New Suit Riot: Whedon Gives Cap a Makeover

"I've been around a few years. Surely you must have heard of me."

I keep up with all news concerning The Avengers. No matter how much I would love to be surprised, I can't keep myself from clicking on every spy shot I see. After reading through some of the comments on any page that shows a new costume for a forthcoming super hero movie, it is almost impossible not to recognize that when it comes to this kind of movie, everyone is ready and waiting to complain about the costumes. True to form, I've read comments from a lot of people stating with varying levels of severity that they do not like Captain America's new suit. 

In a recent interview Chris Evans had this to say, "Joss [Whedon] just had a certain vision in his mind about what he wanted Cap to look like. That's what he wanted to see. It's so nice working on these movies and the director's a fan. He's the dude at Comic-Con that we're terrified of pissing off. If Joss is happy, I'm happy." This is something of an appeal to authority, but I like it nonetheless. Mr. Evans is trying to let everyone know that The Avengers is in good hands and no one needs to worry. I, too, have faith that Whedon will not let us down, and I think these new hi-res images do show the new suit in a better light.

Like most fans, I really like the World War II Captain America suit. It was fantastic, and there is surely an argument to be made that Whedon and company could have just updated that costume for this film. While this may be true, I do think this production deserves to have its own take on the material despite the close and purposeful connection with The First Avenger. Most of the pictures of the new suit seem like they take place when it is brand new and it does look kind of silly. I imagine this fact isn't overlooked in the narrative. None of the Marvel Studios films have been overly self-serious and I'm sure this new suit garners some comedic attention when its introduced all spiffy and new. It the picture above, we see a dirty and broken in suit that I think looks pretty damn cool. It certainly doesn't look any more ridiculous than Thor's getup (which I also like).

I think we all need to remind ourselves from time to time that comic book costumes don't always translate that well to the screen and it takes a lot of work to interpret these suits in a way that won't make an audience laugh (accidentally). Captain America's new suit is not laughable. If nothing else, I'm just glad he looks like Captain America. I'm still waiting to see Wolverine onscreen in his damn suit. What is there to really complain about? It's bright and a little silly, and that is exactly what the suit is supposed to look like. It's not as bad as giving Spiderman yellow eyes, is it?