# Why did superheroes often have capes?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-superheroes-often-have-capes/563847
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [December 12, 2010, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-superheroes-often-have-capes/563847 "2010-12-12T02:56:27Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)
#### Post date: [December 12, 2010, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-superheroes-often-have-capes/563847/1 "2010-12-12T02:56:27Z")
I was talking to myself a few minutes ago and I found I was using my Edna Mode voice, which led me to think about her refusal to use capes in costumes, which led me to wonder why capes seem so iconic in costumes.
Why were capes so popular, or am I mistaken that they are/were?
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### Author:  [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)
#### Post date: [December 12, 2010, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-superheroes-often-have-capes/563847/2 "2010-12-12T03:09:21Z")
Capes are a good visual element.
They can flap in the wind, be flourished dramatically, be drawn up to hide the wearer’s face, they can move and flow interestingly in combat. The can obscure the wearer’s form, for dramatic effect (or practical effect, if looked at from the character’s POV, rather than the the artist’s).
For characters with a bird or bat gimmick - or angel, or demon, even! - they can be cut to represent wings.
And, of course, the characters who superheroes were imitating - Zorro, the Shadow, the Scarlet Pimpernel, et al - wore capes.
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### Author:  [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)
#### Post date: [December 12, 2010, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-superheroes-often-have-capes/563847/3 "2010-12-12T03:11:35Z")
Because they look cool, and the chicks dig them.
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### Author:  [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)
#### Post date: [December 12, 2010, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-superheroes-often-have-capes/563847/4 "2010-12-12T03:12:37Z")
Because Superman had a cape.
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### Author:  [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)
#### Post date: [December 12, 2010, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-superheroes-often-have-capes/563847/5 "2010-12-12T03:12:43Z")
> [@Tengu](#):
>
> And, of course, the characters who superheroes were imitating - Zorro, the Shadow, the Scarlet Pimpernel, et al - wore capes.
No capes on the Scarlet Pimpernel, but I take your meaning for the rest.
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### Author:  [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)
#### Post date: [December 12, 2010, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-superheroes-often-have-capes/563847/6 "2010-12-12T03:27:38Z")
Superman
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### Author:  [@MichaelEmouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MichaelEmouse)
#### Post date: [December 12, 2010, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-superheroes-often-have-capes/563847/7 "2010-12-12T03:29:01Z")
Tights aren’t quite flaming enough.
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### Author:  [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)
#### Post date: [December 12, 2010, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-superheroes-often-have-capes/563847/8 "2010-12-12T03:38:06Z")
Not to mention, the other inspirations: trapeze artists, strongmen, professional wrestlers, all wore capes. Even to this day, though it’s generally robes. Why? A: to look impressive, of course.
B: it’s generally cold backstage and a nice cape counts as a layer to wrap around yourself while you’re wearing tights. Once you hit the ring, you warm up nicely, but until then, the cape is practical.
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### Author:  [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)
#### Post date: [December 12, 2010, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-superheroes-often-have-capes/563847/9 "2010-12-12T03:38:41Z")
> [@jsgoddess](#):
>
> No capes on the Scarlet Pimpernel, but I take your meaning for the rest.
Perhaps **Tengu** was thinking of the [Scarlet Pumpernickel](http://www.klast.net/sp/pumpernickel.jpg).
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### Author:  [@Baal\_Houtham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baal_Houtham)
#### Post date: [December 12, 2010, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-superheroes-often-have-capes/563847/10 "2010-12-12T03:55:12Z")
I wore a costume with a cape this Halloween. I got caught by closing doors 4 times in four hours.
_“No capes!”_
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### Author:  [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)
#### Post date: [December 12, 2010, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-superheroes-often-have-capes/563847/11 "2010-12-12T04:28:10Z")
> [@E-Sabbath](#):
>
> B: it’s generally cold backstage and a nice cape counts as a layer to wrap around yourself while you’re wearing tights. Once you hit the ring, you warm up nicely, but until then, the cape is practical.
Also, it lets the circus strongman’s musculature stay cloaked, so he doesn’t need to start flexing until the moment he throws back that cape to reveal his physique – which, of course, is emphasized in an underpants-over-tights outfit. IIRC, that’s where Superman’s creators got the look, as useful shorthand for This Guy Is Really Strong; cue assorted knockoffs.
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### Author:  [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)
#### Post date: [December 12, 2010, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-superheroes-often-have-capes/563847/12 "2010-12-12T04:37:25Z")
> [@Spoke](#):
>
> Perhaps **Tengu** was thinking of the [Scarlet Pumpernickel](http://www.klast.net/sp/pumpernickel.jpg).
