically.   Golden Age Flash was Jay Garrick, He wore blue pants. red shirt with a yellow lightning bolt logo, silver helmet and red boots. His helmet and boots were adorned with the yellow wings of Mercury. Silver Age Flash was Barry Allen.  His costume got rid of the blue pants and helmet, trading them in for a sleek red unitard and cowl, and yellow boots.  This costume remains largely unchanged to the present day. Wally West, Barry's nephew, took on the speedforce in the Bronze Age, then Bart Allen, Barry's grandson, in the modern age.

​Legends of the Superheroes, 1978 Warden Neil
The Flash TV Series, 1990-91 Bob Miller, Lee Dawson
Justice League of America, 1997 no designer credit
Smallville TV Series, 2001-11 Caroline Cranstoun, Melanie Williams
Arrow TV Series, 2012-present Colleen Atwood, Maya Mani​
The Flash TV Series, 2013-present Colleen Atwood, Kate Main, Maya Mani, Caroline Cranstoun, Farnaz Khaki-Sadigh
Supergirl TV Series, 2015-present Colleen Atwood, Kiersten Ronning​
Legends of Tomorrow, 2016-present, Vicky Mulholland​
Justice League, 2017 Michael Wilkinson
The Flash, 2020 Patrik Milani

The Flash is a really popular character and has ended up with the third most appearances of any DC character after Superman and Batman.  For whatever reason, his costume always looks great, even in the bad, aforementioned Legends of the Superheroes, and more especially in the crappy, no designer credited 90's film no one saw.  How is it that even with no money, the Flash still comes out looking great?

In between those two, there was the first TV series starring ​John Wesley Shipp in the early nineties. His suit was given to him by STAR labs and was a Soviet prototype. It is an overly-muscled unitard that looks just like the comic books. Unfortunately it only lasted one season.  Then we get Smallville's Bart Allen in his track suit hoodie and sneakers, but with regular pants and a leather belt.  it's still a great look. Present day Flash is a great show that makes really good use of the previous series' actors and plots to enhance the history and events of the current show.  I like how we've done away with the overly muscled suit from the nineties.  Runners are lean, and Grant Gustin is lean in his streamlined suit.  If you read the interview with Colleen Atwood, you'll discover that the fabric his suit is made from was commissioned by the show and was designed with tiny lightning bolts in the mesh.  They don't read on camera, but they are there, a detail that makes the costume designer in me smile.  And we don't just get the Flash, we get Golden Age Flash, Reverse Flash, Kid Flash, and a whole host of other speedsters on the show.

You'd think with the success of the TV show, DC wouldn't need to include the Flash in their grab for cinema success.  But the Flash will be in the forthcoming Justice League and will get his own movie.  It won't be Grant Gustin in the suit, however, he's too busy being successful on the small screen. We've got just one image to talk about and I already hate it. Nothing about this suit says aerodynamic.  Everything about this suit says wind drag.  It's a mish-mash of patched-together strips of armor  over a black mesh unitard with fingerless gloves, of all things.  It looks like they made it out of fruit rollups and just bandaided them over the unitard. Even the Wings of Mercury look like they are in danger of falling off once he gets going.  Again, thanks Snyder/Wilkinson for this crappy costume.

Variety: Costume Designer Colleen Atwood on Making the Heroes of Flash & Arrow Look Super

Green Lantern was introduced in 1940, the same year as the Flash. Green Lantern has a magic ring and lantern that enables him to temporarily create things utilizing his own mental energy. In the Golden Age he was business man Alan Scott. In the Silver Age he became Hal Jordan, test pilot. During the Bronze Age we had both Guy Gardner and John Stewart.  Then Kyle Rayner, Simon Baz, and finally a female, Jessica Cruz.  Earth's Green Lantern is only one member of a corps of intergalactic peace-keeping police force that patrols all of the known universe. 

In his first appearance he is mostly green with the exception of a red shirt that has the green lantern logo on a yellow field (oh no! he's allergic to yellow!) The Silver Age redesigns his costume getting rid of the red alltogether and making his torso uniformly green with black on his arms and legs and changes the yellow field to white. That design (like the Flash) remains unchanged to the present day.

