Comic books movies are big business for Marvel and DC. Superhero movies are the biggest in the land, box office titans that bestride the theater landscape, wrecking all that is in their way. Sometimes, this extends to the source material as well, as comics are often changed to more closely match their cinematic counterparts. Marvel is notorious for this but DC isn't immune either.
One of the easiest changes to make that puts the comics more in line with the movies is to change the costumes. It won't usually offend comic readers too much and gives a visual synergy between the movies and the comics.
10 In The '90s, Batman Was Given The Black Movie Costume Even Though The Schumacher Movies Weren't Exactly Beloved
Batman exploded in popularity thanks to 1989's Batman, but changes from the Batman movies took time to trickle into the comics. When they did, it was at a very strange time. The Schumacher movies didn't have the same audience and critical reception as the Burton ones, but this didn't stop DC from putting Batman in the all-black movie costume in the mid-'90s.
Batman would rock all the all-black look until Jeph Loeb and Jim Lee's Hush, when Lee would bring Batman back to the blue and grey, but there's no doubt that Batman looked great in all-black. It fit his dark creature of the night aesthetic.
9 The Samuel L. Jackson Nick Fury Has An Interesting History In The Comics
The origins of Samuel L. Jackson's Nick Fury stretch back to The Ultimates, when that universe's version of Nick Fury was presented as a Sam Jackson look-alike. Jackson was a comic fan, so he loved it and when the role of Nick Fury came up, of course he was cast. This set into motion a chain of events that changed Nick Fury forever.
Nick Fury Jr. was introduced into the main Marvel Universe, looking like the MCU version. Eventually, he would lose the Jr. part and completely supplant his father as the Nick Fury of the 616 universe, a move made complete by Original Sin.
8 Doctor Strange's Costume Was Changed To Be More In Line With The Movie Look In The 2016 Doctor Strange Series
Doctor Strange is one of the MCU's most powerful characters and while his look was reminiscent of the comics, it didn't exactly have the costume quality that the comic Strange did. The mid-2010s was the height of Marvel going for the movie-comic synergy, so when Jason Aaron and Chris Bachalo began their new Doctor Strange series, they went more for a movie Strange vibe.
Gone were some of the costume-y touches of Strange's costume, replaced by the more rumpled and lived-in look that movie Strange had. While Strange has gone back to a more classic look in the comics, for a time he looked like he walked out of the MCU.
7 With Iron Man, The Comics Took Inspiration From The Movies & Vice Versa
Comic Iron Man and movie Iron Man are very different but one place where they converge is in their costumes. The interesting thing about Iron Man is that the two separate mediums took marching orders from each other. In the beginning, the Adi Granov armor was obviously the inspiration for the movie armor but as time went on, the designs would blend and meld, taking inspiration from each other in different ways.
Iron Man's armor is the easiest to make comic accurate because it's not overly costume-y but that goes the other way as well. In the comics, it's easy to make the armor look like the movie armor because of Stark's long history as a tinkerer. The way the two versions took inspiration from each other was always interesting.
6 Thor's Short Hair Debuted Just As Thor: Ragnarok Was Showing Thor Without His Flowing Locks
In the comics, Thor was always known for his long blonde hair, something that followed him into the movies as well. Until Thor: Ragnarok, that is. That movie had the God of Thunder getting his hair cut and when this was revealed in preview images, a funny thing happened to the comic Odinson. Suddenly, his long hair vanished.
For years, Thor kept this same short-haired look in the comics, much like he did in the movies. In the recent Donny Cates and Nick Klein Thor series, his hair has returned to its longer length, something that coincidentally matches the movies as well.
5 Darkseid Has Returned To His Classic Look Post Zack Snyder's Justice League
Darkseid isn't really known for a lot of drastic costume changes, as usually, Jack Kirby's costumes are near-perfect designs. This is one of the reasons it was such a shock in the New 52's opening Justice League arc that he had a new costume. This look would stay around for years but after the Snyder Cut of Justice League showed a more classic look for Darkseid, DC followed suit in Infinite Frontier #0.
Returned to his original look and drawn by the inimitable John Romita Jr. in his last work for DC, this return to form for the God of Evil looked amazing, even keeping the darker colors of Darkseid's DCEU version.
4 Hawkeye Lost His Old Purple Costume After 2012's The Avengers
Movie Hawkeye is another character who took his cues from The Ultimates, as his costume in 2012's The Avengers was basically the Ultimate Universe Hawkeye costume. This would presage changes for the comic Hawkeye, as his fully masked, royal purple costume would be discarded for a look that was more in line with the movies.
While his comic costume and movie costume were never exactly alike, the fact that he lost such a classic costume design as the one he'd worn for years in the comics when the movie premiered was more than a coincidence. One thing that hasn't changed is his dedication to being a hero.
3 Scarlet Witch's Costume Has Recently Undergone Some More MCU-Like Changes
WandaVision finally gave Scarlet Witch a costume that was more in line with the comics. The ultra-powerful Avenger has been recently seen in a costume that is more like the one introduced in the MCU, down to the changes in her headdress. It's probably the biggest change to the comic costume and just a weird one to make in general.
While on the one hand giving Scarlet Witch in the MCU a more comic-accurate costume finally is nice, making changes to her current costume, as seen in the teasers for the Darkhold story, is just kind of bizarre.
2 Captain America Was Given A More Movie-Accurate Costume During The First Marvel NOW! Publishing Initiative
Most comic fans remember the comic-accurate costume from Captain America: The First Avenger and how it was basically mocked by the movie. The resulting costume took cues from the Ultimate Universe costume, highlighting the differences between movie and comic Cap, and those cues would be taken over to the 616 Universe in the post-Avengers Vs. X-Men Marvel NOW! soft reboot.
While the costume looked tougher and more militaristic, the loss of the classic wings on his helmet, the helmet replacing the cowl, and the lack of visible chain mail was a bit off-putting to comic readers. His costume has since gone back to normal in the comics.
1 The X-Men Went To The Black Leather Look After The Movies Came Out
The Fox X-Men movies went out of their way to also mock the comic costumes of the team, and the comics would soon follow suit. When Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely took over X-Men, rechristening it New X-Men and beginning that classic run, their X-Men went from the more colorful costumes of before to something that looked like the movies.
While they weren't exactly the same and Morrison made sure to include a reason for the change to their comics uniforms that makes more sense than any of the myriad MCU costumes changes of latter years, a lot of fans missed the old costumes.