Hey ho! Daddy likes leather! I appreciate the dive into comics lore, but I think it's important, especially when talking about visual elements of those comics, to name the artists and not just the writers. Grant Morrison didn't draw squat. Jill Thompson and Steve Yeowell took turns on the first volume, and continued to contribute throughout the run. Frank Quitely was the designer of Morrison's revamped X-Men. Don't forget the artists!
@@ItsGregKon I know you just can't squeeze everything into every video, of course. And with Invisibles with its rotating roster of artists, it's hard to credit how much who added to what. But I assume Jill probably brought a flair for style that couldn't have been conveyed simply by script. She's a stylish lady. Though I don't know how much reference Morrison passed on. It was the 90s, though, so reference wasn't at the tips of our fingers at the time.
I know this is 2 years old, but i respectfully disagree with this. When talking about a movie you don't credit the costume designer for a look of the movies, people credit the director because the director is the main visionary for the project and filters what is seen on screen. Likewise for the comics Grant Morrison wrote he was the creative visionary, he told Quitely and others how to draw the characters and they did their best to bring HIS vision to life. I don't think you're wrong though, I just differ in opinions with it.
I actually think the x-men suits weren't bad for there time but I kinda wish they evolved into the classic suits. Here's what I mean. The first movie with the dark leather, representing how mutants have to hide who they are whilst not being to outlandish for the audiences. The second movie adding yellow into the x's, showing how mutants are being more accepted but still conforming, along with getting a bit more crazy due to there nurtured audience whilst still being pretty conservative. The 3rd should go full comic suit, showing how the mutants are finally accepting who they are and paying-off their built up trust with the audience to take these character seriously.
I will continue to applaud Olivia Munn for how Bryan Singer tried to put Psylocke in a modest black outfit for X-Men: Apocalypse and she fought for that purple leotard because she was that big a fan of the character. When the Wonder Woman movie came out, one costume designer compiled an interesting Twitter thread about how the design for Diana's costume was obviously inspired by actual Greek armour and previous live action versions were traced back to lingerie and fetish gear.
Olivia Munn is so cool. Too bad she didn't have more to do in that movie, but the look is spot on. The Wonder Woman costume is fantastic, bravo to those designers.
The Wonder Woman costume was cool (in the first film, at least), but a few years before it came out, a cosplayer named Meagan Marie did an even more roman-inspired version that's absolutely stunning. Worth looking up.
Considering the massive pop the X-Men got at the end of Apocalypse when they had a sort of modernized version of their comic costumes proves that people WANT those costumes. Though I will never forgive the studios for making Goblin a flight suit and not an actual goblin creature.
Not at that time they weren't.. sure with retro hindsight eyes we can say those statements.. but you really have to look at the collective psyche of the time. I grew up in that time.. i was in middle school (prime targeted democratic) heck i remember having an awesome Spiderman's limited edition Ecko shirt.. The Spider-Man would transom to the black symbiote spiderman.. And i never wore it to school.. Nerd culture wasn't popular.. Heck even anime talk you would have to be selective with who you talked about it with. Thankfully i was Hispanic, and most my friends from Mexico were huge into anime where we didn't have to hide it as much.
To be fair with Goblin they did create a few Green Goblin animatronic masks but they just made him look like a Power Rangers villain…I mean more like a Power Rangers villain
I doubt Grant Morrison would have ever approved of replacing the classic X Men costumes with pure black leather. Flex Mentallo was about how dark edginess is killing imagination in comics
Speaking of Raimi's Spider Man, i always hear people complaining about the Green Goblin in the first movie, and i get it, it's far from accurate, but considering the early 2000's trend it's kinda of a miracle that we end up having a Green Goblin that actually wears green and not a black/grey armor with greenwish tones. And yeah, i know about the discarded animatronic mask and stuff and i think it's great, but i'm not sure if people at the time would have accept it that look, since it's too much 80's style, something almost taken from David Bowies's Labyrinth. So in the end the design we had is almost like a balance between the comic book visual and the tactical and pratical early 2000's style, and i honestly think it's pretty good, not perfect, the only real problem to me is the mask, but overall still good. Also people say it looks like a power ranger costume, and...yeah...it does...but since when is this a bad a thing? Ant-man costume is basically a Kamen Rider suit and it fucking rules! Actually for me the fact that looks like a Japanese super sentai costume kinda gives more personality to it, they tried to make it look tactical and pratical and more realistic but in the end it looks like a freaking Japanese Sentai, the peak of stravaganza, and that's hilarious.
