Marvel Comics' most notable heroes have all experienced a costume change every once-and-a-while, as redesigns happen when the story calls for it. While some of the new costumes are sleek fit the character well, others have completely failed for a variety of reasons. Over the years, Marvel has taken some bold risks on redesigns which have ultimately failed to pan out, including ones to Captain America and Daredevil.
Costume redesigns happen for a number of reasons. Editorial might be looking to inject a fresh new take on a character, the change could be part of the ongoing series, or there could be a concerted effort to improve on a previous look. New costumes have worked more times than they haven't, but in some cases, redesigns have become infamous for being among the worst looks ever. While there are hundreds of bad redesigns over the course of the history of Marvel Comics, five, in particular, stand out among the absolute worst.
Captain America's Exoskeleton
In the mid-90s, Captain America was given a brand-new armored suit by Iron Man after suffering from an illness related to the super-soldier serum which made him completely paralyzed. In a practical sense, the suit allowed Steve Rogers to continue on as Captain America despite not being physically able to move without it. It also featured a number of enhancements, including magnetic gloves, mini-rockets (like Iron Man), and a non-lethal laser beam. From a pure usefulness point, it wasn't necessarily a bad thing. The problem was the design.
The new armor was part Iron Man, part Captain America. It was bulky and ugly and featured one of Captain America's worst masks/helmets ever, especially the stripe covering his nose. The wings look like mini-golf flags, the color wasn't spread out enough, and the bulkiness makes him look unemotionally huge. There was just way too much going on with this look. Compared to his classic costume, this was a disaster. While it was short-lived, it would return in 2014's Axis event where it would be destroyed for good.
Daredevil's Armored Suit
Another product of the '90s (which is a reoccurring theme for this post), Daredevil's iconic red suit was ripped apart after he tried to protect a man named Eddie. Matt Murdock decided to try a new suit out, debuting an armored look which was a drastic departure from his previous ensemble. His new costume was multicolored, featured a Daredevil logo over his heart, and had shoulder pads as well as some adding padding on his legs. The costume also had red stripes on his torso, which sort of looked like it was pointing towards his crotch. Matt would fake his own death once the world learned his true secret identity and became "Jack Batlin." While the armored costume would stick around for multiple story arcs, Daredevil would eventually return to his classic red costume after he tricked the general public into believing Matt Murdock isn't the Daredevil.
Invisible Woman's New Look
In the early 90s, Marvel decided to give Sue Storm, aka The Invisible Woman, a new costume which was truly awful. In Fantastic Four #371, Reed Richard is surprised to learn Sue redesigned her costume. In Sue's own words, she "was starting to feel like an old frump in that tedious outdated jump shirt." When Reed doesn't pay special attention to the look, the Invisible Woman calls him names and tells him "you won't notice if I were dancing naked in Macy's window."
Sue's new costume is as overly sexualized and impractical as any look she's ever worn. It feature's one of the most unnecessary, oddest boob windows to date, as her top features a cutout that's shaped like the Fantastic Four logo. Meanwhile, the rest of her costume adds no protection besides showing off skin. She has weird armbands and leg bands, and long, arm-length gloves. and boots. Most of her body, including her torso, were left exposed. Ultimately, Marvel would eventually reveal her new look and attitude were a byproduct of her dark side, Malice. Thankfully, the costume never returned.
Thor's Busy '90s Costume
Just look at this thing.
Thor's '90s redesign is a perfect example of taking something simple that works and turning the dial up to 100 in edginess, to make a classic look a monstrosity by making it way too busy. This short-lived design in the '90s was given to Thor with no explanation. It gave Thor a darker look while having so many unnecessary pieces to it, including a crotch plate, shoulder pads, random belts tied to his limbs, and hair so long it defies explanation. The costume and redesign exemplified the bombastic, ridiculous costumes which were prevalent in the era which have aged incredibly poorly over time. However, it did manage to sneak its way into the Marvel vs. DC crossover. There's no question this '90s look is best stuck in the past.
Kitty Pryde's Colorful Mess
In the 1980s, Kitty Pryde was named a full-time member of the X-Men. To celebrate the achievement, Kitty created her own costume to go along with her new codename, Sprite. She reveals she found the old uniform to be "clunky" and decided to give it some improvements. What Kitty created was ugly. Debuting in Uncanny X-Men #159, Kitty is proud to show off her costume to Professor X and her fellow teammates. The look is a multicolored mess, with long legwarmers, a golden bodysuit, a Jean Grey-esque mask and to capture the spirit of the times, it even had rollerblades.
Kitty Pryde's new costume is the rare case when a terrible costume was intentionally designed to be that way. After all, Kitty was young, naive, and over the moon to join the X-Men as a full-time member. She wanted to make a splash with her new teammates and designed a costume that a teen at the time would probably think was trendy. While Kitty has worn a number of bizarre costumes over the years, nothing will ever top the '80s colorful mess that she proudly created. In Wolverine: First Class #12, Kitty even burned the suit after it was wrecked in a fight with Magneto. Regardless, it's understandable why this look never stood the test of time in Marvel Comics.