Avengers: Infinity War smashed records around the world when it hit theaters in early 2018 and like every Marvel film that came before it, the fans took notice. Cosplayers have been putting together amazing homages to their favorite characters for years and this film is no different. There are thousands of talented fans out there who have been representing the MCU with incredible creativity and we dug through as many Instagram pages as possible to dig up the best of them all.
Like the previous Avengers films that came before it, Infinity War brought together more characters than ever before with a record 76 for this one film alone. In addition to the Avengers, the Guardians of the Galaxy also took to the screen for the film and cosplayers didn't just knock out the usual Thor, Black Widow, Spider-Man, Iron Man and Black Panther, they also worked hard to bring together beautiful depictions of Star Lord, Gamora and Nebula with a Thanos or two thrown into the mix. Believe it or not, we are going to include some minor spoilers from Avengers: Infinity War as we comment on some of the details of these costumes. If you haven't seen the movie yet, you might want to save reading this article until you can watch the film.
* Thanos photo in feature image by Marco De Rizzo.
25 REBEL WOLF COSPLAY - THOR
Of all the Avengers in Avengers: Infinity War, one of the ones you see most often at cons around the world is Thor. That's not to say you find all that many Thors done in such a way that you might find yourself doing a double-take wondering if Chris Hemsworth just walked by. Of the hundreds of examples we found online, our favorite so far has got to be the phenomenal costume put together by Rebel Wolf Cosplay for the MCM Comic Con held in London in May 2018. Rebel Wolf Cosplay created the costume earlier in the year to support the release of Avengers: Infinity War and the debut was just as glorious as the one seen on film.
Earlier renditions of the costume were a bit lighter, but after seeing the film, this talented cosplayer decided to up his game and bring his armor as close to the movie version as possible. The costume is enhanced with the inclusion of Stormbreaker, Thor's new hammer seen in the film, and while the God of Thunder had acquired a cybernetic eye by that time in the film, keeping it for this costume was a nice touch. We couldn't find out too many details on Rebel Wolf Cosplay, but he describes himself on his Instagram page as a photographer, cosplayer and Hufflepuff.
24 U GO & COSPLAY - BLACK PANTHER
Black Panther took the world by storm when the film smashed nearly every cinematic record out there. The film was such an amazing success, it's no surprise we are starting to see more and more talented cosplayers take on the challenge of leading Wakanda into a global presence, but few have been able to pull it off nearly as well as U Go & Cosplay. From what we can tell, Ugo Anom put together the costume for the release of Black Panther but has since refined its quality and made several enhancements in support of the release of Avengers: Infinity War.
The most impressive aspect of this costume... other than it being an identical representation of the one worn by Chadwick Boseman in the MCU, has to be where he has worn it. Ugo attended the Fan Event release of Infinity War, wearing the costume where he had the chance to meet Sebastian Stan, Elizabeth Olsen, Paul Bettany, The Russo Brothers, Tom Hiddleston, Tom Holland, Benedict Cumberbatch and Letitia Wright. It's a shame Boseman wasn't able to shake his hand as he might have thought he was walking by a mirror... had he been wearing his own costume that is. Ugo is based out of the United Kingdom where he attends numerous conventions and describes himself simply enough as a "Friendly neighborhood cosplayer, costume creator and tech enthusiast."
23 AZ TONY STARK - IRON MAN
Ever since John Favreau and Robert Downey Junior launched the MCU with Iron Man in 2008, there have been plenty of cosplayers who have taken on the challenge of putting together some Iron Man armor. When you think about it, that's no easy task. Not only do you have to create a realistic-looking suit of armor out of plastic parts, it has to be segmented, look realistic, and feature a number of LEDs with accompanying electronic components. This isn't something you can just throw together: it takes talent and often, quite a bit of seed money.
While AZ Tony Stark's cosplay skills in this regard are evident in the pictures above, what you likely don't know is what he does with them. Tony Contreras doesn't just spend his time dressing up as his favorite characters, he does it in the most honorable way possible. As the VP of Operations at Comicare, Contreras spends his time with sick children in the hospital where he visits them as Iron Man and hands out comic books. He and his team of superheroes are based out of Arizona where they travel from hospital to hospital delivering books and smiles to the people who need it most.
