Why does superheroes wear spandex

Comic writers were originally inspired by circus artists who wore such costumes and it actually did help them while performing their aerobic stunts. The Phantom was the very first Superhero to actually wear tights. Plus you hardly see villains wearing tights, so when heroes wear them, it kinda helps them to stand out — at least on the cover. Right or wrong and consciously or not, this leads to emphasizing hyper masculine or hyper feminine character traits to make the characters seem larger than life on such a simple format.

Like Batman or Moon Knight, who use their capes to glide across cities, shield them from harm and disorient their enemies. Skip to content Lifehacks. May 1, Joe Ford. Table of Contents. While there have been many fantastical proposed origins of this seemingly odd modish style amongst comic artists -my favorite of which being that most superheroes lost their parents at an early age, so they had no one to tell them underwear goes UNDER your clothes -the true origin is pretty simple.

According to Julius Schwartz famed editor of DC Comics from who edited the most famous of all external-underwear superheroes, Superman , this was simply modeled after the garb of aerial circus performers and wrestlers of the era in which the first superheroes proudly donned their underpants over their tights.

Now, it should be noted here that the wrestlers, circus performers, and superheroes weren't actually wearing underwear, but rather tight underwear-like shorts over their leggings.

As superheroes are generally incredibly gifted athletically and perform amazing acrobatic stunts while crime fighting, it was natural enough for this style of dress to get adopted by the earliest superhero artists for their characters.

Heroes and villains wearing full body suits of spandex, nylon, or some other fabric even Phlebotinum. This was because early superhero outfits were based on the outfits worn by people in the circus, including the bright colors that made them visually distinctive, and it stuck as a tradition, even as the days of the circus waned. Showing off their bodies as if they were almost naked likely didn't hurt either. Its prevalence is why Not Wearing Tights is named so, no matter what outfit the heroes would be wearing otherwise.

It's so common that even with the '90s Anti-Hero , tights would still be common, especially since they can allow for a Form-Fitting Wardrobe.