Details Revealed About the Origin of Superman's Costume in Man of Steel
Posted 03.17.12 by BrentJS
For many die-hard comic book fans, the way a hero's costume is interpreted in a live-action movie can be a deal breaker. If the movie costume is too faithful to the comic book costume, it could very easily come off looking ridiculous, like Captain America's costume in the much-maligned 1990 movie Captain America (rubber ears on the cowl certainly didn't help). And, if the design of the movie costume strays too far from the character's classic look, fans will spend an inordinate amount of time debating and criticizing the costume instead of focusing on other aspects of the movie, which is what happened when Ryan Reynolds' all-CGI suit Green Lantern costume was first revealed.
So far, fans are on the fence about the modifications made to Superman's iconic red-and-blue suit in Zack Snyder's Man of Steel. The muted colors of the costume and the large "S" meet the approval of the fans who hated the bright blue costume with the little "S" worn by Brandon Routh in Superman Returns. However, many of those same fans are critical of the lack of red shorts and the strange tribal designs that adorn the wrists, "belt" and other areas of the costume worn by new Superman Henry Cavill. Snyder has been silent on the changes to Superman's suit — and pretty much every other aspect of the movie — but costume designer Michael Wilkinson offered some interesting details about the origin of the costume's design earlier this week at the 5D | FLUX conference at USC.
According to Wilkinson, who spoke Tuesday night as part of a panel discussion on "imagining and developing the world" of Pandora in Avatar, Superman's suit is not really all that special. He described Superman's home planet as "neo-medieval" — which goes a long way toward explaining the armored suit modeled after Superman's costume that Russell Crowe was seen sporting on the set — and said, "Everyone on Krypton wears this suit." Wilkinson added that the suit "has function and purpose and a logic" in the "fantastical world" of Krypton that was developed for the movie. Wilkinson also revealed that a unique Kryptonian language was created for the movie to add further texture to the back story of Superman's doomed home.
Man of Steel is being produced by Charles Roven, Emma Thomas, Christopher Nolan and Snyder's wife, Deborah. The screenplay was written by David S. Goyer, from a story he conceived with Nolan. Joining Cavill are Amy Adams as Lois Lane; Diane Lane as Superman's adoptive mother, Martha Kent; Laurence Fishburne as Perry White, editor-in-chief of the Daily Planet; and Russell Crowe and Ayelet Zurer as Superman's Kryptonian parents, Jor-El and Lara Lor-Van. Christopher Meloni and Harry Lennix are also said to be on the cast, but their characters have yet to be revealed.
Next Showing: Man of Steel opens June 14, 2013