Top 5 Superhero Costumes | Archive

13:41Adam Kempenaar:It looks really just like it with a different color scheme. And Spider-Man was absolutely one of my early superhero loves. And I think it makes sense in context of the movie. If anyone's seen it, you know how self-referential it is. And I know from a little bit of research that in the comic books that is brought up, it's not lost on people that they look very similar. In fact, I don't think it's lost on the two superheroes that they look alike. And Peter Parker and Wade Wilson have a little bit of a rivalry, but they couldn't be more different as people under their suits. And yet they share a look and they share that same kind of similar hyper talkative approach.

14:17Adam Kempenaar:They rely heavily on humor. The Deadpool costume, I believe, was designed by Angus Strathy and Russ Schinkel. And it's cool, Josh. That's all I can say about Deadpool's outfit.

14:27Josh Larsen:It is cool. I do like that one. And it's almost, yeah, the Spider-Man connection, it's like Spider-Man's costume grew up, got a little curdled, a little bitter, a little cynical. Right. And that's how the character is, and that's what it looks like, too.

14:39Adam Kempenaar:So before we get to our number four picks, we do have a guest voicemail here. One of the people I thought of right away who needed to help us out with this list is Chris Klemmick. He's been a longtime contributor to the show, been a guest and a guest voicemailer over the years. And he's someone who I've pointed out multiple times looks like Clark Kent. He has a little Superman in him. And, well, it's really not a surprise where he went for his number one.

15:04Josh Larsen:Hello, Adam, Josh, and Sam. It's your buddy Chris Clemick checking in from Washington, D.C. You know, the third act of Zack Snyder's Man of Steel is so awful that people forget about the two-thirds of the movie that I think are really good. In the plus column for that movie is Alex McDowell's production design, and particularly James Aikison's and Michael Wilkinson's costume design. I think the way that they imagine the advanced Kryptonian technology, sort of a Geiger-esque tech that's been grown somehow, kind of ties into the Donner 78 Superman, which showed us sort of a crystal-based technology, but updates it.

15:38Josh Larsen:And that is best expressed in Superman's costume, which is sort of like a scaly sort of chainmail type advanced looking material. It has the design elements of the classic Superman costume, but still looks like some alien technology influenced the design. I particularly like the idea that the symbol that looks like an S to us is a insignia of a Kryptonian house, like a coat of arms or something. It ties into my favorite scene in the movie when Amy Adams' Lois Lane asks Superman what the S stands for, and he says it's not an S. On my world, it means hope. I think the movie could have used more of that, but it's a great costume.

16:17Josh Larsen:It's a great scene. That's my favorite movie superhero costume. Thanks, guys. Thank you, Chris. I can always count on you to come to the defense of Man of Steel. But I'm glad you made that pick and mentioned Michael Wilkinson because he's the designer for my number four pick, which is Rorschach, played by Jackie Earle Haley in Watchmen. This is Zack Snyder's extremely image-faithful adaptation of the 1986 graphic novel by author Alan Moore and illustrator Dave Gibbons. And one of those images that he doesn't mess with, except crucially to add movement, is the mask of Rorschach. So Rorschach is this vicious vigilante who gets his name from these ink blots that are continually changing shape on the white mask he wears.

17:01Josh Larsen:So because of this dynamic design, the movie's version requires a partnership of costuming. So here's where you have costume designer Michael Wilkinson coming into play and the visual effects. John Desjardins was visual effects supervisor on Watchmen. This is not just a green screen then that we're given. The mask itself was real fabric. It was multi-layered, so there's extra dimensions to it. And then digitally, there were these set patterns that the visual effects artists used for certain expressions and emotions. And those were drawn and pulled from Gibbon's original illustrations. So the result of all this is a constantly shifting, unnerving motion at play on Rorschach's face.

