The Craziest Comic-Con Outfits of All Time

Image via Complex Original

Event: San Diego Comic-Con

Date: 2013

The vast majority of these photos are from the San Diego Comic-Con. Of all the Comic Cons out there, the San Diego gathering has always been the most popular; fans trek to the West Coast to see the latest trailers, hear the latest breaking news, and engage in the best people-watching possible.

Melissa Jiminez created the Arachnia makeup and costume as a member of the Cinema Makeup School. With extra eyes on her forehead and sharp ridges on her chest, Melissa is an arachnophobe’s worst nightmare. Gross and creepy is the way to go, and this costume pulls no punches.

Event: New York Comic Con

Date: 2014

One of the best things a cosplayer can do is square off against another cosplayer, and recreate a traditional rivalry. Here we have a classic confrontation—Superman versus Lex Luthor. It may not settle much, but it sure makes for a great photo opportunity.

The costumes look fantastic—particularly Luthor’s suit—but the guy performing Superman is the real star of the show. He looks like a drawing; he’s got the barrel chest, big arms and strong chin that all superheroes seem to have in common. He’s even got that trademark little spit curl in the center of his forehead. Sometimes, it’s just as much about the person wearing the costume as the costume itself.

Event: San Diego Comic-Con

Date: 2010

“We’re all mad here.” Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland film was a visual feast filled with eccentric characters—and the loud, colorful costumes (particularly Johnny Depp’s Mad Hatter) seemed ripe for cosplay. 

This particular group does a lot of things properly—not only do the costumes capture the spirit of the film, but they also have a cool puppet/costume hybrid of the Jabberwock in the background. It makes for a surreal photo with lots of visual flair.

Event: San Diego Comic-Con

Date: 2013

It’s a pretty popular illusion, but it never gets old—for a split second, we believe it, and that’s what makes it so effective. 

Judging by his clothing, this is the Headless Horseman from the latest Sleepy Hollow television series. The weathering and dirt on his clothes is a nice touch, and goes a long way towards convincing us that this is a Horseman of the Apocalypse, raised from the dead to seek out his blind vengeance.

Event: Big Apple Comic Con

Date: 2015

Poor Gwen Stacy—she’s spent most of the last four decades as a plot device. When she died back in the early ’70s, it threw Spidey’s world into a tailspin. Readers were shocked too—they assumed that Gwen would have some thick “plot armor,” but Marvel had other ideas.

The photographer, Jason Laboy, stages a lot of professional photos similar to this one, with a pose taken directly from the comic strip panels.

Event: San Diego Comic-Con

Date: 2014

Again, it’s the little winks and nods that make a costume successful. Everybody dresses up like Wolverine, and this guy could have donned the traditional yellow and facemask. Instead, he went with Weapon X Wolverine, virtual reality headset and all. This guy has one of the best berserker rage faces that we’ve ever seen.

Event: Montreal Comic Con

Date: 2014

Gaming as a spectator sport? In the blossoming world of e-sports entertainment, League of Legends has replaced StarCraft II as the thinking man’s strategy game. 

This cosplay of Kayle is notable for its incredible light-up wings. If you haven’t heard of Kayle, you might pretty soon. There are now League of Legends prize purses worth millions of dollars, and the game has a loyal, expansive audience that would have been inconceivable years ago.

Event: Big Apple Comic Con

Date: 2013

If you’re a sadomasochist who enjoys suffering, then you probably love the Silent Hill series. And out of all the monsters and enemies you face, the zombie nurses are the most iconic. They have smoking, sexy bodies combined with rotting, twisted faces; it’s a juxtaposition that’s inherently creepy and disturbing.

This particular nurse costume is heavy on the detail. The blood is extremely well done. It’s dispersed unevenly across the linen bandages, as though the blood pooled, got absorbed, and dried.

Event: San Diego Comic-Con

Date: 2009

Even theater fans get a chance to shine at Comic-Con. Take look at this getup, which was part of a costume competition at the 2009 SDCC. It’s from The Phantom of the Opera; it’s the outfit that the Phantom wore to the Masquerade at the beginning of Act II. It’s so well made and so accurate that if we didn’t know better, we’d assume that the costume was stolen off the set of the Broadway musical.

Event: New York Comic Con

Date: 2014

Okay, now this is awesome. There’s dressing up like the Joker, and then there’s this. It’s based off of an infamous storyline, where the Joker allows the Dollmaker to cut and peel off his face. Joker spends the rest of the storyline wearing his own face like a mask—it’s a far more twisted version of Leatherface or Handsome Jack. The cosplayer did a great job of making the surgical incisions look jagged and unprofessional, and he pulled his lips back against his teeth to sell the illusion perfectly.

