DC Comics has been the home for some amazing stories, characters, and costumes over the years. The amazing designs are endless from Superman's original and modern design, to the many different versions of Batman, to a batch of excellent Wonder Woman looks. However, not all of their outfits were successes. In fact, DC Comics has given iconic characters some truly awful looks.
For every good costume in comics, there seems to be one equally as bad out there. We've already taken a look at the worst costume redesigns in DC Comics history - and a few of those heroes have made it onto this list with entirely different costumes. So, Black Canary's '80s ensemble, Wonder Woman's '90s redesign, Superman's Black costume, and whatever DC was trying to do with Lobo during the New 52 era are not included here. Instead, five of the worst looks of all time ranging from multiple decades are showcased. Without further adieu, here are the worst costumes in DC Comics history.
Black Condor - Rough Beginnings
Black Condor might not be a household name, but he's one of DC's oldest heroes. He first debuted back in the 1940s in Crack Comics #1 and later became a member of the Freedom Fighters. While there are three different versions of the character, when he first debuted, he wore one of the silliest costumes ever.
To help illustrate Black Condor was able to fly, he was given a long cape which kind of looked like bedsheets that were attached to his arms via bracelets. For some reason he also wore a piece of fabric around his neck and shoulders that had no function or wasn't connected to any part of his costume. Throw in some short-shorts, a chunky belt, and some boots, and Black Condor appeared more like a circus act than a superhero. It was the 1940s, so it's a little more forgivable, but yuck.
Harley Quinn - Suicide Squad
Harley Quinn has been fortunate to receive a number of iconic looks since first appearing in Batman: The Animated Series. Among the character's best costumes includes her original Harlequinn look, Margot Robbie's Birds of Prey outfit, and most recently, her Suicide Squad redesign. However, in the New 52 era, specifically in the Suicide Squad (she looked much better in her own title at the time), Harley was given a costume that was so blatantly sexualized, it was terrible.
When DC Comics decided to give Quinn top billing in the Suicide Squad, she was drawn in an incredibly ugly outfit with darker hair. The small cape, loose-fitting corset, and teeny tiny shorts didn't work at all. There's nothing wrong with sexy, revealing looks, but the costume looks like it was designed with the directions of giving Harley as few pieces of clothes as possible. Thankfully, Harley's future ensembles have been both sexy, badass, and somewhat practical.
Raven
Whenever the Raven of the Teen Titans embraces her evil parentage, it seems she gets a radically bad redesign. Before she was given a clam-shell, spikey costume in the New 52 era, she crashed Nightwing and Starfire's wedding in one of the worst looks ever.
In the later tales of the New Teen Titans, Raven became possessed by her father Trigon and took on a demonic form. Besides the fact Raven had one of the best costumes pre-turning evil, the new look was just putrid. While she did wear long leggings and some armbands, the rest of her costume barely covered anything. Add in the fact they made her skin red, gave her a haircut best left in the '90s, and bright yellow earrings, the popular hero gone bad looked nothing like the character readers had grown to love. Worst of all, it didn't even look intimidating.
Electric Superman
When Superman's incredible powers started to change, he developed new ones which made him a different kind of hero - one that really enjoyed the color blue. Superman became pure energy and needed a blue and white containment suit to stop him from releasing blasts. While the new look came with different powers, including electric vision as opposed to heat vision, it also came with a costume that changed everything about the iconic superheroes' appearance.
Toying with a perfect character and design is never a fully welcomed concept, so when remaking a hero as beloved as Superman, artists need to hit a home run. Electric Superman was a three-pitch strikeout. The blue look was cheesy and memorable only for how bad it was. The blue and white colors, blue face, the weird mask, and no cape were so far removed from what Superman looked like he ended up seeming like a cheap knock-off. DC Comics even decided just a blue version wasn't enough, as they had him split into two, creating a red version of the character. Thankfully, the redesigns didn't last too long and his classic look would return.
Nightwing - Totally '80s
Where do we get started with Nightwing's first costume?
When Dick Grayson ditched the Robin moniker and joined the Teen Titans at Nightwing, he needed a new costume to celebrate the occasion of becoming his own hero. The costume he chose definitely was something a teenager from the '80s would think is cool when in reality it's a massive eyesore.
There are so many contrasting elements in Nightwing's disco suit that it's hard to look at. Everything from the popped collar to the v-neck, to the mismatched colors and the faux feathers, made Nightwing look hilarious. Still, the look is nostalgic as he wore it during some of the best Teen Titans stories of all time. It definitely qualifies as "so bad it's good," but still makes it quite a hilarious look for the popular hero. Thankfully, when Nightwing was redesigned he was given his iconic look he wears today that wasn't nearly as loud as his original. It's certainly fun when modern stories reference the disco suit in the present-day, but DC Comics made the right call by leaving this one in the past. Nightwing is lucky the costume didn't bury any chance he had at becoming his own hero after leaving Batman.