The Real Reason DC Changed How Its Heroes Looked

When it came time to bring a new version of Superman into movie theaters in 2013's Man of Steel, DC Comics' parent company, Warner Bros., had a conundrum. How do we make a costume that was first modeled after a circus strongman — a job that literally isn't a thing anymore — look good in the 21st century? Brandon Routh's suit from 2006's Superman Returns was a noble attempt at updating the comic book-perfect Christopher Reeve outfit, but it just took the classic look and turned down the brightness. The result was ... well, boring, a forgettable footnote that failed to restart the Superman franchise.

Enter Christopher Nolan and Zack Snyder, who sought to do for Superman what they'd just done for Christian Bale's Batman. The new Superman, played by Henry Cavill, would need to be not only realistically and believable, but memorable, too. The result was a textured armor, a boldly drawn logo, and — alas — no bright red undies on the outside. Sure, Cavill in the old-style Superman suit would look undeniably classic. No one would complain about the bright blue and red colors, or the old-school hairdo. But this Superman would just be an imitation, and not its own, new thing. By ditching the old threads, the DCEU's Superman is undeniably new and different. That's how you kickstart a franchise.

The original design for Hawkman just screams "first draft." It's almost as if someone burst into a tired artist's studio and said, "quick, I need a superhero named Hawkman! Get drawing!" And so the artist thought for a second, then drew a shirtless guy with a pair of wings and a hat with more wings — and an actual beak thrown in for good measure. Boom: hawk plus man equals Hawkman.

Amazingly, when Smallville decided to make the first live-action version of Hawkman, the showrunners actually stuck pretty closely to the original comic book design, though they did make the wise decision to give him some armor up top, for some added protection against, like, whatever it is Hawkman fights. Small rodents? Whatever.

Anyway, Hawkman came back to help kickstart the CW's Legends of Tomorrow series, and this time around, the designers decided to make him look significantly less stupid — if they'd gone with the classic comic look, that show would've been canceled real, real fast. Would you watch a show where one of the superheroes literally wears a feathery, hollowed-out bird's head on top of his own head?

Well, okay. Maybe you would. Maybe that might actually be the greatest show ever created. Actually, can we make that happen? Can David Lynch be involved somehow?

Let's say you're a lady crimefighter looking to make an impression on the bad guys. You see dudes like Green Lantern and the Flash, wandering around in brightly colored tights and weird hats, and you think to yourself, "nah. I'm gonna wear fishnet stockings and a leather jacket. Because reasons."

That's more or less the thought process that possessed Black Canary, who made her comic book debut in 1947 in just such an outfit. Over the years, her look has more or less riffed on this theme in different ways, with some more traditionally superheroic ensembles thrown into the mix in the 1980s. But overall, it's been a healthy mix of leather and fishnets.

Thankfully, when the producers of Arrow decided to bring Black Canary into their televised world, they smartly decided to ditch the stockings in favor of a combat-oriented leather get-up, and stick a mask on her face to help conceal her identity — which has more in common with her first comic book appearance than most of the looks she wore afterwards. If they'd gone with the usual comic book version of the hero, Black Canary would simply put on a blonde wig and a low-cut top to distract her enemies. That's not really the best strategy when it comes to fighting crime — though it definitely seems to be working for Nicki Minaj, so that's something.

For most of the heroes discussed in this article, the changes made by DC and Warner Bros. to adapt their characters for live actors has made sense. After all, tights are typically the domain of gymnasts, dancers, and contestants on American Ninja Warrior. But real crime fighters — like, say, police officers and soldiers — usually look to protect their bodies from harm with padding and armor of some kind. And so, making movie and TV versions of comic book characters seem better equipped to stop damage makes sense ... until you get to the Flash.

The Flash's costume — the Silver Age one that first appeared in the 1950s — is just about perfect in every way. He's the one character for whom skin-tight fabric makes sense, and bright red with splashes of yellow lightning bolts says everything you need to know about him. He's fast. Y'know, like lightning!

So it's a bit weird to look at the outfit that's been designed for Ezra Miller's take on the Scarlet Speedster. Like his DCEU compatriots, he's decked out in battle-ready armor, though until we see more of him in action, we won't know what else the high-tech gizmos will do. And the new outfit does make sense when compared with the rest of the Justice League: next to Batman, Wonder Woman, and Cyborg, the Flash would look awfully strange in his skin-tight red spandex. The armored look makes sense for the world that Warner Bros. has built, so hopefully we'll get an idea as to the benefits the Flash's armor will bestow upon him.

But still ... c'mon, man. That armor's gotta weigh you down, right? The Flash runs fast! And the last time science offered an opinion on the subject, adding more weight to something generally makes fast things go slower.