22 JAY PERIOD - DOCTOR STRANGE
Doctor Strange certainly played a large part in what ultimately went down in Avengers: Infinity War so it's no surprise we have seen some creative cosplays of the character. There have been some notable examples showing up at conventions recently, but few lack the subtle perfection we found with Jay Period's go as the Sorcerer Supreme. What makes his costume special is the level of detail put into it. This isn't some cheap knockoff version of the Cloak of Levitation; it looks as if he could truly fly off into the air if he wanted to!
Jay Period also took the time to grow out his facial hair just right and he made sure his hair was on point in depicting Stephen Strange. Period created his Doctor Strange costume some time ago so it wasn't truly crafted for the release of Infinity War, but he certainly has capitalized on its perfection in attending conventions. Most recently, he was seen wearing his sorcerer's threads at the Silicon Valley Comic Con in early April 2018. Jay Period attends cons regularly and has already committed to making appearances at Fanime, the Atlanta Comic Con, WW Winston-Salem and Dragon Con. Expect to see him show up wearing his Dr. Strange, Daredevil, Punisher or his spot-on Cable cosplays.
21 HUMBLE SHIELD - STAR LORD
A lot of people have raised a stink over Peter Quill, aka Star Lord's, actions in Avengers: Infinity War, but whether or not you agree with what happened, he's still one of the MCU's greatest characters. For this reason, we couldn't help but find some amazing examples of Chris Pratt's blockbuster character for this list. There are a few pieces of any Star Lord cosplay anyone serious about portraying the character simply must have in order to make it work. The first is the red jacket, the second is the facial hair and the most important part — no, it isn't the guns -- is the headphones and accompanying Walkman.
We know he lost that back in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 when he had to upgrade to a Microsoft Zune, but there's something to be said for a set of orange headphones and a Walkman from the '80s that speak to the character. This example portrayed by Humble Shield knocked out every aspect of the character to deliver someone who could easily be mistaken for Pratt's stunt double. Matt is an American cosplayer who resides in Southern California. He regularly attends comic conventions and described himself as a "Disneyland pass holder," which is admittedly something we covet here at CBR.
20 DEZ CREEP CORE - SPIDER-MAN
Let's face it: cosplaying as Spider-Man is nothing new. The character has been around since 1962 with the release of Amazing Fantasy #15, written by Stan Lee and penciled by Jack Kirby. Since that time, thousands of kids and adults have thrown on red and blue spandex so they could pretend to shoot webs from their web shooters and try their very hardest to cling to walls. For Avengers: Infinity War, that trend has only intensified with the release of Spider-Man's newly introduced Iron Spider, which is based off a similar costume released in Marvel's "Civil War" storyline.
The costume had seen a brief cameo in Spider-Man: Homecoming but made its cinematic splash in the third Avengers film. Many people have donned the newly designed threads, but our favorite happens to be a gender-bent version presented by Dez Creep Core. We weren't able to uncover much information on this cosplayer other than that she appears to live and work out of Utah and does an impressive Domino cosplay in addition to her work as Spider-Man. Interestingly, this is not her first run at Peter Parker's duds. She has a number of other costumes attributed to your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man but upped her game to support the premiere of Infinity War.
19 HE WHO MUST NOTBENAMED COSPLAY - HULK
Like most members of the Avengers on this list, the Hulk has been around for a long time. The character made his debut in 1962's The Incredible Hulk, written by Stan Lee and penciled by Jack Kirby. Unfortunately, cosplaying as the Hulk can be a difficult goal to set, due in large part to the jade giant's impressive build. Because of this, there aren't many cosplayers who can pull off the character well — we don't all look like Lou Ferrigno (who still looks amazing) -- so you don't find many cosplayers taking up the challenge. Occasionally, you find one who not only finds a way to cosplay as the Hulk, but they find an innovative way to do it as perfectly as possible.
He Who Must NotBeNamed Cosplay decided to tackle both the muscular definition of the Hulk and his size by crafting a specialized suit. To be fair, the costume wasn't crafted for Avengers: Infinity War, having been constructed the previous year, but it's a rare example of the Hulk done well so we decided to include it here. We had to include the shot of him hugging his creator, Stan Lee, on the right but there's another great shot of him on his Instagram hugging Mr. Ferrigno, which you should definitely check out.
18 J4PROPS - HAWKEYE
Before you say anything, we know that Clint Barton, aka Hawkeye, wasn't in Avengers: Infinity War. He was referenced, though, and seeing as he is a member of the Avengers, we decided it would be good to include him here if we could find a truly impressive cosplay paying homage to the character. Fortunately, we found exactly what we were looking for with J4 Props take on the character. The man behind this cosplay goes by the name Jake Colley. He describes himself as a "husband, father and collector of hobbies" but all we can tell from his Instagram page is that he is a talented cosplayer.
