A welcome upgrade from the disastrous costume of the first Avengers film and the lackluster duds of “The Winter Soldier,” Cap’s look in “Avengers: Age of Ultron” is a solid step in the right direction. In many ways, it’s a deft fusion of those two designs. The patriotic color scheme has been restored, but it retains tactical details such as elbow patches, shoulder armor (filled with an Avengers “A” logo), and the advanced combat helmet. The horizontal stripes on his torso from the “Secret Avengers” era have been replaced with two triangular flourishes emanating from the sides of his star emblem. More red accents are present in this iteration, which stands out against the blue hue that dominates her costume. It effectively sits on the line between comic book iconography and the faux realism that the MCU markets.
As with other superhero franchises (except, say, “Aquaman”), Marvel Studios likes to try to “ground” their characters’ looks by occupying their costumes with unnecessary detail and/or waiting an excruciatingly long time to put on their heroes in costumes that faithfully reflect their look in the comics (see: “Wandavision” and the final scene of “Spider-man: No Way Home”). This particular Cap outfit was so effective that it would remain largely unchanged in the “Captain America: Civil War” sequel.