​Legends of Superheroes, 1978 Warden Neil
Justice League of America, 1997 no designer credit​
​Green Lantern, 2011 Ngila Dickson

Green Lantern has had a TV special and two movies and none of them were any good. The first aforementioned Legends of the Superheroes makes him look like he's wearing a giant baby's onesie, but at least they got the colors and shapes right, even if the construction is lacking.  The Justice League of America movie he's wearing a teal, vinyl, double-breasted vest with a notched collar and matching boots, over a black unitard. He looks like he's about to go skiing.

Now we can talk about the craptacular Ryan Reynolds film.  My feeling is that there was entirely too much time and money spent on the green screen CGI off-world stuff and not enough on the script. The first photo is the promo shot that's all about the CGI ehancement.  The last photo is of the suit with no CGI enhancement and it's a pretty good looking suit.  If only the movie had seen that it had a great suit without all the CGI and spent more time making the script better.

Wonder Woman was introduced in 1941. Having read The Secret History of Wonder Woman by Jill Lepore, I could go on and on about her.  If you haven't read it yet, you should.  Here's a link to a book review, "The Freaky Fabulous, Feminist 'Secret History' of Wonder Woman". that will make you want to go out and buy it right now.  To sum up, Wonder Woman was created out of both the women's suffrage and birth control movements of the 1920's.  She was the original symbol of feminism and women's rights in a time when women were just beginning to have a taste of freedom and power.  While men were off fighting in Europe, women were left behind to run the homes, the machines, the factories, the businesses, the war effort.  And even though a man invented her and another man drew her, it was a trio of women who informed her stories, her appearance, and her character.

Her costume remained really consistent for the first 50 years: red top with gold eagle logo, blue bottoms with white stars, red boots, gold tiara, belt, rope, and silver bracelets. Her costume is the most patriotically American of all the DC superheros. The only thing that significantly changed in the first 50 years was her bottoms. She started off in culottes (what we would call a skort today); it was not a skirt because as was pointed out to the artist by the women, a skirt would be up over her head anytime she was engaged in superhero-ing. So the culottes became less skirt-like and more shorts-like although baggy, then became tighter shorts. You may be surprised to learn that her costume got the comic on the banned list for being insufficiently dressed when the Comics Code Authority reared its ugly head in 1954. By 1969, her "insufficiently dressed" shorts had become low cut briefs, then high cut briefs.   

​For a much more in-depth analysis please see Carol A. Strickland's blog.  It's 16 pages long with tons of pictorial evidence.

"Who's Afraid of Diana Prince?" unaired pilot, 1967
Wonder Woman, 1974  Bill Thomas
Wonder Woman TV Series, 1975-79 Donald Feld, Lennie Barlin
Smallville, 2001-11 (one episode) Lois Lane disguised as WW.
Wonder Woman unaired TV pilot, 2011
Batman V. Superman: Dawn of Justice, 2016 Michael Wilkinson
Wonder Woman, 2017 Lindy Hemming
Justice League, 2017 Michael Wilkinson

Until I started researching Wonder Woman, I was only aware of Lynda Carter and the brand new Gal Gadot versions of her. So, like me, you were probably unaware of the other three (or four) appearances of the Wonder Woman character in film and TV.  The first ever appearance was an unaired pilot, Who's Afraid of Diana Prince?, which made the odd choice to cast two actresses, one as Diana and the other as Wonder Woman. The costume she wears is based on the Golden Age comics where she wears culottes rather than briefs.  Not a good look for anyone. Then there was a dreadful movie with Cathie Lee Crosby wearing an outfit that has NOTHING in common with anything ever worn by Wonder Woman up to that point.

Third time's a charm, and we get the wonderful Lynda Carter series where Wonder Woman dressed exactly like she did in the comics. In the pilot she wears a skirt over briefs rather than the culottes like her Golden Age character, but the effect is the same.  She then swtiches to low cut briefs, then high cut briefs.  As the series goes on she even gets specialty versions of the costume just like in the comics.  There's the fabulous cape, a wetsuit with fins and a hood for swimming, pants for horse-riding, the wetsuit retro-fitted with helmet and goggles for motorcycle riding, a different helmet and elbow pads for skateboarding (safety first, kids) and the white beachy swimsuit for Paradise Island.