Dafoe's Green Goblin still creeped me out despite looking like a Power Rangers villain. And I also agree that MCU Ant-Man and Wasp looks like a Kamen Rider
@@luanalves8776 people had less of a problem with the costume itself and more the fact that it totally obscures William Dafoe's face. He was *phenomenal* so having most of his scenes as The Goblin be obscured by the helmet felt disappointing. No Way Home showed what we missed out on by letting him just go HAM with the Goblin's expressions in fights.
back then looking like power rangers in a non-kids movie was not regarded as cool as now, since nerd culture was still underappreciated and even worse power rangers is a kids show. around late 2000s is when saying you love star wars or anime was more accepted in schools and at work
There were so many other factors that led to superheroes wearing black leather outfits in the 2000's. 1) When the Crow was released in 1994, it was the 1st comic book film to feature a superhero in a black leather outfit. That film is what really influenced Blade, the Matrix, and all the 2000's comic book films. 2) After the horrible reaction that Batman and Robin received in 1997, filmmakers vowed that all future comic book films will never put superheroes in their comic-accurate suits because they're worried that audiences will not take those films seriously. Spider-Man, Hulk, and the Fantastic 4 are the only exceptions because they can get away with wearing brightly colored outfits. 3) Kevin Feige revealed that studio execs insisted on putting the X-men in black leather suits because they were inspired by the Matrix.
This was absolutely fantastic! I never fully considered the history or reasoning that led to the X-Men leather outfits. Tying that cinematic trend in with the history of comics, fashion, and pop culture context was all expertly told! Tie in some great editing and scripting gags, and I was hooked the whole time! I'll have to go hunting around your channel some more here!
Whoa it's Graeme! You do great work so that means a lot, thank you! I really enjoyed your recent LotR video. Also the Flash Game deep dives (and preservation) are always excellent and much appreciated.
@@ItsGregKon I appreciate that very much! It was clear from the video topic, examples, inserts, references, and all that that we grew up surrounded by very similar things! Glad to hear Flash games are maybe one more to add to that list of common interests :D
oh shoot even the Darwyn Cooke Catwoman design from 2000s had leather, she was like covered with 60s sci-fi spy show looking costume, though it looked extremely cool.
Hot Take: I really dig The Flash S01 suit more than the other outfits (especially season 5 and 6). I think it was really meant to be his debut costume for the first season which I think was pretty good. I am not fond of The Flash costume with many lines and a weird-look cowl.
Agreed. Especially once he gets the white and yellow symbol, it actually looks pretty good. And they do give a good reason for the leathery look, saying it was designed to be flame retardant, which makes sense for a guy who can pretty much jog at the speed of sound. I’ll admit the leather is a bit too much in some areas though, and I think if they toned it down below the waist, I think it’d be perfect.
I feel like to some extent leather makes sense for flash, maybe not the best for running but there is a reason bikers chose it as their main attire, especially considering the dangers of riding a motorcycle. Flash trips or gets his legs whacked out from under him by some villain that leather is gonna save him a whole lot of pain.
One of the oddest design choices in the MCU, in which I love the design but don’t like the context in which it was used for, is taskmaster. He straight up looks like Kamen Rider or Power ranger. I just wished they used the design philosophy for her design for someone else in which it would make more sense. Especially with how they’re planning to introduce more younger heroes.
the crow movie predates blade and the book predates invisibles - it was also the edgiest darkest take on a super hero story that a teen could see at either time and the music ties it all together.
@korvo3427 doesn't really matter, it's close enough for most people, and we got other actually accurate costumes with the variants, even if they were for one off gags. That brown suit looked fucking beautiful, and if it wasn't for the callback to the whole black leather joke, would've been my personal go to for a comic wolverine suit to see in film.
I'd be interested to hear your take on the outfits in the Injustice 2 game. The graphics are really good so it's not cartoonish, yet the costumes are colorful, it looks like really high quality cosplay. Also, when the inevitable MCU X-men happen.... comic book accurate. It's time.
I haven't played or read Injustice, but I've seen a lot of it. I like the color pallet for sure, but I find their suits a little too bulky/armored for me. But of course, the bulk makes sense in the context of the story so I get it as a design choice.
That guy on the scooter with that monkey ball music in the background was unexpectedly hilarious for some reason. Great video btw, been watching your ghost world one too, and i must say I'm really glad I stumbled upon your channel, amazing work !
It's amazing to see how much things have changed for comic book characters in a couple of years. In recent years, we had comic-accurate costumes for characters like the Wolverine, Gambit or the Guardians of the Galaxy, something that I thought was impossible 10 years ago. I still have a soft spot for leather outfits, though.
And why when Jon Watts in Far From Home made fun of Peter breathing spandex for no reason, taking away that magic from the character, no one says anything? In my opinion, out of context, but the X Men costumes did not look so bad for their time. I also read that Singer wanted his X Men to be a kind of secret agents, that is why the change of clothing and for the realistic universe that he was presenting did not it was so wrong under that context
I love this video essay, but I have an interesting point to make: the 1989's The Punisher was the first one to change the comic book look of a character towards leather jacket and pants. Arguably a change inspired by 1989's Batman promotional materials, but no one really knows.
for the punisher it made sense with his comic costume and overall theme. The problem come from the fact that other more outlandish superhero properties copied the the look without understand why it worked.