17:44Josh Larsen:And in some ways, it inverts the purpose of a mask. So instead of hiding what the character is thinking or feeling, it puts it right out there. And this is somewhat similar to Rorschach himself, how he operates as this blunt vigilante instrument, even while he's still, you know, somewhat of a mysterious character. So my number four is Rorschach. Apple Vacations, where your story starts. Apple Vacations semi-annual sale is here and it's the perfect time to plan your next beach getaway. Enjoy up to$250 off international and Hawaii vacations, up to$150 off domestic trips and hotel savings up to 70 % off.

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20:48Adam Kempenaar:That's O-D-O-O dot com. I don't have a lot to say about my number four. It's Batman, and it's specifically the Batman costume from The Dark Knight Rises. And if there are people out there wondering, why would it be The Dark Knight Rises and not The Dark Knight? Well, it's because they're the same costume. At least that's what I found in an interview with the costume designer, Lindy Hemming from 2012. I don't know if that changed over time, maybe as the movie was in production and I haven't seen either film in quite a while. But this is one of those things with these superhero movies, they're constantly altering the costumes.

21:22Adam Kempenaar:And while that's part of the fun, I know that the fans of these series do love to really scour all the little changes and consider what they mean and how cool or uncool they look. But I love the fact that they hit on such a good design with the Dark Knight. And they did. They found this dark black armor. and really just all the color that we associate, certainly with the earlier Batman from the Adam West days, the kind of fantastical nature of Batman. They made him this Dark Knight, this machine. It's armor. It has very little color. The belt, the utility belt, is really where we get just a splash of gold.

22:01Adam Kempenaar:The cape, at least in certain angles, isn't even really that noticeable. Again, it's really about function. It's tactical. it's really just to help him be this ruthless efficient crusader and again i love the fact that it worked so well that they said we really can't improve upon this there's no reason to improve upon this and we're going to let it continue to be something that is part of this character if you're working alone wear a mask i'm not afraid of being standing up to these guys the mask not for you is to protect the people you care about count to five then throw man i could not pick one

22:38Josh Larsen:batman costume i wanted to put him on this list so badly because i do think it's a fantastic design the cape especially how it's employed throughout all the films in different ways as you mentioned i have a lot of affection for the keaton classic look you know with the still using the yellow insignia but you're right about the armor element to the dark knight which fits the aesthetic of that film. Basically, I think we can all agree, just stay away from Schumacher's bat nipples and Clooney. And like, set that aside, the others all work in their own way. We agree. Okay, good. My number three is Wonder Woman, Gal Gadot from this year's Wonder Woman.

23:15Josh Larsen:And this is a character who's had, shall we say, a dubious history of costuming, straddling that line between empowerment and exploitation. For an eye-popping example of both at the same time, check out the design in the 2009 direct-to-video animated film. This year's Wonder Woman, though, with Gadot, seemed to have pleased most people as far as the costume was concerned. There were a lot of mentions of this by listeners on Facebook and Twitter, including Sarah Welch. She's at Dodgy Boffin. She said, big fan of the new Wonder Woman costume, faithful to the look of the original, and an accurate riff on Greek armor.

23:54Josh Larsen:I agree. I think that this is a look that says fighting first while still retaining some of the femininity of William Marston's original character design. He had her, if you look at the cover of the first Wonder Woman comic book, she's got this flowing star-spangled skirt. So here, costume designer has already been mentioned, Lindy Hemming. She makes that more of a thick, battle-ready leather skirt. I found some good comments from another costume designer, Amanda Weaver, who wrote about Wonder Woman at WeSoNerdy.com. And she points out that the key was starting from the right place for this character in this costume.

24:31Josh Larsen:She said Lindy Hemming didn't use fetish lingerie as her starting point. She used armor, actual armor. With Wonder Woman, the starting point, the intent is everything. The reason I literally cried watching the Amazons fight is that finally somebody started at the right place. That design showed respect. The intent right from the start was to portray these women as warriors, and that, at least for me, made all the difference. I think absolutely that was a distinctive of Wonder Woman. It's why it was one of the most rewarding movies of the summer for a lot of people, including us. And it's why it gets the number three slot on my list.

