It’s no secret that the DC Extended Universe has had a harder time at the box office than the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which is mostly due to wildly inconsistent tone between movies and storylines that had seeds of greatness but were chopped into pieces during the edit by executives with differing goals than the creators of each movie.
Man of Steel established a dark tone for the DCEU that set the stage for the later movies, even though the most recent films (like Aquaman) have tried to step away and form their own identity as movies that aren’t afraid to include adventure and comedy. The tone set by Man of Steel meant that a lot of classic DC characters were given a darker design for their appearance on the big screen, which has been an improvement for some and a detriment to others.
A certain amount of change is to be expected when a comic book character is adapted for the big screen, as the brightly colored spandex costumes may not look so impressive when they are brought into existence and strapped on to a real-life actor. We are here today to find out which DCEU characters looked more impressive on the big screen than in comic book form and which ones should have never left the page - from the unfinished villain that was publically disowned to the underwater hero that has worked hard to escape from the shackles of his uncool past.
Here are the 10 DCEU Characters That Look Worse On The Big Screen (And 10 That Look Way Better)!
Worse: Steppenwolf
It’s telling when a director of a movie hates a character so much that they publically like a tweet that criticizes them. The comic book version of Steppenwolf was just one of the many brightly colored characters created by Jack Kirby as part of his New Gods mythology, but even someone so cartoonish looking would have been an improvement over the version of Steppenwolf that appeared in Justice League.
Steppenwolf looks like one of the generic enemies created in the Marvel movies that are intended to have a simple design so that the computer animators have an easier time making an army of them appear on the screen at once. The real problem with Steppenwolf is with his facial animations, which look primitive and unfinished compared to a lot of CGI characters that we see in blockbuster movies.
Better: Harley Quinn
Harley Quinn has been one of the most beloved DC characters for a while now, to the point that she is just behind the big three (Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman) in terms of popularity. Margot Robbie’s portrayal of Harley Quinn in Suicide Squad brought the character to new heights of popularity, with the outfit she wore in the movie eclipsing the jester outfit from Batman: The Animated Series and the outfits worn in the Arkham games as the default appearance for the character.
Anyone who has been to a comic book convention or fancy dress party in the past two years can attest to how popular the Suicide Squad version of Harley has become, as they will have drowned in a deluge of her cosplayers.
Worse: Doomsday
Doomsday was created for the specific purpose of taking Superman’s life, so he was designed to be a big scary monster that could take hits from the last son of Krypton. There wasn’t much thought put into the creation of Doomsday and the same is true of his appearance in the movies.
The version of Doomsday that appeared in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice looks similar to his comic book counterpart, but it’s missing all of the spikes that adorned Doomsday’s body, of which he had a lot. Removing the spikes from Doomsday left him looking like the cave troll that was fought in the Mines of Moria in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Rings and made him seem a lot less impressive than he could have been.
Better: The Flash
The costume worn by the Flash throughout his career in the comics is a skintight red lycra outfit with yellow highlights in the shape of lightning bolts. The Flash’s costume has been interpreted several different ways, with the version from the ’90s TV show looking like it had polyester muscles added under the outfit, while the one worn in the 1997 Justice League looked like bad cosplay.
The outfit worn in The Flash TV show interpreted the costume using leather, while the one worn in the recent Justice League movie was a segmented suit of armor, which makes more sense for a character who moves at high speeds and needs something to protect him from the elements.
Worse: Superman
Henry Cavill is about as picture perfect an actor you could ever hire to play Superman on film… so long as he doesn’t decide to grow any facial hair for other roles in the process. The problem with Superman on movie has nothing to do with Henry Cavill, but the costume they put him in. The muted colors of the Superman outfit in Man of Steel are indicative of the problems of that film and the early parts of the DCEU in general, as the symbol of hope was wearing dark colors in a fabric that looked like it was made from bathmats.
Superman’s outfit became more colorful with each new movie he appeared in, but the audience of Justice League was far more distracted by what was happening on Henry Cavill’s face to care.
Better: Enchantress
The Enchantress has been kicking around the DC universe since the ’60s, though her appearance in Suicide Squad is now her most famous role. The outfits worn by the Enchantress in the comic books have been green and black affairs that have made her look like a Robin Hood-themed hero with a lot of fanservice thrown on, in the form of low necklines and belly tops.
