Why do Superman/Batman wear underwear over their pants?

[Revenant_Threshold]

@Maastricht

Something Awful has an hilarious review of superheroes’ fashion here.

Thanks for the link! I’m going to have to work “billowy disco Jesus” into conversation somehow.

[Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew]

@CalMeacham

The old continuity had that Superman’s suit was made from the cloth SuperBaby was wrapped up in, unwoven and re-woven to shape. It was Super the same way he was, and so could put up with normal Superman wear and tear, like going through supernovae and magma and regular exposure to hot and speeding bullets. I’ll bet they didn’t change that stuff, because the alternative would be Stan Lee’s “unstable molecules”.

Actually, as I understand it (never having actually read this in a comic), the alternative was that Superman’s invulnerability forms an aura that extends maybe half an inch outside his skin. Consequently, his tights were protected, but his cape could get torn up in action.

[Ellen_Cherry]

@ddgryphon

Well, in the 19th and early 20th century athletic wear didn’t mean anything like it does today. The original mystery men like Superman and Batman had their costumes based on circus and athletic costumes (essentially tights with trunks to hide the super-jewels and magic power rod that they had to pack into their skin tight costumes).

I looked for some classic fitness gear and circus costumes the best I came up with was ths:

german-hosiery-museum.de

The costumes were a natural outgrowth of what athletes and circus performers wore at the time – and heroes of the era were naturally a combination of those two things.
<snip>

Those boys’ boys could use a house! :eek:

[Otto]

@shizaru

Maybe one day there will be a hero that will just wear fruit of the loom briefs and nothing else…tightie-whtie man or something.

The Spectre has been working that look since 1940.

@Biffy the Elephant Shrew

Actually, as I understand it (never having actually read this in a comic), the alternative was that Superman’s invulnerability forms an aura that extends maybe half an inch outside his skin. Consequently, his tights were protected, but his cape could get torn up in action.

The original explanation was the super-blankets. When John Byrne did his “Man of Steel” mini-series in the mid-80s, one of the things he retconned was changing the blanket explanation into the aura. IIRC the aura was art of Superman’s invulnerability and also protected people he carried while flying from friction. This was part of Byrne’s overall attempt to move Superman’s powers from the realm of the physical to the psionic. I believe that the aura has been retconned back into the blankets, along with most of the other Byrne-era retcons.

[dwc1970]

@shizaru

Maybe one day there will be a hero that will just wear fruit of the loom briefs and nothing else…tightie-whtie man or something.

Meet Captain Underpants.

[rjung]

Beaten by dwc1970!

(Oh, and the new Captain Underpants book was released yesterday. Get it or be branded an unloving parent forever… )