What makes his Hawkeye so impressive has to be the detail that went into the costume he brought to the 2018 Emerald City Comic Con in Seattle. The costume is as close to film-ready as we can tell from his pictures and that includes his quiver, but the best shot we could find was the one pictured above on the left. As you can see, there's another cosplayer getting ready to ride the arrow just like these characters do in the comics and films. That cosplayer goes by the name SeattlePym and he's an 11-year-old cosplayer who does amazing team-ups.
17 PRIZMATEX COSPLAY - THANOS
If you watched Avengers: Infinity War -- and you really should have — you know that Thanos is about as large a character as the Hulk. When the two are battling it out on the Asgardian spaceship, they appear to be of equal size, which makes Thanos a difficult character to cosplay. Just like the Hulk, this guy should be much larger than is normally possible to achieve, so it takes a talented artist and cosplayer to piece together a convincing costume capable of properly representing the Mad Titan. There are many who have tried, but only two who made our list. One of the most impressive we found thus far is definitely the costume put together by Prizmatex Cosplay.
You may have seen a video online of this cosplay back in 2016 and that's because it truly stands out. While this Thanos wasn't created for the release of Avengers: Infinity War, it certainly deserves a place on this list. The costume was put together out of foam, cardboard, latex and polystyrene, but it could just as well have been made by Eitri it looks so good. Prizmatex Cosplay is based out of Pordenone, Italy where they focus on segmented armored cosplay including Hulkbuster armor, Ultimate Iron Man and Warhammer characters.
16 CORINNA COSPLAYS - WANDA MAXIMOF
When Marvel worked out a way to bring Wanda Maximoff to the silver screen in Avengers: Age of Ultron, there was some concern as to how she would be depicted. Thanks to the various rights issues related to which properties Marvel can use in film, it was apparent we wouldn't get to see any depictions of the Scarlet Witch as she has appeared in the comics. This meant that there would be no low-cut, cleavage-featuring red dresses, thigh-high red boots and accompanying face-surrounding mask. This turned out to be a good thing seeing as not every costume that works in the pages of comic books translates well to the silver screen.
Elizabeth Olsen's costume for the film retained very little other than some red thanks to a leather jacket and while it doesn't look anything like her comic book inspiration, it's an iconic look all the same. We found a beautifully done rendition of this costume in the form of Corinna Cosplays. Corinna is a cosplayer who lives and works out of Seattle who describes herself as a Hufflepuff, ginger, Disney Princess, seamstress, photographer and artist. She attends cons in any number of costumes, but her Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Wanda Maximof stand out above the rest.
15 THE HAVE A GO HERO - CAPTAIN AMERICA
Since he first debuted in the MCU back in Captain America: The First Avenger, Steve Rogers has undergone more than a few costume changes. Long gone are the polyester bright red, white and blue duds he sported at the beginning of World War II. He has since adopted a more tactical garment, which provides a great deal more protection while still managing to pay tribute to his patriotic heritage. In Avengers: Infinity War, Cap ditched most of his bright colors after returning his shield to Tony Stark at the end of Captain America: Civil War. Even with this costume change, cosplayers still enjoy touching up their costumes with some patriotic colors, even if it is a bit muted.
That seems to be the look The Have A Go Hero was going for with his rendition of Captain America. His suit appears to be an armoed and colored version from the third Captain America film but it does have some beautifully crafted Wakandan shields given to Cap for the defense of Wakanda in the final act of Infinity War. Keir Donohoe creates his own custom costumes and props with some impressive work being done to honor the Dark Knight and Thundercats.
14 VE'LORIA SOLO - FALCON
Falcon is another one of those characters whose comic book costume just wouldn't fly in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Looking back, he wore a red, white and black costume with skin-tight spandex and was accompanied by a literal falcon. This is simply another example of what works in the books just doesn't look right in a full-fledged cinematic universe with a darker tone. To combat this, costume designers behind Anthony Mackie's take on Sam Wilson, aka the Falcon, in Captain America: The Winter Soldier and four subsequent films decided to make a more realistic character with tactical equipment and the fans didn't have a problem with the changes.
The mechanical wings made for the film are not an easy feat for any cosplayer no matter their level of talent. There are dozens of interlocking moving parts and each wing has to be identical with a supporting backpack. Ve'Loria Solo clearly wasn't nervous about taking on the project when she put together the pictured Falcon for 2017's Emerald City Comic Con. Her work usually centers on gender-bent cosplays, but she was determined to make her wings look as much like the film version as possible... and she succeeded! This costume wasn't created specifically for Infinity War, but it was done so well, we had to include it here.