25:04Adam Kempenaar:Yeah, an honorable mention for me. I think it does find that exact right balance. It's not as if it's not revealing. It certainly is in ways, but it also seems functional in ways that you wouldn't expect from a Wonder Woman. costume. And I think for me, it's about the colors. It's kind of similar to what Chris was even saying about Man of Steel to taking out the bright blue, the bright red and bright yellow and dulling it down just a little bit to make it feel sort of era appropriate to World War One, I suppose. So I'm with you on Wonder Woman and I'm with you on our appreciation for Rorschach from Watchmen, my number three, Josh.

25:40Adam Kempenaar:And it's funny, I said that I had two villains and I don't, I only have one, but it's so easy to think of Rorschach as a villain.

25:46Josh Larsen:Yeah, well, all those characters, right?

25:48Adam Kempenaar:That's kind of the point of Watchmen. But in many ways, he could be seen as the hero of the movie. He's the one we're following. He's the detective that's taking us through the story, trying to get to the bottom of the demise of the comedian. And I don't know that I have anything to add beyond what you said, but I mentioned how little distinction there was between Wade Wilson and Deadpool. There's certainly even less between Walter Kovac and Rorschach. And you touched on this. he doesn't say to that psychiatrist or whoever it is interviewing him at one point in the jail when he meets him later and he's trying to get out of the jail he doesn't say where's my mask he says where's my face he sees that as the true version of himself unlike i think many of the other heroes we might have put on our list or considered for this list he is that trench-coated detective with the inkblot mask very simple but he's a superhero with no real superpowers and if If you do the Googling, it says that he just has his strong will, his peak human physical strength, and a finely honed sense of timing and precision.

26:47Adam Kempenaar:But what really defines him, for better and for worse, is his sense of morality, as deranged as it might be to some, and his sense of purpose. It is rigid. It is non-negotiable for him. There is good and there is evil, and he's going to do whatever he thinks he has to do to stamp evil out. Never compromise, he says at the end of the film, not even in the face of Armageddon. So we have this pretty ruthless character who nevertheless shows his emotions only through the way those inkblots change on his face. And there is, of course, great irony in that Rorschach test being applied to this mask to his face because the imagery of a Rorschach test, you put it up in front of you, different images, what you say about it, what it makes you think of might be completely different from what I think of.

27:34Adam Kempenaar:So it suggests ambiguity. The images are up for debate. They're up for discussion. But those inkblots are also black and white, which is exactly how he sees the world. And I did watch a little featurette on YouTube about the mask and how they did it. And this is the case where the designers were realizing that they probably needed to come up with some set patterns to define certain emotions and certain expressions. And then, of course, it occurred to them that we've got the graphic novel material to go back and use as a reference. And they did really hone in on those details and apply them to the Rorschach we see on screen.

28:07Adam Kempenaar:We have another voicemail here, this time from FilmSpotting listener Elijah.

28:12Josh Larsen:Hey, Adam and Josh. This is Elijah in Pasadena, California. And I actually do have a favorite superhero costume. It's Hellboy. The way that Guillermo del Toro adapted Mike McNullis' Hellboy look for the screen of a Ron Furman. So Hellboy in the comics is a – he's kind of a scrawnier character than Ron Perlman. He has kind of a hunchback. He has cloven feet and doesn't wear boots like in the movie. So what Del Toro did, he gave Ron Perlman, who was a large person, a large hulking mass, kind of more of that hunchback thing. He gave the coat, gave Hellboy the coat with the popped-up collar to kind of mimic the kind of hunchback that Hellboy has in the comic.

28:58And then, of course, it would be cost prohibitive to CGIN,

29:03Josh Larsen:clove and hooves for Ron Perlman throughout the movie. So they do the boots instead. Love the Hellboy costume. And if I ever have thousands of dollars to spend, maybe I'll make one for myself. Keep up the good work, guys.

29:16Adam Kempenaar:Some nice observations there from Elijah on Del Toro's Hellboy. A good film and a good character and certainly a great costume.

