Superman is the most iconic superhero of all
time, but his costume hasn’t changed much since it first appeared in Action Comics #1
so many years ago and that’s odd considering that the outfit (especially the red trunks)
are based off of circus strongmen from that era. That’s not to say that people haven’t
tried though. In fact, redesigning the Man of Steel’s
look is incredibly common over at DC Comics, but I’m here to take a look at the worst
of it in my opinion. And I’ve got to get this out of the way
right here at the top of the video. “THESE ARE MY OPINIONS. IT’S FINE IF YOU DISAGREE!” If you like any of the suits that I talk about
then cool, but anyway, let’s dive in. Let’s start things off by looking at one
of the dumbest trends of the 90s, power armor. Dude, back in the day, artists loved to throw
power armor on every character that they could and oftentimes, there were just as bulky and
clunky as they were unnecessary. These were so pervasive that even the Man
of Steel wasn’t able to escape becoming a… man of steel. In a storyline called the “Krisis of the
Krimson Kryptonite”... Why did they make them Ks? They didn’t have to! In the story, Lex Luthor gets his hands on
a piece of Red Kryptonite which depowered Superman by turning him into a human. As a result, the not so Superman needed this
power armor in order to compensate. With a fishbowl helmet, big red shoulder pads,
a metal belt, form fitting biceps, and flesh colored gauntlets, this is one of the dumber
armors of the 90s. I mean if you’re going to take the effort
to create a drastic new type of costume, at least try to do something unique with it. This whole outfit is just “What if Superman
was made of metal?” which doesn’t even make it memorable enough to laugh at. This is one of the only instances where armor
was actually necessary for Superman since for some reason, artists just love to adorn
him with it which makes NO SENSE considering that his main power is being strong enough
to not need extra protection. I can kind of look past it for more sleek
armors like the New 52 suit or the one that he briefly used in Superman Unchained. I still don’t like them, but they’re not
terrible. Unliiiike… This armor that an alternate universe Superman
wore in “The Dark Knight III: Master Race”. Is this going to be a trend? In order to weaken a group of Kryptonians,
The Flash made it rain synthetic Kryptonite which meant that if Superman wanted to protect
himself, he needed to wear this monstrosity. It channels major Steel vibes while also bloating
it up like a Hulkbuster in order to mirror Batman’s Anti-Superman armor. The design of the suit itself is very plain,
but I don’t understand some of the… more unique design choices like why does it need
a belt? But moreover, WHY DOES A SUIT OF ARMOR NEED
HAIR AND LIPS?! It’s just weird, man. Let’s hop off the trend of armor for just
a little bit. Don’t worry, we will be back. But I want to jump towards one of the most
iconic Superman outfits of all time. We briefly touched upon it in my “Worst
90s Costumes” video, but when Superman was killed during a fight with the villain Doomsday,
he came back sporting a mullet and this boring black onesie. The neckline is also SUPER wide which is something
that my research calls a “boat neck”. While the silver motif is made clear with
the symbol on his chest and as well as his armbands, it’s hard to see the little silver
toe guards which… why? Now Supes very briefly got some matching flight
boots in order to help him out since he was a little bit depowered at the time, but the
whole costume is pretty uninvolved. Easiest way to fix that in the 90s? Straps and guns! This costume did make a brief comeback in
2015 during the Lois and Clark series where the neckline was fixed, a belt was added,
and the silver was toned down. Without the guns and by moving all that extra
hair from his his mullet to his face, I actually really like this redesign! I think also one of the main reasons why I
think it works better here is because this Superman was kind of using it as a stealth
outfit so it actually makes sense on a practical level. However, another notoriously bad outfit that
Superman took on in the 90s was during a rematch with Doomsday. To give him a leg up in order to hopefully
not die this time, Superman was borrowing a borderline magical living computer called
a Mother Box which gave him a brand new costume that came with a couple of extra gadgets and
MY GOD, where to begin?! This new costume completely replaced Clark’s
old one, being darker and coming with a larger cape. It then went full 90s by adding a head sock,
plenty of straps, one golden arm reminiscent of Cable, bulkier boots that look like he
accidentally ordered a size too big so he needed to strap them on so they wouldn't fall
off, and a freaking sword! Remember, these weren’t just attachments
over Superman’s normal outfit. This is all new meaning that this cluttered
look was totally intentional. Why do you need so many straps, my guy? They completely cover your family’s crest. Also, what’s the point of still rocking
the red undies when you have a golden loincloth over it?! Oh and we haven’t even touched upon the
weapons yet! So there’s an ultrasonic gun and an energy
sword, both of which were powered by a cord that comes out of his leg. Like I get that this was the 90s and that
was the level of technology available, but this is already magical alien technology. I’m really surprised that they didn’t
just go full lightsaber instead of this weird power cable that would severely limit a sword’s
movement. To add insult to injury, this costume and
weapon set didn’t even help Superman! He had to beat Doomsday by teleporting him
to the end of time! So why bother with this in the first place? Was it sell toys because you don’t need
a canonical reason to do that. Like how about this figure that was made to