Event: Montreal Comic-Con

Date: 2014

There’s little to say here, other than how awesome these Halo cosplayers look. Master Chief looks great (it’s actually pretty difficult to screw up Master Chief because his design is so straightforward), but Ur-Didact looks even better. From his metallic plating, to his ominous looking helmet, and the different designs on the armor itself—the orange highlights are an accurate touch—this is thoughtful, excellent work.

Event: New York Comic Con

Date: 2014

There’s a lot of gender bending at Comic Con—a lot of girls dressing in guy costumes, which is actually pretty common, and a lot of guys dressed in girl costumes, which is a lot less common. Usually when guys decide to gender bend at a Comic Con, they’re doing it for comedic effect— a massive, hairy guy will wear the skimpiest Batgirl costume he can find. 

But it takes a lot more balls to play it straight—to do a legit female cosplay, sans irony. This guy, who’s dressed as Wonder Woman, pulls it off perfectly, and for that, we have to celebrate. Way to be yourself!

Event: Montreal Comic Con

Date: 2014

At first, one might assume that this is a model or a massive statue; there are beautiful ones at every single Comic Con. But if you look closely, you can see a patch of skin on the left. Damn. The guy underneath gets massive kudos just for wearing it—there’s no way that something that massive and that weighty looking isn’t extremely uncomfortable. That’s the sort of tireless dedication that Diablo—and for that matter, all Blizzard games—requires.

Event: San Diego Comic-Con

Date: 2013

This costume also tests the limits of our imaginations. Believe it or not, this massive mech has a human being inside of it. Wired partnered with the Stan Winston School to create this enormous robot, which caught some mainstream press for how intimidating it looked. The robot is 9’6”, weighs 400 pounds, and has a 12-foot wingspan. It’s just another day at the office for the folks at Stan Winston, who are also responsible for the mechs in Iron Man and Pacific Rim.

Event: San Diego Comic-Con

Date: 2012

Damn, you’re ugly. This is another self-explanatory cosplay—it’s the Predator, and it looks like it walked off the set. Some highlights: the tattooing on the dome of its head, and that scary-looking mouth, which looks fleshy and organic. Something this disturbing ought to stay invisible all the time.

Event: San Diego Comic-Con

Date: 2012

Of course, the professionals usually create the most elaborate, creative costumes. They’re already making a living in the fields of costuming and makeup, and so Comic-Con is the perfect place to advertise and show off their work. Here’s another one from the folks at the Cinema Makeup School. This artist’s inspiration was a bird rather than a spider, but the results are no less impressive.

Event: San Diego Comic-Con

Date: 2014

Just fantastic. One of Venom’s visual trademarks is his snaking, symbiote tongue, and this costume makes his mouth look absolutely disgusting. A little polish and some CGI, and this version of Venom could compete with the one in the Spider-Man 3 film. That says a lot about this costume, and says very little about that disaster of a film. Venom wouldn’t have been a letdown if he looked like this.

Event: San Diego Comic-Con

Date: 2009

The most difficult factor to overcome when portraying the Incredible Hulk is his immense size. Back in the old days, whenever writers wanted to use the Hulk, they’d use a strong man or body builder to make him look as large as possible. Nowadays, the Hulk is a CGI creation. But this cosplayer, with a little bit of ingenuity, gave us the real life Hulk that we always wanted.

Event: San Diego Comic-Con

Date: 2013

All right, one more from the Cinema Makeup School and we’re done—we definitely saved the best one for last. This looks like a fantasy creature from a Guillermo del Toro film—the horns look seamlessly attached to the forehead, and the facial prosthetics do a great job of reshaping the performer’s head. Costuming is a delicate thing—too much, and it covers up the identity of the cosplayer. Too little, and it’s not a convincing illusion. This one manages to pull it off.

Event: Big Apple Comic Con

Date: 2015

This does so many things properly. It combines the best versions of Scarecrow from his different iterations, and tops it off with a demented looking jaw line. The form fitting burlap sack gives this particular costume an expressiveness that many “bag-on-the-head Scarecrows” seem to lack.

And that syringe hand, presumably filled with fear chemicals, is a perfect touch. In short, this cosplay is the stuff of our nightmares. And to a scarecrow, we can’t think of a better compliment.