"lots of magik, time travelling, secret mind control, gender bending" im now totally sold on the series because of this glowing recommendation, thanks!
Spider-Man is our lord and savior by starting the trend that a modern superhero movie can be successful and have comic accurate suit with bright colors
I'm pretty sure alot of heroes & villains costumes in the comics wear white eyed masks but not in the films adaptation. Deadpool got it right even through his film costume wasn't that accurate. There's really no excuse why to not add it using CGI since majority of superhero movies nowadays rely on CGI.
Somewhere between the leather X-men costumes and Lee Bermejo’s tactical looking Batsuit, I couldn’t look back, and designed my own character concept with military pants, T-shirt, and utility harness, plus a bat cowl minus the ears.
I think superhero costumes hit the sweet spot in X-Men First Class. They incorporated the comic book yellow, on top of functional flight suits, which not only look good - but also make sense. Captain America's suit in his debut movie is also pretty great, using the straps to create the American flag was an inspired choice.
Great job on this deep dive! Well scripted. The 2000s was certainly a strange era in many ways. I still love most of those movies but yeah the costumes look so strange. You did a great job assembling all this information together. Sam Raimi was definitely a fantastic Spider-man director and I still strongly look back on those movies. Thank you for sharing your thoughts.
I followed every news concerning the first X-Men film back in the day. There was a widespread support from fans concerning the choice of using black leather. Everyone believed that the colorful uniforms from the comics wouldn’t work. The reason for that was because of 1) the huge success of the first Matrix, which made black leather look “super cool”; 2) the failure of Batman & Robin, which made superhero costumes looks silly. This would only gradually change after the release of the second Spider-Man film, but mainly once Marvel made the bold decision (at the time) to make costumes that were more accurate to the comics after the release of Iron Man in 2008.
Also, MCU didn't just copy comic book outfits 1:1, but adapted them to work in live action medium. Instead of previous leather rejection, it was translation. It was made to look practical yet still ressemble the roots. The previous association of "comic book outfits = unbelievable trash" imo came because in earlier adaptations, those costumes were just put in the films based on comic extremly closely without care of the differences between the mediums.
You know it's a classic Morrison when he put a leather jacket on the main character. He did it in Doom Patrol with Robot Man and in Animal man with... well, animal man
I would love to see a sleek cloth/canvas Batman suit. A suit that would lend itselt to Batman posing on a gargoyle. I feel like theres a goood middle ground of going classic but also look like its protective. Its fantasy we can pretend a little can't we.
The Flash did come out the the year before Age Of Ultron, but that film also had quicksilver in a tracksuit because it was ashamed of his comic look. Even Days of Future part still had a muted/ non-comic look at the time lol
With Smallville it's about Clark growing up and becoming Superman, all throughout the series the Characters aren't their "True Selves" yet they are growing and finding out who they are and what kind of person they want to be. when Clark was wearing all black it was to reflect his mental state & the dark times he was going through, but near the end of the series you see him regain his hope and become the man he was meant to be & we get a tease of him going back to the classic Red & Blue that signifies Hope & Superman.
I agree you on most points aside from the flash one. When I see the outfit I don't really see it as leather. It's just the fash suit. And everyone knows why they designed the catwoman suit to be like that.
One example of why they didn't use comic accurate costumes back then might be "The Phantom" (1996), where Billy Zane where a extremely comic accurate full body purple outfit with a domino mask...and the movie did terribly and felt corny. I'm sure it was one of the factors that had them shying away from really comic accurate stuff. "Dick Tracy" (1990), while not a superhero movie, was a movie based on a comic with EXTREMELY 4-color aesthetics and I think that was a pretty big bomb too...though I loved it as a kid. Also...it's kinda weird that Captain America's first costume seems like it was the best one...but I really think it was, the final one, I mean not the USO one.
I think this goes back to Tim Burton and his first Batman movie. After that we started seeing a lot of black costumes. It think it is more about using dark colors, that using leather or rubber.
I'm conflicted about the new Matrix, not sure how to feel. It had some nice ideas but I also felt like nobody wanted to make it. The colors were beautiful, I'll give it that. But I think it proves that nothing will ever come close to the first one.
@@petermj1098 I mean, maybe, but ultimately they were a success. I don’t recall anyone complaining at the time. It hit the zeitgeist and established the groundwork for what we have today.
@@jimmyoats Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen and Hugh Jackman are the reason the early X-Men films were successful. Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man films came out the same time as the early X-Men films and they proved Bryan Singer wrong that a colorful comic booky costume could work on film.
I actually liked the leather costumes in Xmen when I was a kid but did not read comics. I definitely thought it was "more realistic" for a super hero to wear a leather jumpsuit than colorful underwear.
