The Timelessness of Superhero Costumes: DC Edition

By Shrey Sankalp

You might remember how we recently talked about the inherent timelessness of Marvel costumes, and superhero costumes in general, and where there's a mention of Marvel, there has to be a mention of DC as well, which brings us here: Discussing the timelessness of DC costumes.

Since both DC and Marvel are rooted in telling stories about superpowered individuals, there are a lot of thematic and contextual similarities between the two camps.
One region where the game is completely opposite is costumes. (There are movies too, but we'll get to that in a minute - they have a greater role than you'd realize they do).
With the possible exception of Spider-Man, most of Marvel superheroes found mainstream popularity post-2008, and the glut of superhero costumes that Marvel produced can be attributed to that, but when it comes to the popularity of DC's characters and similarly DC costumes, the story is different.

If I had to put it simply, the truth is there have been more DC costumes on more Halloweens for more years than Marvel costumes.
How many more years? Oh, about 40.

DC's most popular characters are unquestionably Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman and the Joker, and all of them have been around since the 1940s. Putting the costumes aside for a second, we can easily see why these characters themselves might be so popular.
These characters have a legacy. A lot of props must go to the designers who created the iconic costumes and distinctive stylistic flourishes that continue even today, but had the characters not been as well formed as they were, they wouldn't be popular today.
By creating strong characters, DC gave readers a reason to keep coming back for more and more of their adventures week after week, and by giving them flashy and instantly recognizable costumes, DC ensured that costume stores would be scrambling to keep their DC costumes stock perpetually replenished for ages to come.

However, even though the Golden Age exploits of these characters might have cemented their legacy, and earned the costumes a spot in the closets of fan, but as the years rolled by, DC needed to keep those fans coming back for more of those stories and to keep replacing the costumes in their closets with newer ones as they grew up.
And they did.
Yes, another reason for the lasting popularity of DC characters and DC costumes is the adaptability their stories and characters showed.
DC always adjusted their narratives and their characters to go with the times, and other media always followed suit - how else did we go from 1966's campy Batman to 1989's lean and mean Batman, costumes and all?
Different time periods continued to serve up more of these characters, but with more grit, and the designs showed the change, costumes and all. The comic panels across all eras are distinctively unique in their style of art, and while the traditional designs of the characters remained intact, everything about them, from the costumes to their designs received subtle tweaks to reflect the world they were a part of.
You'll know what I'm talking about when you see photos of your parents and grandparents in the costumes of your favorite characters and instantly see how different things were back then, yet remaining surprisingly familiar to what exists today.

...but it had to have been because of aesthetics, right?
Let's face it, as great as a narrative is, it requires that visual component that propels its greatness into the stratosphere, and no medium provides that opportunity better than comic books.
As distinctive as DC's art style might be through the ages, the one constant through all their designs are the characters and their costumes. DC really nailed the aesthetic in the very first go itself, because save for some minor tweaks to the costume, things have remained shockingly consistent.
Sure, Batman's costume may have become more armored in recent years, and Superman may finally have dropped the inside out underwear from his costume, and Wonder Woman's costume may have become more battle appropriate, but come on, they all look surprisingly like the costumes that adorned the pages of the comic books from your parents' and grandparents' era.

This is a trend that has been all too happy to continue when it comes to the movies that DC churns out amidst today's superhero boom. The movies all have a very unique and grungy aesthetic (what did I tell you about DC's ability to adapt according to the times?), and to go with this unique world, so do the costumes.
Modern DC costumes tend to largely be based on the costumes seen in the movies, and the thing about the movie costumes is how realistic they aim to be. Batman's costume is as realistic as it's ever been, while Superman costume does feel like a costume an extraterrestrial alien might wear! On top of this realism, the costumes have also shown a tendency to be extremely faithful to the comics, so that just really sweetens an already sweet deal for the fans.
And while the costumes are pretty accurate to the comics, the universe has shown it's not afraid to completely reinvent the game with costumes that are as radical as they can be.
The perfect example of the same are the costumes worn by Joker and Harley Quinn - they are not reminiscent of their comic counterparts, yet the costumes have that distinct style that instantly screams who the costume belongs to.

When you think about it, is it really all that much of a surprise how dominant DC costumes are during Halloween? They are simply doing what they always have, and for reasons that are all too apparent.
But then it isn't really a specific DC costumes or a Marvel costumes, is it? It's really a superhero costumes thing when you get down to it.
We've always had this obsession with superheroes and watching their exploits, and then buying a costume and imagining them ourselves, and when you think about it, that's all it is - a mode of some much needed respite.
It appeals to our basest instincts. It always has. It always will. And hey, you know what?
Wonder Costumes will be right alongside you.