I am a bit behind the curve and only recently finished watching the Showtime series The Tudors. It’s taken most of the summer, but I finally saw the last episode where crotchety old Henry VIII bids us adieu. Despite the series title, my favorite character wasn’t Henry, but his best friend, the Duke of Suffolk, played by Henry Cavill. I realized about halfway through that he was the actor who would also be playing Superman in the next movie and from that moment on, no matter how hard I tried, I kept seeing him in that famous cape and tights, complete with that silly little curlicue of hair that Christopher Reeve did best.
The first sneak peek of the new Superman costume has been out for awhile, but new set photos of The Man of Steel recently appeared on a Facebook page for the movie. It’s not the bright blue and red that I have been picturing in my head. In fact, the red trunks are completely gone. Even the cape is gone in some shots, but who knows what things will look in the actual movie. These are just shots from the set. Maybe there will be a CGI cape in some scenes and the absence of this crucial accessory isn’t really an issue. Maybe a bit of lighting and editing and this somewhat grungy, dark, not at all like previous incarnations suit will look just perfect and we’ll all be raving about it as we leave theaters. Maybe.
Not surprisingly, much of the internet is having a collective conniption over the latest costume images. People are crying foul about, well, everything. They hate it. It’s an atrocity. It’s destined to make the movie a failure. His muscles are too big. The suit is too dark. The cape, when it’s there, is way too big. How could they do something so clearly awful and misguided and, and, and…. it’s an endless anti-suit litany.
Now, it wasn’t too long ago that pictures of a certain other superhero surfaced and the internet had a very similar conniption. Anyone remember Wonder Woman? The costume she was supposed to wear in the television show that never actually made it to the air received a huge amount of hate from fans. There were even changes made along the way that seemed to take in to account some of the criticisms in an effort to make the costume more acceptable and presumably give the series half a chance. It didn’t work and good costume or bad, we won’t get to see Diana Prince fighting bad guys, deflecting bullets, and saving the world any time soon.
I know when I watch “True Blood” and Alcide walks around without his shirt (as he tends to do), I think “wow, this could almost was Superman.”
Cavill’s pretty good but…:)
Oh, yes, with those abs he would not need a muscle suit to look the part!
I don’t know why they have to mess with the costumes?! Part of the popularity is that their costumes are iconic. You can see classic superman anywhere and know exactly who it is. This suit looks like he has been rolling around in a dump or something to get it dirty. He needs the cape and underoos in my opinion. They messed with Wonder Woman so much she didn’t even look like the character any more.