The Artist Behind Batman Costumes Made the SpaceX Astronaut Suits

The NASA astronauts aboard SpaceX's Crew Dragon ventured into space in suits custom-made by the same artist who helped suit up and armor many big screen superheroes, from Batman and Wonder Woman to Captain America and Wolverine. Ironhead Studio's Jose Fernandez created the very cool and elegant flight suits worn by the SpaceX astronauts, which you can check out below:

Tomorrow, @NASA astronauts @AstroBehnken and @Astro_Doug will fly from their home base at @NASA_Johnson to @NASAKennedy aboard an agency Gulfstream aircraft.

Tune in to NASA TV at 4 p.m. ET on May 20 for the crew arrival news conference: https://t.co/w152mMNVra pic.twitter.com/bsxWTHFIHE — NASA Commercial Crew (@Commercial_Crew) May 19, 2020

Fernandez applied what he learned creating form-fitting but flexible garb on superhero movies to the Daft Punk-esque SpaceX suits. (The Daft Punk resemblance is no accident, as Forbes points out, since Fernandez has made some of the musicians' signature helmets.) Fernandez credits SpaceX founder Elon Musk with the visual formality of the flight suits. "He (Musk) kept saying, 'Anyone looks better in a tux, no matter what size or shape they are,' and when people put this space suit on, he wants them to look better than they did without it, like a tux. You look heroic in it," Fernandez explained to Forbes. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=batman-ranking-the-movie-batsuits&captions=true"] But the SpaceX flight suits weren't just designed for style but for function and safety. As an expert in joinery, Fernandez was able to build suits made of different materials which have to meet up perfectly and also be air proof. Fernandez was also able to address an issue that's dogged NASA since the era of the Apollo missions: astronauts not being able to move their heads thanks to their bolted-on helmets and thus having an obstructed field of vision. As the artist who sculpted the cowl that allowed Ben Affleck's Caped Crusader to turn his head in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Fernandez's helmets have an articulated neck piece among other features that make these flight suits lighter and allow better vision for the astronauts. In the tweet seen below, NASA astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley praise the suits for their comfortability and ease in getting in and out of in a zero gravity environment:

"Bob and I have had a ton of time in those suits. I bet you we've donned and doffed those suits a couple hundred times." @Astro_Doug discusses the custom-fit @SpaceX suits they wore as he and @AstroBehnken launched into space: pic.twitter.com/mtyDAWGFI4

— NASA (@NASA) June 1, 2020

In addition to Batfleck's cowl, Fernandez's Ironhead Studio also created that film's Bat-mech suit. He previously worked on Batman Returns, Batman Forever, and Batman & Robin. Fernandez also worked on Wonder Woman's armor in BvS. Fernandez has also lent his skills to plenty of Marvel movies, sculpting the helmets for Captain America, Thor, Loki, and Magneto. Ironhead also built the Black Panther helmet from Captain America: Civil War. Fernandez also designed and sculpted the makeup, helmet, and armor for Thanos in Marvel's The Avengers, and worked on The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Abe Sapien in Hellboy, and The Thing in the original Fantastic Four movies. He also designed and constructed the specialty costumes in X2: X-Men United, including Hugh Jackman's Wolverine. You can view Fernandez and Ironhead's many comic book movie designs on Instagram. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/designing-the-perfect-batsuit"]

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