I had one of the Invisibles comics! Didn't read it since there was an age rating warning right on the cover (that I somehow missed while buying secondhand), and gave it to my friend to screen for me. Still waiting on results, but if its really that good...
Yeah, there's something deeply sad about these utterly sexless men, covered in armor that conceals their bodies completely whilst imitating the appearance of masculine power. But they dare not imitate it too closely by adding nipples, because that'd be gay, right? Funny how none of the female superheroes wear fake muscles.
Many comic costume do not translate well to real life. Some naturally do -- spider,an, Superman, and Batman -- but others don't, at least not easily. Way back in the late 70s, CBS made a series of live action superhero shows...all of the costumes were lifted directly from the comics...and they did not translate well.
Hey ho! Daddy likes leather!
I appreciate the dive into comics lore, but I think it's important, especially when talking about visual elements of those comics, to name the artists and not just the writers. Grant Morrison didn't draw squat. Jill Thompson and Steve Yeowell took turns on the first volume, and continued to contribute throughout the run. Frank Quitely was the designer of Morrison's revamped X-Men. Don't forget the artists!
Facts! Great point. Those books and designs would be nothing without the artists.
@@ItsGregKon I know you just can't squeeze everything into every video, of course. And with Invisibles with its rotating roster of artists, it's hard to credit how much who added to what. But I assume Jill probably brought a flair for style that couldn't have been conveyed simply by script. She's a stylish lady. Though I don't know how much reference Morrison passed on. It was the 90s, though, so reference wasn't at the tips of our fingers at the time.
.
I know this is 2 years old, but i respectfully disagree with this. When talking about a movie you don't credit the costume designer for a look of the movies, people credit the director because the director is the main visionary for the project and filters what is seen on screen. Likewise for the comics Grant Morrison wrote he was the creative visionary, he told Quitely and others how to draw the characters and they did their best to bring HIS vision to life. I don't think you're wrong though, I just differ in opinions with it.
The MCU X-Men should have a line saying:
“You actually go outside in these things?”
“What would you prefer? Black leather?”
Yes please, i hate how fox-men producers were ashamed of comic accurate designs
It would be even funnier if said to Logan.
And I'd be there to say "Actually? Probably."
It's not that the MCU isn't ashamed of the comic costumes. Look at TaskMaster, or the Eternals, or Captain America after the first Avengers movie.
@@JP-1990 Honestly. MCU suits all look the same it's tiring
I actually think the x-men suits weren't bad for there time but I kinda wish they evolved into the classic suits. Here's what I mean.
The first movie with the dark leather, representing how mutants have to hide who they are whilst not being to outlandish for the audiences.
The second movie adding yellow into the x's, showing how mutants are being more accepted but still conforming, along with getting a bit more crazy due to there nurtured audience whilst still being pretty conservative.
The 3rd should go full comic suit, showing how the mutants are finally accepting who they are and paying-off their built up trust with the audience to take these character seriously.
I will continue to applaud Olivia Munn for how Bryan Singer tried to put Psylocke in a modest black outfit for X-Men: Apocalypse and she fought for that purple leotard because she was that big a fan of the character.
When the Wonder Woman movie came out, one costume designer compiled an interesting Twitter thread about how the design for Diana's costume was obviously inspired by actual Greek armour and previous live action versions were traced back to lingerie and fetish gear.
Olivia Munn is so cool. Too bad she didn't have more to do in that movie, but the look is spot on.
The Wonder Woman costume is fantastic, bravo to those designers.
The Wonder Woman costume was cool (in the first film, at least), but a few years before it came out, a cosplayer named Meagan Marie did an even more roman-inspired version that's absolutely stunning. Worth looking up.
I just looked that cosplay up now. It is spectacular :D
@@rottensquid Roman isn't what should aim for, but greek. Luckily she does that.
wonder woman, a character who's creator was famously completely unrelated to bdsm
Considering the massive pop the X-Men got at the end of Apocalypse when they had a sort of modernized version of their comic costumes proves that people WANT those costumes. Though I will never forgive the studios for making Goblin a flight suit and not an actual goblin creature.
Riiiiight? People were STARVING for colorful X-Men. And yeah, it's a crime to cover DaFoe's face in a movie imo
And then for the infamous Dark Phoenix movie, ironically went for the Grant Morrison run costumes' design, what an odd full circle that was (?
Not at that time they weren't.. sure with retro hindsight eyes we can say those statements.. but you really have to look at the collective psyche of the time. I grew up in that time.. i was in middle school (prime targeted democratic) heck i remember having an awesome Spiderman's limited edition Ecko shirt.. The Spider-Man would transom to the black symbiote spiderman.. And i never wore it to school.. Nerd culture wasn't popular.. Heck even anime talk you would have to be selective with who you talked about it with. Thankfully i was Hispanic, and most my friends from Mexico were huge into anime where we didn't have to hide it as much.
Its just too bad those didnt carry over to the next film.
