DC TV: Worst Hero & Villain Costume Designs, Ranked | ScreenRant
DC TV has grown tremendously within the last 10 years primarily through the Arrowverse that continues to expand every season. As DC Comics’ many heroes and villains have come to the small screen, so have their iconic costumes. Whether they’re straight adaptations or loosely based upon the comic book costumes, several productions have spent season after season bringing these suits to life. But just like how some character portrayals are hits and some are misses, the same goes for their superhero costumes. In some cases, the design has been executed with grace while others have felt like a misrepresentation of the source material from where the looks are derived.
With the number of shows that have come and gone within the last couple of decades, there are plenty of suits that were letdowns. From the Arrowverse, Smallville, and Gotham, to the ongoing shows in the DC Universe, there are designs that have been simply disappointing. These are 10 of the worst-designed costumes for DC heroes and villains on television.
10 Artemis (Arrow)
The fifth season of Arrow featured the show’s own interpretation of the DC character Artemis, particularly the version established on the animated television show Young Justice. When the team was rebooted, Evelyn Sharp became one of the new members and while she has no roots in the comics, the Artemis title was given to her. Discounting the fact that her character not resembling Artemis in terms of personality, the attempt of bringing her costume to life was a disaster.
Whether there wasn’t any budget to design a proper Artemis costume will never be clarified. But either way, the suit that in which Evelyn was running around just made it pointless to call her Artemis to begin with.
9 Wild Dog II (Arrow)
While Rene Ramirez’s Wild Dog costume in season 5 was as accurate to the comics as it could be, the rookie hero's looks changed in the following season. Even though his new suit was an upgrade, it barely felt like a Wild Dog design.
One of the appealing aspects of the hero is the street-inspired look with the jersey and hockey mask. With the re-design, he barely looked like Wild Dog any more, especially given that the new mask wasn’t white.
8 Silver Banshee (Smallville)
Supergirl’s incarnation of the DC villain Silver Banshee probably learned a thing or two from Smallville’s attempt at the character. Compared to the depiction of Silver Banshee in the Arrowverse, the version that appeared in season 9 of the Superman prequel was one of the show’s weirdest costume adaptations.
Excluding the weird backstory, the character design still had a bizarre look. Whatever caused the design to look as cheap and weird as it did, it is probably a good thing that Banshee was just a one-shot character in Smallville.
7 Blue Beetle (Smallville)
The final season of the Tom Welling-led drama had a number of DC characters appear before Clark officially became Superman. In Welling’s final directed episode, which was written by Geoff Johns, the characters Booster Gold and Blue Beetle entered the Smallville universe.
While the time-traveling superhero had a perfect and accurate costume design, it was a different scenario for Jaime Reyes. Despite looking like Blue Beetle, the production value of his suit made it obvious that it wasn’t high quality.
6 Bane (Gotham)
Even though he had yet to become the Dark Knight, Bruce ended up taking on Bane prior to becoming Batman in the final season of Gotham. However, this wasn’t the Bane that famously broke the Caped Crusader’s back in the comics. Instead, this was actually his father Eduardo Dorrance who, through an experiment, becomes Bane.
However, the design was loosely based on Tom Hardy’s Bane mask from The Dark Knight Rises. But the mask itself didn’t match the high quality that went into making Hardy’s mask. That alone made this version of Bane look more comedic than formidable.
5 Wonder Woman (2011 NBC Pilot)
Even though NBC, fortunately, never picked it up to series, Adrianne Palicki’s Wonder Woman costume from David E. Kelly’s failed DC pilot is still remembered to this day. When the first official publicity still photo arrived, fans were shocked that this was all that they got.
From top to bottom, the costume looked like an incredibly uncomfortable plastic suit that was mocked instantly. Despite trying to do damage control by altering the costume during production, the damage was already done.
4 Doctor Light (Titans)
One of the iconic Teen Titans villains that made an appearance on the recent season of Titans was Arthur Light, also known as Doctor Light. Despite having an impressive power set, the costume design was a different situation. Looking at his comic design, the TV version did very little to replicate it.
With no cape or body-suit anywhere to be seen, Arthur instead ran around in a gladiator-looking chest-armor and helmet. If the intention was to make him look like a gladiator, they succeeded.
3 The Flash (Season 5)
One of the most discussed aspects of Barry Allen’s costumes on The Flash has been the chin strap. For the fifth season, Barry gets a new suit that, literally, comes from the future. But the biggest difference this time was that the cowl was chinstrap-less.
Even before the season premiered, fans were distracted by the new look as it became a major disconnect, hence why season 6 solved it with a brand new suit that is now Barry’s best look ever.
2 Cicada (The Flash)
Both versions of Cicada ended up being the weakest big bad in the history of The Flash. While being Cicada in name only, the character was a complete departure from the comic book counterpart, from how he was written to how he looked.
The design for the TV incarnation was, without doubt, one of the most sloppy-looking jobs that have ever been done on a costume.
1 Spartan I (Arrow)
While John Diggle’s later Spartan looks had its appeal and function, his initial costume became a controversy back in Arrow season 4. There was only one thing that didn’t work with his suit and it was the most important aspect of his Spartan look: the helmet.
At San Diego Comic-Con that year, a concept art revealed a far more promising design. That’s why it got so much attention when Ramsey was officially revealed with the costume, as it basically looked like Magneto’s famous helmet, but tighter.