While some Marvel comic book characters are in a constant state of flux with their superhero outfits and have a new costume every few years, others have a hard time trying out a new costume. Janet Van Dyne has no problem wearing a new Wasp outfit every issue, yet Spider-Man is rarely able to stay away from his iconic red-and-blue classic no matter how hard he tries. And he does try.
Superhero costumes are usually changed to build new buzz for a character or mark a change in direction or even creators, and sometimes they work really well. Unfortunately, just as often those redesigns fail spectacularly, which is admittedly almost as fun to watch. So today we are going to take a look at a few of Marvel's best costume changes that ended up lasting, and a few that failed hard.
10 STUCK AROUND: IRON MAN
One of the first and best costume changes came from Tony Stark and kicked off a neverending cycle of innovation and redesigned armors. However, it all goes back to his very first redesign. When Iron Man first appeared, it was in a clunky grey armor, which was changed to a gold armor in subsequent adventures.
However, it wasn't until Iron Man added the red on top of the gold that Iron Man's new defining look would be found. And while the suit goes through a few changes every few years, the general red and gold design scheme have stuck around for decades.
9 FAILED: WAR MACHINE
Tony's best friend Jim "Rhodey" Rhodes has had his own share of armors as well, which he wears as the militaristic War Machine. However, while his suit also usually follows the same gunmetal grey and silver design, he also experienced a unique costume change that didn't work out as well.
After an adventure in time, the War Machine armor was lost in the timestream, and Rhodey was eventually bonded with an alien bio-mechanical armor known as the Eidolon Warwear. The new armor created weapons with a thought, but he thankfully sacrificed the tech to sabotage Stark-Fujikawa's attempts to take the Iron Man armor.
8 STUCK AROUND: DRAX THE DESTROYER
Movie fans who picked up issues of Infinity Gauntlet/Infinity War to see the source material used for the blockbuster Avengers film adaptations might have been a bit surprised to see a purple-caped buffoon named Drax the Destroyer who bears little resemblance to the characters seen on the big screen in Guardians fo the Galaxy.
In fact, prior to the epic cosmic Annihilation event, the character of Drax got a huge makeover when he was reborn following the death of his previous form. This new Drax was tougher, tattooed, and preferred knives instead of his fists. he was also uniquely created to destroy Thanos single-handedly, and he hasn't looked back to his previous form.
7 FAILED: THOR
Thor has gone through a number of costume changes over the years that haven't been great, but one of his worst came in the 90s (of course it did) and featured odd clothing options mixed with shoulder pads, buckles, straps, and other useless 90s additions.
During "The Crossing" storyline that ruined Tony Stark forever, Thor decided to change his costume to look more like an American Gladiator with a penchant for half-shirts and leather wrist straps. This costume was so bad that Thor kind of gave up for a while after and just went shirtless.
6 STUCK AROUND: CAPTAIN MARVEL
Carol Danvers has had a few costume changes over the years, with her evolution into the Wasp-designed Ms. Marvel costume lasting for decades. However, following a stint in space as Binary and a run as Warbird with the Avengers, Carol returned to her Ms. Marvel identity craving more.
Carol finally accepted her legacy and took on the name of her mentor Captain Marvel, and also upgraded her costume to better match her new role. The new suit more closely fit Carol's own militaristic upbringing and gave her an iconic look that fit her new upper-tier hero status.
5 FAILED: INVISIBLE WOMAN
As a team, the Fantastic Four often rework their shared uniforms with each new adventure, team reorganization, or creative team. Yet there was a time that Invisible Woman created her own unique version of the FF costume that featured the infamous "4"-shaped boob window that will rightfully find it's way onto any worst costume list.
Not only was her new uniform impractical for battle, but it also didn't feel very character-appropriate as most fans felt when it debuted. Thankfully this redesign was revealed to be due to the influence of the psychic entity known as Malice and disappeared quickly from her wardrobe.
4 STUCK AROUND: BLACK SUIT SPIDER-MAN
It's hard to talk about Marvel costume changes and not mention Spider-Man's iconic switch to black when he gained the alien symbiote during the first Secret Wars event. The switch proved incredibly popular both to fans and creators, as that symbiote costume has led to an expanded universe of characters.
While Peter Parker would eventually return to his classic costume, the black suit would live on in the character of Venom. And while even Venom has worn variations of that costume over the years, even he returns to the simplistic black and white that made such a huge impact on the Marvel Universe.
3 FAILED: MAGNETO
While Magneto is often seen working alongside the X-Men for the betterment of mutantkind, there was a time when he was their greatest enemy. So when he decided to switch sides for the first time, he also ditched the armor he wore as Magneto for a new, tragically bad costume.
Now helmetless, Magneto also wore a tight Purble bodysuit with a light purple/white M running almost the whole length of his body. this was mixed with tight opera gloves and a cape that bunched around his neck. This costume was short-lived and would be replaced by his very purple/magenta Headmaster outfit before he thankfully returned to his classic look.
2 STUCK AROUND: DAREDEVIL
When Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, and Bill Everett first created the character of Daredevil, he was almost fully realized as the character we know today, except for his costume. Daredevil's first appearances saw Matt Murdock using a black and yellow costume that just wasn't quite right yet.
Wally Wood stepped in for a few issues and with a few slight tweaks to the costume, he created the dynamic suit we know and love today. The black and yellow segmented bodysuit was out, and the full-length red Daredevil was here to stay.
1 FAILED: DAREDEVIL
Yet even though Mr. Wood knocked the costume design out of the park with his redesign, the 90s happened and saw a number of characters go through a few costume issues. Matt Murdock was "killed off" and replaced with a new edgier Daredevil, complete with a brand new costume.
The costume was now grey and black with shiny metal shoulder and knee pads, which went against DD's usual techniques of blending into the darkness. This costume, like a few other variations we have seen recently in Shadowland and Marvel Now, have all fallen behind the original DD redesign that has stuck around.