Off THEIR Minds: How Often Should Superheroes Change the Design of their Costume?

It's cool for them to change costumes every once in a while while still retaining a "classic look".

Every 5 years.

For the same costume.

I like the idea of often.... What artist doesn't want to redesign his or her's favorite character?

It depends. If a costume becomes really dated it should change like Captain America, or if the character is going through something where a new look would help express what they are going through like "Back in Black"

The Fantastic Four are the one exception where I want them to keep getting new uniforms every time the creative team changes.

And also some times character just have bad costumes and should change them like Daredevil's original suit.

As long as the costumes contain some sort of visual consistency. Like I'd reference Captain America's various designs.

They're all different but each incorporate the same basic set of iconography. They're unique while still being easily identifiable as Captain America.

Not very often. I really think it's cool when a comic book character changes looks for the better but I don't think it should happen too often unless it's part of the plot or the character is going through a phase.

Depends on the story.

The early days of Spider-Man, it would have been silly as well as narratively inconsistent if he were constantly updating his costume. But, in a world where he runs a successful business and has resources, a science obsessed character would add new elements as often as they needed them.

So yeah, I'd say let the story dictate the pace with which they update their look.

NOT very often( or at least not as often as the Wasp does)- Daredevil has only has three basic costumes since his first appearance!

Terry

The Baltazars!!

@teerack: This.

Whenever the hell the artist feels like it.

Less often than Wasp, I know that

The Wasp was multimillionaire fashion designer. LOL

Having the same outfit gives a sense of consistency, IMHO. I remember there was a bit of a stink when the FF had their light blue jumpsuits changed into a dark blue uniforms when they forced themselves out of the Negative Zone (back in the late 80s). Remember how people reacted when Spidey first put on the symbiont uniform in Secret Wars? Back then changing uniforms were a big deal. Now it's nothing because it's done so often.

@bl00dwerk: they're not related. Franco just goes by "Franco."

I don't mind characters changing costumes once in awhile as long as they're still recognizable such as the earlier Cap reference.

I mean honestly that old 80/90's earthen-brown/mustard yellow 'Marvel wings' Wolverine or the pink & blue Hawkeye look horribly dated now.

Pretty much :/

I wouldn't mind a character having several slightly different looks that they rotate through on any week/issue. Would be more realistic to me to not think they are wearing the exact same thing every single day or have a closet full of identical costumes. If I were a superhero in one of the comic book worlds, I think I'd have a few different costumes in the closet to wear. And you gotta wash those things sometime, right?

I wouldn't mind if Kitty Pryde and Jessica Drew would try a new uniform

someone needs to tell Nightcrawler and Spiderwoman that its time for a change

They should change only when it gets dated...like Powerman's costume from the 1970's. He couldn't still be wearing that yellow disco shirt and Buccaneer style boots in the 21st century.

Some heroes tho...like Superman's stands the test of time although it has gone thru changes and tweaks.

It only depends on the character and the time they apear.

They had to change the batsuit for the new milenium.nit's normal

Eh, depends on the character

http://fc03.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2011/245/2/4/supergirl_batgirl_comic_by_mikemaihack-d48mia3.jpg

Just once in a while, unless the original costume stupid. In which case do not ever go back to that one.

I don't mind change, but I'm not a fan of the recent move to more "realistic" or "practical" costumes. Comics are neither, so I don't see why they're trying to mimic the cinematic universe. I miss the colorful, wacky costumes like Hawkeye's

Every 3 to 5 years.

Characters like Iron Man are reasonable.

Depends on the character.

I'd say every couple of years, unless it's about being practical like Iron Man or Batman's, in which it should be updated either every few weeks (Iron Man) or every few months (Batman). Basically, they should adapt their suit to be more effective. For example, Otto Octavius changed Spidey's suit for superior spider-man. That's much more practical than his actual suit (don't know why that idiot Parker switched it back, I mean, he could have at least kept the "bag" and Spider-Arms if not the whole design)

Matters which character. Antman or Wasp changing their costumes make more sense than Captain America or most X-men.

LOL