There are very few things that are important on a superhero show as much as the costumes. It's very easy for a show to get ridiculed if the costumes that are put on the screen don't work. An important step in the costume-making process is concept art. This is the time when talented artists are called in to design the costumes. Taking inspiration from the comics, the artists sit down to create functional costumes that can be worn by real people. The difficulty of this task often depends on how crazy the character looks in the comics, how much you can get away with on the show and how much you can afford to spend. That's why it's impressive that The CW even managed to put some characters on the screen. Characters like Firestorm, Grodd, and Savitar are not easy to reproduce on a TV budget.
The artists tasked with designing the costumes often end up making a number of different versions. Sometimes their vision, as awesome as it looks in form of concept art, simply cannot be created on the screen. There are many reasons why concept art doesn't get accepted or why certain details about the design change as the costume moves through the various production stages. These unused designs can usually be found on artists' websites for the fans to marvel at. We wanted to see what the producers on the Arrowverse shows turned down, so we did some digging and found 25 pieces of unused concept art that would have looked awesome on the screen.
25 JESSE QUICK
In season two of The Flash, the Earth-2 Harrison Wells, aka Harry, and his daughter Jesse became part of Team Flash. By the end of the second season, Jesse gained superspeed and in season three made her debut as Jesse Quick. Jesse Quick uses a modified version of the costume previously used by the speedster Trajectory.
Initially, concept artist Andy Poon envisioned Jesse’s costume without the lightning bolt symbol on the chest and with a head mask, instead of the domino mask that we saw on the show. Honestly, does every speedster really need a lightning bolt?
24 EARTH-X GUARDIAN
While Oliver and Kara may have crossed over to the dark side on Earth-X, James Olsen couldn’t have been swayed from his righteous path. Since the rebels on Earth-X are all Americans, it seemed only appropriate to give Guardian a patriotic theme.
The concept art created by Amanda Riley and Greg Hopwood shows James rocking the American flag on his chest while holding a golden helmet and shield -- a nod to the comics. The final costume, however, included the American flag on Guardian’s shield as well, making him essentially Captain America.
23 FIRESTORM
The fact that The CW even managed to put Firestorm on the small screen is an achievement in and of itself. That he actually looked rather decent most of the time is laudable. Granted, while Jax and Stein were still members of the Legends they didn’t spend a lot of time as Firestorm.
Although the costume itself wasn’t bad, we always felt that it could have been better. Judging by Maya Mani and Andy Poon’s concept art, it indeed could have. This suit has a yellow splicer that looks more like fire. The jacket as a whole looks more realistic.
22 REVERSE-FLASH
Reverse-Flash has one of the coolest costumes in the Arrowverse. Whether it's worn by Tom Cavanagh or Matt Letscher, the yellow and black suit is a jaw-dropping outfit. But before the final design made it on the screen, a few different versions were being considered.
One of the costumes Andy Poon and Maya Mani created for the Reverse-Flash came with black shoulder pads and more pronounced red markings all over the suit. It’s definitely a more vibrant look and more sinister look.
21 WORLDKILLERS
Last season on Supergirl, Kara fought three Worldkillers: Reign, Pestilence and Purity. Although, Reign was undoubtedly the big bad of the season, which is probably why her costume was the coolest. But, looking at the concept art created by Amanda Riley and Greg Hopwood, it’s clear that Pestilence and Purity could have looked a bit more interesting.
Although the costumes on the show were pretty close to the concept art, there’s a significant difference in the texture of the material as well as color. While the costumes on the show were primarily black, the ones depicted here have a grayish look.
20 LIVEWIRE
Appearing first in the '90s Superman: The Animated Series, Leslie Willis eventually made her way into the official DC Comics continuity. Originally an enemy of the Man of Steel, Livewire appeared on Supergirl as one of Kara’s foes.
Ultimately, Leslie had a change of heart and became an ally of Supergirl, sacrificing herself to help Kara. Since the writers decided to approach Leslie from more of an anti-hero angle this early concept art by Alan Villanueva didn’t quite fit with the new take on the character, but it sure does look pretty awesome.
19 BROTHER BLOOD
In Arrow's second season, the Green Arrow faced off against Sebastian Blood and his Church of Blood. Sebastian Blood, also known as Brother Blood, wore a pretty ugly mask to conceal his identity and scare the life out of his opponents.
The skull mask we saw on the show was similar to the one shown in Maya Mani and Andy Poon’s concept art featured above. The key difference that makes this mask more frightening, is that here the area around the eyes isn’t black and seems to actually connect with the chilling blue eyes.
18 DR. ALCHEMY
One of the foes Barry Allen and Team Flash faced in season three was Dr. Alchemy. Of course, Alchemy turned out to be nothing more but a puppet under the control of the speedster Savitar. Dr. Alchemy sported a green cloak and a brown mask that sort of resembled a plague mask.
The final version of the costume we got to see on the show wasn’t far from Maya Mani and Andy Poon’s concept art. However, the mask shown here looks shinier and appears to be made of metal, which is just a cooler look for a villain.
17 DARK ARCHER
Brilliantly portrayed by John Barrowman, Malcolm Merlyn was one of Arrow’s best villains -- well, best characters actually. If there’s one qualm we have with the Dark Archer it has to be the costume. It wasn’t a bad costume, but it wasn’t a memorable one either. Merlyn looked just like any other member of the League of Assassins.
However, Maya Mani and Andy Poon’s concept art gives us a look at a very different Dark Archer. The decorations on the strap and the coat coupled with the mask give Merlyn a more distinctive and striking look.
