Let’s face it - superhero costumes are cool, especially the highly realistic ones built from a Hollywood budget. The cosplays you see at Comic-con are a maybe and the cheap ones you see out during Halloween - not so much. But even cooler than the costumes are the powers, abilities, and enhancements that inspire the outfits, especially when the outfits themselves are inspired by some of the very creatures that walk our planet.
Not every superhero, or villain, is inspired by an animal or an insect; in fact, many few are, especially in the Marvel Cinematic Universe As it turns out, there are exactly 10 heroes and villains (not including TV shows) whose powers and outfits are based on animals or insects in the MCU, and here’s our ranked list of them.
Yellowjacket
Should’ve called himself the ‘bumblebee’ because he got about one good sting in before he died. Seriously, for a guy wielding four, laser-blasting arms this Pym-parody had the aim of a storm-trooper. We know the person he was shooting at was a tiny target, but he was also tiny so it evens out.
Darren Cross is probably still shrinking through the quantum realm (5 years is about as long as an eternity, right?) because there’s no way he had the mental capacity that Janet van Dyne did to survive down there. Bonus stupid points for naming himself after an insect that can fly and not being able to himself.
Hawkeye
Just go with it. While not entirely based on an animal, Hawkeye’s low placement on our list shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise because not only does nothing on his outfit really resemble a hawk (not even an emblem or a feather) but he also doesn’t have any true superpowers, arguably just being the MCU’s version of an elf.
Give the guy some pointed ears and a long blonde wig and you’ve got Legolas. Why wasn’t Orlando Bloom cast to play him? Either way, it’s nothing personal, Hawk-eye, we really do appreciate those 11 Chitauri you took down in New York. Even more bonus points if you caught the SNL reference.
Falcon
He’s not Captain America yet (check Disney+ in 2020) and before he officially takes up the shield, we’re gonna judge him on those wings. While the Samwise to Cap’s Frodo may have appeared in 6 MCU films, and 4 out of the 6 they released from 2014-2016, his outfit really hasn’t changed much, other than that chin-strap beard he grew.
But ultimately the high-flyer’s low ranking on this list is simply because the wings didn’t do much besides give Sam the ability to fly. They seemed to have a few more abilities during Civil War, but that was also the only movie they were a true CGI mess. Either way, this outfit needed a true Stark remodel.
Vulture
Not much different than Falcon, which is why they’re so close together on this list. The only real difference between the two is that Falcon has a pair of wings while Vulture has an entire exo-suit, which grants him a bit more strength than the average human.
Other than that, the two are more or less the same as Toomes never quite uses the suit’s strength to its full potential, mostly just using it to fly from hijack to hijack as an advanced recon-weapon. All that aside, Michael Keaton did a great job portraying the villain and we hope to see him again in the MCU.
Ant-Man
Ant-Man doesn’t deserve a lot of the flak that his character gets, especially now that Pym Particles are needed to time-travel. The actual science may be iffy (just throw a quantum in front of it) but nevertheless, the idea behind Ant-Man’s powers and abilities are solid when they explain it the way they do in the movies - a human being’s mass shifted into something the size of an ant would leave quite a mark on whatever it was hitting.
The only issue with this particular hero (and they solve it with the next one) is that he can’t fly without the ability of a flying ant to help him. If there happen to not be any around, what then? Guess Ant-Man’s hoofing it.
The Wasp
You gave her blasters? And wings?! As we stated, the wings were really the only true improvement the Ant-Man get-up needed and just for good measure, Dr. Pym decided to throw in a deadly arsenal as well. While Hope van Dyne takes to her outfit and abilities with ease, it’s not hard to see why as The Wasp has one of the most enhanced and useful superhero suits available in the MCU.
Despite the fact that Ant-Man and The Wasp was essentially just Ant-Man 2.0, we saw all we needed to see in terms of this superhero’s capabilities, and we hope we see more.
Golden Jaguar (Killmonger)
He may never be explicitly mentioned as ‘Golden Jaguar’ in the movie, but if you Google it, his picture comes up so that’s conclusive enough for us. The breakout hit that was Black Panther gave the world not only more of the clawed-caper they fell in love with during Civil War but also gave the MCU one of it’s best villains to date in Killmonger.
While the ‘Black Panther’ might be Wakanda’s national animal and the symbol for their entire nation, there’s no denying that Michael B. Jordan rocked the black-and-gold vibranium suit that earned him the true title of Golden Jaguar. Anybody seen a Bronze Leopard running around?
Black Widow
She doesn’t shoot webs, climb walls, or leap from tall buildings, but she could kick your butt in hand-to-hand combat and give you a nice “widow’s bite” to go along with it. The less-famous MCU member based on an arachnid (and we don’t mean Scorpion), Black Widow is still highly renowned and more popular than she ever was with her tragic death in Endgame and her upcoming solo film.
Her outfit might not resemble any sort of spider reference either, but just the fact that Black Widow has played such a pivotal part in the MCU thus far grants her the number three spot on our list. Just like Budapest.
Black Panther
As already stated, Black Panther became a worldwide phenomenon last year when it introduced the world to Wakanda and it’s valuable vibranium resources. The character himself may have been introduced two years earlier during Civil War, but this was the first time we got to see the full capabilities of not just his suit and powers, but also the enhanced abilities of the vibranium that the country has such an abundant source of.
With improvements made by Shuri to the suit, and the super-human strength rivaling Captain America’s, Black Panther gets a ranking almost as valuable as his armor.
Spider-Man
We’re gonna enjoy him while he lasts. The ultimate, fan-favorite of the MCU who, unfortunately, isn’t bound to stick around much longer, was always going to be the number one choice. When you think of superheroes based on animals or insects, the first options that jump to mind are Batman and Spider-Man, and we haven’t quite made it to an MCU vs. DCEU crossover event yet. Spider-Man is another character like Black Panther that was introduced to the world in Civil War and then got his own stand-alone film (make that 2).
Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield both did their best playing the web-slinger from Queens, but Tom Holland has made himself at home in the character and Marvel fans everywhere will be devastated when Sony snatches him back up.
