Batman V Superman: Costume Designer Talks Inspiration

(Via ComicBookResources.com)

At Comic Con Experience 2015, Omlete, a Brazilian media outlet, sat down with Michael Wilkinson — costumer designer for Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice — to get his thoughts on his design process and what inspired him for our heroes’ costumes.

On Aquaman:

"Omelete: Aquaman, different from the comics? Where did you get the idea?MW: My inspiration for Aquaman is actually Jason Momoa, he was born to play Aquaman. And so, he has some fantastic tattoos of his own. And got my mind thinking about how to go in a really interesting new direction for the scales that we usually see on Aquaman, so we decided to do them with tattoos and with some cool armor. So, we had this whole plan for Aquaman in this universe and so we look forward to the next few years evolving this exciting DC universe."

On Batman:

"Omelete: What about Batman? The batsuit, the bat armor? What were you thinking when you were making those costumes? What was the process?MW: When I was talking to the director Zack Snyder, he really wanted to go back to how it’s being shown in the comic books cause when you think about Batman in the last twenty years from the films, it’s sort of really stepped away from the really simple, powerful, intimidating silhouette of Batman in the graphic novels, and so, we wanted to return to that and we wanted to do a Batman that’s a little bit older, he’s been fighting crime for twenty years on the big bad streets of Gotham and so his costume is shredded and it’s ripped and it’s torn. It’s distressed, it’s got bullet holes in it. We wanted to say, ‘this Batman doesn’t really need gadgets or armor,’ his intimidating strength is his real power. Incredible, burly silhouette is what really, and his incredible fighting skills of course, he doesn’t need the armor and the gadgets so much.Omelete: What about Batman’s cowl? Seems like the fabric allows more movement?MW: That was something that was important to Zack. He wanted something that Ben could move in, something he could do all his amazing fight moves in. The choreography was extremely complex like all Zack Snyder stunt sequences. We wanted to have a Batsuit that he could look over his shoulder and do all of these moves. That was very important to us. There’s a lot of engineering in the cowl of the Batsuit. We did many, many prototypes with different materials, different shapes. We really wanted the sense that we have the musculature of Ben sorting of coming through the cowl, so we didn’t know where the cowl finished and the actor started, so it was really a part of him. And so we found a great material to do that with. The movement was great and I think it was reasonably comfortable.Omelete: What about the nightmare Batman? It’s a different uniform than the Batman we are seeing here?MW: “It is a different look. Zack had a great idea of this sort of nightmare-ish vision, almost a vision of the future, a post-apocalyptic vision. It’s like a dream that Ben has, so we wanted to, it has almost a Mad Max quality to it where it’s like the end of the world, trying to survive and then of course Superman and his minions come, so it’s sort of a way of representing the amazing amounts of, the sort of obsessive quality that Bruce Wayne has about the threat of Superman. In this film, Superman, of course he’s normally seen as a figure of hope, a positive thing, but in this film, his motivations, the consequences of his actions are really being questioned by the world. Is he a savior? Or is he a dangerous alien with unknown intentions? And this becomes an obsession for Bruce Wayne. And he really wants to sort it out. So, it’s manifested in this sort of incredible dream that Zack decided to create."

On Superman:

"Omelete: Is the Superman costume the same one from Man of Steel?MW: It’s a little bit different. The amazing thing about working on these big franchise films is that everytime you do another, you get to make the costumes even more compelling and more exciting. The one thing I love about my job is that we get to explore new costume technologies and new ways of making costumes. Two years later, there’s new materials, new digital technologies. We use a lot of 3D printing and we scan our actors and we build costumes in the computer.So, with the Superman costume, we have a new material. The suit is a little bit more sheer, so you really get the sense of this metal undersuit coming through the blue oversuit and we have a new fabric for the cape. And, also, Zack wanted to include a Joseph Campbell quote in the suit, so there’s a quote from Joseph Campbell: ‘Where we thought to stand alone, we will be with all the world’ and we decided to translate that into Kryptonian and we put it through the ‘S’ on his chest, through his cuffs, his belt, through his bicep, just to give a little extra something for the fan with very sharp vision to appreciate."

On Wonder Woman:

"Omelete: What about Wonder Woman? What was the main challenge to make her character, the look of the character not too sexy, but that of a warrior?MW: That was the most important thing for us. We wanted her strength, her power to be tangible. We wanted her to stand next to the two male counterparts and be very much their equal. So, she brings something very different to the table and she has this incredible power and strength and she also combines that with a grace and a compassion and a majesty that makes her special. It makes her incredibly powerful. And working with the beautiful Gal Gadot was an absolute pleasure. She’s one person that’s as beautiful on the inside as she’s on the outside, so she made my job very easy."

On The Flash:

"Omelete: One of the ideas I like from the comics about The Flash’s costume is just one red uniform and the bolt. There’s a sense of movement in the ears and all that. How do you translate that to the screen and to make it modern and different?MW: Well, I’m not really at the liberty to talk about The Flash right now, but it’s something that you’ll be seeing in the future in our films. You do get a glimpse of him, of course, in Batman v Superman. But I’m really looking forward to taking the amazing, iconic costume for The Flash and interpreting it in a fresh way where Ezra Miller is playing The Flash. He’s an extraordinary performer, he has a sort of interesting sense of humor and the youth that will be great for Barry Allen and I think he’s going to make a great Flash."

Next: Batman v Superman: That's not Doomsday

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice – Official Synopsis: Fearing the actions of a god-like super hero left unchecked, Gotham City’s own formidable, forceful vigilante takes on Metropolis’s most revered, modern-day savior, while the world wrestles with what sort of hero it really needs. And with Batman and Superman at war with one another, a new threat quickly arises, putting mankind in greater danger than it’s ever known before.

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice has a United States release date of March 25, 2016.  It will be directed by Zack Snyder, written by Chris Terrio from a story by David Goyer and Zack Snyder, and will star Henry Cavill as Clark Kent / Superman, Ben Affleck as Bruce Wayne / Batman, Gal Gadot as Diana Prince / Wonder Woman, Jason Momoa as Aquaman, Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor, Amy Adams as Lois Lane, Laurence Fishburne as Perry White, Diane Lane as Martha Kent, Jeremy Irons as Alfred Pennyworth, Tao Okamoto as Mercy Graves, Holly Hunter as Senator Finch, Ray Fisher as Victor Stone / Cyborg, and Callan Mulvey, Scoot McNairy, and Jena Malone in unspecified roles.