Yellow Spandex Ep2: The Evolution of The Flash's Costume

For the inaugural episode of her new series, ‘Yellow Spandex,’ Kya Quinn critiques the costumes of every live-action incarnation of the Flash!From the swinging ‘70s to the DCEU, the Flash has a long history in live action, and not every incarnation does justice to one of the most classic superhero costumes of all time. Few superhero uniforms are as iconic as the Flash costume. From the classic cowl to the yellow lightning bursts, it shouldn’t be that difficult to make a live-action Flash costume. But for the Flash’s first live-action appearance in 1979’s ‘Legends of the Superheroes,’ it left something to be desired.The ‘90s were a big step forward in Flash costume evolution. For ‘The Flash,’ 1990 TV show, star John Wesley Ship stepped into one of the coolest live-action adaptations of a superhero costume ever. The Flash uniform in the 1990 Flash series was faithful to the comics and built like a brick sh*thouse, but the show didn’t last long. After the 1997 ‘Justice League of America’ pilot failed to impress, the Flash costume history continued with the unimpressive Bart Allen ‘Smallville’ incarnation.Soon there’d be a new series starring the Scarlet Speedster on the same network, ‘The Flash’ CW version. Part of the CW Arrowverse, the show starred a young Barry Allen in a cool new CW Flash costume. Fitting the low-key leathery look of the Arrowverse, the CW Flash costume had a great vibe going for it, which is why it’s a shame that it’s not going to be used for the DCEU Flash costume. The Justice League Flash costume is an armored-up interpretation of the classic speedster gear, so we’ll just have to wait and see what Ezra Miller / Barry Allen is protecting himself from.