To be fair with Goblin they did create a few Green Goblin animatronic masks but they just made him look like a Power Rangers villain…I mean more like a Power Rangers villain
At least in yellow spandex they could have moved properly.
I doubt Grant Morrison would have ever approved of replacing the classic X Men costumes with pure black leather. Flex Mentallo was about how dark edginess is killing imagination in comics
Cyclops making a reference to that scene by making fun of the black leather in x-men 97 was great.
Speaking of Raimi's Spider Man, i always hear people complaining about the Green Goblin in the first movie, and i get it, it's far from accurate, but considering the early 2000's trend it's kinda of a miracle that we end up having a Green Goblin that actually wears green and not a black/grey armor with greenwish tones.
And yeah, i know about the discarded animatronic mask and stuff and i think it's great, but i'm not sure if people at the time would have accept it that look, since it's too much 80's style, something almost taken from David Bowies's Labyrinth. So in the end the design we had is almost like a balance between the comic book visual and the tactical and pratical early 2000's style, and i honestly think it's pretty good, not perfect, the only real problem to me is the mask, but overall still good.
Also people say it looks like a power ranger costume, and...yeah...it does...but since when is this a bad a thing? Ant-man costume is basically a Kamen Rider suit and it fucking rules! Actually for me the fact that looks like a Japanese super sentai costume kinda gives more personality to it, they tried to make it look tactical and pratical and more realistic but in the end it looks like a freaking Japanese Sentai, the peak of stravaganza, and that's hilarious.
When you put it like that, I can definitely appreciate it for its wierdness lol. It's a unique product of the times and unlike anything else.
Dafoe's Green Goblin still creeped me out despite looking like a Power Rangers villain. And I also agree that MCU Ant-Man and Wasp looks like a Kamen Rider
It did have purple highlights in some shots, which is accurate enough
@@luanalves8776 people had less of a problem with the costume itself and more the fact that it totally obscures William Dafoe's face. He was *phenomenal* so having most of his scenes as The Goblin be obscured by the helmet felt disappointing. No Way Home showed what we missed out on by letting him just go HAM with the Goblin's expressions in fights.
back then looking like power rangers in a non-kids movie was not regarded as cool as now, since nerd culture was still underappreciated and even worse power rangers is a kids show.
around late 2000s is when saying you love star wars or anime was more accepted in schools and at work
I'm surprised you didn't mention the Deadpool costume. It is definitely a mix of leather and tactical fetish in a post leather era.
You're right! He was originally created as a parody of 90s tacti-cool superheroes
The 2000's were an insane time to be alive.....In a good way
There were so many other factors that led to superheroes wearing black leather outfits in the 2000's.
1) When the Crow was released in 1994, it was the 1st comic book film to feature a superhero in a black leather outfit. That film is what really influenced Blade, the Matrix, and all the 2000's comic book films.
2) After the horrible reaction that Batman and Robin received in 1997, filmmakers vowed that all future comic book films will never put superheroes in their comic-accurate suits because they're worried that audiences will not take those films seriously. Spider-Man, Hulk, and the Fantastic 4 are the only exceptions because they can get away with wearing brightly colored outfits.
3) Kevin Feige revealed that studio execs insisted on putting the X-men in black leather suits because they were inspired by the Matrix.
'89 batman was ahead of its time though being in black. Its just Clooney batman that almost ruined the franchise
Also Darkman fits in there somewhere
There was a Inverse of this in X-Men 97 where Cyclops made a joke about Wolverine’s black Leather
Also don’t forget the matrix also took cues from AKIRA, ghost in the shell, and dark city.
This was absolutely fantastic! I never fully considered the history or reasoning that led to the X-Men leather outfits. Tying that cinematic trend in with the history of comics, fashion, and pop culture context was all expertly told!
Tie in some great editing and scripting gags, and I was hooked the whole time! I'll have to go hunting around your channel some more here!
Whoa it's Graeme! You do great work so that means a lot, thank you!
I really enjoyed your recent LotR video. Also the Flash Game deep dives (and preservation) are always excellent and much appreciated.
@@ItsGregKon I appreciate that very much! It was clear from the video topic, examples, inserts, references, and all that that we grew up surrounded by very similar things! Glad to hear Flash games are maybe one more to add to that list of common interests :D
oh shoot even the Darwyn Cooke Catwoman design from 2000s had leather, she was like covered with 60s sci-fi spy show looking costume, though it looked extremely cool.
True! There's a ton of great leather/latex legacy with Catwoman looks. Unfortunately Catwoman 2004 doesn't do them justice
@@ItsGregKon considering Catwoman costume before this was that godawful horny Jim Balent one, that's a huge improvement for sure.
Hot Take: I really dig The Flash S01 suit more than the other outfits (especially season 5 and 6). I think it was really meant to be his debut costume for the first season which I think was pretty good. I am not fond of The Flash costume with many lines and a weird-look cowl.