The show itself doesn't really stand up to close scrutiny on a re-watching DVD binge, but the theme song makes it all worthwhile.  Best superhero theme song EVER.  In case you are doubting the power of music and words, here are the lyrics for the first season's theme song of the show. Scroll down and you can watch the video at the same time.  You're welcome.  I can't listen to it without crying, it's that powerful.

All the world is waiting for you and the power you possess
In your satin tights, fighting for your rights
And the old red white and blue

Wonder Woman! Wonder Woman!

Now the world is ready for you and the wonders you can do
Make a hawk a dove, stop a war with love
Make a liar tell the truth

Wonder Woman! Get us out from under, Wonder Woman

All our hopes are pinned upon you and the magic that you do
Stop a bullet cold, make the axis fold
Change their minds and change the world

Wonder Woman! Wonder Woman!
You're a wonder, Wonder Woman!

The only problem with these lyrics is that tights aren't made of satin, ever.  Silk, yes, satin, no. Nice try, Norman Gimbel, but you should have asked a woman to proofread.

Sorry, I went a really long way down that bunny trail. I can't help it that she's my favorite character and there's been so very little of her on TV or in the movies.

​​The next WW costume we get is the Lois Lane "Amazon Woman" costume she wears while undercover on an episode of Smallville.  That costume is reminiscent of a cross between actual Greek armor and Xena.  The knee high sandals are way too strappy for me.  The series was not allowed to use the WW name or character because they were in development on the failed Adrianne Palicki pilot.  Speaking of, Adrianne's costume isn't as bad as the Cathie Lee one, but the pants just ruins what might have been an OK iteration.  I was afraid that her boobs were going to fall out if she did any vigorous superheroing.  At least the colors are bright.

Then we have the dreadfully desaturated costume seen on Gal Gadot in Batman V. Superman last year.  You are already aware of how I feel about Snyder/Wilkinson and their propensity to desaturate the costumes.​ I am so glad that the new Wonder Woman film was not done by the Snyder/Wilkinson team.  Wonder Woman belongs in bright colors, so thank you Patty Jenkins and Lindy Hemming for that.  You may remember Lindy from the Dark Knight trilogy.  The amazing thing about this new version of WW's costume is that it doesn't show off her boobs or butt.  No danger of her boobs falling out while running; in fact, no visible cleavage whatsoever.  Huge props for not using Gal Gadot's sexuality to sell tickets.  As women we are used to seeing our superheroes highly sexualized, it has been a problem for a long time. I'm so glad that I could take my daughter to this movie and have her see a woman who is a heroic role model and not a sex object. Hopefully that version will stick around through the Justice League reshoots, and maybe Joss will improve upon it.

FYI , Gal Gadot had to reshoot one scene after principal photography had wrapped by which point she was 5 months pregnant with her second child.  According to Buzzfeed, her costume had to have the belly cut out and green screen fabric inserted for the reshoot.  Good thing it was only one scene!

MeTV: Every Lynda Carter 'Wonder Woman' Costume, Ranked in Order of Wondrousness"
​MeTV: "The Original Concept Sketches for the 'Wonder Woman'TV Show Costume are both gorgeous and revelatory"
​New York Daily News "Wonder Woman gets major costume makeover; DC Comic's iconic super heroine sports new look"
Comicbook.com "Batman V Superman Costume Designer Talks New Look for Wonder Woman"
Screenrant.com "Batman V Superman Costume Designer Talks Relevant Wonder Woman"
iDigitalTimes "Batman V Superman Movie: Wonder Woman Promo Art Reveals Superhero's New Cape"
​People's Choice: "Batman V Superman Costume Designer Reveals one of the Superhero Suits will have hidden Kryptonian Script"
​Hollywood Reporter: Batman V Superman Costume Designer on Wonder Woman's Suit, Bruce Wayne's Custom Gucci Looks
Hello, Tailor: "Rationalizing Wonder Woman's Amazon costumes"

