DC: Character Designs Screaming for an Update

[Stocky Boy]

Anyone ever look at a character design and think, "this character bares the stamp of their decade of origin and it's time for a modernisation!"?

I do, and I know you know I do.

Here's a few that pop into mind, immediately!

Cyborg
Green Arrow
Black Canary
Wonder Woman
Super Girl


Now, with the ladies, it probably obvious that I'll take the expected stance here: their outfits were designed back in yonder where feminism was a dirty, improper word. You can still exploit the female body for all it's sexy properties and still dress the heroines on something they might actually choose to wear. Catwoman anyone?

The two guys on the otherhand. Fucking hell! Who is really going to take a due in metal leotards seriously? The cartoon series does a much better job of making his look believable, whist sticking to a similar look. Come to think of it, that series does the same for the female characters in it, too.

Green Arrow looks like a pansy.
I like what they've done in the Justice League Unlimited cartoon. Gone is the skirty bit. However, I'd take it a step further. The hood look is better than the Robin Hood, 1950's film beret thing.

Any thoughts, disagreements, further suggestions?

[Tragic Angelus]

1. I don't think really ANY Of them need updates. But I'll bite.

Arrow.. he wears about 2 or 3 different outfits, it just depends on the book he's in. In his own book he often has the hood, and in something like JLA he appears with the hat sometimes. It's more or less what the artist is wanting to do.

And Cyborg? Really? I don't think he needs an upgrade at all! It's not an outfit either, but parts of his body.

Wonder Woman's outfit is Iconic. You can tweak and slightly change it like you do Superman's or Batman's, but any major change is just.. unncessary.

[Stocky Boy]

Green Arrow's Robin Hood hat is very corny. The hood was a brilliant design.

Just to clarify, are we both thinking of the Cyborg outfit in your avatar?
This outfit is quite gay. If he is gay, so what, that's still not a reason to wear an outfit that looks like the chest area is designed for a bodyshape with boobs. His costume is a lady's swimming outfit.
Since you mention that the outfit is actually not clothing, but part of his body, I kind of think it's worse now. Incidently, what is with him? Is every metal bit, a bit of his body that's missing or scarred?


I guess none of my suggestions are necessary in the sense that a change isn't going to dramtically boost the sales or even just the likability of these characters, but I don't think necessity is an exclusive reason for change. Modernisation is my angle here. Modernisation and practicality.
WW's outfit is actually funny on two levels. Firstly there's the sexist angle of the time period that inspired it. Secondly, even if you feel there's nothing sexist about it, it actually still looks like something the 1940's WW would wear. It just hasn't aged well.

Iconic just doesn't mean much to me, since Wolverine has two quite distintively different costumes that can be said to be iconic. Well, three now, where the only iconic element that crosses over into all three outfits is the pointy head bit. Spidey has two iconic outfits that are quite different. Batman has his blue and grey, or black and grey, which are both rather different than his movie costumes.
The iconic elements to WW are the forearm guards, the lasso, a tiara and the American flag. You can create a recognisable WW costume with all the iconic bits, which doesn't expose half of her bum and at bare minimum has shoulder straps to help keep her boobs in her costume. Out of interest, the suggestions I've made for WW, would you consider them radical, or a tweak?

[Tragic Angelus]

For Cyborg, he was in a severe accident that destroyed most of his body, and his father remade those missing or destroyed parts with cybernatic parts, making him half man half machine. So it's not a chest plate over scarred skin like Dr. Doom, but rather his chest itself is made almost entirely of metal and cybernetic components. So they often upgrade him, redesign a bit here or there, but for the most part if you change anything major, you have to somehow make it so that he's either gotten new body parts or lost others or something like that. He's pretty much set, and like I said they upgrade him often and change some color schemes but for the most part his costume can't really 'change' without upgrading or drastically changing the character.

As for WW,.. minor tweaks wouldn't be something to terrible, but I think it would be hard to find something that could last for a long period of time. I love her battle armor/Kingdom Come esque golden battle suit that she puts on in times of great need, but that's not really practical or anything for 'daily use' i suppose. But I also think that the WW that arches across her chest is iconic as well, like the Bat or S on the other of the Big Three.

And I feel like I disagree when you say the costume is a product of the times and is dated. I always felt that it was much more radical for the 1940s, and I'm suprised that's where it originated from just based on how it looks, and it seems more like a product of the modern day with it's more skin less cloth aspects. Straps seem like they could work if done right.

Are you familiar with the JLU animated? What do you think of the alternate realitiy Justice Lords Wonder Woman?

[Mr Wallstreet]

I agree there are some outfits that desperately need an update. Cyborg's being one of them. I remember not liking it even when i was very young in the 80s. He always seemed rather lame (no pun intended) to me. The chest area seemed way to big and the robotics around his legs didn't look good.

Generally, it's mostly the women who need character updates, not because the costumes look dated (at least in my opinion) but more due to them being wholly impractical for battle. I can't imagine a female police officer running around in a swimsuit fighting crime even if she was nigh invincible.

Black Canary, I think her jacket is just fine and an explanation could be thrown in about how she wears kevlar armor underneath it. As for her fishnets and heels (if she does still wear heels) her heels should be replaced with knee high shoes without the heels and her fishnets could be replaced stocking of some kind that are fire retardent and/or bullet proof with some kind of alien technology.

One costume I think is utterly ridiculous is Huntress' costume. Sure it looks cool and sexy but its got more missing pieces than a jigsaw puzzle. A bare midriff, exposed elbows and thighs and a giant bird-face mask with knee high boots with hooks. Its a wonder she can jump on her motorcycle without catching on something. And her general costume is a garish purple over black. Her costume needs a revamp. Like I said, Huntress' outfit looks great but its clearly not built for practicality.

Another one I'd revamp even now that he's dead is the Martian Manhunter. His costume was god-awful for as long as I can remember: boots, undies and a He-man strap across his chest. Forget practicality, it didn't even look cool. And even the revamped loutfit ooked like the artists were trying too hard. It reeked overcompensation. I suppose the artists explanation for that was his newfound anger after IC. Hopefully whenever he's ressurected, they'll give him a better look.

I don't agree that WW's outfit looks dated and her chicken looking battle armor is fantastic, but WW's regular outfit does need to be more practical when she is fighting. Not sure how yet. Give me a few.

The only thing I'd update about Superman is to get rid of the giant red underwear on the outside and with Batman, I'd extend the facemask so it covers his face completely, not just the top half.