The genesis of Cyborg was Pyun being hired to direct two movies that ultimately that never were made; the prospected Spider-Man movie, and a sequel to Masters of the Universe; judging from Pyun's interviews and leaked scripts, it seems that the former would have been the more expensive movie. Filming took place at Screen Gems Studios in Wilmington, North Carolina, as it would be cheaper to film outside of Los Angeles; this required the construction of elaborate 'New York' street sets for Peter Parker's life in Spider Man. These sets were to be also used for Masters of the Universe II which like the first it would have been mostly set on Earth; Pyun's plan was to shoot the two movies back-to-back, using one set for both pictures and saving Cannon money.
Disaster struck when both Marvel and Mattel revoked their deals with Cannon; several million dollars had been spent constructing the New York sets in Wilmington, and now it was all for nothing; Pyun ultimately made the best of it by deciding to repurpose the sets for an original post-apocalyptic action script he had; some work still had to be done transforming the New York set into a dilapidated war-zone, with of course extra location shooting at various abandoned industrial locations to help sell that this all took place after an apocalypse.
What has always baffled me though, is that Pyun has regularly said that costumes were also constructed for the Spider-Man and MOTU II that never were, and this has gone on to become an oft-repeated fact about Cyborg; yet the leaked scripts for Spider-Man and MOTU II don't really make it seem like costumes would have been made for either production. The former would have only required costumes for Spidey himself; the latter production would have been almost entirely set on Earth with Skeletor possessing a human industrialist, and what few scenes on Eternia surely would have just reused the first film's costumes?
Adding more doubt is that none of Cyborg's costumes feel like they came from or belong in any superhero or fantasy movies; the bulk of the cast are all clad in the usual post-apocalyptic trampy gear. Dirtied up shirts, leather jackets, sweatpants, sports armor, combat fatigues, and so on; nothing akin to the DIY brilliance of Norma Moriceau's work on the Mad Max films.
What few costumes in Cyborg weren't just dirtied up contemporary gear? First would be the outfit worn by Vincent Klyn as the film's antagonist, wasteland bandit Fender Tremolo; his shirt with its puffy, doublet-like sleeves, wide collar lapels and a streaked fabric has an anachronistic feeling. It could have been bespoke made by Cyborg's costume designer Heidi Kaczenski, but it could also have been a thrifted bit of obnoxious 80s fashion that was altered to appear ragged. And perhaps, it could have been reused from another production, but if so from what?
The helmets very brief usage in the final film is also bizarre as usually when it comes to low budget films you show off everything you've got. But perhaps they were shown more in a scene that ended up on the cutting room floor? Or maybe most of the cast could not wear the helmets due to size limits; it's hard to say. Nothing confirms that these were definitely reused or not.
Cyborg's near-future, apocalyptic setting would have limited what sort of costumes could have been reused for the production, hence why only very few costumes in the final film are reused from other productions. This would still have been hard work for the costume department, as all the utilitarian, contemporary clothing they bought would have needed to be severely weathered to transform into wasteland garb.
The shooting of Cyborg was a harrowing experience for Pyun; the miniscule budget, urgent redressing of existing sets and extra location shooting, Van Damme's bad behaviour on-set (resulting in a cast member losing an eye!), and the usual pressures of working under Golan & Globus (the latter throwing a stapler at Pyun as a way to show disapproval for his ideas); of course the finer details would be lost.
Unless any costume polaroids showing the costume tests for Pyun's Spider-Man and MOTU II ever materialize, or Fender's jacket is auctioned showing how many performers wore the costume, we'll never truly know. But it can be safe to assume that, for the most part, no costumes in Cyborg were reused from other films, and what few were did not originate from either of these cancelled projects.
