How Modern Superhero Costumes Are Made! 

Learn more about FBFX’s work at www.fbfx.co.uk/ Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom is in theaters now

Nejad deserves so much praise for that digital work.

I just can't get over the fact that Adam touched the costume once and immediately knew the material it was made out of and a rough idea how it was constructed and put together. It was such a casual thing, but wow he really knows his stuff.

For such a talented guy Adam is always so appreciative of other people's work. It's really nice to see.

the idea of doing gloss on the sharp edges and satin on the rest is such a mindblower to me. Shows how much control they have over their molds and also how much of a creative thinker they are. I know edge highlighting is a thing for a long time but doing it in such a subtle way is impressive

I love the combination of professional experience and just absolute child-like entusiasm Adam brings to these!

15 seconds in to this and am amazed already by the level of detail and design

that goldfish armor is incredible. The fact that its soft blows my mind

I imagine the digital scans of the actor are a lot easier than making a body cast. As an amateur costumer, I would love to have this option!

The point at 10:10 about blending old and new techniques is so important. It reminds me of stop motion features. We tend to think of those as old-school throwbacks, acts of defiance against the digital revolution. Except it was actually the explosion of digital tools - motion control rigs, digital painting and compositing, and now 3D printing - that makes modern stop-mo features possible.

Adam, can you do more videos on Superhero Costumes? I'm interested in the how they are made from the old to the modern ones.

I love listening to passionate people talk about things they love doing.

Am I insane for missing simplicity in superhero costume design? Like, I'm all about verisimilitude and the storytelling guiding the costume design, and sometimes I'm just like...how did this character get this costume? How did this character get *in* this costume? What happens if it needs fixing or replacing? Sometimes simple costumes tell a better story. Kick-Ass and Mystery Men, I think, are great examples of superhero costume design guided by the storytelling. Spider-Man's homemade costume in Homecoming is also up there for me. And in the show Superman & Lois, the best costume is the one Superman wore in the flashback of his first public appearance, the Fleischer-style one with flat colors and red trunks. It just works. All the microprint and hyper-detail and muscle contouring and so on, while flashy and fancy, often just comes off as putting aesthetics above storytelling and ends up looking like everything was made by the same Hollywood costume designers instead of people living in the world. Especially when it comes to characters who aren't kings, gods and billionaires. While I can appreciate the masterful craftsmanship that goes into making complicated costumes, I often feel like it's counterproductive to creating a world that feels lived in. With Aquaman, it's like, fair enough, he's a king of the fish people, I buy that he'd have a fancy suit, and with Iron Man, obviously the fancy suit is the whole thing, but with a lot of characters, I feel like costume design could be a lot simpler. Ms. Marvel comes to mind; her mom made *that* overnight? And Tobey Maguire Spider-Man's suit appeared in a smash cut, with a raised webbing pattern that would have been difficult to make at home in 2002 and no explanation what so ever for where it came from. That was the first time I started thinking about this.

So this is why movies are so expensive and are devastating to the studios when they flop. This suit probably cost more than the entire godzilla minus one movie.

Having to re-do all those variations of scale by hand... even if digital, this still must have required oodles of mental fortitude to not drive poor Nejad insane... mad respect, bro!

I would love to have seen the suit broken down and assembled. The sliding panels are very interesting to me.

I love the way the highlights pop out on the bevels of the suit, totally going to use that on minis now

It's so good seeing the other side of how much hard work it takes to create a film!

Always cool to see what happens behind the curtains. Thanks for showing us all this!

I remember Gui DaSilva talking about the Black Panther suit. He said that thing was seven layers and the first thing he did was a series of aggressive squat thrusts. He didn’t want the suit to tear while he was doing all sorts insane stunts.

they need more behind the scenes stuff like this! this is neat

These superhero costumes are incredible !!!

This is an insane level of detail!

