Here is an archive of all the past top five lists I've one over the years.

Reader Jim S. wrote in to suggest a top five on the rather odd trend in the 1990s of superheroes being given short-lived (typically story-driven) "battle armor." Here are the top five silliest examples of this trend..

HONORABLE MENTIONS

Hawkeye

Steve Gerber took over the Hawkeye feature in Avengers Spotlight with #30 (art by Al Milgrom and Don Heck), and his first storyline he had Hawkeye get shot and then decide to have Tony Stark build him a bullet-resistant lightweight armor. The armor debuted at the end of the issue...



This only BARELY counts as the 1990s, as it came out in January 1990. Plus it is low on the list because it really isn't the sort of thing that I'm thinking of, as it is closer to chain mail than anything. It's still a pretty darn silly costume, and it did not last long at all. Gerber's run only lasted seven issues and then the Hawkeye feature was dropped in Avengers Spotlight (the book itself lasted just four more issues) and Hawkeye returned to his old costume in the pages of Avengers West Coast (after it only appearing in one issue).

Superman

Similarly, Superman's battle armor from Superman/Doomsday: Hunter/Prey #3 by Dan Jurgens and Brett Breeding (where Doomsday returns to life and starts wreaking havoc on Apokolips, including kicking Superman's ass), is not precisely what I'm thinking when I think "1990s battle armor," as it is not nearly bulky enough and actually looks kind of cool...









Catwoman

Now Catwoman's battle armor from Catwoman #50 (by Doug Moench, Jim Balent, Robert Campanella and Sal Buscama) is EXACTLY what I'm thinking when I think of ridiculous 1990s battle armor...



She only misses the top five because, well, there are six sillier examples and Moench also does a good job selling the whole "this really isn't me, I'm only going to use this once because I'm up against a robotic villain who I can't beat otherwise."





By the way, even for 1997, $10,000 for a battle armor like that is a pretty cheap price.

Daredevil

I went into detail on the story behind Daredevil's new armored look in Daredevil #321 (by D.G. Chichester, Scott McDaniel and Hector Collazzo) in this Remember to Forget piece.



The problem with Daredevil on this list is that, whether the story it was introduced in necessarily worked, it was still a pretty sweet looking costume. So it really doesn't belong on this list, even if it COMPLETELY fits in with the "1990s battle armor" trend.

Go to the next page for the beginning of the top five!

5. Batman

Designed by Joe Quesada, the armor that Jean-Paul Valley used when he officially took over as Batman at the end of Knightfall served a couple of purposes. One, it was sort of kind of practical, as Bane had literally broken the previous Batman, so Jean-Paul needed something a little bit "extra" and two, outside the pages of the comic, Batman editor Denny O'Neil wanted to highlight the absurdity of the change from Bruce to Jean-Paul, and the answer was to give him a really over-the-top battle armor. Here it is on the cover by cover artist Kelley Jones...



and here it is by the difficult-to-scan foil cover by Quesada (I probably shouldn't even include this, but eh, why not?). It is one of those costumes that only really look cool when the original artist draws it...



And finally, here it is by Mike Manley in the actual comic, who became the regular artist on the book with this issue, coming from a Marvel series about a guy wearing battle armor all the time, Darkhawk...



4. Spider-Man

I seriously believe that the major inspiration behind Spider-Man's short-lived battle armor was that the silver and black costume would look good as a foil cover...



Despite kicking the collective ass of Graviton and a pile of super-villains less than fifty issues earlier, Spider-Man decides he needs extra help against the Rose's new team of Super-Enforcers, superpowered goons, in Web of Spider-Man #100 (by Terry Kavanagh, Alex Saviuk and Joe Rubinstein). Spidey uses a new method of treating his web fluid in a way to make it consistently hard, but pliable enough to be used as an armor...







The armor doesn't even make it all the way through the end of the fight...



3. Total Justice

In 1996, Kenner launched a new line of Batman action figures that extended to his fellow DC superheroes (who had not had much in the way of action figures since the mid-80s Super Powers line of toys). Dubbed "Total Justice," the concept behind the toys was superhero figures but with "fractal armor" (i.e. little pieces of armor that come with the figure) that you can add to the figure to make them...cooler, I guess? Here's Batman wearing his fractal armor...



Toy executives love adding weird stuff like that.

Well, DC decided to give Christopher Priest the unenviable task of working this idea into a comic book, and he came up with one in the Total Justice three-issue mini-series where Batman, Flash, Green Lantern and Robin are stranded on an island where Darkseid has sucked away their powers. Anyone who goes near the island will lose their powers.

So Priest, through Blue Beetle, comes up with an idea in Total Justice #2...fractal armor!!



Beetle takes the armor to the island and then, here they are, in all their silly glory, by artists Tom Morgan and Dick Giordano....





Amazing.

Okay, go to the next page for the top two!

2. Batman again

I got you there, didn't I? 1990s Batman only at #5? You probably wanted to burn the entire blog to the ground. That's because things got much worse/sillier as the sequel to Knightfall, Knightquest, continued.

It finally reached a head in Detective Comics #675, which naturally came with a foil cover...



Yes, Batman's costume now came complete with a built-in flamethrower, because, well, why wouldn't it?

Here it is in action in the issue (by Chuck Dixon, Graham Nolan and Scott Hanna)...







In Batman #506 (by Doug Moench and Mike Manley), we get a phrase that you just don't hear enough in Batman comics, "Arm rockets...engage."



1. Captain America

In my last book,

Why Does Batman Carry Shark Repellent?

, Mark Millar contributed a hilarious list looking at some of the crazier moments in comic book history. His top pick was our top pick for this list, Captain America's battle armor.



There is a lot of area for future columns in this time in Captain America history, so let me just say that the armor Cap wore when his Super Soldiers Serum ran out (debuting in Captain America #438) is really the epitome in silly 1990s superhero battle armor...



Okay, that's the list! Agree? Disagree? Think Batman deserved three more spots on the top five? Let me know!

Thanks to Jim for the suggestion! If YOU have a suggestion for a future top five list, drop me a line at bcronin@comicbookresources.com!