29:24Josh Larsen:Yeah, another good one from that film is Abe Sapien. He's sort of like the amphibious man. And I like that one, too. So a lot of creativity going on in Hellboy. Of course, that's what you'd expect from a Del Toro movie. All right. My number two is Captain America, Chris Evans. And I'm going to include all the latest Marvel films for this pick rather than narrow it down to one because I like the attention. I'm sorry. That's not fair. Hey, you're including villains. Don't talk to me about rules. These are superhero movies. Superhero costumes. I like the attention that's been paid to the evolution of Captain America's costume.

30:00Josh Larsen:There's the bright pajama fabric look that he sports when the military initially employs him as part of the PR campaign. Then you get that sturdier leather design he ends up wearing on the battlefield. And lately we have this more advanced suit that he sports in the likes of Captain America Civil War. There's a really nice moment that nods to this sense of tradition in Captain America, the Winter Soldier. He's in the museum and he comes across this display while he's wearing civilian clothes, this display of his original costume. Now, listener Tom Morris on my Facebook page, he pointed out how faithful the Captain America costume is to Jack Kirby's original designs.

30:40Josh Larsen:And I think that's been true for almost every one of these iterations, which is important here, maybe more so than with other characters, because you can sense the history, you can sense the tradition, which makes sense for a character who's at once both honoring patriotism and then subverting it a lot of times in these films as well.

31:00Adam Kempenaar:Yeah. So Captain America is another honorable mention for me. It's a costume and a character. I've said this before when we've talked about some of these movies that I never appreciated growing up. I think the movies have really made me appreciate Captain America. I never as a kid, for some reason, responded to the corniness, I guess, of the Captain America costume with the stars and stripes and that flag element to it, even as my other favorite superheroes like Spider-Man all wore that bright blue and red. It's there too, but I never did respond to Captain America. And I like the one from The Winter Soldier where it's more that navy and it's just got the star and it's darker, but it seems kind of like the Dark Knight costume, even just a little sleeker and more functional.

31:42Adam Kempenaar:The throwback version they kind of do actually in Civil War, I really like. I think for me, the one I consider, the one I have as an honorable mention is the one from the first Avenger, where it feels like the old school, original Captain America, but also feels like World War II, something that superhero actually would have worn out fighting Nazis. It's kind of baggy on him and feels like what a soldier at that time might have actually worn.

32:07Josh Larsen:Well, and there's a great buildup in that film, too, until that costume appears, right? You're kind of expecting it in an origin story. That's one of the benefits of an origin story. When it shows up, yeah, they really pull it off.

32:18Adam Kempenaar:Okay, my number two, here is my villain entry in my superhero costumes. You're going to like it, though. You're going to like the choice, Josh, I think. We were just talking about Rorschach and everything being in his world black and white. Well, how about Michelle Pfeiffer's Catwoman from the Tim Burton Batman? That's the one I almost put on. I had to go with it. It's so striking. And this is one I think that fits the criteria that you set up a little bit, Josh, in terms of being immediately identifiable to the character. It really is what you think of when you think about the character Catwoman, what I do anyway, I think about the suit.

32:55Adam Kempenaar:And I'll admit, as I was thinking about why that might be, there could be a sort of sexist or sexual angle to it as a straight man who finds Michelle Pfeiffer very attractive. At that time, seeing her in that unbelievably tight rubber suit, and she really is being very sexually suggestive in all of her physicality. That's something that I probably responded to a little bit when I was 14 years old, and I still do now.

33:21Josh Larsen:Well, sure. But that's here's the difference. I think at least that is part of her character, right? Yes. If there's a fetish going on, it's her fetish first.

33:29Adam Kempenaar:Yes, I absolutely agree with you there. And I also think it could be that she's another one who doesn't really have any superpowers. So the suit, almost like Iron Man's suit, it's what makes her Catwoman. I mean, it's there in her personality. Absolutely. But I think that you really watch her come to life. And we see her transform into Catwoman in the film. Tim Burton actually shows her after she falls to the ground and comes back to life and goes home. She hand sews that outfit. And that's what I love about it is it's handmade by her. And it actually looks like it. So she designed this during this psychotic kind of spree during this breakdown after she comes back to life.

