Get started on your 2021 pop culture Halloween costume now with this list of costume ideas for you, your partner, and your group of friends.

If you waited way too long to start thinking about Halloween 2021, don’t worry! This list of last-minute pop culture Halloween costume ideas can help you put together an epic costume fast. Do you want to be topical and look amazing without spending weeks on your look? Then this is the list for you.

Related: 11 eerie book recommendations for your All Hallow’s Read gifting

Check out our list of 2021 pop culture Halloween costume ideas and get started on your favorite now!

Warning: This post contains spoilers for many movies and TV shows, so proceed cautiously.

2021 pop culture Halloween costume ideas

An old school Marvel character

WandaVision had one of the best Halloween episodes we’ve ever seen, and the best part was seeing the characters dressed up as their comic book equivalents. Their Scarlet Witch and Vision looked incredible, and since they’re essentially just basic pieces in solid colors, they’d be super easy to recreate. The same can be said for the Wiccan and Speed costumes that their kids were sporting.

Alternatively, your 2021 pop culture Halloween costume could be one of the variants from Loki, including his yellow and green counterpart, Sylvie, or even gator Loki if you have an alligator print shirt!

Use these guides to create headpieces for Scarlet Witch and Loki.

The latest Disney live-action remake

It seems like there are more Disney live-action remakes arriving every year, so this will always be a great Halloween costume option. Go with Emma Stone’s Cruella, Camila Cabello’s Cinderella, or just pick your favorite Disney character and go as their live-action remake! There are so many these days that people will probably believe you when you tell them the movie came out.

The ‘Justice League’ Snyder cut (couples costume)

One of you wearing a colorful Justice League shirt with the label “by Joss Whedon,” and the other one wearing a slighlty darker colored Justice League shirt with the label “by Zack Snyder.” Bonus points if the Snyder version is way longer.

Agent 007

Suit up and become either of the Agent 007s from James Bond: No Time to Die. Or you can do both as a couples costume!

A free Britney

Dress up in your favorite iconic Britney Spears look and wear broken shackles to celebrate the upcoming, long overdue emancipation of the woman who has given us so much.

The Ever Given

Grab some cardboard and outfit yourself as the Ever Given, the infamous ship that blocked the Suez Canal in March 2021. Spend the night wedging yourself into areas and obstructing the paths of others. This costume comes with a bonus in the age of COVID, as it’s a built-in social distancer!

‘Fearless (Taylor’s Version)’

To go as the re-released version of Taylor Swift’s beloved Fearless album, dress up as yourself from 13 years ago but add a gold shimmer to your skin.

‘The Green Knight’ ending

With your cloak and green girdle, become Gawain from the cliffhanger ending of The Green Knight. Did the knight cut off his head, or not? You can either choose, or go as both options by using make up and fake blood to make it look as though half of your head has been cut off. Let’s call it “nearly headless.” Bonus points if you have an axe sticking out of one side of your neck!

A contender to replace Alex Trebek as the host of ‘Jeopardy’

Grab a suit and some index cards to put yourself in the running for the next host of Jeopardy. You can spend all night deducting points from people if they don’t answer you in the form of a question.

A ‘White Woman’s Instagram’ (group costume)

Bo Burnham gave us a pretty good map to becoming a “white woman’s Instagram” in his Netflix special, Inside. Grab a group of friends and each pick one of the looks from the iconic video. Also, this goes without saying, but you need to Instagram it!

‘Barb and Star’ (couples costume)

The recipe for a perfect Barb or Star costume is one pair of culottes, a colorful floral shirt, and a sun hat. Mix them all together and you’re good to go. We just hope you have as much fun as these ladies did on their holiday!

A ‘Squid Game’ contestant

A Squid Game contestant would be the perfect 2021 pop culture Halloween costume since the show is currently super popular and the costume would actually be fairly easy to execute. All you need is a track suit and a black face covering, although this could be optional. However, if you do go with the face covering, you have a built in mask for the evening.

The great Facebook outage of 2021 (group costume)

Grab a couple friends and have them each put a buffering symbol on their shirt from one of the Facebook properties that crashed on October 4, 2021. You could also choose the social butterfly of the group to be a very active Twitter, doing just fine while the rest of you lag behind.

