2016 has been a massive year for genre fare in cinemas and on the small screen, from superhero TV shows and movies and a new Star Trek movie on its 50th anniversary, to the long-awaited return of Star Wars and even the first Star Wars spinoff.

From Deadpool and Batman V Superman to Captain America: Civil War, Suicide Squad, Supergirl and The Flash, there are more iconic characters getting adapted faithfully into live-action than ever before, and that means the best (and the most!) costumes we’ve seen yet! If you’re still on the hunt for a great Halloween costume for 2016, or building out your future cosplay plans, we’ve put together a guide featuring several dozen of the most popular Halloween costumes of the year.

Without further ado here are the Best Halloween Costumes of 2016, a guide featuring ideas and links to everything you need to have the best costume at your Halloween event.

Deadpool

Deadpool started the year by taking the movie world by storm. It set records as an R-rated movie, as a February release, and it did so while being banned in China and without tacking on a 3D premium. It’s the most successful X-Men movie yet thanks to star and producer Ryan Reynolds who spearheaded the project into existence so we expect the popular convention cosplay costume to easily become a top Halloween 2016 outfit as well.

Here’s a great Deadpool costume guide from Warrior Jackets along with some links to key items if you want to put together a higher-end Halloween costume:

You’ll also want to look into tactical holsters and combat boots (links to some later in this guide):

The quick and cheap option:

Harley Quinn

Arguably the most popular comic book character of the year? The fan-fave Harley Quinn, one of the most common costumes to see at conventions and a top selling book seller, is a scene-stealer thanks to the help of Margot Robbie who may get to lead her own spinoff movie. Quinn might just end up being the most popular Halloween costume of everything on this list and thankfully, there are countless resources online to help acquire and build out her DCEU debut outfit.

Accessories:

And more:

Katana

Katana got her big screen debut in Suicide Squad after also appearing on the small screen in Arrow not long prior. For DC Comics fans working on a group theme this year for Halloween or simply want a badass cosplay outfit, Katana is a must. To put this outfit together, the mask is key.

Now you just need a toy sword!

The Joker

Heath Ledger’s take on The Joker for The Dark Knight quickly became one of the most popular cosplay costumes to see at conventions, and now there’s a new live-action version for fans to strive for. Jared Leto’s Joker, introduced in Suicide Squad, there are lots of different costumes to choose from for the iconic Batman villain but the bleached skin, green hair, and temporary tattoos are a must. We’ll focus on the main costume with the purple long coat.

Batman

Batman’s back thanks to this year’s controversial Man of Steel followup, but no matter the love-hate reception of Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice, everyone can agree that this new Batman is pretty awesome. And that’s why over a year before Batman returns again for Justice League, there’s already buzz building for Ben Affleck’s followup solo movie which is is writing and directing. In BvS we met this new, bulkier take on the character and saw him suit up in full-on armor so these were musts for our Halloween 2016 list:

Armored Batman

Superman

  • Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice - Mens Grand Heritage Superman Costume from BuyCostumes.com
  • Deluxe Adult BvS Superman Costume from HalloweenCostumes.com

Stay tuned next year for the Supergirl version of Superman (played by Tyler Hoechlin).

Captain America

Captain America’s present day costumes (the slightly goofy Avengers 1 one aside) have remained rather consistent in design. There’s not much difference between Chris Evans’ Avengers: Age of Ultron field outfit to 2016’s Civil War one for instance. We’re focusing on that latest variant here, although we’ll include a few links to other MCU ones as well. Fans can of course dig through countless classic and comic book inspired designs and get crafty and try to build the latest new outfit from the comics (where Rogers secretly works for Hydra!)

Accessories

Hawkeye

Jeremy Renner’s Clint Barton a.k.a. Hawkeye has had a different field outfit for each film, and despite not having any super powers of his own, has stepped into many superhero roles in Marvel Comics. His latest attire from Captain America: Civil War saw Barton add more purple to his costume with one full sleeve but since Civil War merchandise on the cosplay side hasn’t made the rounds yet in the high-end costume shops so for this guide we’re going to focus on an amazing Avengers: Age of Ultron outfit - a movie costume design inspired by the classic Hawkeye from Marvel Comics.

The entire set centers on this key component, Hawkeye’s long coat:

If you want to suit up Avengers 1 style with the vest, there’s this:

And to really make this work for Halloween or cosplay, it’s all in the details

Scarlet Witch

Potentially the most powerful individual in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Wanda Maximoff a.k.a. Scarlet Witch is trying her best at keeping her abilities in check while serving as a member of The Avengers. That is, until Captain America: Civil War saw her and Team Cap fall out of favor with the government.

When it comes to her style, Scarlet Witch wears clothing that’s a little more real-life inspired than superhero, and its certainly a more grounded departure to the revealing attire she rocks in Marvel Comics. In her Age of Ultron introduction (pictured above), she kept the red theme to go with the red-colored telekinetic energies. Much of her costume is comprised of easy-to-fin real-life items so long as you have the key unique piece in her red jacket:

Add a bunch of jewelry including rings, necklaces, and bracelets to detail it on top of these key ideas from Carbon Costume:

Green Arrow

Launching its fifth season on The CW this week, Stephen Amell’s Arrow is the spearhead of the CW DC TV universe, and his costume gets tweaks and upgrades each new season. Thankfully, due to the popularity of the character in the books and on TV, there’s a lot of variety in high-end custom products available for cosplayers.

The Flash

The Flash season 3 kicks off with Flashpoint this week on The CW, and will soon be joined by fellow DC Comics series Arrow, Supergirl and Legends of Tomorrow. As a clear fan favorite amongst the group, there are finally some cool replica costumes available for fans looking to suit up for Halloween and/or cosplay as the Scarlet Speedster.