34:11Adam Kempenaar:And you can't really tell if it's an old dress or a type of raincoat or something. but she takes this black rubber and she stitches it herself. And when you look at it, that tight, tight black rubber and the sheen it has and the white stitching, those white stitches actually remind me of claw marks. It's like she's been clawed and the stitching's coming through. It also reminds me a little bit of a cat's stripes that you might see on a black and white cat. And it's more than anything, just deranged looking. It's chaotic. It reflects her psyche, her frame of mine that we see come to life in that moment and carry on through the rest of the film.

34:47Adam Kempenaar:There is also to that outfit, undeniably, and I'm not the person to speak to this, but there's a sexual domination component to it. You mentioned fetish lingerie. You can't look at Catwoman in that tight rubber outfit with the whip and the power that she wields that Selina Kyle, the person before she made that transformation simply didn't have. Now, Pfeiffer also just brings to that costume and that character an amazing physicality, the way she stands, these kind of odd angles. She's kind of up on her toes all the time like a cat might be. And there's the slinkiness, actually, watching some scenes today, there's a slinkiness to her Catwoman of a Fosse performer who just hasn't found the right music to dance to.

35:35Adam Kempenaar:And maybe it's a cheat. I honestly can tell you, I didn't think of it as a cheat when I thought of it. I thought it was fair game and it was too good to pass up. You're the second man who killed me this week. But I've got seven lives left. I tried to save you to grab you. Seems like every woman you try to save ends up dead.

35:52Josh Larsen:Or deeply resentful. Maybe you should retire. Yeah, and you know, there is also that question in Batman Returns, whether she is pure villain or in some ways she's a heroine, right? So yeah, fair pick. I'll let you have it. It was probably going to be on my list of top five super villains that we would eventually get to. I still claim that I can use it then. My number one. All right. This earns the top spot for a very simple reason. As a kid, this was the superhero I always wanted to be. This was the costume I always wanted to wear. These were the underoos that I owned. Spider-Man. Indiana Jones.

36:34Josh Larsen:Spider-Man. Were there Indiana Jones underoos? Man, they missed an opportunity there. Maybe so. All right, Spider-Man. Now, I think even as a kid, I did have good reasons for Spider-Man and this preference. A lot of it has to do with the sleekness and the simplicity to it. And maybe even the innocence, you know, the coloring and that. Also key to the Spider-Man costume, here's something you've brought up, is this idea of anonymity. And here's where Deadpool does echo Spider-Man. There is something about it being a completely sealed bodysuit that to me always seemed transformative. It was different than just covering your face or wearing a special coat or hiding behind a cape.

37:17Josh Larsen:This is, you know, putting this on made you someone or something entirely new and special. Every inch of you is covered. There's always been a nice consistency, too, to the Spider-Man costumes, especially in the movies. They pretty much all stay fairly close to Steve Ditko's original design, the red and the blue, webbing lines involving that somehow, the big eyes. So which one is my favorite? Well, I do have a soft spot for the human spider, Tobey Maguire's baggy, ski mask-wearing doofus, the look he sports in the wrestling ring in 2002's Spider-Man. But if I did have to choose just one based on the costume alone, not the movie, I'm going to go with Spider-Man 3.

37:55Josh Larsen:And I know a lot of people don't like Spider-Man 3, But look at that costume. It's got, they raised the webbing a little bit. So it has a tactile three-dimensional feel. I like that the Spider-Man insignia is a little bit bigger there in the middle. And we've mentioned a few times now the muting of the red and blue so that it's still in that tradition, but not quite as primary of colors. And then they do something interesting with the eyes here too. They narrow them a little bit. And that gives just a hint more personality, a suspiciousness on the part of Spider-Man, which maybe fits where the character from that series is at this point.