13 MULTIPLE COSPLAYERS - AVENGERS ASSEMBLE!
If you've ever been to a convention, you know that cosplayers tend to congregate and when one member of the Avengers finds another, you just know they are going to find more and get together for a group shot. There are hundreds of examples online, but few done as well as the one we decided to include on this list. Nearly the entire roster is here with Spider-Man, Thor, Black Panther, Black Widow, Captain America, Wanda Maximof, Winter Soldier and Hawkeye. You may recognize Hawkeye as J4 Props seeing as he found a place on this list all by himself alongside Black Panther (Ugo And Cosplay), but the others deserve their own mention as well.
Spider-Man is being portrayed by Emerald City Avenger, Thor is Diego Cosplay, Black Widow is Ruby Echo, Captain America is Sentinel of Seattle, Scarlet Witch is A2 Cosplay and Winter Soldier is Theomnus. The group shot was thrown together when these Avengers happened upon one another at the Emerald City Comic Con in Seattle, Washington in late April 2018. Each costume was impressively crafted, but we have to call special attention to the Winter Soldier's bionic arm and Thor's makeup, which is definitely closer to Thor: Ragnarok than it is to Infinity War, but we love it all the same.
12 SORCERER SUPREME OF SCOTLAND - DR. STRANGE
With so many characters who made an appearance in Avengers: Infinity War, you might think we wouldn't find more than one example of each, but then you stumble upon another cosplay of Doctor Strange and there's nothing that can be done other than include yet another talented cosplayer. Cosplaying as Doctor Strange usually comes with the blue tunic, red cape and neatly trimmed goatee but few have made the attempt to depict his actual magical spells in physical form. That's exactly what we see here in this example of the Sorcerer Supreme from the aptly named Sorcerer Supreme of Scotland.
As you can probably tell from his name, this cosplayer has something of a go-to when he decides to cosplay. Even with a proclivity to cosplay as the most powerful sorcerer from Earth, he has put together other cosplays including an impressive Ash from the Evil Dead series and another Benedict Cumberbatch-inspired character: Sherlock. There isn't a lot of information to find on exactly who this cosplayer is behind the mask, but we do know he is Scottish and spends his time as a Creative Media Student when he isn't protecting our realm from Dormammu and other cosmic threats intent on taking over the world.
11 JOE CRANDALL & VJWYLIE - STAR LORD & GAMORA
After three films, it seems Peter Quill may have finally gotten close enough to Gamora to warrant the outburst of anger he felt towards Thanos when he learned of her death. Even before Avengers: Infinity War hit theaters, we already knew these two had something special and they certainly qualified as the galaxy's cutest couple. That trait has been kept alive by numerous cosplaying couples since the first Guardians of the Galaxy film was released and it remains true with the release of Infinity War. There are hundreds of couples doing it well online and we found some amazing examples for this list.
Veronica Wylie cosplays under the name vjwylie, but her professional work is in acting. She has numerous acting credits in film and television to her name, including a stint on Days of Our Lives. Even with a professional gig in front of the camera, she still enjoys dressing up as her favorite characters whenever possible just like Joe Crandall, the Star Lord pictured here. Like Veronica, Joe is also an actor with dozens of credits to his name. They make an amazing Star Lord and Gamora, just like Chris Pratt and Zoe Saldana, which is why we loved them for this list.
10 RICHARD VON WILD - TONY STARK
In a lot of ways, cosplaying as Tony Stark is even more difficult than going for his alter ego, Iron Man. When you think about it, anyone can wear the armored suit (so long as they can craft or purchase it), but trying to put on the right facial hair, bravado and dashing good looks of Robert Downey Junior isn't easy for most folks. That is why we absolutely love this cosplay of Tony Stark by Richard Von Wild created and perfected for the fan screening of Avengers: Infinity War.
Richard Von Wild specializes in cosplaying a wide variety of characters from so many different fandoms. You have to give someone props for being able to represent so many characters so well, each time adding in a personal little twist onto all of their costumes. For this one specifically, the stylized eyebrows and beard are so on-point, you might poke yourself just looking at them! Von Wild also absolutely nails that Stark Swagger that has permeated the MCU movies thus far, though it of course took a serious knock by the end of Avengers: Infinity War for obvious reasons. Thanks to Von Wild, though, we can go back and revisit a simpler time and live vicariously through Tony's high-flyin' life!