Like Wonder Woman, Green Arrow also started in 1941 and is clearly referencing Robin Hood.  Green Arrow is Oliver Queen, a billionaire playboy like Bruce Wayne, turned vigilante. Money is his super power; money for toys like specialty bows and arrows. Green Arrow is always dressed in green but his tops have varied between short sleeves, long sleeves and one sleeve.  He needs his gloves to protect his hands and forearms from his bow string. His early incarnations sported the ubiquitous Robin Hood hat with feather, but later versions he just wears a hood.

Smallville TV Series, 2001-11 Caroline Cranstoun, Melanie Williams
Arrow TV Series, 2012-present Colleen Atwood, Maya Mani
​The Flash TV Series, 2013-present Colleen Atwood, Kate Main, Maya Mani 
Supergirl TV Series, 2015-present Colleen Atwood, Kiersten Ronning
Legends of Tomorrow, 2016-present, ​Vicky Mulholland

We only get two small screen versions of Green Arrow.  Justin Hartley joined the cast of Smallville in 2006. He was dressed in a green vinyl stripey jumpsuit. The Mystic Force team of Power Rangers was also on the air in 2006. That costume was designed by Gavin McLean. Coincidence? I think not.  You can draw your own conclusions.  I have included the Green Ranger for comparison.  Yes, I am making fun of Green Arrow here, I can't help it.  Everything else on that show was really good right up until they asked me to buy Oliver Queen as what was clearly the Green Ranger that my son was watching at the time.

By comparison the costumes on Arrow are much more realistic.  I realize the costume's colors are darker than the comic books and I know that you are thinking that I don't like it when they do that.  But Arrow is a much darker show, than say Flash or Supergirl.  So yes, I am ok with the vigilante suit being much darker.  I am especially ok with it not being SHINY!  Like Batman, Arrow does his creeping around at night.  Matte fabrics are his friend.

CBR.com: "The History of Green Arrow from Golden Age to 'Arrow'"
​Screenrant.com: "The Complete History of Green Arrow"
​TV Insider: Outfitting Arrow's Alter Egos: Details from Designer Maya Mani
​Variety: Costume Designer Colleen Atwood on Making the Heroes of Flash & Arrow Look Super
​Scifistackexchange.com "Is Oliver's Costume Armored?"

Speedy, Roy Harper Jr., also appeared in 1941. Roy Harper was Oliver Queen's companion for 60 years until he finally joined the Teen Titans (like Robin) and became Arsenal. Mia Dearden took over as Oliver's companion soon after she was introduced in 2001.  Mia also went on to join the Teen Titans.  Arrow screws this up and has Oliver's sister Thea nicknamed Speedy while Roy becomes the sidekick and uses the name Arsenal.  When Roy leaves,  Thea takes over but isn't referred to as Speedy anymore.  I really like the Speedy costumes on Arrow.  Roy's jacket/vest is made of two colors of leather, red and black, while Thea's is dyed using an ombre technique (from the 30's) so that the jacket gradually changed from red at the top to black at the bottom.  

Black Canary was introduced as a love interest for Oliver Queen/Green Arrow in 1947. Dinah Drake was the first Black Canary during the Golden Age, then her daughter Dinah Lance took over during the Silver Age. Her super power is her sonic scream, but she is also a highly trained martial artist. Her costume has varied considerable over time as do all female characters who follow fashion trends.  There is always black in the color palette, which makes sense, and more often than not, blue. Later on, the artists began adding in yellow accents.  Black Canary shows a lot of leg.  Her costume is definitely designed to be sexually appealing. 

​​Legends of the Superheroes, 1978 Warden Neil
​Smallville TV Series, 2001-11 Caroline Cranstoun, Melanie Williams
​Birds of Prey, 2002 Chrisi Karvonides-Dushenko, Sara Markowitz
​Arrow TV Series, 2012-present Colleen Atwood, Maya Mani

Black Canary has had four appearances on the small screen.  Legends of the Superheroes has already been discussed. They went with the original 1947 blue/black design with what looks like black fishnets over blue tights.   She's wearing a black jacket over a black bustier/leotard with black boots.  I feel like her boobs are in danger of falling out of it though. The mask is perfectly oversized and being worn over perfectly blonde hair. 

