1. Nomad
Captain America may have been appalled by his future partner's fashion-sense, but the costuming decision he'd make for his own self just a few years later would disqualify him from ever criticizing another hero again. Captain America's government-issued uniform may be garish, but it is nothing if not iconic, which makes the costume Cap chose of his own free will that much more hideous by comparison. Thanks to author Steve Englehart, Captain America was one of Marvel's most intriguing characters in the early 1970s. With America mired in the Watergate scandal, Englehart's Captain America came to doubt the integrity of the country he represented, and after being shaken to the core by witnessing the suicide of the leader of the Secret Empire inside the White House (and it was strongly implied this villain was
Richard Nixon!), Cap gave up the costume he'd worn since World War II to become Nomad the hero without a country!
There's no way Cap gets a pass on this one. He even designed this outfit himself, right down to selecting the cape that almost got him killed in his inaugural outing! Cap's Nomad outfit really was the perfect storm of 1970s awful oversized yellow gauntlets and boots; a yellow liner in that encumbering cape; and of course the signature plunging v-neck! Fortunately, Cap would eventually come to his senses and return to his familiar red, white, and blues before permanently tarnishing his image! (Dis)honorable Mentions: Sub-Mariner: His black & yellow "pimp suit" would put him atop the list, but it wasn't properly a v-neck, having a wider gap at the belt-line than at the neck. The Fantastic Four's Reed Richards supposedly gave Subby this unfortunate costume to help treat a melodramatic medical condition, but likely he was just getting revenge on Namor for putting the moves on his wife, Susan Richards. Shanna The She-Devil: It's impossible to come down on Shanna too hard, because she looks great no matter what she wears, but her 1970s leopard-skin bathing suit outfit wasn't always easy on the eyes (and it is a stretch to consider it a v-neck, in any case). Frank Cho has more recently clad Shanna in a classic leather bikini, to startling effect! Firelord: Seemingly colored by a kid down to only the red, yellow, and orange colors in his box of crayons, and armed with a giant-sized, burning Q-Tip for a weapon, Firelord should be a shoe-in for this list. But being a Herald of Galactus forgives many sins ... and when your boss is a giant who wears purple cargo shorts, people tend not to notice your fashion choices! Brother Voodoo: Brother Voodoo's threads are not so far afield from Luke Cage's, and he even rocks some of the green-and-yellow look that led Iron Fist and Mantis to ruin, but Voodoo's look seems just a bit better suited to his Caribbean adventures than did Luke's to the streets of Harlem. Besides, Brother Voodoo overcame his humble sartorial origins to replace Doctor Strange as Earth's Sorcerer Supreme, which earned him a lifetime fashion exemption! What are
your favorite 1970s Marvel Comics fashion disasters? Are there any costumes here that you think have been unfairly maligned? Sound off in the comments, below!