tie into Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice? Now, Action figures getting new designs and
weapons outside of their source material is nothing new. That’s one of the main reasons why the Ninja
Turtle toys were so popular, but this so called “Epic Battle” Superman is… odd. It features a turtleneck cape with built in
cape shoulder pads that look more like a neck cast than gear for a “epic battle”. There’s also just so many bumps. It looks like corn. Oh and I guess there’s also an axe as well. Now, early designs for this figure actually
included a shield as well, but believe it or not, that shield was actually taken away
so that it could be used as the basis for a completely different figure. Look, it’s Shield Clash trademark Superman
trademark! God, these are just so bad! Okay so admittedly, I do dislike this next
design a lot more than most people so I’m totally prepared for the rain of dislikes. Look, I really do tend to like the art of
game designer, Tetsuya Nomura, and although I’ve made fun of how Kingdom Hearts and
Final Fantasy characters are made out of zippers and belts, I unironically do love Lulu’s
literal belt dress. What I don’t like though are Nomura’s
superhero designs. As a part of Play Arts’ DC Universe Variant
line, Nomura redesigned several iconic DC characters. Again, his Superman isn’t all that bad,
but it feels off. I mean it is a heavily armored design like
we already talked about, but this Supes just doesn’t look like a hero in my opinion. With how bulky and menacing this all is, it
sort of looks like General Zod decided to become Superman. Alternatively, those fingerless gloves, heels,
and dem hips kind of makes it look like that if you changed the S to a W then it would
be a pretty alright Rule 63 Wonder Woman figure. Also, I know it’s not costume related, but
I do actually dig how Nomura reworked Superman’s iconic hair curl into this super anime style,
but that still doesn’t excuse the random purple crotch. Another design featured in my 90s costume
video was the one used by Superman Blue. With an all new electrical powerset, Clark
became pure energy and needed a containment suit in order to literally hold himself together. This new outfit is a pretty generic costume
for a character with electricity powers with lightning bolts on his limbs and the arrows
pointing to his… other limb, but this is freaking Superman. His costume shouldn't be this generic. Most of his other bad costumes are still somewhat
unique. But I guess DC was confident enough to double
down on this considering that later on, Clark was actually split into two nearly identical
looking entities, giving birth to Superman Red as well. That being said, I really don’t think that
this is a bad costume overall. It’s a lot better than some other 90s creations,
but it’s just not a good Superman outfit. Now for this video, I’ve mostly been talking
about more elaborate costumes that add a lot onto Superman’s traditional garb or change
it up in a dramatic way. So let’s scale things back a bit to the
most basic of basics. When the post-Flashpoint universe started,
Superman didn’t have his standard suit from the get go which led to him fighting crime
in jeans, a cape, and a Superman t-shirt which he actually later swapped out for a white
one that’s reminiscent of Supergirl from the animated series. Although this was replaced by his main costume
later on, Clark actually went back to the t-shirt when he was publicly outed as Superman
by Lois Lane, got significantly depowered, and his normal suit was torn to shreds. While he originally passed on a new Superman
shirt in favor of one that says “Eat your greens!”, he opted for the logo tee after
a fight since as he told Jimmy Olson, the cat was out of the bag already so why not? With pieces from his tattered cape wrapped
around his fists, Clark did what good he could without the need for a secret identity. I think what the creators were going for in
both instances of the shirt and jeans look was to signify a Superman that’s wasn’t
as his peak, but while I think it works as a temporary outfit for when he was just starting
out, I can’t help but shake my head at it the second time since it looks better on Superboy
and Mr. “I AM A MAN!” from the alternate universe “Superman: At Earth’s End”
book. He looks dumb, but it’s not really the costume’s
fault. It’s kind of just that large gun. Let’s end things off today with another
alternate universe book, the often overlooked one-shot “Superman’s Metropolis”. Based on the groundbreaking silent film “Metropolis”,
this book takes place in an undefined future and as a result, the Superman suit looks very
retro-futurist, but not really enough for this book in my opinion. This design looks like a swashbuckler although
I much prefer the design of the actual pirate Superman. I’m not a big fan of the crest morphing
into this whole body thing and the two tone contrast on the torso feels a bit weird to
me, but at the same time I kind of think that the artstyle as a whole is what makes this
look weird from my perspective. So I actually want to pass this off to you
guys. Do you think that this suit or any of the
other ones that I talked about in this video are really that bad? Let me know yes or no down there in the comments
below. Hopefully you liked this video. If so, make sure to like, subscribe, do all
that other YouTube stuff. I’m going to use the revenue I get from
you guys watching more content to buy more props… and pay rent, but mostly to buy more
props. I mentioned it a few times in this video,
but I actually did a previous episode on “The Worst 90s Comic Book Costumes”! So if you liked this one, that’s probably
going to be up your alley, but anyway, I hope you learned at least a little something new
and hopefully I’ll see you next time!