​Smallville copied their look straight out of the comics that were being published at the time, including the yellow stripes on her gloves and boots. Birds of Prey apparently didn't have the budget to do anything more than black pants and a vest with high heeled boots that could have come from any store at the mall.  In Arrow, she has gone all black leather all the time. The only special accessory she gets is the domino mask, that her comics counterpart hasn't worn since her first appearance in 1947.  Don't get me wrong, I like my superheroes in masks, But our Sarah Lance's mask is not over-sized.  I just wish Colleen Atwood would have done something a bit fancier for her to go vigilante-ing in.

EW: "DC's 'Legends of Tomorrow' brings a Canary back to life"

The Atom was introduced in 1940, the same year as Wonder Woman. He began as Al Pratt, a short, 98 pound weakling.  He trains with a boxer to defend himself and only later gets atomic super powers. In the Silver Age, The Atom gets a whole new backstory.  Now he's Dr. Ray Palmer, a teacher and scientist who invented a method for shrinking down his own body.  The Silver Age suit is an aerodynamic red and blue  with the atom symbol on his chest.  He also wears a blue mask.

The Source: "The History of the Atom"

Justice League of America, 1997 no designer credit
Arrow TV Series, 2012-present Colleen Atwood, Maya Mani​
The Flash TV Series, 2013-present Colleen Atwood, Kate Main, Maya Mani​
Supergirl TV Series, 2015-present Colleen Atwood, Kiersten Ronning​
Legends of Tomorrow, 2016-present, Vicky Mulholland

Just two costumes to mention here.  Atom's first appearance was on the big screen for the 1997 Justice League of America movie. This Rockem Sockem Robots love child costume leaves much to be desired.  It's no wonder there's no designer listed.  The Arrow/Legends of Tomorrow costume comes off much better.  It's still been over-armoured and is not at all the aerodynamic suit depicted in the comic books, however, at least I'm not laughing at it.  And best of all, Brandon Routh seems to be able to move in it.

Fashionista "How the Superhero Costumes on 'DC's Legends of Tomorrow' are Made"

Hawkman and Hawkgirl first appeared in 1940 in Flash Comics.  In the Golden Age, Hawkman was Carter Hall, an archaeologist who discovers that he is a reincarnation of Ancient Egyptian Prince Khufu. He discovers a magic Nth metal that he fashions into a belt and wings and allows him to fly.  Hawgirl is his wife Sheira Sanders. In the Silver Age, Hawkman was a winged alien from Thanagar where he was respected police officer, Katar Hol. His wife's name was Shayera Hol. Both iterations existed simultaneously until Zero Hour when they merged into one being with organic wings that retracted into their backs.  The whole story is really more convoluted and confusing than that, but I gave you the simplified version.

Hawkman wears green tights, red briefs and boots, yellow suspenders over a naked chest, that are joined in front with a red seal.  He has wings and wears a feathered headdress with a mask.  Hawkgirl is actually less naked than Hawkman, wearing the same green tights and red boots, but wears a red tunic which later turns into a red bra top, and yellow belt in the Golden Age.  In the Silver Age, her tunic turns into the same red briefs as Hawkman worn with a yellow skimpy bodice. In the Bronze Age, she loses her top alltogether and just has gold suspenders to cover her nipples. Fortunately this trend does not continue.  Hawkgirl gains more costume to cover her cleavage in the Modern Age.  This is when both Hawkman and Hawkgirl get a new color palette makeover.  The green and red become coppers and golds.  This phase doesn't last long and we go right back to the classic red, yellow, and green.