9 MISS KAT CAKES - CAPTAIN MARVEL
If you've read this far down the list and you haven't seen the movie yet, which you really need to get on by the way, you may be wondering about our putting Captain Marvel onto the list. No, she wasn't in Avengers: Infinity War, but if you stayed until the very end of the movie and caught the post-credit scene with Nick Fury, you know why she's here. Just before Fury dissolved into oblivion (or the Soul Gem depending on who you ask), he sends out a message on a funky-looking pager from the '80s. When it hits the ground, Captain Marvel's logo is seen prominently for about one second of screen time so she gets included for that second alone!
Cosplaying as the one and only Carol Danvers is Miss Kat Cakes of Kat Cakes Cosplay. Kat Cakes is a cosplayer out of Canada who creates her own costumes and props. This isn't the first time she's thrown together a Captain Marvel costume, but it is her first run at this particular look. She has already pulled off a rather convincing Ms. Marvel, which was Danvers' previous moniker. That rendition sported the traditional black costume with yellow lightning bolt down the center.
8 KNIGHT MAGE1 - THANOS
Surely, you didn't think we could limit ourselves to only one version of Thanos on a list of incredible Infinity Wars cosplay! As we previously pointed out, one of Thanos' most impressive aspects is his sheer size, but not all cosplayers try to pull that off. Even with a height-limitation or a lack of materials to create the large pieces needed to pull off the costume we covered earlier, there are still several talented artists and costume designers who have taken on the task of portraying the Mad Titan. Of the many we found online, we decided to focus on the rather cinematic makeup job done by Knight Mage1 for the premiere of Avengers: Infinity War.
Michael Wilson is a cosplayer who loves wearing costumes and regularly attends conventions and charity events dressed up as some of our favorite characters. He has put together a rather memorable version of Doctor Fate, Inspector Gadget (with as many things shooting out of his hat as possible) and even a Gizmo Duck, which he accomplished thanks to a well-concealed hoverboard. In addition to his work in cosplaying, he is an 18-year veteran Deputy Sheriff and stuntman who was awarded the Presidential Volunteers Service award for his numerous charitable endeavors.
7 SCARLET JEWEL & IRON KNIGHT COSPLAY - WANDA & IRON MAN
There are plenty of Iron Man cosplayers and more than a few Wanda Maximoffs running around conventions these days, but they rarely pull off a great shot like this one. Sure, the look they are going for is straight out of Avengers: Age of Ultron, but they got together in support of the release of Avengers: Infinity War in late April 2018. Iron Man is being pulled off rather admirably by Iron Knight Cosplay while Wanda Maximoff comes to us thanks to the work of Scarlet Jewel Cosplay.
Iron Knight Cosplay is a cosplayer who lives and works out of Northern Virginia. He spends most of his time attending conventions or children's charity events where the kids get to hang out with Iron Man or any of his many impressive creations, including The Lone Ranger and others. Scarlet Jewel Cosplay is an artist, entertainer and cosplayer who can pull off a perfect Merida from Disney's Brave just as easily as she can throw on skin-tight black and become Black Cat. She regularly attends conventions as any number of characters but pulled off such a memorable Wanda Maximoff standing next to Iron Knight Cosplay's Iron Man, we couldn't resist giving her some attention on our list.
6 PHOENIX_FORCE_CREATIONS - VISION AND WANDA MAXIMOF
If you haven't seen the movie yet and don't read the comics, you might not know that Vision and Wanda Maximoff (Scarlet Witch in the comics) are something of an item. In the comics, the couple got married, have a couple of imaginary children who eventually become real, get divorced... you know, that old chestnut. In Avengers: Infinity War, they are clearly moving along those lines as we initially see them on a secret tryst away from the rest of the gang when they are ambushed by some nasty aliens under Thanos' employ while searching for an Infinity Stone... like the one in the center of Vision's forehead.
Because that relationship is so important to the books and the film, we couldn't help but zero in on these two cosplayers who looked so perfect standing next to one another (and acting out a famous scene in the movie). Vision is the creation of Phoenix Force Creations, otherwise known as Myke Dela Paz. Paz is an artist who creates and paints figurines while also cosplaying and he was joined by Elle Ruivivar as Ms. Maximoff. Elle is a cosplayer who can easily pull off Wanda but looks just as amazing as Silk. Both attend conventions whenever possible.