38:32Josh Larsen:I do want to also mention quickly Spider-Man Homecoming since it's the most recent. And I really like the thematic importance that they give to the costumes in that movie where Peter Parker gets his high tech suit taken away by Tony Stark. But for the best costume itself, I'm going to go with Tobey Maguire in Spider-Man 3.

38:49Adam Kempenaar:So I did reach out to our friend Matt Singer from our sister show, FilmSpottingSVU. Huge, huge comic book geek and a huge, huge Spider-Man fan. And I asked him, what would your number one be? And you're going to love this, Josh. He did mention right away, if the Rocketeer counts, the Rocketeer. But then he said, maybe I'm biased because I love Spider-Man, but I've always thought the Raimi Spider-Man costume was absolutely beautiful and the best translation of a comic book costume into a movie to that date. And it's still up there. Nice. And it's hard to argue with Spider-Man for me. An honorable mention had to be considering I do have this documented somewhere that I was interviewed for my mother's company newsletter when I was like five years old.

39:31Adam Kempenaar:And it asked me what I was going to be when I grew up. And I said Spider-Man. fantastic and i'm obviously still time at a failure still time a complete failure a quick note before we get to my number one i failed to mention the designers of batman returns the costumes for catwoman bob ringwood and mary eve vote for my number one superhero costume josh i had to call in a heavy hitter

39:55Josh Larsen:apple vacation semi-annual sale is here and it's the perfect time to plan your next beach getaway Enjoy up to$250 off international and Hawaii vacations, up to$150 off domestic trips and hotel savings up to 70 % off. With instant savings of$300,$500, or even$700, your escape has never been more rewarding. Book by May 28th at applevacations.com or contact your local travel advisor. Apple Vacations, where your story starts. And now, another appliance triumph from your friends at Grand Appliance. Meet Chad. With the laundry piled high, Chad's washer died days before a two-week vacation with his family of five.

40:37Josh Larsen:But Chad didn't panic. I just called Grand Appliance. They recommended a large-capacity Samsung option with a super-speed wash mode that washed everything in no time. Best of all, it was in stock, and they delivered it next day. Another crisis averted by Grand Appliance. Shop grandappliance.com to learn more. Support for the show comes from Public, the investing platform for those who take it seriously. On public, you can build a multi-asset portfolio of stocks, bonds, options, crypto, and now generated assets, which allow you to turn any idea into an investable index with AI. It all starts with your prompt.

41:11Josh Larsen:From renewable energy companies with high free cash flow to semiconductor suppliers growing revenue over 20 % year over year. You can literally type any prompt and put the AI to work. It screens thousands of stocks, builds a one-of-a-kind index, and lets you backtest it against the S &P 500. Then you can invest in a few clicks. generated assets are like etfs with infinite possibilities completely customizable and based on your thesis not someone else's go to public.com slash podcast and earn an uncapped one percent bonus when you transfer your portfolio that's public.com slash podcast paid for by public investing brokerage services by open to the public investing inc member finra and sipc advisory services by public advisors llc sec registered advisor generated assets is an interactive analysis tool output is for informational purposes only and is not an investment recommendation or This is Jacob Goldstein from What's Your Problem?

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42:51Adam Kempenaar:with an emphasis on movie. And this is a tough one for me. There's a lot to pick from. But I decided the best way in film spotting tradition was to give myself a rule. And the rule I gave myself was when I close my eyes and think of a superhero, is there a costume where I think of the movies in front of the comics being the big nerd that I am where my brain automatically goes to panels and pages? And if I'm honest with myself, there's only one costume that does that. And that is the Superman costume Christopher Reeves wore in Superman the movie from 1978 with the costume designer was Yvonne Blake that costume to me is the most iconic in movie history for superheroes in that it sort of embodies what that hero is simply and perfectly and elegantly I mean it's grounded, it's real somehow even though it's fantastical and shouldn't work at all it seems like something that could exist every day that you could reach out and touch it and because of that when he performs sort of his superhero deeds you believe that those exists and the stakes perfect film spotting word seem real and also I like how Reeves wears the costume how he moves with it he was a pilot and he sort of reinvented flying like a pilot flies sort of tilting as he went along I mean there's just something perfectly timeless about that and you add to it to do a little cheat the Clark Kent costume that goes along with it actually makes the transformation, which is absurd and should never work, work.

