dc has a lot to be proud of when it comes to the many ways it has inspired countless cosplayers to transform themselves into batman, superman, wonder woman and many of the publisher's other beloved characters. you can't really take more than a few steps inside of a convention hall before running into a popular dc hero or villain. we certainly wouldn't bet against seeing more than a few harley quinns at your local comic con. it's a testament to dc's wonderful stable of characters that so many people want to pay tribute by designing their own versions of the costumes.
related: 15 cosplayers way more attractive than the superheroes they play
but sometimes, with great cosplay comes great customization. some cosplays would make dc blush big time, whether because of the steamy way the costume is presented or just because it borrows elements from marvel heroes. (we suspect the latter would bother dc more!) from stripped down harleys to pin-up versions of wonder woman and black canary, there are quite a few scandalous dc cosplays to choose from. cbr has found examples of quite a few cosplays that would never fly had dc any say on what fans can and can't do with its characters at conventions.
15 wonder woman
this pin-up wonder woman by cosplay butterfly is a more stripped down reimagining of themyscira's greatest warrior. this cosplay from 2014 came years before wonder woman finally headlined her own movie and made millions of dollars at the box office, which is why this cosplay leans closer to the comic book version of the costume, showing a bit more skin in the process. you're likely to come across way more armored wonder woman cosplays these days, thanks to gal gadot's costume in the movie.
cosplay butterfly has dressed up as plenty of other popular characters, including cammy from street fighter and samus aran from nintendo's metroid series. in terms of comic book characters, she's also cosplayed as robin and catwoman. her clear favorite is emma frost, though.
14 harley quinn venom
even though we think crystal rose's crazy mashup of harley quinn and venom -- appropriately named "quinom" -- is awesome, this is a combination dc might shy away from. after all, combining one of dc's most popular bombshells with one of its main competitor's most well-known characters is probably not something the publisher is too keen on doing. still, we can't deny how cool it would be to see harley bond with the symbiote. perhaps for a suicide squad/sinister six book?!
anyway, crystal rose has also cosplayed as marvel's gwenpool, barf from spaceballs and bilbo baggins from the lord of the rings. without a doubt, our favorite is her chuckie finster from the rugrats. she's got the pouty look down and everything. it is beyond perfection!
13 catwoman
believe it or not, catwoman has actually had a tail in several iterations of her costume in the comics, so rouse shinigami's cosplay isn't so out of left field. still, it's pretty hard to imagine seeing this master thief and occasional hero with a long tail these days, not to mention those incredibly high heels. (seriously, those look really painful to run away from batman in.) the catsuit first grew a tail in the late 1960s and early '70s, so this cosplay is clearly paying homage to dc's more questionable design choices.
this peruvian cosplayer has also dressed up as princess jasmine from disney's aladdin, ariel from the little mermaid and a couple of dota 2 characters. as far as comic book characters go, you should check out her mera and her jubilee. the latter is especially hip.
12 supergirl
australian cosplayer evey dantes is supergirl in a multi-colored bodysuit, cape and red boots. this costume is not far off from what dc has done with the character in the past. certainly, there was a period of the character's history in the comics where her costumes seemed to get shorter and shorter. that's not necessarily true of comic book supergirl anymore, especially now that she's on tv as an inspiring hero for young girls, but this costume is a good reminder that dc hasn't always been as conservative with her costume. this cosplay also imagines what supergirl would look like with a few tattoos.
this is actually one of many dc cosplays from evey. in fact, we almost chose another for this list, although it might have been one too many harley quinn mashups. if you’re curious, look up her harley quinn/negan crossover, which is pretty terrifying.
11 black canary sith
the aptly named nerd alert (real name cheryl lawrence) created perhaps the ultimate mashup we never knew we wanted with the black canary sith. part dc vigilante and part acolyte of the dark side, nerd alert totally nails this killer combination that includes everything from fishnet stockings and high-heeled boots to face paint and a double-bladed lightsaber. the creepy contacts are the cherries on top of this perfect mashup. someone should put darth dinah in a comic asap!
nerd alert loves cosplaying as comic book characters. if the character has appeared in a comic book panel, she's probably dressed up as him or her. her most recent cosplays include ms. marvel, spider-gwen, batgirl, harley quinn, supergirl, the joker, mera, phoenix, black cat, huntress and plenty more.
10 starfire
mostflogged takes on starfire in this risqué cosplay that might make dc shudder. of course, this cosplay is not far off from what the publisher did with the character during its new 52 era, which took dc's line into darker and more adult territory. starfire was one of the characters who received a pretty unpopular redesign, since all of a sudden she was portrayed as more of an alien libertine than a superhero. in fact, the comics seemed more interested in addressing her sex life than actually giving her bad guys to fight. the outfits starfire wore during that era didn't help dc's case either.
we've featured mostflogged's other cosplays before. she's also been batgirl, black cat, scarlett witch, psylocke, kitty pryde and many others. she recently cosplayed as livewire and we have to say that the pictures are pretty electrifying!
9 jessica rabbit power girl
momo kurumi really loves jessica rabbit, a character we don't see at conventions as much as we should. after all, she quickly became an animated film icon after her appearance in who framed roger rabbit, which introduced her as the cartoon world's very own sex symbol, akin to a marilyn monroe. well, momo brings jessica rabbit to the world of comic books with this mashup of jessica and power girl, a combination that's not too hard to imagine. momo took power girl's suit and added the jessica rabbit colors and hair, along with a mickey mouse belt buckle. there's an absolutely stunning attention to detail in this cosplay.
besides jessica rabbit power girl, momo has also dressed up as a jessica rabbit park ranger mashup as well as the character's classic look. another mashup that's quite impressive is her slave leia/princess jasmine cosplay.
