Other than the trademark red underwear being removed, Superman's costume in 'Man of Steel' was remarkably close to the classic design. Blue suit, red cape, red "S" on yellow shield and so on. However, some newly released concept art for the film reveals that this traditional approach was only one of many options explored by director Zack Snyder and his army of designers. Can you imagine a black and white Superman costume? How about one with no cape?

Blockbuster movies tend to take a kitchen sink approach to design when they're being developed. In the early stages, nothing is off limits. Designers and artists crank out hundreds, maybe even thousands, of varying designs and concepts, just so the producers and director can look at every available option and see what works. That means you occasionally get to see some absolutely insane takes on iconic imagery. Some of the concept art below will feel borderline blasphemous for Superman fans, but the fact that is exists in the first place helps us get an idea of how they arrived at the final look. By seeing some of the, uh, more different looks, they must have realized that simpler is better.

Some of the art looks like it was designed late in the process since it looks like the finished product and Henry Cavill's likeness is used, but others look like they were thrown away very, very early. We've included some of favorites below, but head over here to check out a full gallery (which includes designs for the various other Kryptonian characters as well).

'Man of Steel' is currently in theaters. Do any of the designs below look better than the final costume? More importantly, are there any that make you thank the comic book movie gods that it never went forward?

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