Over the last 10 years, we have seen quite a few different costume changes from our favorite characters in the Marvel and DC universes. Some of those costume changes were amazing and lasting, and some were thankfully quickly forgotten and reversed.
As we move ever closer to the beginning of a new decade, we wanted to take a look back and highlight a few of the best and worst costume changes we've seen from the last decade. While it would be easy to fill up this list with almost every costume from DC's New 52, we tried to not focus too much on the line-wide redesign except when applicable for their Rebirth fixes.
10 BEST: REBIRTH WALLY WEST
DC's Rebirth era set about fixing not only some of the problems created by the New 52 reboot but also redesigning some of the troubled costumes by merging them with their classic version for new, updated looks.
Rebirth kicked off with the return of the original Wally West in his classic Kid Flash costume. Using the Speed Force, Wally redesigned his look and perfectly merged his former costumes as Kid Flash and the Flash to create a new look that separated himself from the other related speedster characters in the DC Universe.
9 WORST: JIM GORDON, BATMAN
Batman famously has a number of costumes over the years, from the ridiculous (Zebra Batman) to the rad (Rebirth Batman), but during the New 52, we saw another character take over as the Batman after the disappearance of the Dark Knight during Snyder and Capullo's "Endgame" storyline. Since Gotham City needs a Batman, a new one was created.
Former police commissioner Jim Gordon took over as the new Batman, though he needed a bit of an extra edge so wore a highly advanced robotic exosuit that looked more like a robot bunny than anything we had seen Batman wear over the years. Even Gordon's streamlined Batsuit he wore inside the mecha was not one of the better versions of the iconic suits we had seen over the years.
8 BEST: IRONHEART
When Riri Williams first began her career, she created her armor using the technology of Tony Stark and her first Ironheart designs followed his Iron Man style, giving Riri the same red and gold appearance as her newfound mentor.
Thankfully Rir's newest armor tweaked the designs and added in more of her own style, creating a new Ironheart armor that stood out on its own as a new character instead of just another Iron Man armor. Riri's new armor is visually one of the more impressive armors we've ever seen and definitely takes the lead in the last decade.
7 WORST: QUICKSILVER
Pietro Maximoff/Quicksilver has never been known for having the best costume and is often a victim of "if it ain't broke, don't fix it." Quicksilver's classic white and blue costume has seen a few different variations over the years, but his look has always remained consistently average.
However, in the last few years, Pietro has adopted a new look with a new color scheme that just doesn't really work for the character. This costume first appeared during the Uncanny Avengers run and replaced a sleek high-tech blue and white look with this purple and white generic suit with a fast-forward icon for a symbol that does nothing for his speed profile.
6 BEST: CAPTAIN MARVEL
Carol Danvers has a pretty large collection of costumes to go along with her equally lengthy assortment of superhero identities, starting way back when she first became Ms. Marvel in 1977. She would finally accept the role of her friend and mentor Captain Marvel after years of struggling to find her own identity.
Carol's new costume reflected the same color schemes as her original costume, which was itself based on the designs of Mar-Vell's red and blue costume. However, Carol's new suit would also be inspired by Carol's time with the USAF and take on a more militaristic feel, which we've recently seen brought to the big screen in the MCU.
5 WORST: HAL JORDAN, RENEGADE
It can be hard to introduce costume changes to characters like the Green Lantern Corps, as they are basically a military unit that requires its members to wear a uniform. There have been a few alterations to the basic GLC outfit when new characters like Guy Gardner or Kyle Rayner get a ring, but for someone like Hal Jordan, it often takes a turn to the dark side to get a new costume.
This happened to Hal Jordan during the New 52 when he was forced to become a renegade and adopt a new low-key costume. So Hal channeled his time as the Spectre and wore a white bodysuit with a green overcoat and a glowing GL gauntlet that was not low-key at all. And while an overcoat usually automatically makes anyone cooler, Hal's renegade phase is the exception.
4 BEST: SPIDER-WOMAN
This might be a divisive entry considering that Jessica Drew's original Spider-Woman costume was amazing, and the character has since reverted back to it with her appearance in Strikeforce and her own upcoming solo series.
However, when Spider-Woman first took on the new costume it was an incredible updating of the character that gave her a functional and stylish alternative to her usual superhero style that better fit her non-Avenger lifestyle of a superpowered investigator/mom. We're happy to see her back in her original costume, but we're still sad to see this one go.
3 WORST: PRESTIGE
Rachel Summers has a long history of names and costumes beginning with her initial costumed identity of Phoenix, though when she distanced herself from the cosmic force she continued to follow in her mother's footsteps as the new Marvel Girl.
RELATED: 10 Times Rachel Summers Was The Most Powerful Mutant In The Marvel Universe
Rachel's struggle to find her own identity took a step backward when she adopted the name Prestige and a new generic superhero-esque costume during X-Men Gold. This costume would go through a few changes as they tried to make it fit the character, but she thankfully returned to her more Hound-like costume for the "Dawn of X" relaunch.
2 BEST: REBIRTH BATGIRL
Batgirl is another character who hadn't had as much luck in the costume department since Barbara Gordon returned to the role. Her first New 52 costume was tactically sound and followed the same lines as the rest of the Bat-Family, but left Barbara behind, whereas the Burnside costume brought out the Barbara but left the Bat-family behind.
However, Sean Murphy redesigned the character's costume to reflect her original costume while updating it for a new look that perfectly captures the personality of the character while still looking sleek and modern, finally showcasing the best of Barbara and Batgirl.
1 WORST: DRAKE
As fans of Tim Drake/Robin III/Red Robin we fully support his evolution into a new costumed identity, much like the Robins before went on to become Nightwing and Red Hood. We can even support his new name of Drake, even though it obviously causes identity problems, which as someone who discovered the identities of the dynamic duo originally should know.
However, we just can't get behind this costume, which doesn't seem to have much of a theme beyond "Robin mixed with Ronin" and doesn't say much about Tim's new identity as Drake or his abilities. And while we love the bat insignia on his belt buckle, that would give pre-Flashpoint Tim all the clues he needed to discover Batman's secret identity. Way to go, Drake.