Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
Courtesy of Marvel Studios
From comics to films, superhero stories have always had an impassioned audience. This Oscar season has seen new people donning the mantle of the heroes, which gives the costume designers the chance to elevate their design while still paying homage to the original comics.
After the death of Chadwick Boseman, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever brings a new Black Panther into the fold and elevates the role of Queen Ramonda. The Batman sees a new actor taking on the role of the caped crusader, with an updated “Batsuit” to match the gritty realness of the film. Mighty Thor makes her Marvel debut in Thor: Love and Thunder, while the original Thor’s costume changes in response.
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Angela Bassett
Annette Brown /© Marvel / © Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures /Courtesy Everett Collection
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
Making a sequel to Black Panther was no easy task. After the loss of Chadwick Boseman, the script needed to be rewritten and the mantle of Black Panther needed to be passed onto a new character. Costume designer Ruth E. Carter needed to not only create a suit for Wakanda’s new champion, but also to elevate Queen Ramonda (Angela Bassett)’s appearance as she became the new leader.
In the first film, Queen Ramonda is next to King T’Challa (Boseman) in an advisory role, which allowed her outfit to be more relaxed as she was no longer the face of the nation. After the King’s passing, she takes a more direct role as ruler, which meant that her costume needed an update. “We see a strong presence of metal,” Carter says. “Her crown has been elevated and she has a collar to her dress that’s been 3D-printed and painted to look like metal.” Though she needs to exude the strength of a ruler, Carter wanted to keep her arms exposed to show that she is still vulnerable in that power. “For Angela Bassett, that is her strongest asset,” she says. “Those powerful arms of hers.”
When Wakanda is threatened by an adversary, Princess Shuri (Letitia Wright) is forced to take on the mantle of the Black Panther. “We didn’t go too far away from her form, the silhouette of a woman, with a bust and hips and shoulders,” says Carter. “But we also wanted to delicately enhance the dynamic figure of the panther suit.” Whereas T’Challa’s suit was adorned with silver vibranium, Carter wanted Shuri’s suit to have a combination of gold and silver elements. The design went through a lengthy process until they decided that “adding more of the striations on the suit gives it a bit more brilliance than the former Panther suit,” she says. “T’Challa’s suit highlighted the physique. In this case, we also highlight the adornments, and that’s what gives it its femininity.”
The biggest challenge for Carter was creating costumes that could function underwater. “Clothes aren’t meant to be worn underwater for eight hours and used again the next day,” she says. “We had to rethink everything about what fibers could go in water and still look organic.” The clothing needed to be weighted as well, while still looking elegant. “We’d like to think clothes look like ballet all the time in water, but they just rise up.”
The Batman, Robert Pattinson as Batman
Jonathan Olley / © Warner Bros. / Courtesy Everett Collection
The Batman
Director Matt Reeves brought a new actor, Robert Pattinson, into the Batman role, and two costume designers, Glyn Dillon and David Crossman, with the sole purpose of designing the signature Batsuit. “There are four crucial ingredients to a Batsuit,” says Dillon: “The cape, the cowl, the utility belt and the all-important insignia, or bat symbol.”
For this Batman, Reeves wanted the character to be grounded in reality, with every piece of the suit having a purpose. “Matt definitely wanted the suit to be utilitarian,” says Dillon, “and importantly, it had to be a suit that Robert could move and fight in. Practicality and mobility were the main concerns.” Dillon and Crossman managed to make even the bat insignia and the cape utilitarian, as the former doubled as a blade and the latter transformed into a wingsuit.
In addition to the action sequences that make up any superhero film, the story sees Batman play detective, as he tries to solve the puzzles left for him by Paul Dano’s Riddler at each scene. “It was important to have a more neutral expression on the cowl,” Dillon says. “I thought it would be cool if the cowl had the stillness of a skull, and that meant Robert was free to do more with his eyes.”
Although the cowl had the appearance of moulded leather, Dillon says it was actually 3D-printed and molded in rubber. “But it was sewn by hand,” he says, “because printing and molding the stitches didn’t look good enough, so the tiny stitch holes were sculpted in the computer, and then we had the amazing team in Jenny Alford’s workshop putting the stitches in by hand.” The suit itself was created with nylon to give the appearance of bulletproof Kevlar, while the cape was made out of Japanese faux leather to give it weight.
The design was inspired by the comics, but Dillon says the main idea behind this iteration of the Batsuit was its gritty realness. “For instance, his utility belt in the comics is yellow or gold and that’s carried through to most of the films,” he says, “but we liked the idea that he would use stuff that cops would use, leather ammo packs and handcuff holders etc… it feels much closer to ‘Special Forces’ than Spandex.”
Thor: Love and Thunder, from left: Natalie Portman as Mighty Thor, Chris Hemsworth as Thor
Jasin Boland / © Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures / © Marvel Studios / Courtesy Everett Collection
Thor: Love and Thunder
As the costume designer of Taika Waititi’s Thor: Ragnarok, Mayes C. Rubeo was already familiar with the thunder god’s lore. In Thor: Love and Thunder, Rubeo was able to use that lore to create the costume for Dr. Jane Foster (Natalie Portman), as she wields Mjölnir and becomes Mighty Thor. “It was based on the old comics,” Rubeo says. “We try to honor those iconic costumes in a way and transport them to a modern era with technology.” Although she doesn’t want to stray too far from the comics, Rubeo’s designs take modern materials into updated look. “The audience is looking for something really amazing, for new materials that are so modern and flexible and versatile,” she says.
Since Portman is vegan, it was important to Rubeo that she make her costume out of materials that did not come from animal products. “For the most part, her costumes are plastic and synthetic materials,” she says. “I respect her so much, and the least I could do is to accommodate this to make her costume.”
Compared to Mighty Thor’s subdued colors of silver and black, Thor’s appearance in the film has become flashier in response to his ex-girlfriend. “Thor is going through a moment of insecurity,” says Rubeo. “Imagine when an animal wants to be more intimidating—he grows bigger and he gets shinier and brighter.” To highlight this change, Rubeo dressed Thor in what she calls the “insecure Thor outfit,” with vibrant golds and blues as a way of peacocking around Jane.
Most of the costume choices are directly inspired by the comics, but Gorr the God Butcher (Christian Bale) had an important color change. “In the comic books, Gorr was all in black,” says Rubeo. Since black was being used so much in other costumes, she decided that dressing the villain in white would be a great contrast to vibrant colors used with the superheroes. “The villain doesn’t have to be in black to be a villain,” she says, “[white] is also very scary.” As a character that has lost everything and resides in the shadow realm, Gorr’s white outfit matches his pale complexion to create a character that is devoid of any color but still stands out against the shadows he commands. “Sometimes his complexion is whiter; sometimes he has a flesh color but is still very pale,” she says. “It was really striking to see him in this fashion.”
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