44:21Adam Kempenaar:You believe that people would actually think, hey, that's Clark and that's Superman and those aren't the same people. And that's a little miracle of costume design. So that's my pick, guys. Thank you so much for all the great episodes and keep going. Thank you so much, Tom, for the kind words and for that great, great pick. Christopher Reeve's costume as Superman in Superman the movie. And And I love his rule because it does bring a perspective that we can't bring to this list. He closes his eyes and he thinks of the movie ahead of the comic because they're just so ingrained in his head. And I do want to give Tom a plug.

44:56Adam Kempenaar:I've done this on the show before, but the vision, I have not been able to branch out yet and read some of his other stuff. But his recent vision series is remarkable. You can get it on Amazon. We'll link to it in our show notes or just Google it. And I'm sure you can find it at your local comic bookstore or bookstore. but that vision series that follows that character as he tries to assimilate into the Washington suburbs and have a family is remarkable, remarkable stuff. Can't recommend it highly enough. I'm with Tom completely, though, on this costume, Josh, because it's not only a miracle of costuming, as Tom noted, but it is a miracle of performance, too.

45:33Adam Kempenaar:Maybe something we've always taken for granted a little bit with Christopher Reeve, and my eyes were really open to it, actually, just a few weeks ago. I don't remember why this was shared or who shared it. I'm sure others saw it as well, though. It was something put out on Twitter by someone I follow. And they showed how in just one or two scenes, how Christopher Reeve, just with a little flip of his posture, was able to completely embody Clark Kent and then change and become Superman. And it really was not just the outfit and the glasses, but in the way he physically portrayed those two characters.

46:07Adam Kempenaar:The costume is so great, certainly in part because of Reeve and the elegance of it. You heard Tom use that word. There's a grace to it. It's majestic in its simplicity, just as Superman is majestic in a way in his simplicity. He's there to do good, to help people, and that's all he's committed to. You contrast that costume, though, Josh, with something like my Deadpool choice, where I said I'd actually kind of have fun dressing up as Deadpool. cool, I would never, ever, under any circumstance, put on that red underwear and the tights, though I did it as a kid. And I'll link to this picture in our show notes.

46:45Adam Kempenaar:There is a shot of me in my Superman costume. I don't know that you see me in the full-blown underoos, though I think they were on, but I've got me as Superman at about age six or seven.

46:55Josh Larsen:Yeah, good, good. I would say the cutoff is, what, maybe 10, 11? Yeah, I'm not quite there yet.

47:01Adam Kempenaar:For boys to dress up as Superman? I'm not quite there yet, but I do think this costume defies a mere mortal to put it on, which is what makes it so perfect for Superman. I think what makes it the ultimate superhero costume.

47:16Josh Larsen:What's your background? Where do you hail from? Well, it's kind of hard to explain, actually. See, I'm from, well, pretty far away. Another galaxy, as a matter of fact. I come from a planet called Krypton. Huh? Krypton. Oh, Krypton! With a C-R-I? No, actually it's Krypton with a K-R-Y. K-R-Y.

47:44Adam Kempenaar:Now, for those of you keeping score, I said that I paid attention to the Marvel-DC battle, and what did I end up doing? One Marvel, and then four straight DC picks. So I think I'm in trouble.

47:56Josh Larsen:Oh, man.

47:57Adam Kempenaar:I think I'm going to be in some trouble with some of our listeners. I hope you will forgive me. Those are our top five superhero and one villain costumes. Any honorable mentions that you haven't gotten to yet, Josh?

48:08Josh Larsen:You know, I think most of yours I would also include as honorable mentions. So let's see here. What haven't we brought up? Oh, my cape, my almost cape pic. Okay. Doctor Strange. I mean, that's... Which I almost watched for this list because I still haven't caught up with it. It's wonderful because it's almost a character in that film. And in a sense, I almost set it aside for that reason as well. It's more than a costume, really. We talked about this a little bit at home. Just wanted to feel out the home crowd. So here are a couple picks from that. Adeline went with Iron Man, though I kind of feel like that's almost too much of a weapon.

