Superheroes get redesigned all the time — it’s just part of the genre. And it’s totally fine to complain about this — it’s part of being a fan. But sometimes, a superhero gets a makeover that’s not just radical, or “kewl,” but… hipstery.
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Here are just a few examples of superheroes who started sporting classic hipster fashions. Unfortunately.
Top image: Starman, “Sins of the Father.”
Note: I may be using a somewhat imprecise definition of “hipster” here — for me, it’s a “know it when I see it” thing. Feel free to disagree about some of these. But bear in mind, I spend a lot of time in the Mission District, aka Brooklyn West Coast. Also, please suggest your own additions in the comments!
Doctor Strange (1990s)
Remember this? It was awesome. Basically, the Sorcerer Supreme got decked out in Lennon sunglasses and giant floppy bangs, and started wearing more of a “leisure jacket” or possibly “Hugh Hefner robe” version of his classic outer garment. Under which he wore some kind of weird spandex monstrosity. I think this lasted a total of four or five issues, but it was heavily hyped as the cool new version of Stephen Strange.
The X-Men
Remember when the X-Men all got dayglo leather jackets? And matching shirts with ribbed “X” logos on the front? Mostly the glowy X-symbol thing is kind of awesome. Plus as Cyriaque points out, whenever Darick Robertson draws Wolverine, he suddenly turns into Glen Danzig.
(Doctor) Fate
Also in the 1990s, Doctor Fate was replaced by a guy named Fate, who was a dude named Jared Stevens. He’s probably supposed to be more “extreem” than hip, but with his one swoosh of dyed hair and his neatly trimmed mustache and beard, I could totally see him wandering into Coffee Bar.
Guy Gardner, Warrior
Are tribal tattoos still a hipster thing? I’m really not sure. That was the whole thing where Guy Gardner realized he was actually an alien called a Vuldarian who had cool tats and could turn himself into different weapons. And he became a bartender. I think they were going for “biker” rather than “artisanal vegan donut expert.” But somehow I could totally imagine Guy Gardner, Warrior having a lot of opinions on artisanal vegan donuts.
Starman
I freakin love James Robinson’s Starman series, but it is awfully hipstery. In fact, that’s where the idea for this article comes from. Starman, the most “spandex and primary colors” oriented of all the superheroes, gets reinvented as a young slacker who works in an antique shop selling bric-a-brac. And his superhero costume consists of a leather jacket, steampunky goggles, and some incredibly cool hair.
Superman
A ton of people called this version of Superman, from Superman: Earth One, “hipstery.” Either that, or “emo.” There are the bangs, and the hoodie, but also the somewhat streamlined costume. Mostly, the hoodie, I guess. He’s sort of borderline hipstery.
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Wonder Woman (1960s)
In the late 1960s, Wonder Woman got a makeover that was supposed to be sort of “mod.” She alternated between Emma Peel jumpsuits and groovy print dresses, and hung out with a Chinese mystic sage named (sigh) I-Ching. It’s only really in retrospect that this era of Wonder Woman appears hipster-y. Most of the stuff you see her wearing in these issues could easily be salvaged from the $1 a pound bins at your local thrift store. The heavy, chunky jewelry and slinky dresses, in particular, scream “fashion forward vintage” to me. There was also the “biker Wonder Woman” of the 1990s, where Diana dressed in biker shorts and a teeny jacket, during that brief period when Artemis became the new Wonder Woman
Spider-Man
I’m just going to go out there and say the 1980s black Spidey costume (which eventually gave rise to Venom) was kind of hipster-y. Mostly because it looks ironically fetishy. But I could be dissuaded from this one.
So what hipster superhero makeovers did we miss here?
Thanks, Cyriaque!