The version of Enchantress that appears in Suicide Squad certainly has a lot of skin on show, but the dirt, body paint, jewelery, and the runes are far more memorable than the bland outfits she has worn in the comics. It also helps that the producers of Suicide Squad managed to make Enchantress seem genuinely imposing and scary at times - it’s just a shame that she looked kind of silly at the end of the movie when they put the headdress on her.
Worse: The Joker
It’s not hard to see why the producers of Suicide Squad went in such a radically different direction with the Joker, as Heath Ledger’s portrayal of the character in The Dark Knight is still very much fresh in people’s minds when they think of the Joker and anyone who took on the role would be unfavorable compared to Ledger, especially if they tried to emulate him.
The version of the Joker that appeared in Suicide Squad can best be described as looking like a Juggalo that won the lottery, with a gross goth gangster look that is impossible to take seriously, even in a movie with such a bizarre looking cast as Suicide Squad.
Better: Aquaman
Aquaman was considered to be a joke by the fans of DC comics for years, due to his silly costume and situational powers. As the years went on, though, Aquaman’s design was changed in order to make him look more awesome, which included losing his hand and replacing it with a trident.
Jason Momoa took Aquaman to new levels of coolness in Justice League with a suit of scaled armor that was befitting the ruler of Atlantis. Aquaman put Jason Momoa into the lame original green and orange outfit that the character wore for years, but Momoa still made it look awesome because he looks like Jason Momoa.
Worse: Lex Luthor
Lex Luthor is Superman’s main villain, yet he lacks any powers of his own outside of his intelligence, but that’s all he has ever needed to keep the most powerful man alive at bay. The comic book version of Lex Luthor is a titan of industry and is all about business. When he is not wearing one of his battle suits, he is always dressed in a sharp suit and exudes an imposing aura that is befitting one of the most influential men on the planet.
The version of Lex Luthor that appeared in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice looked like the member of an indie rock band - a bad indie rock band. There is still some hope for Lex Luthor, as the post-credits scene of Justice League has shown that Jesse Eisenberg may have what it takes to play the iconic version of Luthor.
Better: Cyborg
Cyborg was a longtime member of the Teen Titans and found mainstream popularity when the Teen Titans cartoon was on the air. Cyborg would go on to join the Justice League in the comics, which led to him being part of the team in the Justice League movie.
There are several different variations of Cyborg’s design that have appeared in the comics over the years and some of them would have been easier to produce using practical effects, yet the filmmakers decided to go with a design that was mostly CGI and they managed to make it work, with the angular look of Cyborg’s robotic being one of the best costume choics in Justice League.
Worse: El Diablo
The later incarnations of El Diablo wore outfits with a skeleton motif, which is what the producers of Suicide Squad tried to emulate with the tattoos of the movie version of the character.
The movie version of El Diablo spends most of his time wearing a prison outfit and street clothes, even though he is embarking on a dangerous mission. El Diablo’s casual look isn’t the problem, however, as it’s the terrible CGI monster that he transforms into during his battle with Incubus that really looks bad. El Diablo’s ultimate ability is to turn into an awful CGI skeleton that is covered with flames, in order to distract you from how bad it looks.
Better: Parademons
There is always the fear that the army of a supervillain will look generic in order to make them easier to create using special effects, as was the case with the Chitauri in The Avengers, the Ultron robots in Age of Ultron, and the possessed soldiers in Suicide Squad.
The producers of the DCEU did a great job with the Parademons, as they managed to update and improve the design without compromising the original look too much. The reason why the original Parademons wouldn’t have worked on the big screen is due to their bright green and yellow outfits, which would have made them look ridiculous if they have survived the transition to film.
Worse: Incubus
Incubus is a fairly obscure character from the Suicide Squad comics who was considered to be an odd choice for a villain at the time of his reveal, due to how unknown he was.
The version of Incubus that appears in the Suicide Squad movie may as well be an entirely new character in terms of his appearance, as the original Incubus looked like a villain from a Shakespeare play, while the version of Incubus that appeared in the movie looked like a villain that would appear in a Power Rangers movie. The people at Warner Bros. really need to find someone who can animate faces, as Incubus suffers from a lot of the same problems as Steppenwolf.
