One of the more memorable lines (in a good way, not like the ‘Toad struck by lightning’ bon mot) from the original X-Men movie was Cyclops’ quip about Wolverine wanting to wear yellow spandex. Many a fan has questioned why a stealthy samurai hunter/assassin would ever choose to wear gold, but equally questionable is the reason why Havok would ever choose his hoopy headdress, or why Captain America had tiny wings on his cowl for so many years. Fashion is something of a crapshoot anyway, and superhero fashion doubly so, judging from the sheer number of hack comedians who have made a joke about Superman and Batman’s external trunks since 1938. Certainly, many of these issues can be written off as the peccadilloes of the characters (like Bruce Banner’s proclivity for purple stretch pants) but sometimes, you just have to wonder what was in the creators’ minds, which in turn begs a query…
The MS-QOTD (pronounced, as always, “misquoted”) never understood cartoon Kara Zor-El’s choice to dress like a Disney princess whose outfit shrunk in the wash, asking: What superhero uniform seems least appropriate for the character who wears it?
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Robin: Big Red and Yellow child target, and the little green booties?
Starfire: His lady love in a metal Bikini accenting the teens clevage and protecting little.
Invisible Boy (Mystery Men): Only when using his power.
Legion of Super-Heroes (Female Members): When designed by Dave Cockrum. 30th century Earth may have different standards, but their stripperific outfits will not be allowed on my daughters as teens. remember, most of those Legionairres were under 18.
Actually, there was a rather nice explanation for Robin’s costume in one of the Bat-issues, hell if I can remember which – something about how the bright costume was Robin’s daring, carefree, “Here I am, bad guys, I laughingly mock your attempts to shoot me!’ attitude.
But yeah. The Legion’s outfits for the women made very very little sense.
Most people with capes, really. It works well for Superman, but with everyone else.. I think it would be a hindrance in a fight.
Also, Deathstrokes New 52 costume. The armour looks too heavy to even walk in, much less capably fight with.
That’s Liefeld for you.
As an addendum to Slappy’s, how about Cosmic Boy’s bustie he was wearing for a while?
Huntress’ costume with the exposed midriff. It is titillating, yes, but also very careless to not armor one of your most vulnerable body parts.
Red Sonia, or any of the many clones of sword and sorcery dames who prance around in chain mail bikinis (or less). Hello, the whole idea behind armor is to protect your vitals… not to leave them exposed (in more ways than one).
There’s actually a pretty good in-story explanation for it. Still not very practical, but it’s better than some random costume with no story.
Ms Marvel, a tough, capable, ex-military and long standing Avenger. Wears a completely generic costume conveying none of that and makes her look like a stripper.
Underdog. Because dogs don’t wear clothes.
sorry, couldn’t resist.