One of the most iconic superhero costumes of all time, the Superman costume has different properties according to the universe.
History
Earth-Two
Superman created his uniform from a fabric invented by himself, "which is immune to the most powerful forces"[1]
Earth-One
Originally just the normal Kryptonian cloth that infant Kal-El was swaddled with during his flight to Earth, Superman's costume becomes just as invulnerable as he himself is, if not actually more so, under the radiation of a yellow sun. Under Earth's yellow sun, Superman's suit cannot be torn, stained, cut, or burned. Superman's costume was created for him by Martha Kent. When young Clark began to display his powers as a baby, the Kents concluded that their clothing bill was going to go up at a horrendous rate if something wasn't done. When a fire occurred at the Kent's attic, only the discarded set of blankets made with Kryptonian fabric did not burn. After tests, the couple realized that the fabric was invulnerable. Unraveling the blankets, Martha knitted a special playsuit for the little Clark. After years, the fabric was continuously unraveled and re-knitted to fit current measures of the Kryptonian. The seat belt from the Kryptonian Rocket was eventually turned into his belt; The upholstery of the compartment became his boots. Superman can wrap a person or item in his cape, protecting from friction, cold, heat and rigors of the space, with enough air to travel interplanetary distances. The cape will block even radio frequencies. The Super Uniform is very stretchable. It will lose its properties while under a red sun.
New Earth
Main article: Superman: The Man of Steel (1986)
Superman's costume made by Martha Kent
Initially, his costume was made by Martha Kent from ordinary Terran fabric. Superman's body is charged with a bio-electric "aura" that acts as an invisible "force field" radiating within a few millimeters from his skin. Of this way, very tight clothes becomes almost invulnerable in contact with Superman's aura. The same doesn't happens with his cape, which will rip constantly.
Eventually when Superman come in contact with the Eradicator device, it gave him a new costume and cape which was sturdier and more durable then the old one.[2][3]
Additionally, his belt has a lead-lined compartment where he stores a Kryptonite Ring, although he rarely uses it.[4]
Main article: Superman: Secret Origin
Following the Infinite Crisis reboot, Superman's costume was still made by Martha Kent, but this time using special Kryptonian fabric that she found alongside the rocket that bought Clark to earth, the fabric is so resistant that Martha broke 5 pairs of scissors, her sewing machine and Jonathan's chainsaw while trying to create a costume, Clark helped to cut the fabric and sew it together with his heat vision.[5]
Prime Earth
During New 52 era, Superman's costume was actually a Kryptonian battle-armor that keys in on DNA of Kryptonians. In case of half-breeds like Kon-El, amplifying his physical powers while dampening the powers he received from non-Kryptonian powers like tactile telekinesis.[6]
Following Superman: Reborn that merged the histories of both New Earth and Prime Earth Superman, he was shown to have worn the battle-armor for a while during his career, later adopting a cloth costume with a belt. Later, he went back to his original costume with tights.[7]
Variations
New Earth
Main article: Krisis of the Krimson Kryptonite
Emil Hamilton's suit
During one of Mister Mxyzptlk's pranks, Superman was exposed to "Krimson Kryptonite" created by the latter. This left Superman powerless, his friend Emil Hamilton developed a mech suit for Superman in the meantime.
Main article: Death and Return of Superman
Superman black suit
After Superman's death, the artifact known as the Eradicator that had battled Superman in the past, had actually returned and went to Superman's tomb to try to use his body as a new vessel. Sensing Superman's soul was still lingering inside, the artifact fashioned a new body from concrete in Superman's image and placed Kal-El's body in a regeneration matrix that was bombarded with sunlight, in hopes of controlling him once he was revived, however, the Eradicator accidentally convinced itself it really was Superman.
When Kal-El was finally revived in the Fortress, he woke up in a new black and silver costume with no cape, he was then given by Steel a pair of boots that gave him the ability to fly, he also used conventional weapons with it.[8]
Main article: Superman/Doomsday: Hunter/Prey Vol 1
Mother Box suit
After weeks of returning to business-as-usual saving Metropolis, Superman received a tip that the monster that killed him, Doomsday, was not dead and was being housed on Apokolips. Suffering from nightmares of the creature, Superman went to Apokolips for a rematch, but the beast had already escaped.
Before going after him, the Mother Box Superman was wearing started to sense the imminent fight with Doomsday, and it changed Superman's costume, giving him an ultra-sonic gun and a sword.
Superman blue
Superman experienced a weird power fluctuation that rendered him into the form of pure energy. Needing a containment suit, he found that he was considerably faster, intangible, and able to interact with computers in this energy form.
He also lost his vulnerability to Kryptonite. However, he found that he was weaker to energy disruption and lost his super strength. Furthermore, when he changed back into Clark Kent, he was rendered powerless. The containment suit was created by Emil Hamilton.
Main article: Our Worlds at War
Superman new costume
Imperiex, an embodiment of entropy, detected 'imperfections' in the fabric of the universe, and his ultimate plan is to destroy it and create a new, perfect universe, he heads to Earth, the planet which holds the universe together, in order to destroy it and thereby induce a new Big Bang.