Agreed. Especially once he gets the white and yellow symbol, it actually looks pretty good. And they do give a good reason for the leathery look, saying it was designed to be flame retardant, which makes sense for a guy who can pretty much jog at the speed of sound. I’ll admit the leather is a bit too much in some areas though, and I think if they toned it down below the waist, I think it’d be perfect.
I feel like to some extent leather makes sense for flash, maybe not the best for running but there is a reason bikers chose it as their main attire, especially considering the dangers of riding a motorcycle. Flash trips or gets his legs whacked out from under him by some villain that leather is gonna save him a whole lot of pain.
Full agree. For me it’s a tie between his S1 suit and his S2/S3 suit.
One of the oddest design choices in the MCU, in which I love the design but don’t like the context in which it was used for, is taskmaster. He straight up looks like Kamen Rider or Power ranger. I just wished they used the design philosophy for her design for someone else in which it would make more sense. Especially with how they’re planning to introduce more younger heroes.
Tbf with smallville the showmakers were banned from putting Superman in the actual costume
Came here from 2 left thumbs, holy crap this video is well made! You're gonna be a big UA-camr one day, I can feel it. Keep at the comprehensive work!
Thank you! One day you'll be able to tell everyone you followed this channel before it blew up 😎
@@ItsGregKon "I watched Cinnakon before it was cool."
@1:25 I legit this was Professor X for a second. Not Patrick Stewart, not James McVoy, but THE actual professor Xavier
Sam Reimi was truly ahead of his time and I find it baffling that he didn't inspire more super hero movies, sooner.
the crow movie predates blade and the book predates invisibles - it was also the edgiest darkest take on a super hero story that a teen could see at either time and the music ties it all together.
Yeah he forgot about darkman (1990) and batman (1989) too.
No spandex to be seen.
@@alphatrion100 I mean, Darkman was an original character. He had no costume to "adapt".
Interesting now, with Deadpool & Wolverine, they've fully embraced the Yellow Spandex.
Blade and Raimi Spiderman were the kings of early superheroes
tbf for years after the xmen movie, people screamed to see the yellow spandex look on wolverine
@@michellebrown7714 We finally got it this summer.
@@adammathers4879 And it still doesn't look like his costume.
@@korvo3427 But does that matter to the casuals like me? No.
I’m just happy the yellow and blue was there at all.
@korvo3427 doesn't really matter, it's close enough for most people, and we got other actually accurate costumes with the variants, even if they were for one off gags. That brown suit looked fucking beautiful, and if it wasn't for the callback to the whole black leather joke, would've been my personal go to for a comic wolverine suit to see in film.
The Green Goblin costume in Sam Raimi's Spider man was next level.
It's just a green version of Jet Jaguar.
This is why I like Raimi’s Spider-Man. He wasn’t afraid to adapt the costume with a few different changes
God damn there's more leather and latex here than my search history
I really like this video and your recent batman one as well. Both are well edited and the commentary is engaging, keep it up!
I'd be interested to hear your take on the outfits in the Injustice 2 game. The graphics are really good so it's not cartoonish, yet the costumes are colorful, it looks like really high quality cosplay.
Also, when the inevitable MCU X-men happen.... comic book accurate. It's time.
I haven't played or read Injustice, but I've seen a lot of it. I like the color pallet for sure, but I find their suits a little too bulky/armored for me. But of course, the bulk makes sense in the context of the story so I get it as a design choice.
That guy on the scooter with that monkey ball music in the background was unexpectedly hilarious for some reason. Great video btw, been watching your ghost world one too, and i must say I'm really glad I stumbled upon your channel, amazing work !
Thanks! Happy to hear you enjoyed that 😁
I remember that the attitude in the late '90s and 2000s was that colorful costumes were childish and kind of, uh, gay.
It's amazing to see how much things have changed for comic book characters in a couple of years.
In recent years, we had comic-accurate costumes for characters like the Wolverine, Gambit or the Guardians of the Galaxy, something that I thought was impossible 10 years ago.
I still have a soft spot for leather outfits, though.
Glad to ha e you back King!
And why when Jon Watts in Far From Home made fun of Peter breathing spandex for no reason, taking away that magic from the character, no one says anything? In my opinion, out of context, but the X Men costumes did not look so bad for their time. I also read that Singer wanted his X Men to be a kind of secret agents, that is why the change of clothing and for the realistic universe that he was presenting did not it was so wrong under that context
I love this video essay, but I have an interesting point to make: the 1989's The Punisher was the first one to change the comic book look of a character towards leather jacket and pants. Arguably a change inspired by 1989's Batman promotional materials, but no one really knows.
You're so right! Punisher was definitely an influence on the leather trend, idk how I missed that
for the punisher it made sense with his comic costume and overall theme.
The problem come from the fact that other more outlandish superhero properties copied the the look without understand why it worked.
