If I were you, I'd take another crack at a few with the opposite approach--hide the safety gear but otherwise show the amateur costumes honestly, bad lighting, flaws and all. It would deliver a much deeper version of the empowerment message you're going for in the text of your post.

Seeing a super-hero in a dangerous position is not really impactful--that's what superheros do.

Seeing a regular person who is trying to look like a superhero (but subtly failing) in a dangerous situation tells all sorts of stories about the roles we each imagine and hope for ourselves--and the fronts we put up for other people.