The entire planet was involved in the war, but it also left countless casualties, this left Superman deeply distressed, not knowing how he could continue his never-ending fight as if nothing happened, but Martha Kent come up with the idea to wear the classic suit with a black logo (both in front and in the cape) and a slightly darker shade of blue, in order to remember the victims of the war.
Additional costumes
Main article: Superman Family
Superboy first costume
Superboy (Kon-El)
Main article: Kon-El (New Earth)
Superboy, also known as Kon-El and Conner Kent, was a DNAlien designed to replace Superman after the hero's death touted as Superman's direct clone. His initial costume presented a leather jacket with a yellow Superman logo on the back, black boots and the classic Superman logo, later in his adventures he would get a pair of X-ray Glasses made by Emil Hamilton.
Powerless costume
Upon the defeat of Klarion, Superboy, who was previously aged into adulthood, turned back to his younger self, but that mysteriously made him lose his powers temporarily, so Guardian encouraged him to take some time to grieve and experience the world as a "normal" kid.
He tried to do just that, but in in the wake of his loss, everything he knew seemed to change at once, Superboy decided he still wanted to continue the good fight, so he turned to the Gadget Guru to help him be Superboy once again.
Superboy began using the Legion Flight Ring to fly, he was also given a near indestructible, size altering shield fashioned by Gadget Guru, the costume was a simple black t-shirt with the Superman logo, oddly similar to the third costume he would later use over the years.
Later, Superboy had a talk with Superman, which gave him perspective and he decided to shake things up a bit, starting with a new costume, still using the x-ray glasses but this time with a jacket that matched the color of his costume, although it didn't last for long.
Superboy second costume
Following the attacks made by a Superman Robot that led to the death of long-time Young Justice member Lilith, Wonder Girl, enraged at being unable to save his teammates began to see herself and Young Justice ineffective as heroes, this led to the Young Justice dissolving.
Superboy third costume
After such event, Superboy started growing out of his "Metropolis kid" persona, and become overall more mature and serious, however the changes were not only psychological but also physical, as Conner began developing x-ray vision and heat vision, he no longer needed special glasses.
Superman took Conner to live in Kansas with the Kent Family, he also enrolled in the local school.
At the same time Superboy ditched his old costume, completely changing his style, this time he was simply wearing a pair of jeans, and a t-shirt with the Superman logo.
The Eradicator
Main article: Eradicator (New Earth)
Eradicator as a vigilante
Eradicator second costume (right)
During the period that Superman had been killed in battle with Doomsday, the Eradicator had returned, his energy body having been spread across the Fortress and just recovered.
Upon learning of Superman's death, the Eradicator raced to his tomb to take over Superman's body and preserve Krypton's heritage. However, the Eradicator couldn't possess Superman's body and instead was forced to create a facsimile body to use and took his body back to the Fortress, where he would be put into a Healing Matrix to revive him and take energy from his body.
He then created a new body for himself but it was imperfect and he was forced to don a special set of shades to protect his eyes. Donning his own version of Superman's shield and cape
The Eradicator returned later as an ally to help an apparent crisis on earth, this time the Eradicator was wearing an almost all-black costume with an altered Superman logo, red cape and silver details, resembling the traditional Kryptonian robes.
Supergirls
Linda Danvers costume
Main article: Linda Danvers (New Earth)
When Matrix stumbled upon a dying Linda Danvers her shape shifting ability merged the two into the new Supergirl simultaneously losing her shape-shifting abilities as she subconsciously defined herself as just Linda and Supergirl.
She wore the classic Supergirl costume for a while, until she changed it with a white t-shirt and a shorter blue skirt.
Cir-El costume
Main article: Cir-El (Futuresmiths)
Cir-El assumed the identity of Supergirl for a short period of time, she was from a dystopian future made by the Futuresmiths, a group led by Brainiac 12. She believed to be Superman's daughter, in reality she was supposed to be a trojan horse against Superman, upon realizing this, Cir-El sacrificed herself to save the world from Brainiac 12. Her costume was all-black with a blue cape and a red S.
Kara Zor-El costume
Main article: Kara Zor-El (New Earth)
Following the Superman: Birthright reboot, Kara Zor-El was introduced as Superman's biological cousin, after some initial confusion, Superman and Batman found Kara and placed her in training with Wonder Woman. Kara was later was captured by Darkseid, and after being brainwashed, attacked her own cousin. Superman defeated Kara and returned her to Earth, where he faked her death so Darkseid would not come looking for her. She wears a slightly changed Supergirl costume.
Power Girl costume
Main article: Kara Zor-L (Earth-Two)
Power Girl is the Earth-Two counterpart of Supergirl and first cousin to Kal-L, the Superman of Earth-Two. Unlike her counterparts, she does not wear any symbol from the house of L, instead she wears a white costume with blue boots and a red cape, it's notorious for its keyhole turtleneck.
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See Also
- Appearances of Superman's Costume
- Item Gallery: Superman's Costume
- Images featuring Superman's Costume