I think this came up as a result of Spider-Man's return to the black costume, but I was thinking about why heroes change looks.
Hank Pym kept changing looks (and identities) out of some insecurity issues. Lots of characters adopted more armored looks (Captain America, Daredevil) because the felt they needed the extra edge. Thor's in that same boat, but I'm keeping him separate because his armor was actually cool looking, whereas Cap and DD's were kinda lame (especially Cap's). Why did Booster go to that big clunky armor? Did his original suit break, or did he want more protection?
Superman went to that "electric" outfit to accommodate his weird new powers, right?
Robin's changed his colors to honor Superboy, which is sweet I guess, but I still don't like the look. Wasp changes her costume about every five minutes, I'm guessing because she's a fashion designer, and so she keeps getting struck by inspiration for new designs.
The thing that seemed funny to me was that after Reed Richards helped Spidey get rid of the symbiote, Peter eventually made a cloth version of the costume that had tried to bond with him for life, as far as I can remember, because he liked the look of the black-and-white. That just seems like such an odd reason for a superhero to adopt a particular look, and so I was wondering if you could think of any other, similar situations.
The other one that came to mind for me was Storm going with the street punk look after her time with Yukio changed her outlook on things. Storm liked that more than the disco boot, huge cape thing she'd had going prior to that, so she made the switch.
So any other ones you could think of, or any other reasons why characters have changed outfits over the years.
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I think I remember Booster needed to wear the armor because it was keeping him alive.
And I think Spidey's reasons for wearing the black costume are refreshing. The simple reasons like "I like it" or "I feel different" are sometimes the best ones.
I kinda like Robin's new look, to be honest. At the very least, I'm used to it now - I dunno, something about the old one feels just a little outdated to me, so I'm kinda down with the fresh outfit.
-M
Hang on, the Robin red/black costume is a tribute to Superboy? How so?
Spidey liking the black is a whole lot better than his current justification: I want to publicise my movie/frighten criminals. Which would be fine, except JMS and Marvel have forgotten why he retired the costume in the first place.
I think Thor may count as the only character to receive Kewl Armour and actually amnage to pull it off. I'm referring to the Simonson run, of course. The new tracksuit armour he'll be wearing in June/July looks, well, like a silver tracksuit. 70's!
I think my favuorite costume change is Hulk/Joe Fixit. From shredded purple corduorys to snappy zoot suit. Snazzy!
Least favourite, beyond the 90's/Quesada-era obsession with putting everyone in armour because it's Kewl (Spider-Armour is so inane they did it twice!), is when Doom made leather armour out of his girlfriend's skin. Doom's a bad guy, but he thinks he's a good guy, and skinning your girlfriend alive doesn't gel with that.
Students graduating to their own costumes, ala the original X-Men. Not a reason you see as often anymore.
Well, you see, their other costume was in the wash that day, and they forgot to put it in the dryer, so it's all damp and icky, and has to be washed AGAIN, and they have to wear SOMEthing for heaven's sake...and look, this was just lying on the floor of the closet, so we'll pretend to be New and Improved!
I have teenagers.
Back in the day, Kitty also changed her costume every five minutes - mostly to prove that she was a flighty teenage girl.
Around the 250s or so, all the X-Men switched to versions of the original X-Men/early New Mutants costume (black and gold), ostensibly for better armour (they were specially designed by Forge).
jim: Yeah, I'm with Spidey on the black-and-white being a cool look. It just seemed odd to see a costume change not heavily based on a practical reason.
matt: It's not a horrible look to me, colorwise. I'm more bothered by the longer cape. Seems like trying too hard for a Batman look to me.
kelvingreen: In the last 52, as all the heroes are visiting Conner's memorial again, Olsen asks him about the color change, and Robin responds that red and black were Superboy's colors.
And that Thor armor was awesome, although I didn't like it as much in the DeFalco/Frenz run, when he worer while clean-shaven. It just seemed to go better with the beard.
googum: Hmm, I never knew that was why they switched to individual looks. Interesting.
sallyp: What if they wear the same costume two days in a row, so they don't have to do laundry as often? Or keep wearing a costume, even though it's full of holes, because it feels comfortable, or it has sentimental value?
the dane: I'd forgotten that about Kitty. She was almost as flighty as Wasp, I suppose.
id like to add jean grey..she had a few diffrent costumes..like red and yellow..green and yellow..and her hell fire club gear that looked like it was from the 1800s...colossuas as well went from red to red and yellow..logan changed to from blue yellow to tan(i like the tan better)all of the origianl thunderbolts to..but i think thats because they had to look diffrent from thier old identies.
ohh and the power pack kids changed costumes when they switched powers.
gabesummers
gabesummers: I'm with you, I really liked Wolverine's tan outfit. For a guy that supposed to be all good at the sneaky-sneaky stuff, bright yellow didn't seem to make much sense.
Honestly, it might be easier just to name the characters who haven't changed their costumes at some point.
For DC: Dawnstar, Terra II, the old JSA guys
For Marvel: Deadpool (?), Silver Samurai, MODOK
I spent a good 20 minutes just coming up with these and I don't even know for sure that they haven't changed costumes at some point.
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