25 Coolest Superhero Redesigns

by mirza nehal baig 23:50 0 comments

You can’t trust comics companies themselves to handle these makeovers well, which might be why it’s fallen to fans to get creative in their own time. The internet is awash with stylish, elegant, radical takes on familiar comic book characters and their often terrible, other times tired costumes. Here are twenty-five of the coolest superhero redesigns.

25. Batman Noir

Henrik Sahlstrom

“Noir” redesigns of superheroes are a dime a dozen. Marvel even had a whole line of noir comics once, seeing what Spider-Man and company would be like if they were dealing with gumshoes and femme fatales instead of scary creeps and super villains.

There’s something about Henrik Sahlstrom’s Batman Noir redesigns, however. His Dark Knight has red goggles reminiscent of Hellboy character Lobster Johnson, and the rest of the batch include a fedora-wearing Joker and gangster moll Catwoman.

24. Medieval Daredevil

digitalinkrod

Some Daredevil newbies might have been surprised when, halfway through the grim ‘n’ gritty crime drama of the Netflix series starring the hero, ninjas suddenly turned up. But martial arts and ancient Japanese traditions figure pretty heavily into his back story.

It makes a crazy kind of sense, then, that DeviantArt user digitalinkrod drew on the Man Without Fear’s feudal heritage with this medieval redesign with samurai-style armour and a devil mask that’s reminiscent of a Japanese Noh mask. Spooky yet satisfying.

23. Greek Goddess Wonder Woman

Aaron Diaz

Having sounded off on some of the best and worst official makeovers of superhero costumes in comics history Aaron Diaz – creator of the webcomic Dresden Codak – decided to put his money where his mouth was and redesign some himself.

To his credit, he did a lot better than Marvel and DC often fare themselves. Most impressive amongst his do-overs was his take on Wonder Woman, which favoured her history as a Greek goddess over the skimpy skirt and bustier combo she usually sports.

22. Ultron (Close Quarter Combat Model)

Aaron Nakahara

Hey, let the villains in with a chance of the What Not To Wear treatment too, eh? Especially when this classic Avengers villain has come under the microscope as of late, with fans criticising the slightly goofy look of Age Of Ultron’s villains mouth and chromium design.

Nary a James Spader influence in sight with Aaron Nakahara’s Ultron, with his slimmed-down look, multiple arms, and genuinely frightening devilish eyes and mouth – the art style, not dissimilar to Ashley Wood, only heightens the nightmarishness.

21. Erica Henderson’s Storm

Erica Henderson

Erica Henderson has finally gotten her foot in the door of proper comic books, after years of toiling at superhero redesigns for her own amusement. Now she’s providing gorgeous, idiosyncratic art for the hilarious Unbeatable Squirrel Girl with writer Ryan North.

She turned her talented pen over to Storm of the X-Men, who recently returned to her classic eighties mohawk look. If she fancies another makeover soon, she could do worse than this outfit that honours her past as a literal African goddess.

20. Psylocke, Fashionised

Kevin Wada

Kevin Wada is a god. Or at least, some all-powerful entity who produces work it’s impossible to comprehend. The up-and-coming artist has mostly done cover illustrations so far, but it’s the commissions and personal work on his blog that really shines.

Turning his pen-and-paint and fashion skills to the oft-overlooked (and under-dressed) X-Man Psylocke, he decks her out in an Alexander McQueen-style bodysuit instead of the usual skimpy ninja garb that has blighted her for most of her career.

19. Crazy Batman And Stephanie Brown

Aaron Diaz

Turns out Aaron Diaz is a dab hand at this redesign lark. Not content with simply giving Batman a new costume, he also totally retools how the character works, imagining a world where Stephanie Brown was given more than a couple of months as his sidekick.

The once and ever-so-brief Robin is back in her Spoiler-style get-up here, the bored teenage ward of a Bruce Wayne described as “crazy bonkers and has way too much money”, with a utility belt that includes hallucination gas and taser knuckles. Nice.

18. Harley & Ivy

Joe Quinones

Sometimes, the stars don’t quite align, and what looked like a perfect creative team doesn’t get a chance to show what they can do. It happens. That was the case with a Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy book artist Joe Quinones was working on a while back.

The Howard The Duck artist released concepts for his Harley & Ivy on his Tumblr, and it shows a very different side to the Joker’s little monster than the recently-released photos of the version that appears in the upcoming Suicide Squad film. More modest, at leas

17. Lady Ghost Rider

AICOSU

Many have wielded the power of the Ghost Rider over the years. To begin with it was Johnny Blaze who literally burned rubber as a herald of Mephisto, selling his soul so another could live and getting a flaming skull and demonic enemies as a result.

Most recently he was replaced by teen Latino drag racer Robbie Reyes, and there’s been a few others in the interim (all involved with the upcoming Ghost Riders book), but never a woman. The fairer half of cosplaying couple Sheila & Sylar changed that with this design.

16. Fully-Clothed Elektra

Michael Lee Lunsford

Comic books have something of a problem with skimpy, sexist costumes female characters tend to get decked out in, compared to the much more modest get-ups for their male counterparts. It’s an unfortunate trend artist Michael Lee Lunsford took it upon himself to fix.

Amongst his charges were the infamously half-naked Zatanna, the infamously mostly-naked Vampirella and (most effectively) Elektra. Daredevil’s ninja girlfriend’s iconic look is retained here, but she appears less like she got tangled in drapes whilst getting dressed.

15. Tokusatsu Mutants

Thomas Perkins

Thomas Perkins is a Emmy Award-winning artist, and it shows. The animation veteran (he’s character designer of the upcoming Guardians Of The Galaxy cartoon) brings a dynamism and simple-yet-effective style to his retooling of Cyclops and Wolverine.

Part of some alternate universe of X-Men produced in the Tokusatsu style – that is, Japanese TV dramas which use considerable amounts of special effects, like Power Rangers or Kamen Rider – which, actually, is a perfect fit for the mutant team. Dig those scarves.

14. Science Ninja Hero Batman

Cliff Chiang

Cliff Chiang went down a similar route for his Science Ninja Hero Batman. More explicitly even than Perkins, with the first bit of that title coming from the anime Science Ninja Team Gatchaman – better known in the West for its Anglicised name Battle Of The Planets.

Like those fey, slick, beautiful anime boys and their sixties-style outfits, this Batman – courtesy of the superstar Wonder Woman artist – is bright, bold, and possibly even more camp than the Adam West TV show ever managed to be. It’s fantastic, in short.

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