Home Comics & Toys Let’s take a closer look at the new Spider-Man costume

Let’s take a closer look at the new Spider-Man costume

3 min read
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Spidey-Civil-War-HD

As far as costumes go, Spider-man nailed his look from day one. Sure, its been tweaked and modified over the years, but the core look has remained the same: A tight-fitting piece of spandex decked out in a red and blue colour scheme that was at least 2/3 as patriotic as Captain America’s costume. It’s a design which has been kept largely in check across five big budget movies, various animated TV series and numerous video games.

Now, that look is getting an update in Captain America: Civil War, as Spider-Man enters the battle on the side of Team Iron Man. Let’s take a closer look at that costume that actor Tom Holland is probably sweating buckets underneath. Here’s a high-res version of the costume from last night’s trailer, click to embiggen:

Marvel's Captain America: Civil War Spider-Man/Peter Parker (Tom Holland) Photo Credit: Film Frame © Marvel 2016

And now onto the details! First up, the texture and webs:

Marvel's Captain America: Civil War Spider-Man/Peter Parker (Tom Holland) Photo Credit: Film Frame © Marvel 2016

Every Spider-Man costume has been more than just basic spandex. The Sam Raimi directed films got the ball rolling with a subtle honeycomb texture, while the recent Marc Webb films had two distinct looks. Amazing Spider-Man in 2012 had a more porous texture with raised honeycomb patterns on it:

Spidey (1)

While Amazing Spider-Man 2 dialled back the overt texture design for a more classic look that was more in line with the suit worn by Tobey Maguire:

Amazing-Spidey-2

It’s an interesting look, that appears to be very much a silkscreened effort at first. And this is actually far more believable, as the Spider-Man cosplay community uses this exact technique to create their own costumes on a budget. The lack of raised webs is an interesting move. Every Spider-Man costume before Civil War has featured raised webs in some form, creating a more three-dimensional wallcrawler that must have been pure hell for special effects departments to animate.

In fact, it’s not just regular webs. They’re the opposite, indented into the costume in some reverse-manner. It’s an interesting move, that looks seamless at first glance.

Next up, the lenses!

Spidey

That’s pure Steve Ditko right there. If you look back to Spider-Man’s earliest appearances, his lenses were smaller, more squinty. Over the years, artists like Todd MacFarlane and Mark Bagley would create a wider-eyed Spider-Man, that would become the defacto look for the webhead for decades to come.

The Sam Raimi trilogy would use largely the same lenses, a go-between of the squinty and wide-eyed looks:

SPIDER-MAN 3

While the first Amazing Spidey film would have a very definite Steve Ditko-inspired look when it arrived:

Spidey (3)

The sequel however, went full Mark Bagley with the lenses:

Spidey (2)

Here’s where all of the previous five films were the same however: The lenses were static peeping props, unable to move or emote any reactions from Spidey. The new lenses however, can. He may only be in the trailer for two seconds, but Tom Holland’s Spidey is clearly looking through lenses which have their own auto-focus, tying into earlier rumours about his costume having some sort of aperture that constantly adjusts itself.

Marvel's Captain America: Civil War Spider-Man/Peter Parker (Tom Holland) Photo Credit: Film Frame © Marvel 2016

Magic! The weirdest tweak for me however, is the central spider logo. Take a look at the one on the latest costume:

Marvel's Captain America: Civil War Spider-Man/Peter Parker (Tom Holland) Photo Credit: Film Frame © Marvel 2016

That’s a much smaller, and stylised symbol, especially when compared to the Maguire costume:

Spide-2002

And the two suits worn by Garfield:

amazing-spider-1 symbol

Amazing Spidey 2

An idea that also extends to the back symbol, which is now far more compact as opposed to the daddy-long-legged icon sported by Maguire and Garfield:

Spidey-back

Lastly, there’s also a very cool belt that has web fluid canisters stored alongside it:

Marvel's Captain America: Civil War Spider-Man/Peter Parker (Tom Holland) Photo Credit: Film Frame © Marvel 2016

Overall, a very cool and subtle costume, when examined more closely. I’d love to see more of it in action, but only when Captain America: Civil War is actually out. ‘Nuff said.

Last Updated: March 11, 2016

16 Comments

  1. Such a long article from just one screenshot. I love it.

    Reply

  2. Gustav Minnie

    March 11, 2016 at 14:06

    Underneath that “Don’t iron on print” text it will say Stark Industries.
    Peter joining Tony’s team for free?
    Tony’s showed him some stuff and that costume/lenses were the end result.

    =)

    Reply

    • Kromas untamed

      March 11, 2016 at 14:19

      Was hoping for the Iron spider armor (this movie being civil war and all) but not enough people would know about it.

      Reply

      • Matthew Holliday

        March 11, 2016 at 18:17

        the iron spider armour was introduced at the start of the civil war storyline wasnt it?
        theyll have to take alot of liberties with the original storyline, to be able to fit it into a movie, so i dont think the armour will get a chance to feature.
        its pretty bad ass though, which is a pity

        Reply

  3. shyguy_2046

    March 11, 2016 at 14:07

    #TEAMIRONMAN

    Reply

  4. miaau

    March 11, 2016 at 14:14

    It looks, in part, like somebody cut several basketballs up and sewed the together: the head shots

    Reply

    • Jan Prins

      March 11, 2016 at 14:41

      I just want to know how he did the narrowing of the eyes. Or did mine deceive me?

      Reply

  5. Ryanza

    March 11, 2016 at 14:55

    Spiderman 1, 2, 3 with Toby just ruined the cool name of Spiderman.
    Spiderman reboot, an ok Spiderman but such a shit Peter Parker.

    The Spiderman costumes so far just hurts my eyes. The new one is fine.

    Please make Spiderman cool again. Fuck you Sony.

    Reply

    • Vielen

      March 15, 2016 at 10:16

      The real spiderman had been dead long time ago the moment Sony own his creation and package him over with their comedy style.

      Reply

  6. Vogiir

    March 11, 2016 at 14:56

    New spider logo looks like a tic tho…

    Reply

  7. Jan Prins

    March 11, 2016 at 15:00

    Rabobi, Rabobi…

    Reply

  8. Captain JJ the Isolated

    March 11, 2016 at 15:14

    I tihnk my favourite was the Amazing Spider-Man 2 suit. Classic.
    Not so sure about the lenses on the new one, but everything else is looking awesome.

    Reply

  9. Jim Lenoir (Banana Jim)

    March 14, 2016 at 12:02

    I am now well-informed on the subject of Spidey suits… Thank you D, you are doing Lagz proud. Your bosses need to send you to Wrestlemania next year.

    Reply

  10. Jim Lenoir (Banana Jim)

    March 14, 2016 at 12:03

    #TEAMCAPTAINDEADPOOL

    Reply

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