Carbon Costume

Wildcat is a superhero title that has belonged to several people. The first of those was Ted Grant, a renowned heavy weight boxer that took up the Wildcat mantle to clear his name after getting involved with the wrong people.

Wildcat’s costume is fairly simple so there are a few ways it can be done. The simplest is a black body suit and fingerless gloves paired with a cat mask. Wearing martial arts slippers with the body suit – either inside the suit of it goes over your feet or outside of it for suits that end at the ankle – should protect your feet and give you the Wildcat look.

If the mask doesn’t look quite right you can go with face paint to mimic the look of his mask.

Wesley Dodds is the real name of DC superhero Sandman.  Originally introduced in 1939, Dodds uses a gun that administers a powerful sleeping gas to subdue criminals.  He then sprinkles them with sand and leaves them for the police.  In his original (and most iconic) iteration, Dodds wore a green business suit, brown fedora, and purple cape.  Sandman’s look has been updated on several occasions, including a version with a more menacing-looking gas mask and a yellow suit from the mid-eighties until the early 2010s.  No matter which version of Dodds you choose to recreate, you’ll need a brown fedora and a futuristic-looking gun with a wide, round barrel to help you put crime to sleep.

On the TV show Titans, Conner (played by Joshua Orpin) is a Kryptonian/human hybrid who is also known as Subject 13 and Superboy.  Superboy’s powers include solar energy absorption, much like Superman, which allows him to heal himself, as well as exhibit superhuman speed, stamina, hearing, and strength.  Superboy’s costume is very simple to recreate, and includes a black t-shirt with the red Superman insignia, blue cargo pants, and black tactical boots.

Valkyrie is a character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Played by Tessa Thompson, she first appears in Thor: Ragnarok. Her actual name is Brunnhilde, though she goes by Valkyrie because she was part of a group of Asgardian warriors called the Valkyries. Before selling Thor to the Grandmaster, she was a bounty hunter on the planet Skaar named Scrapper 142. She befriends Thor and Bruce Banner, ultimately joining the Revengers to defeat Hela. In Avengers: Endgame, Valkyrie survived the snap and helped relocate the Asgardians. Later on she led the Asgardians in the battle against Thanos. Thor then appointed her as the new leader and king of Asgard. To achieve her look from Thor: Ragnarok, style your hair into a half updo top knot. With the NYX White Eyeliner, draw the lines around her eyes, and use this close up picture for reference.

Hera is the Greek goddess of marriage. Because she is married to Zeus, she reigns alongside him as Queen of the Gods. She is also the mother of Ares and Hebe. In Lore Olympus, she has golden hair and skin. She wears 20s inspired outfits in white and dark blue. While empathetic and nurturing, Hera has quite the temper, especially concerning her husband’s infidelity. She is especially caring towards Persephone and can sense her trauma. Aside from those she cares about, she is often stubborn and unrelenting. Her abilities include blessing or fixing marriages, shapeshifting, and clairvoyance.

Sebastian Shaw has been one of the X-Men’s biggest foes since his introduction to the franchise in January of 1980. He is a mutant capable of absorbing many different kinds of energy. But his status as a mutant hardly puts him on the same side as Wolverine, Charles Xavier, and the others. As a member of the Hellfire club he is determined to take over the world, even going to far as to fund the Sentinel program so that it will hunt down mutants that defy him. And while Kevin Bacon put his own spin on the character in the most recent run of X-Men movies, the Earth-616 comic book version is by far the most iconic.

Shaw often goes by the moniker of Black King and his costume is fittingly grandiose. He wears a coat with tails and a waist coat with an ascot. The colors vary from costume to costume but the elements stay the same. Shaw also wears knee breeches, tall socks, and shoes with buckles on them. A more modern twist is a tailored suit with an ascot but the comic version usually maintains this mid-century look.

Shado is a controversial figure in the DC comics. In some iterations she is the mother of Oliver’s half-sister. In others she’s is the mother of Oliver’s son. Oliver was delirious when he and Shado slept together though Shado claimed not to know this at the time. It’s a long-standing point of tension on her character. In the CW show Arrow she is a straight-forward love interest at one point, which is only one of the many changes the show made to the character.

Cosplaying as Shado requires a few specific pieces. The most important is a bow with a quiver of arrows as Shado is a master archer. You will also need a black off-the-shoulder shirt and white wid-legged pants. Shado’s shirt has a long black panel in the front that extends past a belt but finding this exact style is difficult. A black scarf can be used to emulate the look while a white scarf can serve as she belt. Black martial arts shoes round out the look.

Shado also has a red dragon tattoo on her left arm which you can recreate with face paints. She is often seen with her hair in a long braid down her back but her style does vary from time to time so the braid is not a hard and fast costume piece though one is linked above.

Cosplaying as the comic book version of Shado is fairly straight-forward.

Most people know him as Sandman but this immortal being’s name is actually Dream. Brother to death and bane of Satan’s existence, he is one of many immortals that drift in and out of the world of humans. Like his siblings, Dream’s appearance changes depending on the era and where in the world he finds himself. This gives cosplayers a lot of options, though there are a few things that remain constant no matter when or where Dream finds himself.

Dream’s clothes are always in shades of black and white. And, more often than not, his black hair is in wild disarray. When he’s not around humans he favors a pair of black pants, black boots, and a long flowing sweater or robe left open over his bare chest.

Even when Dream dresses to suit a particular time period he’s not always accurate. When you’re timeless, the fine details of mortal fashion probably don’t matter all that much. In the case of the Victorian era – or in many modern subcultures – the printed coat and pants paired with a white ruffled shirt and black boots is classic Dream.

Whichever look you choose, you’ll need a black wig styled in a bit of a fly-away style and a contour kit to mimic Dream’s shadowed and sharp look.