MCU Costume Facts From Behind The Scenes:
Marvel fans would kill to get their hands on the awesome superhero costumes. These costumes are treated like prized possession due to their accurate comic book adaption and the cool features added to them by the studios. It required a lot of precision and months of work to design the perfect suit. The designers didn’t just put in their creativity but also did their research and homework to achieve an attractive yet highly-technical suit. Gone are the days when the heroes wore colorful tights from the costume store. With the advent of technology, the sky has become the limit for designers. Work on these costumes began months before the productions without compromising on a single detail.
Just like the plot and Easter eggs in the universe, the behind-the-scenes stories about the wardrobe are also pretty fascinating. As true Marvel fans, we know how much these little secrets mean to you. Here is a list of interesting MCU costume facts from behind-the-scenes you didn’t know.
1. Ant-Man and Wasp
If you someone randomly, they will find the two suits of the heroes quite the same. But Marvel fans with eagle eyes have spotted the most interesting difference. If you look carefully, you will notice the visible outlining of the respective insects on Ant-Man and Wasp’s suits.
2. The Dilemma
The biggest dilemma that directors face while making a comic book adapted movie is regarding the costume. Ever wonder Black Widow and Captain America’s costume looked so comic book-like in The Avengers and Avengers: Age of Ultron whereas they became more realistic in Infinity War and Endgame?
Joss Whedon who helmed the first two Avengers movies is a Marvel comic book enthusiast and therefore insisted on staying original to the books. No wonder why Scarlett Johansson looked like she popped up straight out of the comic books. The Russo brothers, on the other hand, wanted to give realistic and “more of a grounded look” to the suit that an assassin like Black Widow would have worn in real life.
3. Steve Roger’s Casual Outfits
Steve Rogers has gradually evolved with time with the help of his friends and modern movies. The changes in his clothes reflect that he is adjusting to modern times.
But if you notice carefully, when he is not in his Captain America suit or shirts and donning casuals, there is a subtle hint of discomfort visible on Roger’s posture. It shows that he is still not so comfortable with the 21st-century outfits.
4. Tom Holland’s Spider-Man Suit
Out of all the superhero costume, the one that makes most of us uncomfortable and suffocated just by a look at it is that of Spider-Man. His fabric costume was tightly sealed on his body, making it a separate mission to go to the washroom. Not just washroom breaks, but Holland couldn’t even drink in a conventional way. He had to put a straw through his eye holes to take a sip of water.
In the actor’s words “My eyes in my mask, they clip off. They come off because they’re glass, and obviously, the suit is fabric, and they need to clip in. And what I can do is I can take my left one out, and there’s a little thing that I pull out, and then I put a tube, a squeezy tube, down into my mouth, and then I can drink from a bottle.”
5. Vision’s Elegant Outfits
Unlike the initial projection of cloak, the android Vision was seen in elegant and semi-formal clothes in Captain America: Civil War. Joe Russo said that they wanted to convey how Vision was trying to find himself and blend in with mankind so different from him.
According to him “The intent with that was that Vision is trying to discover how he fits in. He wants to assimilate, he’s looking for an identity, he doesn’t want to be a singular entity. He wants to see if he can access humanity in some way.”
6. Ant-Man Suit Was True To Time
The accuracy and attention-to-detail of MCU is simply marvelous. The difference between Ant-Man’s suit in the first and second part clearly shows which one belongs to which era. The costume department had to put extra efforts to give a retro look to Paul Rudd’s first suit since it belonged to Hank Pym in the 1960s. You can spot the faded colors and crinkled leather jacket on the 50-year-old suit. Whereas his Ant-Man suit in Ant-Man and The Wasp looks pristine and modern.
7. Hela’s Antlers
The Visual Development team was apprehensive of matching Hela’s helmet from the comic book and insisted on modifying it. But director Taika Waititi envisioned the original art and “wanted this to embrace the source material and go full-on Jack Kirby (creator of Hela)”. To overcome the problem of moving around with such a weight and so many horns, the designers built a helmet on a 3-D scanning of Cate Blanchett’s head. They also crafted detachable antlers for the actress’s ease.
8. Costumes Are Priority
The costume designing takes place long before the production and visualizing process actually begins. This renders a great deal of creative liberty to the designers, for there is nothing to limit their imagination. Most of the times, the costume designs help the directors to picture the character arc. For instance, having Star-Lord aka Peter Quill’s suit being ready before the shoot allowed James Gunn to conceptualize that Peter would be “a mixture and contradiction of many things- part cowboy, biker, rock star, retro….”
9. Doctor Strange’s Costume
While Doctore Strange’s denim pants and coat were inspired by China, his cloak was a whole other project. Designing the Sorcerer Supreme’s suit is like crafting for two separate entities. Since the cloak is a character itself, we have seen it move on its own will. To enhance that detail and to achieve an ancient Sorcerer sort of wardrobe, the cloak was made of various layers of different fabrics. According to costume designer Alexander Bryne, the cloak was produced from “hundred shades of red”.
10. Inventory
The Avengers costumes have gone through many changes and upgrades over the years. Iron Man’s armor alone has a plethora of versions now. But the studio doesn’t forget and dump these earlier versions of costumes. They store and maintain them in the warehouse so they can be used for a flashback scene. Even Spider-Man’s silly red and blue PJs are still well maintained at the warehouse.