0:18 Affleck’s DD suit wasn’t so bad. But you should never use leather as the material of your suit
@@bigtimespidey38 It should have gotten the treatment that Ben Affleck's suit in BvS: Dawn of Justice got..more believable imho...
"lots of magik, time travelling, secret mind control, gender bending" im now totally sold on the series because of this glowing recommendation, thanks!
It's really a special story. If you're into anything on that list you're in for a wild ride!
Spider-Man is our lord and savior by starting the trend that a modern superhero movie can be successful and have comic accurate suit with bright colors
15:15
To this day Sam Raimi’s Spiderman suit is one of my favourites from the red/blue and the 3d wedding decals.
Astonishing content as per usual mate! Great choice of topic too
Thanks a ton Jack! Was actually just watching your modern horror tier list, love it
I'm pretty sure alot of heroes & villains costumes in the comics wear white eyed masks but not in the films adaptation. Deadpool got it right even through his film costume wasn't that accurate. There's really no excuse why to not add it using CGI since majority of superhero movies nowadays rely on CGI.
you forgot spawn before blade broski.
oooh the eXistenZ reference
Somewhere between the leather X-men costumes and Lee Bermejo’s tactical looking Batsuit, I couldn’t look back, and designed my own character concept with military pants, T-shirt, and utility harness, plus a bat cowl minus the ears.
Incredibly underrated channel. This new *sub* likes leather :b
Woohoo welcome to the club!!
I think superhero costumes hit the sweet spot in X-Men First Class. They incorporated the comic book yellow, on top of functional flight suits, which not only look good - but also make sense. Captain America's suit in his debut movie is also pretty great, using the straps to create the American flag was an inspired choice.
Great job on this deep dive! Well scripted. The 2000s was certainly a strange era in many ways. I still love most of those movies but yeah the costumes look so strange. You did a great job assembling all this information together. Sam Raimi was definitely a fantastic Spider-man director and I still strongly look back on those movies. Thank you for sharing your thoughts.
I followed every news concerning the first X-Men film back in the day. There was a widespread support from fans concerning the choice of using black leather. Everyone believed that the colorful uniforms from the comics wouldn’t work. The reason for that was because of 1) the huge success of the first Matrix, which made black leather look “super cool”; 2) the failure of Batman & Robin, which made superhero costumes looks silly. This would only gradually change after the release of the second Spider-Man film, but mainly once Marvel made the bold decision (at the time) to make costumes that were more accurate to the comics after the release of Iron Man in 2008.
Also, MCU didn't just copy comic book outfits 1:1, but adapted them to work in live action medium. Instead of previous leather rejection, it was translation. It was made to look practical yet still ressemble the roots. The previous association of "comic book outfits = unbelievable trash" imo came because in earlier adaptations, those costumes were just put in the films based on comic extremly closely without care of the differences between the mediums.
"Daddy likes leather!" I'm a geek and a goth, so I like both black leather and comic-accurate spandex on my superheroes!
You know it's a classic Morrison when he put a leather jacket on the main character. He did it in Doom Patrol with Robot Man and in Animal man with... well, animal man
Oh you can’t forget out Birds of Prey! The main character’s costume was a cut/copy of Selene from Underworld
I would love to see a sleek cloth/canvas Batman suit. A suit that would lend itselt to Batman posing on a gargoyle. I feel like theres a goood middle ground of going classic but also look like its protective. Its fantasy we can pretend a little can't we.
9:35 It's crazy to see superheroes drawn in outfits that actually add volume and crease, like thick jackets would...
The invisibles is a total mindfuck.
I need to re read those now…
The Flash did come out the the year before Age Of Ultron, but that film also had quicksilver in a tracksuit because it was ashamed of his comic look. Even Days of Future part still had a muted/ non-comic look at the time lol
*_"And bonus: he's wearing a costume like he's not ashamed to be in a superhero film for once._** ~ Deadpool, **_Deadpool & Wolverine._*
Halle berrys suit is so sexy with it and also that Cape is makes her look soo good
He discusses two leather costumes for Halle Berry, and of course I was directly thinking of the wrong one.
With Smallville it's about Clark growing up and becoming Superman, all throughout the series the Characters aren't their "True Selves" yet they are growing and finding out who they are and what kind of person they want to be.
when Clark was wearing all black it was to reflect his mental state & the dark times he was going through, but near the end of the series you see him regain his hope and become the man he was meant to be & we get a tease of him going back to the classic Red & Blue that signifies Hope & Superman.
I agree you on most points aside from the flash one. When I see the outfit I don't really see it as leather. It's just the fash suit. And everyone knows why they designed the catwoman suit to be like that.
