Captain America
copyright 2012, David Belt 
I don’t commonly complain about the artistic liberties that film makers often take when recreating preexisting characters for the silver screen. I must say, however, that on a personal and professional level, I do take offense to the costume used for Captain America in the recent Avengers movie.
Artistically and aesthetically it looks fine, a little flamboyant, but okay. My problem is that Captain America’s modern costume is supposed to be scalemail armor, not spandex. His costume could have been so cool, but Disney ran as far from cool as they could possibly go. Check out this rendering of Cap by Marvel artist Alex Ross.
Does this not look so much better?
Of course the first question that comes to mind is “how could this cartoon drawing be made to look real on the actor?” That is where a chainmaille artist, like me, comes in. Granted the high quality piece would have taken several months and several thousand dollars to complete, but this was not a backyard indy film. Disney had the time and money to do it right. They made the artistic choice to go with spandex. Granted, the movie versions of the gloves, boots, and pants were an upgrade, but matched with a scalemail top would have made for a truly epic costume.
The final insult to the Captain America costume is committed by Thor. In the Avengers, Thor has beautifully done scalemail armbands. So, where is Cap’s armor?
I’ll end my rant here. I just needed to get that out. Disney, look me up. I’ll do it for free. Just, please, throw away the spandex costume and get Captain America the armor he deserves.
“Doesn’t matter what the press says. Doesn’t matter what the politicians or the mobs say. Doesn’t matter if the whole country decides that something wrong is something right. This nation was founded on one principle above all else: the requirement that we stand up for what we believe, no matter the odds or the consequences. When the mob and the press and the whole world tell you to move. Your job is to plant yourself like a tree beside the river of truth and tell the whole world–’no, YOU move.’” –Captain America from Amazing Spider-Man #537
Amen (and not just for closing with my favorite Cap line ever)…the modern Cap costume in the Avengers film was kind of a let-down. The helmet looked wrong, and like you, I’d have preferred incorporating the scale (the costume’s shifted a bit over the years in the comics, though the scales go all the way back to Jack Kirby’s original designs) over the sleek jacket/kevlar/spandex thing they ended up going with.
I don’t think the filmmakers had much confidence in the costume either – you’ll notice that they find an excuse to dump the helmet pretty early in the final battle, and in all those scenes on the helicarrier, Cap loses the outer jacket thing from the uniform and spends most of his scenes in the undertunic/t-shirt.
The silver lining, though? there’s always room to adjust for the sequel.
What were your feelings on the WWII outfit? While not quite in line with the original designs, it had a more iconic look.
Personally, I thought the best and most iconic costuming for Cap on film was the improvised “leather jacket over the USO outfit” uniform from his first field mission from the solo flick.
The moment I saw the movie I thought his unifrom was outdated, but could never picture something better. Like yours much more. And the closing here is as great.
I didn’t bother going into the First Avenger costume, because it was actually really good, and while not in line with kirby, it was period appropriate.
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