Better: Katana
Katana is one of the few members of the Suicide Squad who isn’t a villain, which fits with her origins in the comics, as she started out as a member of Batman’s team of nonconventional superheroes that was called The Outsiders.
Katana’s outfit in Suicide Squad can best be described as belonging to the most stereotypical superhero from Japan alive, but it’s far better than the original outfit she wore for many years in the comics. Katana’s original outfit was a mixture of bright red and yellow clothing, which was hardly befitting of a modern day samurai warrior. The color scheme used by Katana looked like it was stolen from Hulk Hogan.
Worse: General Zod
General Zod’s appearance has drastically changed over the course of his existence, though the one that most people will be familiar with is the black dominatrix karate gi that was worn by Terence Stamp in Superman: The Movie and Superman II.
There have been several different designs for General Zod in the comics, with most of the recent ones showing him with an anti-Superman symbol on his chest, and they are all superior to the bland spacesuit/armor worn by the version of the character that appeared in Man of Steel. The dark snf boring outfit worn by General Zod was at least fitting for the kind of movie that he was appearing in.
Better: Rick Flag
Rick Flag might be the least impressive looking member of the Suicide Squad, as he appears to be nothing more than a soldier standing among a group of supervillains.
The reason why the movie version of Rick Flag looks so much better than the original is exactly because he wears a soldier uniform, as the comic book version of Rick Flag used to wear a bright yellow t-shirt that showed off his muscles, a black set of belt suspenders that he used to carry his holsters, a pair of black pants with a red stripe running down them, and a set of bright blue boots. The original version of Rick Flag would have looked totally ridiculous on film, so it’s for the best that they gave him a military uniform.
Worse: Ares
The people at Warner Bros. seriously need to hire someone who can make the big CGI villains look impressive, as they have all been duds so far. Ares is in the same league as Doomsday and Steppenwolf when it comes to terrible CGI, as he looks like a villain from the Prince of Persia video games from the early ’00s.
What makes the poor CGI of Ares ever more offensive is how easy it would have been to create the character using practical effects, as all you need is a big dude in a suit of armor to pull off a convincing Ares and they would still look impressive next to Gal Gadot. The fact that Ares is shown throughout the movie (and in the comics) wearing a face-obscuring mask makes this process even easier, which could have prevented the need to animate around poor David Thewlis’ face, yet the filmmakers decided to stick with expensive and terrible looking CGI.
Better: Captain Boomerang
It was a pretty easy task for the creators of Suicide Squad to improve Captain Boomerang’s appearance for his big screen debut, considering how ridiculous he looks in the comic. Captain Boomerang’s costume in the comics is a bright blue number that is adorned with white boomerangs, with a tiny blue hat, long black gloves, black pants, and long white boots.
The later incarnations of Captain Boomerang altered the outfit while keeping the color scheme intact, even if they did carry lots of boomerangs strapped to their person at all times. The movie version of Captain Boomerang keeps the blue and white color scheme, but it also gives him a more criminal-like appearance.
Worse: Killer Croc
Batman’s enemies are mostly criminals that can be a threat to him on a physical or mental level, as he usually only faces the world-threatening beings when he is alongside the Justice League. Killer Croc is one of the few enemies that Batman cannot overcome in physical strength, with his combat skills only being able to take him so far against a giant alligator monster.
Killer Croc has been depicted as a giant creature whose size is similar to that of the Hulk, yet the version of him that appeared in Suicide Squad was shrunk down and turned into a street thug with a skin condition. The inclusion of an underwater mission for Killer Croc in Suicide Squad also felt tacked on and was reminiscent of the Night Boat scene from The Simpsons.
Better: Slipknot
Slipknot was the sacrificial lamb of Suicide Squad, as he was only there to prove that the nano-bombs inside of everyone’s necks was legit, which he discovered when it was detonated as he tried to escape. We don’t see much of Slipknot in Suicide Squad due to his untimely end, but his costume was fitting for a supervillain who specialized in assassination techniques that involved ropes. He was also one of the few characters to bother wearing armor on a dangerous mission, unlike El Diablo or Harley Quinn.
The comic book version of Slipknot isn’t hard to improve on, as he wore a black outfit with huge sleeves that had an orange trim, as well as large orange gloves and boots, with an orange rope design running across the whole costume.
What do you think? Are there any other DC characters who looked better (or worse) in the DCEU? Let us know in the comments!