16 CHRONOS
In season one of Legends of Tomorrow, Mick Rory got brainwashed into becoming a temporal bounty hunter known as Chronos. He went after his former team members, the Legends, but ultimately came to his senses and saved the day. Fans weren’t quite impressed with the way Chronos looked on the show given how much the design departed from the comics.
However, Maya Mani and Andy Poon’s concept art shows Chronos in a green armor, a nod to Chronos’ green costume from the comics, complete with a much more interesting mask.
15 DARK ARROW
Crisis on Earth-X introduced us to evil versions of our favorite heroes. On this bleak Earth, Oliver Queen was the leader of the New Reich codenamed Dark Arrow. He wore a black suit with discrete red marking, the obligatory hood, and an intimidating retractable mask.
Maya Mani and Andy Poon’s concept art for Dark Arrow shows a slightly different, and somehow even more intimidating, mask. Another difference is the SS emblem located on Oliver's left shoulder, while on the show it was on a red ribbon. These are slight differences, but they do improve the overall look of the costume.
14 OVERGIRL
Supergirl’s costume is by far one of the best and most comic book-accurate costumes in the Arrowverse. It’s simple, yet effective. It’s a classic, which is why it’s remained the same throughout all three seasons. Melissa Benoist did, however, get a chance to put on a couple of different outfits -- including the Overgirl costume.
The all-black Earth-X attire looked incredibly cool, but we found an even better version. Maya Mani and Andy Poon shared a slightly different version of the suit with a single S on the chest and a different mask.
13 WILD DOG
When Wild Dog changed his look in season 6 no one was too happy about it. Even one of the creators expressed his discontent with the new mask, which the fans were especially vocal about. The white hockey mask was an expression of who Wild Dog was, while the new mask simply had no personality.
Andy Poon and Maya Mani’s concept art for Wild Dog’s new costume gives us a look at a slightly better and less radical re-design of the mask. Here the new mask looks almost exactly the same as the old one, albeit in a different color.
12 THE RAY
Earth-X may be a dark place, but not all hope is lost. A few good men and women are still resisting Nazi oppression and fighting for freedom. One of them is Ray Terrill, a metahuman with the ability to absorb energy from the Sun and manipulate light. Ray made his debut during Crisis on Earth-X and even got his own animated series.
Ray’s live-action costume was similar to the concept art created by Andy Poon and Maya Mani, however, this design shows a jacket with more yellow markings, and most importantly, a helmet that looks more like the one from the comics and the animated series.
11 ZOOM
Sure, watching season two of The Flash felt like having a serious case of Deja-vu, but credit where credit is due: Zoom looked terrific and scary. Way scarier than even the god of speed himself. There’s just something unsettling about that mask.
Speaking of scary, here’s an even darker version of Zoom, courtesy of Andy Poon and Maya Mani. The concept art reveals a sleeker costume with electric blue eyes. Everything looks so smooth, even the lightning bolt logo seems to meld with the suit.
10 MULTIPLEX
Multiplex was among the first foes the Flash faced when he started this whole superhero thing. At the time, the Arrowverse was still testing how far it can go with the costumes. While nowadays we get costumes like Wild Dog’s hockey mask and funny shirt, or Barry’s season 5 Flash suit, back in the day the Arrowverse was afraid to go too crazy with the costumes.
So, when Multiplex appeared on The Flash he wore a simple black jacket–which is to say, no costume at all. Andy Poon and Maya Mani pitched a slightly more comic book-accurate costume, which unfortunately wasn’t accepted.
9 CITIZEN COLD
Ever since Captain Cold made his first appearance on The Flash the fans have been wondering why he wasn’t given a proper costume, something that resembles his look from the comics. In the "Crisis on Earth-X" crossover event, we finally got a more comic-accurate version of Leonard Snart in form of Citizen Cold.
But, had this design by Andy Poon and Maya Mani made it on the show, Snart would have looked as if he’d walked right out of a comic book with his light blue parka.
8 MARTIAN MANHUNTER
In Supergirl’s season one episode “Hostile Takeover” we found out that the Director of the DEO, Hank Henshaw, has in fact been concealing his true identity. Though his appearance changed from the comics there was no mistaking it: Hank was none other than J’onn J’onzz, aka the Martian Manhunter.
Concept art by Alan Villanueva reveals a slightly different look for the last Green Martian. The upper part of the suit is particularly impressive. Overall, it's a far less bulky suit that looks a lot more realistic, but it was probably too much for a TV budget.
7 GIRDER
Remember that guy from season one of The Flash who had a crush on Iris and that somehow escalated to him attacking her in their old high school? Well, his name was Tony Woodward, aka Girder. Tony was a metahuman with the ability to transform himself into steel.
However, in the comics, Girder is a very different character. Instead of having the ability to transform into steel, Tony was turned into living metal which made him look pretty robust and rusty. John Gallagher’s concept art gives us a glimpse at how the comic book Girder could have looked on the screen.
6 BRAINIAC-5
When Brainy was first introduced, the fans immediately went to DEFCON 5, which wasn’t entirely without reason. The first look at Brainiac-5 in that extended promo was nightmarish, to say the least. For some reason, it was decided to use teal paint instead of green and give Jesse Rath an awful, unconvincing white wig.
Brainy has since shifted to his human form and grew on us pretty fast. But, if you still need to see Jesse in a somewhat more appropriate Brainiac-5 costume, Amanda Riley and Greg Hopwood have got you covered.