HE’S no superhero and his name is probably not known by billions of fans who line up to see, dissect and judge his work.

But Michael Wilkinson can be unmasked as one of the most sought-after costume designers in the world who next month will be critically scrutinised globally for his next generation reinvention of the iconic Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman.

It’s a daunting prospect and responsibility for a boy from Chatswood who first faced the cringed critics when he pushed out alligators on rollerskates and giant prawns on bicycles and dressed Kylie and Elle and 150 drag queens at the Sydney 2000 Olympics closing ceremony.

But he’s so far taking it all in his stride.

“Yes I’ve been busy since then,” the 47-year-old told News Corp Australia wryly, of his career which for 20 years has had him behind the scenes for some of the biggest flicks Hollywood has churned out.

Wilkinson, a 1993 NIDA graduate, said his career took off when he met American filmmaker Zach Snyder and the pair embarked on a series of movies including 300, Sucker Punch and Watchmen before taking on DC’s catalogue of superhero films including Man of Steel, Batman v Superman and now Justice League, to be released in November and featuring all three superheroes as well as Aquaman, Flash and Cyborg.

He said he knows what’s at stake in his duty to reinvent the iconic superheroes including replacing Superman’s trademark undies and giving Batman a ripped frame.

“I feel super proud and of course very thrilled,” he said.

“I think it’s something I try and put all the pressure in the back of my mind and just open my creativity and just read the script, listen to Zach and just try and do the costumes that make the most sense for his amazing cinematic universe that he is building.

“Definitely the biggest film I have ever worked on, and I’ve been on this film now for more than one year but it’s such a pleasure to be able to go into so much detail about these characters who surely warrant lots of attention on every last square inch of them so I have been able to pour a lot of love and respect into these guys from their neck lines right down into their souls of their shoes.

“But yes, I’m just a boy from Chatswood, who’s travelled the world, but I can’t imagine being anywhere else but right here right now.”

Wilkinson has also worked on other films including American Hustle, for which his costume designs were nominated for an Academy Award, Joy, Babel, Noah, Tron: Legacy and early in his career Moulin Rouge and Romeo + Juliet.

But it’s the superheroes that have made him in demand; not bad for someone who can’t remember ever reading a comic book.

“I was more like a theatre nerd, opera guy, but I think there is perhaps a correlation between designing the gods of Wagner’s Ring Cycle and the gods of comic book universe, a connection in there somewhere,” he laughed.

But he is never far from his Sydney Olympics origins.

“When we did research for Flash we definitely looked at speed suits, Olympic athletes, what people were wearing when they needed to move super-fast, the fastest people of Earth what they were wearing as well as looking into materials that would withstand electricity, withstand high heats, so we did all sorts of eclectic research.”