Top 10 Worst MCU Costumes
There’s two things people look at superheroes for in movies. One is for the deep and moving connection we get to see in people who inspire the human race to the best of their abilities. The other is seeing people in costumes fighting other people in costumes. Or in some cases robots, monsters, and the like. The first one’s subjective, but the second one depends an awful lot on how good a guy can look defying human limitations and fighting evil in colored tights. The MCU has been pretty good in bringing superheroes to the big screen and making them look cool, but alas, not everything is perfect. Here are just ten of the worst costumes in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
10. Ant-Man
Ant-Man’s costume is not by any means terrible, hence why it’s so low on this list. After all, people were more likely spending time trying to make a movie about a guy who shrinks and talks to ants interesting. They succeeded, for the most part, but the costume doesn’t exactly meet superhero heights. Sure it’s bright enough and manages to keep the helmet, but something like that with the leather/metal linings and details make it nearly impossible to look serious running around or performing acrobatic ant tricks, not to mention making it probably the hardest in MCU to cosplay. For that reason, it makes this list.
9. Daredevil
I will say that I hate this costume a lot less than I did its first introduction, but Daredevil’s costume is just lousy. It might make sense to turn it into armor as opposed to the more acrobatic suit of the comics as well as the 2003 movie, but this Daredevil still relies on his moves as well as his punches. The bulky barely-red quality of the suit makes it look like a hassle to flip-kick a guy, and about the only things that resemble the Daredevil quality are the horns on his helmet. When this is the first iteration of Daredevil to look like this, it was bound to make some people’s low lists.
8. Any Asgardian
Granted, not all the Asgardians are superheroes. The point is that they’re gods which is why the look like ones. However, the Thor movies need to portray many of these people as powerful forces and fighters in the midst of looking like the most expensive Renaissance fair. The armor helps in some of the costumes, but it’s way too grandiose to take seriously. And comparing Thor to Thor: The Dark World, it’s better for things to be less serious.
7. Mark XLII
This is more of a personal preference since I just don’t care for yellow on really any hero or villain, except maybe Yellowjacket since that was a given. I understand that it’s light gold, but here, it just looks yellow. The design just takes it out of the original Iron Man design without really doing anything different. It honestly makes you wonder why they even bothered with up to forty-two designs when they keep using versions like this.
6. Captain America from The Winter Soldier
Here’s where we start getting to the bottom half of the list. Captain America has been portrayed fabulously in the movies and has had some good costumes. The Winter Soldier costume was not one of them. Basically, this costume shouldn’t be darker than the one he wore in an actual world war, but it is. This costume just thinks that if it sticks a star on a uniform, it immediately makes it Captain America’s suit. It barely contains the classic blue quality of the comics and overall just feels dull. Following the heels of The Avengers which had possibly his best costume, this outfit’s just nothing but a disappointment.
5. Quicksilver
Quicksilver’s outfit is just a glorified body suit. There, I said it. It’s barely a costume, much less a good one, and it’s completely wasted thanks to his death. It’s hard to imagine this version being rivaled by the X-Men universe’s Pink Floyd-t-shirt-wearing, goggle-sporting version, but that manages to look cooler than this picture. It just doesn’t have any creativity beyond being something he’d wear because…he’s running? Scarlet Witch doesn’t truly have a costume in the movie either, but at least hers has personality. This one’s just there.
4. Mockingbird
Another Marvel show was bound to show up here eventually. It’s hard to consider this a Mockingbird costume since Bobbie Morse is never once referred to as Mockingbird in her run on the show. It’s one thing for Quicksilver to be shafted in the costume and hero department after one movie, but Bobbi is a character for more than a season and her hero treatment’s not much better. The costume has some design to it, more than the body suit, but that’s also all it is. A body suit. Any real agent could have worn it, and she’s supposed to be a hero. At least its better than the Wonder Woman one.
3. Falcon from The Winter Soldier
Another hero with no really creative look, Falcon’s first appearance had left a lot to be desired, especially with abandoning all relations to the color red. His costume improves slightly with additional appearances and a couple of red stripes, but it never rises to full superhero level. Since this is the first version on the big screen, this definitely makes the higher part of the list for getting the look off on the wrong foot. We may never really see a good spandex suit again because of him.
2. Whiplash
Villains are not immune even though they usually die before we can really criticize them. Easily the worst of them is Iron Man 2’s Whiplash, which is not only ridiculous looking but also downright illogical. It’s giant electric whips attached to a shirtless man in the middle of a racetrack if you recall. What’s the worst that could go wrong, I guess? Even if it was practical, it couldn’t be saved as a costume, and, even worse, gives a lousy first impression of what’s supposed to be the major villain in a major sequel. Things like that are unforgivable. And then his second suit just looks like the previous film's Iron Monger. But with whips. If they had at least made it red it would've been a nice wink to the fact that this vilian is an amalgamation of Whiplash and the Crimson Dynamo.
1. Hawkeye
Of course a hero tops this list because they of all people should know better. Now, Hawkeye got the short end of the stick in the first Avengers movie, but this should be used as a warning to every future superhero against what looks awful, what looks uncomfortable, and what just could never work in a saving-the-world situation. I could go on about how it barely looks like a costume, especially compared to the rest of the team. I could go on about how the purple is barely visible as a signature color. I could even go on in questioning how the frick do his arrows stick in his quiver. Instead, however, I’m just going with he’s sleeveless. That’s enough.