‘The Matrix Resurrections’ – zombie style

Go a different way (at least, as far as we know) with the “resurrection” theme by becoming a zombie version of your favorite character from The Matrix. Of course, you can really only pull this one off if you have a lot of excess vinyl, but luckily thrift stores are usually packed with this 90s staple.

While you’re putting your costume together, you can listen to our Matrix episode of ReWatchable so you’re ready to join in on the fun for the next three movies.

A Cloud 9 employee from ‘Superstore’

Superstore sadly ended in 2021, but their memory could live on in your 2021 pop culture Halloween costume. All you need is a blue vest to fit right in with Amy, Jonah, Dina, Glenn, Cheyenne, Garrett, Mateo, Sandra, and the rest of the crew. You could also dress up as one of the specific characters for some extra fun.

The 20202021 Summer Olympics

Be an athlete who was all ready to participate in the 2020 Olympics before they got pushed to 2021. Simply put a bunch of 2020 Olympics labels on your athletic wear and cross out the 0 to add a 1.

Any sitcom era of Wanda and Vision

Each episode of WandaVision was an amazing new exploration of a decade of sitcoms, and they all looked incredible. Either pick your favorite version of Wanda and Vision from the show or dress up as the two superheroes if they were in you own favorite sitcom. Wanda with the Rachel? Vision with one of Sheldon’s graphic tees? Yes please!

Natasha Romanoff in Yelena’s vest from ‘Black Widow’

Obviously a Natasha and Yelena duo costume would be epic, but you could also pay homage to both characters by dressing up as Natasha in Infinity War when she dons Yelena’s vest as she heads into battle. To recreate the costume you could just take a green vest and add some straps and pockets. And just think of all the storage!

Bernie Sanders and his mittens

Few images will be as iconic as Bernie Sanders wearing mittens at the 2021 presidential inauguration. Since that fateful day, it has become one of the most memed images ever, and it would be a very cozy 2021 pop culture Halloween costume.

‘Free Guy’ or Dude

Find your inner optimist and become the Ryan Reynolds portrayed “Guy” from Free Guy. All it takes is a blue button-down, some khakis, and some glasses. If you really want to get into it, you can act as if you see the world in a completely different way when you put the glasses on. You could also dress up as “Dude,” by painting a tiny shirt on your chest if you’d prefer to walk around shirtless all night.

‘Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings’

Shang Chi’s battle outfit might be difficult to come by, but luckily he’s a badass no matter what he’s wearing and he has plenty of casual outfits throughout Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. You could wear whatever you want and attach a gold painted slinky to each wrist (cut down to five loops, if you like) so you can activate the powers of the ten rings whenever they’re needed.

One of ‘The Suicide Squad’ characters leaving prison

Sure, you could be Harley Quinn again, but there are so many other great characters in The Suicide Squad. You don’t have to get all fancy by wearing their character costumes either. You can simply dye some clothes orange and be the character as they’re leaving prison. You could be Bloodsport, Ratcatcher with some stuffed rats hanging off you, or even King Shark if you happen to have a shark head lying around.

‘In the Heights’

Pick your favorite character from Lin Manuel Miranda’s latest movie musical and walk around with a lottery ticket, hoping for that $96,000 to be yours.

A Fremen from ‘Dune’

A lot of the Dune looks seem unattainable on a tight timeline, but you could create an awesome fremen costume pretty easily with some blue colored contacts. You should also carry around some sand/spice for authenticity.

An AFC Richmond Greyhounds player

Become one of Ted Lasso and Richmond’s finest by wearing a football uniform and adding the Richmond logos. Bonus points if you cross out the “Dubai Air” logo and extra bonus points if you bring your dog as the team’s mascot!

The morning after ‘Bridgerton’

It’s okay if you don’t have any period appropriate dresses lying around, because the characters of Bridgerton seem to spend most of their time naked anyway. Wear a night dress or a simple pair of pants and mess your hair up as if you’ve just come out of that unforgettable “Wildest Dreams” scene.