One example of why they didn't use comic accurate costumes back then might be "The Phantom" (1996), where Billy Zane where a extremely comic accurate full body purple outfit with a domino mask...and the movie did terribly and felt corny. I'm sure it was one of the factors that had them shying away from really comic accurate stuff. "Dick Tracy" (1990), while not a superhero movie, was a movie based on a comic with EXTREMELY 4-color aesthetics and I think that was a pretty big bomb too...though I loved it as a kid. Also...it's kinda weird that Captain America's first costume seems like it was the best one...but I really think it was, the final one, I mean not the USO one.
The leather outfits didn't offend me half as much as Mystique's painted-on whatever the heck that was.
I think this goes back to Tim Burton and his first Batman movie. After that we started seeing a lot of black costumes. It think it is more about using dark colors, that using leather or rubber.
Huh, feels like this should have about ten times more views than it does. Great stuff
I’m a just say, Superman’s black shirt and trenchcoat and Smallville went kinda hard
It started with the jacket uniform look around 1990. X-men, Avengers,Legion of Superheroes. They were taking sport team look I guess.
Oh yeah Daddy likes leather 😂 Seriously I will be interest to hear your take on the last matrix !
I'm conflicted about the new Matrix, not sure how to feel. It had some nice ideas but I also felt like nobody wanted to make it. The colors were beautiful, I'll give it that. But I think it proves that nothing will ever come close to the first one.
I definitely rocked a black leather duster 2001-04
Cat woman was feeling herself in that leather. Daddy likes.
Honestly the only Super than can get away with a leather jacket is Superboy 😂
Sorry Clark!
Great editing 👍
I appreciate the little sliver of Sly Cooper ambient music.
wasnt the first superhero esque thing with black leather was more of the crow?
Batman and Black Canary I think?
And when X-Men ‘97 came out with those suits, they took back the joke for themselves!
13:25 *The Sega Sonic Theme* background music
Im straight Dyyy-iiiing ~ XD
"Like everything cool in the comics world, it started with Grant Morrison" - 200% accuracy
Not even a mention of the ultimate universe costumes
should have mentioned the crow
I liked that you included somebody saying eXistenZ in the background at 0:58
I had to rewind as many times as possible. "Someone referenced eXistenZ??? WHERE?????"
The original x men movies were the right movies for the right time. It’s just that simple.
Nah they should have had yellow and blue suits like X-Men First Class did.
@@petermj1098 I mean, maybe, but ultimately they were a success.
I don’t recall anyone complaining at the time. It hit the zeitgeist and established the groundwork for what we have today.
@@jimmyoats Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen and Hugh Jackman are the reason the early X-Men films were successful. Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man films came out the same time as the early X-Men films and they proved Bryan Singer wrong that a colorful comic booky costume could work on film.
I actually liked the leather costumes in Xmen when I was a kid but did not read comics. I definitely thought it was "more realistic" for a super hero to wear a leather jumpsuit than colorful underwear.
daddy likes leather............ imagine having creative comments.....
Who needs creativity when we got LEATHER!!
@@ItsGregKon HELLLL YEAH LEATHER BABY WOOOOOO
Aaah Trenton going to the country club 😂 Mommy likes leather!
Someone get my boy Trenton a white claw already
It was San Raimi’s Spider-Man 1 that l taught us comic book outfits can work in live action
This was so good
So glad you enjoyed!
Thank you for the video! It was entertaining!
I’m surprised the 2000s didn’t try to give Hulk leather pants
I think they used leather because of the popularity of the Matrix since the actors in that movie wore leather.
I think a kinky leather ninja Batman could do wonders
When he sed that! What would you prefer yellow Spandex! Yes! I would! 🤣
The worst case of 2000s leather would be piccolo in dbe, a look that may have inspired the look of hit in dbs years later
I’d like to add that early comic book heroes pre-WWII wore leather coats, fedoras, and such.
Xmen 97 does a joke that nods to the Leather Era with their Cyclops & Cable😅
I had one of the Invisibles comics! Didn't read it since there was an age rating warning right on the cover (that I somehow missed while buying secondhand), and gave it to my friend to screen for me. Still waiting on results, but if its really that good...
I can hear rock your body by Justin Timberlake in the background lmaooo awesome
Michael keaton's batman suit also used leather, i dont know if somehow this influenced this leather fashion of 1990s and 2000s
the truth is they were simply afraid to be camp, gay, or to slay
Yeah, there's something deeply sad about these utterly sexless men, covered in armor that conceals their bodies completely whilst imitating the appearance of masculine power. But they dare not imitate it too closely by adding nipples, because that'd be gay, right? Funny how none of the female superheroes wear fake muscles.
I come from the year 2024 after the release Deadpool and Wolverine... The yellow "spandex" is so much better.
Many comic costume do not translate well to real life. Some naturally do -- spider,an, Superman, and Batman -- but others don't, at least not easily.
Way back in the late 70s, CBS made a series of live action superhero shows...all of the costumes were lifted directly from the comics...and they did not translate well.
Shang Chi was a disgrace + to quote the GODFATHER "Look how they massacred my boy!!" damn figure skater suit