8 nightwing
ms. lunar loves to show her inner nerd through her many geeky cosplays. in the picture above, you can see her gender-swapped take on nightwing. fishnet stockings, high-heeled boots and the very short bodysuit are what give dick's alter-ego its feminine spin. interestingly enough, there have been at least two instances where nightwing was a woman in the comics. one was in smallville season 11, the comic book continuation of the cw series, which features barbara gordon as nightwing. the other was in dc's main continuity. in 2006, a metahuman with telekinetic powers named cheyenne freemont became nightwing for a short time in order to help dick and red hood.
for a really wacky spin on the batman family, check out ms. lunar's "bat maid" cosplay, which is exactly what it sounds like. it's definitely not a cosplay we've ever seen before.
7 harley quinn tank girl
our second harley quinn mashup comes courtesy of spellementary, who took dc's lovable criminal maniac and combined her with titan comics' tank girl. this is actually a remarkably simple-looking cosplay that probably still took a bit of time to put together. still, the design mashes perfectly, as spellementary expertly mixes and matches aspects from both of the characters to create something that looks really unique. the face paint and the batman t-shirt are harley, while the helmet and jacket are tank girl.
spellementary has actually created plenty of other harley quinn cosplays in the past. there's playboy bunny harley as well as pin-up harley. holiday harley wears an elf hat and a coat while "ribbon harley" is wrapped up in a big red bow. our favorite is harley the bride, though.
6 iron lantern
jonathan quest's incredible iron lantern is a throwback to a time when dc and marvel were actually open to the idea of sharing intellectual property, before the days of giant movie universes and billion-dollar blockbusters. iron lantern, a mashup of green lantern and iron man, was actually a design that was first introduced in amalgam comics, an imprint shared by the big two in order to combine their characters and tell far-out stories with them. for example, batman and wolverine were merged together to create the vigilante dark claw. iron lantern was introduced to amalgam in 1997 by marvel.
the craftsmanship showcased in this cosplay is just incredible. jonathan demonstrates an impressive attention to detail with this armor, which has aspects of both iron man and green lantern's looks.
5 green lantern
this is about as minimalist as you can get with a superhero cosplay. here is a green lantern cosplay that's made up of nothing but a bit of makeup. the photo is part of a series by russian cosplay photographer m. dzikan, who sought to capture superheroes stripped down to their core. for green lantern, it's the lantern symbol on the character's chest and mask. the beautiful green lighting also adds a lot to the photograph. you can see the whole series of pictures on dzikan's patreon page.
dzikan has been taking cosplay photographs for quite some time, and they're all really stunning. one of his most recent series of pictures features yorha no.2 type b from the nier: automata video game. those pictures are also really cool.
4 black canary
this pin-up black canary is brought to you by natasha diir, a cosplayer from brazil. not much differentiates this cosplay from canary's usual comic book costume except the different kind of bodysuit. the fishnet stockings, platinum blonde hair and leather jacket all make an appearance as well. natasha's pose is perhaps what makes this picture a bit more risqué than other cosplays, although it's still pretty tame when compared to other pictures on this list.
natasha has cosplayed as a few different disney characters, including elsa from frozen and the queen from snow white. if you want to see something that's truly awesome, you need to check out natasha's elvira cosplay, which is properly spooky and just in time for halloween season. it'll make you hunt down recordings of elvira's movie macabre asap.
3 hawkgirl
peruvian cosplayer erza diamond knocks this hawkgirl getup out of the park. this version of hawkgirl is a bit closer to the comics than the armored legends of tomorrow version currently on the cw. that said, erza is showing a bit more skin in her cosplay than what we've seen in the comic books. either way, the suit is really impressive.
erza has also dressed up as elektra as well as huntress, black cat and mary jane watson. she's a fan of elektra in particular. erza has appeared as the assassin several times and loves to pose with the character's trademark twin sai. interestingly enough, she's one of the few cosplayers on this list who hasn't dressed up in a harley quinn cosplay. perhaps that's coming soon?
2 zatanna
here's the mistress of magic herself, brought to you by pretty wreck. to be honest, pretty wreck isn't wearing much less than the actual comic book character, who usually wears a black jacket and a white top. this cosplay does away with the jacket and instead puts zatanna in a black and white corset. of course, the top hat, white gloves, fishnet stockings and boots are accounted for. and don't forget the wand!
pretty wreck has also cosplayed as the suicide squad version of harley quinn, rey from star wars: the force awakens, poison ivy, power girl, ms. marvel, princess leia and wonder woman. she actually has several different versions of harley quinn to choose from, including a very cool bombshell version. her straightjacket harley is actually kind of spooky…
1 cheetah
last but definitely not least is nay freitas' cheetah. this cosplay is a recreation of the injustice 2 version of the character, who shows a bit more skin than her comic book character -- depending on how you look at it, of course. after all, she is covered in what appears to be cat skin after being transformed into the cheetah in her search for a tribe in africa. depending on who's drawn cheetah over the years, the character may or may not wear clothes.
you'll also find nay dressed as characters as varied as nebula from guardians of the galaxy, storm from the x-men, cammy from street fighter, quiet from metal gear solid v and power girl. nay has basically covered many of the hits.