The show Gilded Age has a lot of dresses with what look like very expensive embroidery, even up close, but which I imagine must be something like silkscreened superhero fabric, and I'd LOVE if Tested could visit and see how on Earth they made those dresses look so expensive and hand-worked to camera.

Really nice people at SBFX and fantastic quality work😊

Wow, loved getting insights into this. Thank you Adam!

I love that they took what we've been doing in the cosplay & 3D printing scene since like 2017 and just took that to the next level with a Marvelous sim so everything just fits right. larger scale printers are only just now getting cheap enough that some of us are able to do that in large chunks of fabric but nothing near the whole pattern. It's still a lotta clipping fabric to a bed, running a print, then moving it and just sorta hoping things line up right once it's altogether and finally worn.

Despite the fact that Aquaman 2 was an utter failure of a film, I am glad that Adam is highlighting the tremendous amount of work that went into it despite it's reception. I would love it if Adam did more behind the scenes stuff of all these Hollywood films because the set designers, costume designers, the make up artists, they all deserve more public recognition for their efforts even if the movie they worked on wasn't successful. When something is good, it's good and we should acknowledge it. Even if I didn't like the movie I can admit I loved a lot the designs and inspirations that were displayed.

I would love to hear more about making the superhero suits stunts friendly. It's so important that the double can do everything comfortably and I'd love to know how design can change with that in mind

Lovely suits. As an Aquaman enjoyer getting into indie dev and having to talk about materials this was fun to watch!

Having worked on the Polar Bear fur sims which are an evolution of this method it's what we used to employ for extra VFX work for each shot on that show.

The skill involved here is impressive and their screen printer is top notch. Screen printing high density on top a digital print and on a stretchy thin fabric sounds like a nightmare. Props to the designer who had to map the 2D design on the 3D scan, that software sounds expensive.

For those who want to learn more: the technique referred to as adding powder pigments into the mould before pouring/injecting plastic or rubber is sometimes called "Cold Casting" (especially when the powders are metallic, as it gives the impression of cast metal but...y'know...cold) - so look for more information on Cold Casting if you want to try it yourself!

The costume's and sets we're the best thing about this movie, in fact that's true of most superhero films recently!!

That wasn't as exciting as I hoped for. Oh well, the Batmobile unboxing has got to be a winner.

Again, a great piece

Seeing this gets me really excited for the new Superman Legacy suit!!

Great costumes and great movie!

These are magnificent!!!😊😊😊😊❤❤❤❤

That screen printing idea is incredible!

thank you for sharing

Suits look amazing!

Very cool! Amazing!

Amazing work. 👍

The right pectoral region has a couple of tiles slightly out of position. Is that because he has his right arm raised? Looks spectacular- great work, gentleman!

I love how the lighting in the room is just two "mother & daughter"-lamps 😊

Let's be real - they could have chosen any of those 17 scales and it would have made no difference 😂

I love the MAN OF STEEL costume made, it's so cool. I also love how the material and the logo look different. So here in the AQUAMAN version, I like it. The scales and the boots are unique, it's all good. The real actor had the body for these 2 suit ups, nice

Such a shame they didn't listen to the customers.. all this hard work that went in to this movie that wont be seen because of one person! :(. i feel so sorry for all the artists that worked behind the camera that did amazing stuff like this..

This is so crazy cool

Amazing detail. If I were going to be the actor in any of these suits I'd want it to be build around me wearing one of those shirts with water cooling loop in it so you can do some takes and get hooked up to a chilled loop asap.

the real heros of these films

My favorite character of Jason's is still Ronon Dex. (Stargate Atlantis) He had a badass weapon.

I was fully expecting Adam to wear these going into this video

Where's Edna Mode's office?

That orange suit is beautiful

Make a batsuit with that black suit material looks so cool

On one hand it is amazing work. At the same time, the digital aspect makes everything look kinda same-y imo.

AMAZING

10:59 the thirth guy is having the best time in his life clearly...

