Home Entertainment THE FLASH's full costume revealed! – UPDATED with more pics

THE FLASH's full costume revealed! – UPDATED with more pics

3 min read
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While it had a rocky start, leaving you more green with barfing than jealousy, The CW’s Arrow has gone on to become a very solid superhero tale, placing the emerald archer in a much more realistic world. Well, realistic until people started exhibiting superpowers. One such person was Grant Gustin’s Barry Allen aka the Flash, who after an energy wave and some random chemicals finds himself leading his very own spinoff show. And based on this first look at the scarlet speedster’s full costume, he’s definitely dressed for the part

The costume was designed  by Oscar winning designer Colleen Atwood, and The Flash pilot director and executive producer David Nutter (Arrow, Game of Thrones) had this to say about her work:

“I hope the fans who treasure the character are as excited as we are by what costume designer Colleen Atwood has achieved with this latest version of The Flash’s iconic suit.”

And here is that iconic suit in the flesh spandex? polymer? whatever that is? Click Here for a really hi-res version, so that you can scrutinize every detail with your Fanboy Vision:

flash-med

So as the resident giant comic nerd  around here, my first reaction is that I really dig it. The CW have toned down the very comic-bookiness of it, by deepening the red, pulling in the ear lightning bolts, using a red and not white background for the chest emblem and changing his boots from yellow to a gold and red mix to match his gauntlets (there also appears to be some embellishments on his knees, but I can’t make it out too clearly). They’ve also gone for the chain-mail cloth effect that was also used on Superman’s costume in Man of Steel, which looks pretty cool.

My biggest problem here is actually with the pic itself, specifically how awkwardly Gustin is posed. What is he supposed to be doing? Looks like somebody snapped a pic mid-stumble and if they had waited just one more second, we’d be looking at an image of him faceplanting. The angle of the image also seems to give Gustin a rather enlarged dome, making the cowl look more like a helmet than part of the suit.

I would have loved if CW could just have gone with a straight up shot of him running, instead of this semi-fall, so I could truly see how Gustin looks as the superhero.

UPDATE:

Ask and we shall receive, apparently, as some more pics of Gustin in the costume has surfaced online, and these give us a proper full body shot:

TheFlash_Costume2

Holy bad tailoring, Batman! Either my theory in the comments below of how Gustin still needs to bulk up and grow into the suit is correct, or the CW just have really bad tailors who can’t take measurements, because that costume looks like it seriously needs to be tightened up in a few places.

I still think the suit, as a real world translation of a very bright costume, is a great design, I just don’t think it sits all that well on the actor. Also, why is the Flash power walking?!

The pilot episode of The Flash, which acclaimed Flash comic scribe Geoff Johns will be co-writing, is currently in production. The costumed hero was originally set to make his debut in one of Arrow‘s later season two episodes, but it has since been decided to rather do a standalone episode. No ETA yet on when it will screen.

Last Updated: March 12, 2014

27 Comments

  1. Not that crazy about it tbh

    Reply

    • Kervyn Cloete

      March 12, 2014 at 10:05

      I think we really need to see it in motion.

      Reply

      • Admiral Chief of comments

        March 12, 2014 at 10:20

        But will we be able to, you know, with motion blur and all…

        😛

        Reply

    • Skyblue

      March 12, 2014 at 13:10

      That pic where he’s running looks ridiculous, Superman (1978).

      Reply

  2. Unavengedavo(aka. Bilbo)

    March 12, 2014 at 10:14

    But with all those ridges surely the suit won’t be all that aerodynamic? The speeds that he can reach would surely cause the suit to rip due to friction with the air around him

    Reply

    • Admiral Chief of comments

      March 12, 2014 at 10:21

      Ribbed for your pleasure…

      Reply

    • Kervyn Cloete

      March 12, 2014 at 10:22

      While this is true in the real world, I’m sure they’ll just overlook it here, because comics.

      Reply

      • Unavengedavo(aka. Bilbo)

        March 12, 2014 at 10:26

        Well I had a quick look and from what I can tell, his suit has always been tight fitting like spandex, except for the 40’s where he had a stupid helmet on O_o
        http://i.stack.imgur.com/xn4BZ.jpg

        Reply

        • Kervyn Cloete

          March 12, 2014 at 10:29

          Off topic: That 40’s Flash is actually a totally different person, Jay Garrick.

          On topic: I know what you mean, but unfortunately it’s next to impossible to mimic the form-fittingness (totally a real world) of comic book costumes unless you want people to just run around in body paint.

          Also, Gustin is a bit of a skinny dude. I’m sure he’s going to bulk up a bit for the role, and it could be that that just hasn’t happened yet. Would explain the bad pose hiding most of his body and why the suit looks so loose in places.

          Reply

      • General JJ the Fett

        March 12, 2014 at 10:38

        They’ll do the comic book thing…
        It’s made from (enter made-up material name here), which is resistant to friction and heat.

        Reply

        • Unavengedavo(aka. Bilbo)

          March 12, 2014 at 10:39

          Or he moves so fast it creates an air vacuum around him which prevents friction… But then how would he breathe? O_o

          Reply

          • General JJ the Fett

            March 12, 2014 at 10:45

            Breathing is for pansies.
            I actually recently rewatched the oooold falsh tv series. It’s, uhm, not bad. But it was much cooler when I was a kid.

          • Kervyn Cloete

            March 12, 2014 at 10:57

            Well, if we want to get really comic-booky here, the Flash is actually powered by the Speed Force, an extra-dimensional source of energy that he can tap into. When he’s running, it’s not so much his muscles doing all the work, but the Speed Force, otherwise he’d be gassed in a few seconds from pumping his legs hundreds of times a second. When running, the Speed Force also envelops him, protecting him – and his suit – from friction.

            The Speed Force is also what allows Flash to run through time, vibrate his way into other dimensions, etc.

          • General JJ the Fett

            March 12, 2014 at 11:00

            I think I can have hours of conversation with you dude. This stuff fascinates me.

          • Kervyn Cloete

            March 12, 2014 at 11:02

            I love chatting comics, dude. So feel free to hit me up on Twitter.

          • General JJ the Fett

            March 12, 2014 at 12:02

            Will do

          • Unavengedavo(aka. Bilbo)

            March 12, 2014 at 11:03

            I did not know that, but if they ad that element to the movie then this suit will work just fine

          • SheHulkNigri

            March 13, 2014 at 09:28

            But what are the odds? CW likes to poke fun at the stuff they make shows of. Got my knickers all in a twist this weekend in Season 1 of Arrow, where someone asks Oliver Queen what the thinks about naming the vigilante the Green Arrow.
            Queen’s response? “That is so lame!”
            Arrow is still a great show though.

          • Kervyn Cloete

            March 13, 2014 at 10:48

            Pro tip: Watch further in the series

          • Unavengedavo(aka. Bilbo)

            March 12, 2014 at 11:12

            Just googled it and found this… “When speedsters die, they become one with the Speed Force, as it is an afterlife for them”… George Lucas is gonna sue somebody O_o

  3. Devon Stanton

    March 12, 2014 at 10:17

    Sheldon … is that you?

    Reply

  4. Alien Emperor Trevor

    March 12, 2014 at 10:30

    That looks pretty good. I’ll take one in racing red myself.

    Reply

  5. General JJ the Fett

    March 12, 2014 at 10:34

    I still feel like an idiot for not picking up that the guy was flash when I heard his name.

    Reply

  6. Skyblue

    March 12, 2014 at 13:11

    I hope that he’ll look more like Ben Johnson (gerrit?) when he’s sprinting and not like Superman (1978) as he looks in the pic.

    Reply

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