Young Barry Allen’s life stopped the minute his mother was murdered. The true killer never found, its mystery obsessed Barry, driving him to become a forensic scientist. Consumed by his work, he spent his life chained to his desk, solving every case that flew across it. But when a freak lightning bolt hits a nearby shelf in his lab, Barry receives super-speed, becoming the Flash. Now, he’ll race up buildings, across oceans, and around the world to get his man—while getting introduced to a world so much bigger than his old life of microscopes and cold cases.

Able to run at near light-speeds, his powers provide the ultimate caffeine kick: He can run up buildings, move so swiftly he phases through objects, create sonic booms with the snap of his fingers—and never need to order delivery. Despite his speed, Barry can become so obsessed with crime-solving he can still lose track of everything else around him, leaving the fastest man alive constantly running a minute behind.

And as a villainous bonus:

Supergirl

Timed perfectly for Halloween, Supergirl returns to TV for its second season after movie from CBS to The CW where it joins fellow DC Comics superheroes, the Green Arrow, The Flash, and the Legends of Tomorrow for four-nights-of-the-week action beginning this week. The mega powerful Kryptonian hero known as Kara Danvers (Melissa Benoist) is an easy pick for our list.

 Kylo Ren

The young and wild Kylo Ren has a thankfully much easier costume to piece together for designers than Darth Vader since its more fabric over tech, so crafty costumers can do a lot of the main section, hood and sash if they’re making instead of buying. To get the right helmet and lightsaber though, we can help.

Complete set available in the UK:

The totally casual option:

Rey

Very intentionally we all believe, Rey’s costume is inspired by the similar designs of Luke Skywalker and Anakin, both of course also grew up under unique circumstances with parental issues wearing similarly styled and colored garb. The bulk of Rey’s costume can easily be made for crafty people if you purchase the right fabrics and find the right looking belts, but there are lots of online options too:

Finn

When we first meet Finn he’s a Stormtrooper (more on that costume later) for but the rest of his journey in Star Wars: The Force Awakens his costume is grounded and easy to piece together if you have one key piece: his cool jacket he gets from Poe Dameron. You’re just in luck!

Stormtrooper

If you absolutely love Star Wars, dressing up for Halloween, and cosplay, you can’t go wrong with a legit Stormtrooper outfit. And while you’re at it, join the 501st legion - one of the coolest fan-driven organizations ever conceived (check out their costuming guides too!). There are plenty of cheap options, but if you want to actually look the part, it’s going to cost you.

Stormtroopers are elite shock troops fanatically loyal to the Empire and impossible to sway from the Imperial cause. They wear imposing white armor, which offers a wide range of survival equipment and temperature controls to allow the soldiers to survive in almost any environment. Stormtroopers wield blaster rifles and pistols with great skill, and attack in hordes to overwhelm their enemies. Along with standard stormtroopers, the Empire has organized several specialized units, including snowtroopers and scout troopers.

Definitely check out Stormtrooper-Costumes.com and OriginalStormtrooper.com for more and to seach other accessories (like holsters and the E-11 blaster).

Death Trooper

Star Wars: The Force Awakens brought the iconic Stormtroopers back to the big screen with updated designs, tweaked helmets and blasters, etc. but Rogue One brings fans back to the area of the classics. But to add some variety (and to keep Disney’s Consumer Products division happy) there are a few new types of Imperial infantry appearing in theaters this December, the most notable of which is the intimidating Death Troopers.

Big focus of Rogue Friday and the licensing campaign for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

Captain Kirk

For much of Star Trek Beyond, the crew of the USS Enterprise were stranded on a dangerous planet and out of regular uniform, so the crew got to wear stylish new duds. We love the new field jackets with the yellow office designs that Captain Kirk and others got to wear this time around and while Anovos has an amazing premium replica in the works for early 2017, there’s an alternative for those looking to boldly celebrate this Halloween.

Anyone looking for a long-term cosplay/premium/collectors item, Anovos is putting together this masterpiece jacket that’s currently available for pre-order.

Luke Skywalker

Luke Skywalker is back! At least, he’s about to be next year when the untitled Star Wars: Episode VIII finally releases since he only had a few seconds of screen time and no dialogue (and no licensed merchandise) in The Force Awakens. But, with Rogue One bringing fans back to the era of young teen Luke anxious to leave the planet Tattooine and fight the Galactic Empire, there’s a neat old school option we’re going to share here:

Of course, there’s always his original Tatooine outfit, his Rebel Pilot jumpsuit, his Empire Strikes Back getup (you can get that here from Angel Jackets), his Return of the Jedi black robes, as well, but we love this one.

Han Solo

Just because Harrison Ford’s old Han Solo is out of the picture after the events of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, the character will always live on. In fact, Solo’s getting his own origin spinoff movie of sorts with Alden Ehrenreich set to play the new take on the character which means we aren’t done yet with the rugged smuggler’s cool duds.

Flipping back and forth between vests and jackets, Han Solo’s got a fan-fave style and with Rogue One bringing us back to the era of the original trilogy and the heroic character bidding us farewell, the Millennium Falcon captain is a must for this list.

Cheap, fast option:

DL-44 Blaster:

Neither of those options are as detailed or accurate as some older Han Solo toy guns so be sure to check out eBay and other options for custom accessories or costume pieces on this one. There are a lot of options.

Planning long-term? Look out for the officially licensed, premium Empire Strikes Back “Bespin” outfit from Anovos.