I love how on every costume they look at, the first thing everyone does is feel up the pecs. I mean, I get it - it's a wide, flat expanse of material to check for fit/texture/sculpting/etc - but it's still funny to see.

Their eye for detail is INSANE! They literally showes us every variation of the scales and im like "they all look exactly the same" 😂😅

Awesome

For a more analog, DIY take on what's possible, check out Australia's Barry Armstead (BuildsByBaz) and his amazing Iron Man suit, which he uses to raise funds for health and charity. And his full scale Battlestar Galactica Viper build is something else.

Great video sir 👍

I think Adam Savage is a pretty good superhero name. I guess depending on your superpower/s you could be Atom Savage.

They did do a great job on Aquaman's costume, wish Patrick Wilson would have been Aquaman though.

Very cool💕💕💕

Great costumes. I wish you would have looked at Black Manta's.

I think they did the chrome budy suit with JL Superman

@ 9:28 Like balloons with graphics printed on them.

Most modern superhero costumes look way over designed. They look premium, unlike many previous costumes, but too busy. However, the golden aquaman suit looks amazing. Shame about the movies!

Great video love all things superhero although I prefer marvel my top four are Superman Spider-Man Batman and Daredevil my favorite memory is seeing spiderman in theaters when I was 10 with mom and dad best memory ever

The blue AQUAMAN suit is made the same way the Cavill's Superman suit is made. A chromed muscle latex under-suit with a thin stretchy fabric over it.

not a fan of Aquaman, but it's great seeing practical costumes! Happy to see less CG when it isn't needed.

WOW!!!

Bigger serratus and last would have look a little better. But yes it looks awesome! And metallic

a mold of the suit that can stretch would work way better kinda like how they made the ben grimm the Thing suit from fantastic 4

What would you study at university (college) to learn skills like this? It’s so cool!

I can't wait for this movie. I am upset that Mera will not be in it more, and the STUPID reboot that DC is doing, but I Love Aquaman and Adam Savage being interested is enough to make me a little more curious.

Would love to see Adam visit something like Bad Wolf Studios in Cardiff to see how a studio on a comparatively small budget can continue to produce the work they do.

I want one!

Was really hoping to see parts of the actual production of the physical suits, still cool nonetheless!

WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Fantastic work guys! Now, when you are free, you can help me work on MY next Reverse Flash costume...lol

The Tory & Kari Mythbusters laundry detergent ad was attached to this video. 😂

The most ridiculous thing is. Cosplayers recreating this stuff at 1% of the budget

Wether you like a film or not, there’s some great stuff going on behind the scenes. Production crews work hard to create stuff like this and then the studio completely shits on it with rushing release dates or having poor writing.

Oh I have this problem with dealing with building props all the time. Ability to make minute changes complicates the completion of the product.

I don't think a movie like Aquaman 2 needs that level of detail and finish. I would sacrafice visuals over story any day.

please do a video of you suiting up in a mascot costume

The first observation: Jason Momoa is big.

cool

Interesting video.

As cool as this is with all the hard work. It really explains why I hate a lot of modern supe costumes: They all just look like plastic! It takes away from any authenticity. I genuinely hate it, because it takes all the hard work that goes into making these amazing pieces of work and spits on it.

Both of those costumes are amazing💯💯, it’s such an absolute waste of opportunity with Jason mamoa leaving as Aquaman. Hope he continues to be Aquaman in the future

I like the hexagon printed fabric very much, but personally dislike the look of painted rubber/plastic for 'metal' pieces, especially the gold belt shown here. Surely Jason is strong enough to wear a real metal belt? If its too pointy to be comfortable then it should be redesigned just like a real piece of clothing would, especially the buckle that's very close to a vulnerable area of the body!

The abs changed from the first costume to the second one. Its very different, no continuation 😁

Not to take anything away from these costumes, but further blows my mind when you look at the high end arrmoury of Knights when you consider all the tech and materiais available for someone in our time

The dark suit honestly looks like a scuba pro dive suit