48:42Josh Larsen:But okay, Iron Man, it's pretty cool. Beatrix went with The Incredibles. She just said she loved how they molded each suit to each family member's powers. Debbie, of course, went with Thor. I tried to explain. Biceps. She went with Chris Hemsworth. Biceps are not costume, but whatever. Okay.

49:02Adam Kempenaar:What about abs? I guess those two. You did mention all of my honorable mentions, except I'll give some more love to another Batman character, the Joker, the Christopher Nolan Heath Ledger Joker. We keep using that word sort of muted colors, making him feel still like the Joker. we know from even the Adam West series and from the other Burton movies to an extent, but also making him feel like someone we would actually believe walking around that version of Gotham City.

49:32Josh Larsen:That makeup design too is more than half of the effectiveness of that character.

49:38Adam Kempenaar:Now I did like the creativity, or lack thereof, of our buddy, our top five expert, Jeff Milo, who said that he was initially stumped and then it hit me. Hulk. No frills, no shirt, no shoes, full service smash. Everyone else has utility belts and golden lassos and cosmic rings and vibranium shields or whatever bells and whistles. Just tear through the shirt, keep your purple cut-off shorts, and get into the fray with your bare green hands. But wait, Hulk was always more than a bit allegorical. The Jekyll and Hyde, perhaps Bruce Banner, is the real costume. And that's a lot of psychological baggage to chew on about identity and social ostracizing and, you know, misconceptions about gamma rays and whatnot.

50:16Adam Kempenaar:Basically, Jeff says he speaks to the primal beast inside all of us. So wouldn't have thought of the ultra simplicity of Hulk, but why not?

50:25Josh Larsen:So that's another great touch in Thor Ragnarok. We didn't really, we didn't spend much time on Hulk.

50:30Adam Kempenaar:No.

50:30Josh Larsen:But I like when he transforms back to Banner and this is where they're almost undercutting and just making a full joke of it. Isn't he wearing like some sort of really ill fitting robe or a big shirt? Yeah.

50:43Adam Kempenaar:Well, I felt like it was the pants or something just like hanging off almost like a shower curtain. It's so shoddy.

50:50Josh Larsen:It is. But really funny. Yeah. Don't kick stuff. You're being a really bad friend. You bad friend. You know what we call you? We call you the stupid Avenger. You're a tiny Avenger.

51:03Adam Kempenaar:You know, we don't ask for a lot of feedback on these top fives because they're almost 10 years old, like this one in some cases. But I'd love to hear what listeners of this episode, Josh, think of when they imagine their favorite superhero costumes? What would be number one on your list? Let us know.

51:22Josh Larsen:And maybe we'll get a lot of picks from the last 10 years. We've had a few superhero movies in the last 10 years.

51:29Adam Kempenaar:Yeah. If we had to update our list, man, are we due for an updated top five superhero costumes? I don't know. I don't know if the two of us are.

51:37Josh Larsen:Top five superhero costumes of the last 10 years. I think we're almost at that point with the show.

51:43Adam Kempenaar:All right. Well, maybe that's just bonus content that we'll share with family members because bonus content is something we share with FilmSpotting family members along with access to the FilmSpotting archive where you can hear episodes like this one whenever you want. Learn more at FilmSpottingFamily.com. This conversation can serve no purpose anymore. Goodbye.

52:19Josh Larsen:In football, you've got guys from everywhere. Different backgrounds, different beliefs, all of it. You don't agree on everything, but you got each other's backs. That's how it works. And right now, off the field, hate's going up everywhere. Different communities, different ways. And Jewish communities are getting hit hard. That's not how a team operates. The blue square is just one way of showing you've got people's backs. Go to bluesquarealliance.org, grab one, share it, be a good teammate.

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