Depending on how you count, Steve Rogers has appeared in between six and ten films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and in NONE of them has he gone into action in his trademark folded-down corsair boots. For years, the red cuffed footwear has been an intrinsic part of Cap’s look, right up there with the notched gloves and the wings on his head, both of which have at least been attempted on film. Having done extensive research into the costume of the various Captains, I’ve come to one important conclusion: The corsair boots are NOT optional, leading to today’s cobblery query…
The MS-QOTD (pronounced, as always, “misquoted”) has equally strong opinions on Superman’s notched boots, Spider-Man’s underarm webs and Batman’s glove-spikes, asking: Where do YOU stand on Captain America-style corsair boots?
6 Comments
Good on paper and stylish to boot. (pun intended). Not practical otherwise for a running engagement.
It’s absolutely alarming how many heroes and villains go with the floppy ol’ buccaneer boots despite their real world awkwardness. The X-Men characters alone, just single boots a-flyin’ and ankles a-rollin’ if they have to rush somebody.
Obviously in comics, i love it. It’s impractical, it’s clumsy, but it’s ink on paper so physics don’t matter. They evoke the style those swashbuckling Errol Flynn heroes of yore, your musketeers, your captain bloods, your robins hood….
Live action tho, horrible. Can you imagine Chris Evans having to duck walk everywhere so those floppy folded down flaps don’t slap and squeak together?
They serve the same kind of visual purpose as a cape. They can provide a flowing, energetic line that provides a sense of motion and action in a static image. I’m willing to bet that Todd McFarlane over-accentuated them, even if it wasn’t to the extent of Spawn’s cape. In a static medium, they are as indispensable as Superman’s cape.
But, they’re not as iconic as Superman’s cape, or Batman’s cape. If you are to list the important elements of Captain America’s regalia, they come maybe fourth on the list after shield, head wings, and big letter “A.” In a translation to live action, it’s one of those artifacts of static visuals that can be elided or excluded in order to make a believable presentation. There is motion and action provided by other elements of the film medium, so they are not needed, and if they are impractical then they can go because they are really not all that iconic to the character.
And finally, Chris Evans’ Captain America DOES go into action wearing cuffed boots… with the USO. It may not be fist-flying action, but it is important action for both the in-world fundraising and morale boosting and for the meta-action of character building and developing.
This.
I came to wax on about kinetic energy akin to a cape and you beat me to it!
Whaddya mean there wasn’t any fist flying action??? He knocked out Hitler over 200 times!
I like corsair boots but I absolutely DEMAND scale armor.