Each costume spends a significant amount of time submerged underwater and therefore needed to withstand this treatment. 

We tested these costumes in a swimming pool to see how they behaved underwater. Using our crew as models, our Media Production team filmed them as they walked and swam. This footage was used to evaluate how the costumes would move within underwater sets. Namor’s costume needed some ingenuity. Art director Lans Hansen took the lead on this wonderful project and is an experienced diver, which made him perfect for this. 

“Most of the pieces around the wrists, arms and torso stayed on really well,” says Lans. “But the collar was a real challenge because it doesn’t have straps to hold it down. To solve this, we used coin-sized magnets, concealed underneath the collar and held to the skin with a waterproof-adhesive film. This worked well underwater and allowed the collar-piece to be ‘clipped’ on and off quickly.” 

A defining feature of Namor’s costumes is "Talokan Jade", a clear and precious stone streaked with vibranium (unique to the Marvel Cinematic Universe). The challenge was to create a fictional material that would look authentic. Our crew achieved the "Talokan vibranium" look by layering clear resins with opalescent mylar flakes. This simulated the depth and random beauty of real precious stones, but in a flexible, stunt-friendly material. 

Four out of the seven costumes have head pieces. When designing and building costumes, the actors’ comfort and range of movement are key. For large headdress such as Attuma’s hammerhead shark-inspired design, we utilised light-weight foams and paint techniques to achieve the bone-like material, and glossy obsidian blades. These were mounted to a skin-tight fiberglass shell to spread the weight over the actor’s head. For scenes with action, where the size of the full headdress was impractical, we created lightweight, cut-down versions as a base for the film’s VFX team to add sections in digitally. 

The Wētā Workshop crew combined traditional hand-carving with digital techniques on this project. M’Baku’s costume is a great example of this. While it is possible to ‘fake’ wood grain, we have found best results come from utilising real timber, which comes with the natural irregularities and imperfections which make it believable. 

M’Baku’s costume required several very large blocks of wood. Pati AhSue, our senior prop maker, travelled out to a timber recycling yard as he’d been tipped off that there were some blocks from an old pier available. Pati inspected each block of the recycled timber, looking for something that had a fine grain to it. He chose one that had natural cracks to give the costume an authentic and aged aesthetic. This would make it look lived in, and as though it had survived previous battles. 

Once back in the workshop, Nate Castro, our CNC technician, used a CNC machine to carve the blocks down to the approximate size and shape of the armour pieces. Once removed from the machine, they went back to Pati for their final hand-carving and detailing. 

Ruth Carter was recognised by the Critics’ Choice Movie Awards when she won Best Costume Design for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. She has also been nominated for an Academy Award in Costume Design and a Costume Designers’ Guild Award in the Sci-Fi/Fantasy Film category.