Gizmodo: "The 10 Hilariously Confusing Origins of Hawkman"
Gizmodo: "The Many, Maddeningly Convoluted Lives of Hawkgirl"
​Weminoredinfilm.com: "The Evolution of DC's Hawkman and Hawkgirl in Animation and Live Action"

​Legends of the Superheroes, 1978 Warden Neil
​Smallville TV Series, 2001-11 Caroline Cranstoun, Melanie Williams
​Arrow TV Series, 2012-present Colleen Atwood, Maya Mani​
The Flash TV Series, 2013-present Colleen Atwood, Kate Main, Maya Mani​
​Legends of Tomorrow, 2016-present, Vicky Mulholland

Hawkman appears in three television shows while Hawkgirl only shows up in the last one. In Legends of the Superheroes Bill Nuckols wears the classic Golden Age version of Hawkman-- green tights, red briefs, and yellow suspenders.  His wings appear to be metal (rather than feathers) and unfortunately his hawk mask appears to be made out of cardboard.
​
In Smallville Michael Shanks is wearing the Modern Age version of metallic neutral color palette with breastplate armor underneath his strappy straps.  His wings seem to be of the feather variety.

Legends of Tomorrow Falk Hentschel and Ciara Renee have stayed in the metallic neutral color palette and their costumes seem to be leather, rather than metal, with their feathered wings being totally CGI and hardly ever seen on the show.  CGI is expensive.

Fashionista "How the Superhero Costumes on 'DC's Legends of Tomorrow' are Made"
​LookLive: "DC's Legends of Tomorrow"

​Aquaman was also introduced in 1941.  In his Golden Age history he fought Nazi U Boat commanders. In the Silver Age, he became Arthur Curry, son of a lighthouse keeper and an Atlantean. He is traditionally seen in orange and green with scales and fins and his trusty trident.

NewsaRama: "Aquaman Evolution: From Laughingstock to New 52 Rock Star"

​Aquaman: The Cast of the Angler (short), 1984 Lori Collier
Smallville TV Series, 2001-11 Caroline Cranstoun, Melanie Williams
Justice League, 2017 Michael Wilkinson
Aquaman, 2018 Kym Barrett

The first live action appearance of Aquaman was in a short film made by UCLA students who got the rights from DC to make it.  It won an award. Seriously.  And you can see it on Youtube right here.​  FYI the budget was $10,000 and even in 1984 that was a pittance.  I'm sure they spent all their money on the camera and film.  Poor Lori Collier probably got about $10 to make the Aquasuit. It looks like his scales were drawn on with a sharpie marker.

Smallville's iteration was a great interpretation of the source material.  It has all the right colors, exactly the right brightness, very aerodynamic, and I really love the piping details. I also love the bit where his character attends the University of Miami which is a great explanation for his clothing choices since their colors are orange and green.

Our first look at Jason Momoa's costume is another of the Snyder/Wilkinson desaturated tragedies that we can only hope Joss Whedon will fix in reshoots.  However, I found this poster of the upcoming Aquaman stand alone movie that seems to have WAY more color and mirth than the Justice League version.  Kym Barrett is listed as the designer, so that explains it.

Cyborg was created in 1980.  His name is Victor Stone, he was badly injured when his parents were experimenting with  portals to a different dimension so his father rebuilt him with bionic parts, like Steve Austin. Victor was mad at his father for turning him into a cyborg so he left and ​immediately joined the Teen Titans.

​Smallville TV Series, 2001-11 Caroline Cranstoun, Melanie Williams
Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice, 2016 Michael Wilkinson
Justice League, 2017 Michael Wilkinson
The Flash, 2020 Patrick Milani
Cyborg, 2020 no designer signed on yet

Right now we can really only talk about the Smallville costume.  Contrary to the comic book, Cyborg only looks like one on the inside.  Only Superman can see his metal skeleton with his xray vision. He appears to be wearing black pants, a grey compression shirt (he was a football player after all) and a silver vest with hood.  I guess that's supposed to mimic the steel plate that substitutes for the left side of his face in the comics.  He also sports silver sneakers and a big ass utility belt.

​We only get a glimpse of the actor's naked torso in Batman V Superman, but we do have  a Justice League poster we could talk about.  I'm sure that Michael B. Jordan filmed this movie wearing a motion capture suit and that all the "costume" bits are really green screen technology.  But at least he actually looks like he's part machine.  No sparing the digital dollars there.

