Saving the world doesn’t necessitate flashing some boob, but costume designers tend to add at least one female character in superhero movies who does! Elizabeth Olsen, 29, just spoke out about how her Scarlet Witch costume hasn’t “evolved that much” since her first appearance in Avengers: Age of Ultron, in terms of being low-cut. “It’s funny because sometimes I look around and I’m just like — wow, I’m the only one who has cleavage, and that’s a constant joke,” she told Elle. Her Marvel cohorts, Like Scarlett Johansson (Black Widow) and Zoe Saldana (Gamora), do wear costumes that show cleavage, as well.
But Elizabeth’s right; her costume hasn’t changed all that much over the course of the Avengers series, and it is lower cut! Outside the Avengers and Guardians of the Galaxy franchises, there are plenty of other female superheroes who have gotten the same treatment. Halle Berry‘s infamous Catwoman costume comes to mind. That thing was insane! Rather than, you know, a catsuit, the movie’s take on Selina Kylie was a pair of leather pants ripped to shreds (she’s a cat, get it?), what could arguably count as a belt, and a leather bra top.
In all fairness, most superhero costumes are based on what’s in the comics, their source material. Looking at Scarlet Witch or Black Widow’s costumes in Marvel’s pages, there’s a lot of cleavage involved — even more than Elizabeth’s Avengers costume. But that’s not to say it’s necessary. Costume designers take a lot of liberties in translating costumes from page to screen; it would be easy to tweak it enough to cover the actress up completely. The X-Men movies, for example.
In the comics, the X-Men wear uniforms — goofy (but awesome) yellow catsuits with their X logo. In the movies, it’s all badass and grungy clothes. The filmmakers had a different vision and went with it. In the comics, Mystique wears clothes, but in the movies, the women who portray her, Rebecca Romijn and Jennifer Lawrence (the younger version), go naked. Side note: they’re not actually naked, they’re wearing bodysuits and covered in blue paint.
For pics of female superheroes whose costumes show cleavage for some reason, scroll through our gallery above! You’d be surprised by how many there actually are!