Yikes. I was browsing the Dope while watching a documentary on Mel Blanc, and immediately after I read this post, they showed a scene from this cartoon!
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### Author:  [@Sam\_A.Robrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_A.Robrin)
#### Post date: [December 12, 2010, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-superheroes-often-have-capes/563847/13 "2010-12-12T05:41:45Z")
Because it looks cool, and had the precedents of Zorro and the Three Musketeers, and about a zillion classic swashbuckling characters.
I once attended the wedding of a couple who’d met on a comics discussion board. Crusty cynic though I be, I nearly lost it when the vows included “You are the wind beneath my cape.”
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### Author:  [@The\_Amazing\_Hanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Amazing_Hanna)
#### Post date: [December 12, 2010, 11:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-superheroes-often-have-capes/563847/14 "2010-12-12T11:36:08Z")
Capes are pretty easy to draw, too. Plus, you don´t have to worry about all those complex back muscles.
[http://www.kotous.com/wp-content/uploads/red-hulk-back1-459x600.jpg](http://www.kotous.com/wp-content/uploads/red-hulk-back1-459x600.jpg)
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### Author:  [@SuperNelson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SuperNelson)
#### Post date: [December 12, 2010, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-superheroes-often-have-capes/563847/15 "2010-12-12T18:52:28Z")
I think I remember Batman using his cape for combative effect. Sometimes it just made him look bigger and scarier than he really was, and sometimes it helped him avoid gunfire by making it harder for the shooter to figure out which part of the big billowing shape to aim for. This may be the later revisions, like “The Dark Knight,” and “Year One.”
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### Author:  [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)
#### Post date: [December 12, 2010, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-superheroes-often-have-capes/563847/16 "2010-12-12T22:11:28Z")
> [@SuperNelson](#):
>
> I think I remember Batman using his cape for combative effect. Sometimes it just made him look bigger and scarier than he really was, and sometimes it helped him avoid gunfire by making it harder for the shooter to figure out which part of the big billowing shape to aim for. This may be the later revisions, like “The Dark Knight,” and “Year One.”
Actually, that’s almost a direct quote from Nite Owl’s autobiography, in WATCHMEN: _“I experimented with a cloak, remembering how the Shadow would use his cloak to misguide enemy bullets, leading them to shoot at parts of the swirling black mass where his body didn’t happen to be. In practice, however, I found it too unwieldy. I was always tripping over it or getting it caught in things, so I abandoned it for an outfit that was as streamlined as I could make it.”_
(Later in his book, he reminisces about a fellow superhero who got shot dead when his cape got caught in a bank’s revolving door: _“If he’d designed it himself he might have left out that damned stupid cloak and still be alive today.”_)
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### Author:  [@A\_Dodgy\_Dude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/A_Dodgy_Dude)
#### Post date: [December 12, 2010, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-superheroes-often-have-capes/563847/17 "2010-12-12T22:44:05Z")
Elvis wore capes on stage trying to create a bigger-than-life image.
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### Author:  [@Capitaine\_Zombie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capitaine_Zombie)
#### Post date: [December 12, 2010, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-superheroes-often-have-capes/563847/18 "2010-12-12T22:45:44Z")
> [@A\_Dodgy\_Dude](#):
>
> Elvis wore capes on stage trying to create a bigger-than-life image.
Elvis apparently drew his act from Captain Marvel Junior, especially his haircut with the lock.
P.S. Elvis achieved his bigger than life image pretty much in the last stages of his life. So a steady diet of cheesecakes is as effective as a cape.
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### Author:  [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)
#### Post date: [December 12, 2010, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-superheroes-often-have-capes/563847/19 "2010-12-12T22:51:05Z")
[Rule of Cool](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/RuleOfCool)
Warning: TV Tropes link.
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### Author:  [@Apollyon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apollyon)
#### Post date: [December 13, 2010, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-superheroes-often-have-capes/563847/20 "2010-12-13T02:36:06Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#):
>
> (Later in his book, he reminisces about a fellow superhero who got shot dead when his cape got caught in a bank’s revolving door: _“If he’d designed it himself he might have left out that damned stupid cloak and still be alive today.”_)
[Dollar Bill](http://watchmen.wikia.com/wiki/Dollar_Bill). Incidentally… Who knew there was a Watchmen wiki? Well, that’s the afternoon shot… 🙂
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