 Watchmen, 2009. Michael Wilkinson.

Alan Moore wrote Watchmen in 1986-87.  The story revolves around the premise that a group of costumed vigilantes calling themselves the Minutemen in the 1940's, helped fight crime and paved the way for a second later group, calling themselves The Watchmen who came to the fore in the 1960's and helped America win the Vietnam War thus changing our history and edging us toward WW III with the USSR by the late 80's.  It's an alternate and dystopic view of current events.  It's really hard to explain it if you haven't read it, so here's a synopsis if you need it.

It took till 2009 for someone to film this "unfilmable" book.  And guess who did it?  The infamous Snyder and Wilkinson team of the current crap DCU is putting out lately. What I don't understand is how the Snyder/Wilkinson team could make this movie with COLOR in which the costumes look more or less, just like the costumes from the graphic novel but 5 years later can't do the same thing with Superman, Batman, or Wonder Woman?  What is wrong with you people?  And Watchmen is the dystopia.  Superman and Wonder Woman don't live in a dystopia.  But enough of my whining, let's get back to the Watchmen costumes.

The most successful costumes  are the Minutemen from their flashback scenes in the 1940's.  Those costumes look EXACTLY like the ones in the book.  Even their pose for the photo is the same.  Brilliant!  And look how bright those colors are!  After the Watchmen movie came out, DC published seven pre-quel books on The Minutemen.  Maybe, if we're lucky, those will get made into a feature film someday. According to TVweb, HBO is in development on a Watchmen TV series, and not the one with Zack Snyder at the helm from 2015, that one is a no go. This one will have Damon Lindelof at the helm and be completely different.  

The Watchmen themselves are overall pretty good.  Rorschach, our humble narrator, looks exactly the same.  The Comedian is another perfect translation, as is Silk Spectre II and Dr. Manhatten, although there's really no costume involved here.  He spends most of the movie naked, blue, and made from CGI.  But compared to other uses of CGI (cough, cough, Green Lantern) Dr. Manhatten is both warranted and not overdone.

​That just leaves Nite Owl and Ozymadias.  This is where the team got away from the source material to the detriment of the movie.  I should spell it out for you if you aren't familiar with the book, that none of the Watchmen have super powers, except for Dr. Manhatten who got caught in a particle generator and now exists on a quantum plane far above us lowly humans. But the rest of them, they are just ordinary folks out there on the streets fighting crime. The only one who is even wealthy is Ozymandias. Nite Owl is no billionaire playboy, yet his suit in the movie looks like the Dark Knight Batsuit designed by Lindy Hemming four years earlier.  Night Owl is supposed to have a grey body suit like Adam West with brown briefs, cape, hood, gloves, and boots. Movie Night Owl is in an all black, muscled, rubberized Batsuit.  It's definitely cool-looking, but we don't need another Batman.  What we wanted was Nite Owl and that wasn't it.  

Ozymandias has the same problem.  He's wealthy, his businesses are booming, he's got a line of Ozymandias action figures and other toys that sell really well.  So he's got money and his suit should look like it. His original costume is a purple tunic and cape draped over a gold bodysuit, embellished with a gold collar and belt, and purple shoes. He is the brightest, shiniest star in the Watchmen superhero firmament in the graphic novel. He definitely reads rich compared to the other Regular Joes in the group. Movie Ozymandias is wearing a GREY!, muscled, rubber suit like Nite Owl over which he wears a very short, dark, purple skirt, cape, and gloves, with tarnished gold bracers, collar, belt, and diadem. Yes, there's gold, but it's dark.  And the grey body suit that is the base of the whole things brings both the color and wealth aspect way, way down.  I feel like these two costumes were the beginning of the darkening of the entire DC Cinematic Universe.  It all started right here.  It's a damn shame.

Elle: "Michael Wilkinson on Watchmen's Characters"
Vimeo: "Watchmen Interview with costume designer Michael Wilkinson"
Captain Steve Zissou: "Underrated Movie of the Week--Watchmen"