I have a confession to make. I’m a superhero movie freak. I love most every superhero movie that has ever been made, no matter how bad the movie (Fantastic Four, anyone?). In fact, I own most every modern superhero movie that has been made (Sky High, anyone?).
So when I heard that Christopher Nolan, the genius behind the rebooting of the Batman franchise, was writing and producing a complete reboot of the Superman franchise, with the 2013 release of Man of Steel, I was ecstatic. After all, I was still trying to wash off the stink that was Bryan Singer’s 2006 effort, Superman Returns (yes, I own it on DVD).
Really, Bryan. What in the world were you thinking when you came up with that story line anyway?
But then I heard that British actor Henry Cavill had been cast in the title role, and my enthusiasm had been tempered a little bit. I wasn’t a fan of his other movies and, well, frankly, I really wasn’t keen on a Brit playing what is the most iconic American superhero ever created. Okay, yes, Christian Bale is the best actor to ever play Batman in the movies, and he’s from England as well. But I was already a fan of Bale and knew what he was capable of. Besides, anyone playing Superman has to win us Christopher Reeves loyalists over.
Okay. So I’m biased. Deal with it.
Then came the rumors that this version of Superman wouldn’t have the red underwear, followed by the pictures that proved it.
And now I simply don’t know where my enthusiasm level for this movie is at.
As you can see in the pictures, the red underwear that Superman has worn since he was first created, usually with a yellow belt, are gone. And I don’t know how to feel about this development.
On the one hand, I never quite understood why a superhero would want to wear his underwear on the outside of his costume (a trend that Madonna would adopt several decades later). As I told Radio Dan on his radio show last week, the red underwear was highlighting an area of his body that I didn’t really care to have highlighted. When I’m watching one of the Superman movies or TV shows, I don’t really desire to have my attention drawn to the actor’s crotch, an area that Bryan Singer seemed to go out of his way to highlight in Superman Returns (again, Bryan……… what in the world were you thinking?).
On the other hand, you are messing with an iconic costume, one that is known the world over. I’m sure that every kid who draws Superman’s costume would draw it with the red underwear. It’s the way the costume has always looked.
But the new movie may be able to get away with the redesign, which reportedly will match the new look Superman will have when DC Comics relaunches the title next month.j
In the pictures above, the spandex that made up the old costumes appears to be history. Looking through several of the old Brandon Routh, Dean Cain, Christopher Reeves, and George Reeves pictures, the “costumes” they wore simply wouldn’t have worked without the red underwear and yellow belt. The costume needed something to break it up, and a belt by itself wouldn’t have worked (and would have invoked too many comparisons to Batman, anyway). As much as I’ve never cared for it, the red underwear was needed for the costume.
The new costume, however, looks to be made of a different material than the previous versions (Lycra, perhaps?). It’s hard to tell from the bent over picture and distant pictures we have so far, but it looks like the costume will work with just the belt (hard to see the belt in these photos, since its the same color as the costume, but it is there).
And yet, the new look of the costume doesn’t work for me. Take a look at the two distant pictures above. In the first distant picture, the chest area of the costume looks extremely padded and bulky. While I believe all the past actors except for Brandon Routh did wear a muscle suit under the costume, none of those looked bulky, or fake. This view simply makes the upper portion of the costume look all out of whack.
In the second distant picture above, the legs look bulky and fake, like they’ve been padded as well. It almost looks like Henry Cavill is struggling to walk in that costume.
Maybe the costume will look better once some proper stills get released. The one at the beginning of this post doesn’t count, since so many shadows are used and he is hunched over to conceal the fact that he has no underwear on. And maybe once we get to see the movie, the costume will look better as well.
But for now, my enthusiasm level is not where it should be. And it’s never a good sign for a superhero movie when my enthusiasm level for it is down. I’ll still go see it. But it usually doesn’t turn out all that well (The Incredible Hulk, anyone?).
So what do you think about the costume change? Do you think it’s a mistake to get rid of the underwear, or is it about time that he threw them in the laundry basket? Leave your thoughts in the comments section below.
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